Hide the Apache Web Server Version number with ServerSignature and ServerTokens directives

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Q. How do I hide the Apache version number under CentOS Linux 5 server?

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A. You can easily hide Apche (httpd) version number and other information. There are two config directives that controls Apache version. The ServerSignature directive adds a line containing the Apache HTTP Server server version and the ServerName to any server-generated documents, such as error messages sent back to clients. ServerSignature is set to on by default. The ServerTokens directive controls whether Server response header field which is sent back to clients includes a description of the generic OS-type of the server as well as information about compiled-in modules. By setting this to Prod you only displays back Apache as server name and no version number displayed back.

Open your httpd.conf file using text editor such as vi:
vi httpd.conf

Append/modify config directive as follows:
ServerSignature Off
ServerTokens Prod

Save and close the file. Restart Apache web server:
# /etc/init.d/httpd restart

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Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.

4 comment

  2. Hi,
    Good article thanks for that . but when I tried some like this
    ServerSignature Off
    ServerTokens Prod

    # /etc/init.d/httpd restart

    It is still showing as
    server:Apache
    before following the above procedure it used to show server version and some other details . I am able to hide , but I want to hide server:Apache also , any help will be great appreciation

    regards
    Verma

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