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Referrer-Policy: a practical reference

An outbound link can leak your full URL, query string and all, if the policy is loose. Pick the right Referrer-Policy and that quietly stops happening.

What it is

Referrer-Policy is an HTTP response header that controls how much referrer information (the referring URL) is sent when users navigate or when resources are requested. Values range from no-referrer to unsafe-url.

Why it matters

Browsers default to strict-origin-when-cross-origin, but legacy or explicit policies like unsafe-url or no-referrer-when-downgrade leak full URLs (including query params). Set the header explicitly. A sensible Referrer-Policy (e.g. strict-origin-when-cross-origin) reduces information leakage and improves privacy without breaking normal navigation.

How Barrion checks it

Barrion inspects the Referrer-Policy response header. We report when it is missing or when the value is overly permissive (e.g. unsafe-url). Passive header check only.

Configuration examples

Nginx: sensible default Referrer-Policy
add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin" always;

Verify it

curl -sI https://example.com | grep -i referrer-policy
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