Add configurable security headers and env-var-backed CORS configuration

Fix security issues from penetration test report:
- M2: Add configurable X-Frame-Options and CSP headers (disabled by default)
- L2: Add X-Content-Type-Options and Referrer-Policy headers (enabled by default)
- L3: Make CORS allowed-origin-patterns configurable via TB_CORS_* env vars

Root cause: ThingsboardSecurityConfiguration called .disable() on the entire
HeadersConfigurer, which removed ALL security headers including Cache-Control.
Fix uses defaultsDisabled() + selective header enablement via a new
HttpSecurityHeadersCustomizer component.

Both Spring Boot (tb-node) and Express.js (web-ui) share the same
SECURITY_HEADERS_* environment variables for consistent configuration
across monolith and microservice deployments.

application/src/main/java/org/thingsboard/server/config/HttpSecurityHeadersCustomizer.java

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright © 2016-2026 The Thingsboard Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.thingsboard.server.config;
+
+import lombok.RequiredArgsConstructor;
+import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configurers.HeadersConfigurer;
+import org.springframework.security.web.header.writers.StaticHeadersWriter;
+import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
+
+@Component
+@RequiredArgsConstructor
+public class HttpSecurityHeadersCustomizer {
+
+    private final HttpSecurityHeadersProperties properties;
+
+    public void customize(HeadersConfigurer<?> headers) {
+        if (properties.getXContentTypeOptions().isEnabled()) {
+            headers.contentTypeOptions(config -> {});
+        }
+
+        if (properties.getReferrerPolicy().isEnabled()) {
+            headers.addHeaderWriter(new StaticHeadersWriter("Referrer-Policy", properties.getReferrerPolicy().getValue()));
+        }
+
+        if (properties.getXFrameOptions().isEnabled()) {
+            String value = properties.getXFrameOptions().getValue();
+            if ("DENY".equalsIgnoreCase(value)) {
+                headers.frameOptions(HeadersConfigurer.FrameOptionsConfig::deny);
+            } else {
+                headers.frameOptions(HeadersConfigurer.FrameOptionsConfig::sameOrigin);
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (properties.getContentSecurityPolicy().isEnabled() && StringUtils.hasText(properties.getContentSecurityPolicy().getValue())) {
+            headers.contentSecurityPolicy(csp -> {
+                csp.policyDirectives(properties.getContentSecurityPolicy().getValue());
+                if (properties.getContentSecurityPolicy().isReportOnly()) {
+                    csp.reportOnly();
+                }
+            });
+        }
+
+    }
+
+}

application/src/main/java/org/thingsboard/server/config/HttpSecurityHeadersProperties.java

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright © 2016-2026 The Thingsboard Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.thingsboard.server.config;
+
+import lombok.Data;
+import org.springframework.boot.context.properties.ConfigurationProperties;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
+
+@Configuration
+@ConfigurationProperties(prefix = "security.headers")
+@Data
+public class HttpSecurityHeadersProperties {
+
+    private XContentTypeOptions xContentTypeOptions = new XContentTypeOptions();
+    private ReferrerPolicy referrerPolicy = new ReferrerPolicy();
+    private XFrameOptions xFrameOptions = new XFrameOptions();
+    private ContentSecurityPolicy contentSecurityPolicy = new ContentSecurityPolicy();
+
+    @Data
+    public static class XContentTypeOptions {
+        private boolean enabled = true;
+    }
+
+    @Data
+    public static class ReferrerPolicy {
+        private boolean enabled = true;
+        private String value = "strict-origin-when-cross-origin";
+    }
+
+    @Data
+    public static class XFrameOptions {
+        private boolean enabled = false;
+        private String value = "SAMEORIGIN";
+    }
+
+    @Data
+    public static class ContentSecurityPolicy {
+        private boolean enabled = false;
+        private String value = "";
+        private boolean reportOnly = false;
+    }
+
+}

application/src/main/java/org/thingsboard/server/config/TbRuleEngineSecurityConfiguration.java

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  */
 package org.thingsboard.server.config;
 
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.condition.ConditionalOnExpression;
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.security.SecurityProperties;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
@@ -33,11 +34,16 @@ import org.springframework.security.web.SecurityFilterChain;
 @ConditionalOnExpression("'${service.type:null}'=='tb-rule-engine'")
 public class TbRuleEngineSecurityConfiguration {
 
+    @Autowired
+    private HttpSecurityHeadersCustomizer httpSecurityHeadersCustomizer;
+
     @Bean
     SecurityFilterChain filterChain(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
-        http.headers(headers -> headers
-                        .cacheControl(config -> {})
-                        .frameOptions(config -> {}).disable())
+        http.headers(headers -> {
+                    headers.defaultsDisabled();
+                    headers.cacheControl(config -> {});
+                    httpSecurityHeadersCustomizer.customize(headers);
+                })
                 .cors(cors -> {})
                 .csrf(AbstractHttpConfigurer::disable)
                 .authorizeHttpRequests(config -> config

application/src/main/java/org/thingsboard/server/config/ThingsboardSecurityConfiguration.java

@@ -131,6 +131,9 @@ public class ThingsboardSecurityConfiguration {
     @Autowired
     private AuthExceptionHandler authExceptionHandler;
 
+    @Autowired
+    private HttpSecurityHeadersCustomizer httpSecurityHeadersCustomizer;
+
     @Bean
     protected PayloadSizeFilter payloadSizeFilter() {
         return new PayloadSizeFilter(maxPayloadSizeConfig);
@@ -198,9 +201,11 @@ public class ThingsboardSecurityConfiguration {
         http
                 .securityMatchers(matchers -> matchers
                         .requestMatchers("/*.js", "/*.css", "/*.ico", "/assets/**", "/static/**"))
-                .headers(header -> header
-                        .defaultsDisabled()
-                        .addHeaderWriter(new StaticHeadersWriter(HttpHeaders.CACHE_CONTROL, "max-age=0, public")))
+                .headers(headers -> {
+                    headers.defaultsDisabled();
+                    headers.addHeaderWriter(new StaticHeadersWriter(HttpHeaders.CACHE_CONTROL, "max-age=0, public"));
+                    httpSecurityHeadersCustomizer.customize(headers);
+                })
                 .authorizeHttpRequests((authorize) -> authorize.anyRequest().permitAll())
                 .requestCache(RequestCacheConfigurer::disable)
                 .securityContext(AbstractHttpConfigurer::disable)
@@ -210,9 +215,11 @@ public class ThingsboardSecurityConfiguration {
 
     @Bean
     SecurityFilterChain filterChain(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
-        http.headers(headers -> headers
-                        .cacheControl(config -> {})
-                        .frameOptions(config -> {}).disable())
+        http.headers(headers -> {
+                    headers.defaultsDisabled();
+                    headers.cacheControl(config -> {});
+                    httpSecurityHeadersCustomizer.customize(headers);
+                })
                 .cors(cors -> {})
                 .csrf(AbstractHttpConfigurer::disable)
                 .exceptionHandling(config -> {})

application/src/main/resources/thingsboard.yml

@@ -173,6 +173,52 @@ security:
     path: "${SECURITY_JAVA_CACERTS_PATH:${java.home}/lib/security/cacerts}"
     # The password of the cacerts keystore file
     password: "${SECURITY_JAVA_CACERTS_PASSWORD:changeit}"
+  # HTTP security response headers configuration.
+  # These headers are set on responses from the ThingsBoard backend (tb-node).
+  # In microservice deployments, the web-ui (Express.js) has its own header configuration
+  # under msa/web-ui/config/ using the same environment variable names.
+  headers:
+    # X-Content-Type-Options header prevents browsers from MIME-sniffing the Content-Type.
+    # Safe to enable. Only disable if you intentionally serve resources with mismatched Content-Type.
+    x-content-type-options:
+      enabled: "${SECURITY_HEADERS_X_CONTENT_TYPE_OPTIONS_ENABLED:true}"
+    # Referrer-Policy header controls how much referrer info the browser sends with requests.
+    # The default 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin' matches the browser's built-in default,
+    # so enabling this does not change existing behavior — it just makes the policy explicit.
+    # Valid values: no-referrer, no-referrer-when-downgrade, origin, origin-when-cross-origin,
+    #              same-origin, strict-origin, strict-origin-when-cross-origin, unsafe-url
+    referrer-policy:
+      enabled: "${SECURITY_HEADERS_REFERRER_POLICY_ENABLED:true}"
+      value: "${SECURITY_HEADERS_REFERRER_POLICY_VALUE:strict-origin-when-cross-origin}"
+    # X-Frame-Options header protects against clickjacking attacks by preventing the page
+    # from being loaded in iframes on other domains.
+    # Disabled by default because ThingsBoard supports multi-domain deployments where
+    # the platform may be embedded in iframes on customer domains.
+    # WARNING: Enabling with DENY will block ALL iframe embedding including dashboards
+    # embedded on external sites. Use SAMEORIGIN to allow same-domain iframes only.
+    x-frame-options:
+      enabled: "${SECURITY_HEADERS_X_FRAME_OPTIONS_ENABLED:false}"
+      # Valid values: DENY, SAMEORIGIN
+      value: "${SECURITY_HEADERS_X_FRAME_OPTIONS_VALUE:SAMEORIGIN}"
+    # Content-Security-Policy header mitigates XSS and data injection attacks by restricting
+    # which resources the browser is allowed to load.
+    # Disabled by default because ThingsBoard supports multi-domain deployments and
+    # because custom HTML Card widgets may use inline scripts, inline styles, and
+    # external resources that a restrictive CSP would block.
+    # WARNING when enabling: A strict CSP (e.g. script-src 'self') will break:
+    #   - HTML Card widgets with inline JavaScript
+    #   - Custom widget types with inline scripts/styles
+    #   - Widgets loading external resources (images, fonts, scripts)
+    #   - Dashboard embedding via iframes (if frame-ancestors is restrictive)
+    # Use 'report-only: true' first to test the impact before enforcing.
+    # Example value: "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; frame-ancestors 'self'"
+    content-security-policy:
+      enabled: "${SECURITY_HEADERS_CONTENT_SECURITY_POLICY_ENABLED:false}"
+      # Full CSP directive string
+      value: "${SECURITY_HEADERS_CONTENT_SECURITY_POLICY_VALUE:}"
+      # If true, uses Content-Security-Policy-Report-Only header instead — the browser
+      # reports violations but does not enforce them. Use for testing before enforcing.
+      report-only: "${SECURITY_HEADERS_CONTENT_SECURITY_POLICY_REPORT_ONLY:false}"
 
 # Mail settings parameters
 mail:
@@ -788,21 +834,28 @@ updates:
   # Enable/disable checks for the new version
   enabled: "${UPDATES_ENABLED:true}"
 
-# Spring CORS configuration parameters
+# Spring CORS configuration parameters.
+# Controls the Access-Control-Allow-Origin and Access-Control-Allow-Credentials response headers.
+# WARNING: The default configuration allows cross-origin requests from ANY domain with credentials.
+# This means any website can make API requests on behalf of an authenticated user if the token
+# is accessible (e.g., via XSS). For production deployments, restrict to your domain(s):
+#   TB_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN_PATTERNS=https://your-domain.com
+# For multi-domain deployments, list all allowed domains comma-separated:
+#   TB_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN_PATTERNS=https://domain1.com,https://domain2.com
 spring.mvc.cors:
   mappings:
     # Intercept path
     "[/api/**]":
       #Comma-separated list of origins to allow. '*' allows all origins. When not set, CORS support is disabled.
-      allowed-origin-patterns: "*"
+      allowed-origin-patterns: "${TB_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN_PATTERNS:*}"
       #Comma-separated list of methods to allow. '*' allows all methods.
-      allowed-methods: "*"
+      allowed-methods: "${TB_CORS_ALLOWED_METHODS:*}"
       #Comma-separated list of headers to allow in a request. '*' allows all headers.
-      allowed-headers: "*"
+      allowed-headers: "${TB_CORS_ALLOWED_HEADERS:*}"
       #How long, in seconds, the response from a pre-flight request can be cached by clients.
-      max-age: "1800"
+      max-age: "${TB_CORS_MAX_AGE:1800}"
       #Set whether credentials are supported. When not set, credentials are not supported.
-      allow-credentials: "true"
+      allow-credentials: "${TB_CORS_ALLOW_CREDENTIALS:true}"
 
 # General spring parameters
 spring.main.allow-circular-references: "true" # Spring Boot configuration property that controls whether circular dependencies between beans are allowed.

msa/web-ui/config/custom-environment-variables.yml

@@ -25,6 +25,20 @@ thingsboard:
   host: "TB_HOST"
   # ThingsBoard node port
   port: "TB_PORT"
+security:
+  headers:
+    x-content-type-options:
+      enabled: "SECURITY_HEADERS_X_CONTENT_TYPE_OPTIONS_ENABLED"
+    referrer-policy:
+      enabled: "SECURITY_HEADERS_REFERRER_POLICY_ENABLED"
+      value: "SECURITY_HEADERS_REFERRER_POLICY_VALUE"
+    x-frame-options:
+      enabled: "SECURITY_HEADERS_X_FRAME_OPTIONS_ENABLED"
+      value: "SECURITY_HEADERS_X_FRAME_OPTIONS_VALUE"
+    content-security-policy:
+      enabled: "SECURITY_HEADERS_CONTENT_SECURITY_POLICY_ENABLED"
+      value: "SECURITY_HEADERS_CONTENT_SECURITY_POLICY_VALUE"
+      reportOnly: "SECURITY_HEADERS_CONTENT_SECURITY_POLICY_REPORT_ONLY"
 logger:
   level: "LOGGER_LEVEL"
   path: "LOG_FOLDER"

msa/web-ui/config/default.yml

@@ -25,6 +25,20 @@ thingsboard:
   host: "localhost"
   # ThingsBoard node port
   port: "8080"
+security:
+  headers:
+    x-content-type-options:
+      enabled: true
+    referrer-policy:
+      enabled: true
+      value: "strict-origin-when-cross-origin"
+    x-frame-options:
+      enabled: false
+      value: "SAMEORIGIN"
+    content-security-policy:
+      enabled: false
+      value: ""
+      reportOnly: false
 logger:
   level: "info"
   path: "logs"

msa/web-ui/server.ts

@@ -60,6 +60,39 @@ let connections: Socket[] = [];
         const app = express();
         server = http.createServer(app);
 
+        // Build security headers map once at startup
+        const securityHeaders: Record<string, string> = {};
+        if (config.has('security.headers')) {
+            const hc: any = config.get('security.headers');
+            if (hc['x-content-type-options']?.enabled !== false) {
+                securityHeaders['X-Content-Type-Options'] = 'nosniff';
+            }
+            if (hc['referrer-policy']?.enabled !== false) {
+                securityHeaders['Referrer-Policy'] = hc['referrer-policy']?.value || 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin';
+            }
+            if (hc['x-frame-options']?.enabled) {
+                securityHeaders['X-Frame-Options'] = hc['x-frame-options']?.value || 'SAMEORIGIN';
+            }
+            if (hc['content-security-policy']?.enabled && hc['content-security-policy']?.value) {
+                const name = hc['content-security-policy']?.reportOnly
+                    ? 'Content-Security-Policy-Report-Only' : 'Content-Security-Policy';
+                securityHeaders[name] = hc['content-security-policy'].value;
+            }
+        } else {
+            // Defaults when no security.headers config block exists
+            securityHeaders['X-Content-Type-Options'] = 'nosniff';
+            securityHeaders['Referrer-Policy'] = 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin';
+        }
+        logger.info('Security headers: %s', JSON.stringify(securityHeaders));
+
+        // Apply security headers to all responses
+        app.use((_req, res, next) => {
+            for (const [name, value] of Object.entries(securityHeaders)) {
+                res.setHeader(name, value);
+            }
+            next();
+        });
+
         let apiProxy: httpProxy;
         if (useApiProxy) {
             apiProxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer({