hide-powered-by

What is hide-powered-by?

The hide-powered-by npm package is used to remove or modify the X-Powered-By HTTP header in Express.js applications. This header is often used to identify the technology stack of a web application, and removing or changing it can help improve security by obscuring the underlying technology.

What are hide-powered-by's main functionalities?

Remove X-Powered-By Header

This feature removes the X-Powered-By header from the HTTP response. By default, Express.js includes this header to indicate that the server is powered by Express. Removing it can help obscure the technology stack from potential attackers.

const express = require('express');
const hidePoweredBy = require('hide-powered-by');

const app = express();
app.use(hidePoweredBy());

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server is running on port 3000');
});

Set Custom X-Powered-By Header

This feature allows you to set a custom value for the X-Powered-By header. Instead of removing the header entirely, you can mislead potential attackers by setting it to a different value, such as 'PHP 4.2.0'.

const express = require('express');
const hidePoweredBy = require('hide-powered-by');

const app = express();
app.use(hidePoweredBy({ setTo: 'PHP 4.2.0' }));

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server is running on port 3000');
});

Other packages similar to hide-powered-by

helmet

Helmet is a comprehensive security middleware for Express.js applications. It includes a variety of security features, including the ability to remove or modify the X-Powered-By header. Helmet is more feature-rich compared to hide-powered-by, offering additional protections such as setting Content Security Policy, preventing clickjacking, and more.

nocache

Nocache is a middleware for Express.js that helps disable client-side caching. While its primary focus is on caching, it also includes functionality to remove the X-Powered-By header. Nocache is more specialized compared to hide-powered-by, focusing on caching-related headers.

README

Hide X-Powered-By

Simple middleware to remove the X-Powered-By HTTP header if it's set.

Hackers can exploit known vulnerabilities in Express/Node if they see that your site is powered by Express (or whichever framework you use). For example, X-Powered-By: Express is sent in every HTTP request coming from Express, by default. This won't provide much security benefit (as discussed here), but might help a tiny bit. It will also improve performance by reducing the number of bytes sent.

const hidePoweredBy = require('hide-powered-by')
app.use(hidePoweredBy())

You can also explicitly set the header to something else, if you want. This could throw people off:

app.use(hidePoweredBy({ setTo: 'PHP 4.2.0' }))

Note: if you're using Express, you don't need this middleware and can just do this:

app.disable('x-powered-by')