X-Frame-Options header
Note:
For more comprehensive options than offered by this header, see the frame-ancestors directive in a Content-Security-Policy header.
The HTTP X-Frame-Options response header can be used to indicate whether a browser should be allowed to render the document in a <frame>, <iframe>, <embed> or <object>. Sites can use this to avoid clickjacking attacks and some cross-site leaks, by ensuring that their content is not embedded into other sites.
If this header is not sent, and the website has not implemented any other mechanisms to restrict embedding (such as the frame-ancestors CSP directive), then the browser will allow other sites to embed this document.
| Header type | Response header |
|---|
Syntax
X-Frame-Options: DENY
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
Directives
DENY-
The document cannot be loaded in any frame, regardless of origin (both same- and cross-origin embedding is blocked).
SAMEORIGIN-
The document can only be embedded if all ancestor frames have the same origin as the page itself.
ALLOW-FROM origin-
This is an obsolete directive. Modern browsers that encounter response headers with this directive will ignore the header completely. The
Content-Security-PolicyHTTP header has aframe-ancestorsdirective which you should use instead.
Examples
Warning:
Setting X-Frame-Options inside the <meta> element (e.g., <meta http-equiv="X-Frame-Options" content="deny">) has no effect. X-Frame-Options is only enforced via HTTP headers, as shown in the examples below.
Configuring Apache
To configure Apache to send the X-Frame-Options header for all pages, add this to your site's configuration:
Header always set X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN"
To configure Apache to set X-Frame-Options to DENY, add this to your site's configuration:
Header set X-Frame-Options "DENY"
Configuring Nginx
To configure Nginx to send the X-Frame-Options header, add this either to your http, server or location configuration:
add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN always;
You can set the X-Frame-Options header to DENY using:
add_header X-Frame-Options DENY always;
Configuring IIS
To configure IIS to send the X-Frame-Options header, add this to your site's Web.config file:
<system.webServer>
…
<httpProtocol>
<customHeaders>
<add name="X-Frame-Options" value="SAMEORIGIN" />
</customHeaders>
</httpProtocol>
…
</system.webServer>
For more information, see the Microsoft support article on setting this configuration using the IIS Manager user interface.
Configuring HAProxy
To configure HAProxy to send the X-Frame-Options header, add this to your front-end, listen, or backend configuration:
rspadd X-Frame-Options:\ SAMEORIGIN
Alternatively, in newer versions:
http-response set-header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN
Configuring Express
To set X-Frame-Options to SAMEORIGIN using Helmet add the following to your server configuration:
import helmet from "helmet";
const app = express();
app.use(
helmet({
xFrameOptions: { action: "sameorigin" },
}),
);
Specifications
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| HTML # the-x-frame-options-header |
Browser compatibility
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Legend
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- Full support
- Full support
- See implementation notes.