STIGUI
V-264362CAT II — Medium severitySV-264362r984431_rule

The web server must use HTTP/2, at a minimum.

Rule version SRG-APP-000439-WSR-000192 · STIG v4 · 2026-05-23

Discussion

HTTP/2, like HTTPS, enhances security compared to HTTP/1.x by minimizing the risk of header-based attacks (e.g., header injection and manipulation).

Websites that fully utilize HTTP/2 are inherently protected and defend against smuggling attacks. HTTP/2 provides the method for specifying the length of a request, which removes any potential for ambiguity that can be leveraged by an attacker.

This is applicable to all web architectures such as load balancing/proxy use cases. - The front-end and back-end servers should both be configured to use HTTP/2. - HTTP/2 must be used for communications between web servers. - Browser vendors have agreed to only support HTTP/2 only in HTTPS mode, thus TLS must be configured to meet this requirement. TLS configuration is out of scope for this requirement.

Check

Verify the web server uses HTTP/2.

If the web server does not use HTTP/2 at a minimum, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the web server to use HTTP/2, at a minimum.

Note that browsers support HTTP/2 only in HTTPS mode. The tunneling of HTTP/1.x through HTTPS is not an approved configuration.

Identifiers

Group ID
V-264362
Group title
SRG-APP-000439
Rule ID
SV-264362r984431_rule
Check ID
C-68275r984429_chk
Fix ID
F-68183r984430_fix