Deploy different Content Security Policies (CSPs) using Apache conditional statements

Having a strict content Content Security Policy (CSP) can be a useful addition for your website security. However, when running a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, you’re often forced to make a few a undesired compromises.

To work around the problem, I previously had two different policies available within my virtual host configuration that I toggled on and off (by hand) depending on whether I needed to use the dashboard or not. Imagine how much simpler life would be if Apache could work with if/else statements.

Oh.. right Apache 2.4 does support conditional statements. I’ll then add a strict CSP for everyone and their mother while providing a more lenient CSP for myself, being the only user with access to the WordPress dashboard. To summarize: if the remote address matches my static IP then serve a lenient CSP, else serve the strict CSP:

<IfModule mod_headers.c>
  Header always set Strict-Transport-Security: "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload"     
  Header always set Public-Key-Pins "pin-sha256=\"+hReE4xfHXOZfSBOvDCmpORYCfn2VlYVMB4nRVUeLns=\"; pin-sha256=\"C8gw6A3tgLpxbpcE0J5rDd/P88yxiUhqUUalkGjTO8M=\"; max-age=2592000; includeSubDomains"

  # Serve CSP based on client IP
  <If "-R '192.168.37.104/32'">
    Header always set Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; img-src * data:; object-src 'none'; font-src 'self' data:"
  </If>
  <Else>
    Header always set Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'none'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; object-src 'none'; font-src 'self'"
    Header always set X-Frame-Options DENY
  </Else>

  Header edit Set-Cookie ^(.*)$ $1;HttpOnly;Secure        
  ...
</IfModule>

Now that’s useful!
I’ll be coming for you soon, my old and too complicated mod_rewrite rules.

References:
Apache Core Features
Expressions in Apache HTTP Server

Roger Comply avatar
Roger Comply
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