Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy header is set

Without Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy, a cross-origin page that your app opens (or that opens your app) can hold a reference to your window object. Spectre-class speculative-execution attacks use cross-origin window references and shared memory to read data across origin boundaries. CWE-1021 (Improper Restriction of Rendered UI Layers / Frame Hijacking) applies. OWASP A05 (Security Misconfiguration) flags missing isolation headers as a configuration gap. The absence of COOP also prevents the browser from enabling SharedArrayBuffer and high-resolution timers, which are required for performant web workers in security-sensitive contexts.

Set Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy in your Next.js headers config. Use same-origin-allow-popups if your app opens OAuth flows or payment windows; use same-origin for maximum isolation.

// next.config.js
module.exports = {
  async headers() {
    return [{
      source: '/(.*)',
      headers: [{
        key: 'Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy',
        value: 'same-origin-allow-popups'
      }]
    }]
  }
}

Verify OAuth popups still function after deploying — same-origin will break popup-based OAuth flows that communicate via window.opener. Switch to same-origin-allow-popups if you hit that issue.

• ID: coop-set

• Severity: medium

• What to look for: Check framework config, middleware, and deployment config for a Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy (COOP) header. Acceptable values: same-origin (strictest — isolates the window completely) or same-origin-allow-popups (allows OAuth popups, payment windows). COOP isolates the browsing context from cross-origin references, preventing Spectre-class side-channel data leaks.

• Pass criteria: COOP header is set to same-origin or same-origin-allow-popups — at least 1 location must configure it. Quote the actual header value and count all locations where COOP is configured (framework config, middleware, deployment config).

• Fail criteria: No COOP header configured, or COOP is set to unsafe-none (the default, provides no protection).

• Do NOT pass when: COOP is set to unsafe-none — this is the browser default and provides no protection.

• Skip (N/A) when: Project is an API-only service with no browser-facing pages.

• Detail on fail: "No Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy header configured — window is not isolated from cross-origin references" or "COOP set to unsafe-none — provides no Spectre-class protection"

• Remediation: COOP prevents cross-origin windows from accessing your window object, mitigating Spectre-class attacks:

  // next.config.js
  headers: [{
    key: 'Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy',
    value: 'same-origin-allow-popups'
  }]
  

  Use same-origin-allow-popups if your app opens OAuth popups or payment windows. Use same-origin for maximum isolation if you don't need cross-origin popups.