---
title: "WEB-NGX-003 nginx Allows TLS 1.0 or 1.1"
canonical: https://openvapt.com/checks/WEB-NGX-003.html
html: https://openvapt.com/checks/WEB-NGX-003.html
site: OpenVAPT, https://openvapt.com/
license: OpenVAPT Source-Available Licence 1.3, https://openvapt.com/legal/licence-text.html
modified: 2026-10-14
version: 0.1.0-alpha.6
---

# WEB-NGX-003 nginx Allows TLS 1.0 or 1.1

ssl_protocols lists SSLv3, TLSv1 or TLSv1.1, or is not set on a TLS-enabled server, so the allowed version depends on the nginx build.

- Domain: Web Apps
- Severity: High
- Control category: Cryptography and TLS
- Fix effort: low
- CVSS v3.1 vector: `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`
- CIS Controls v8: 3.10
- NIST CSF 2.0: PR.DS-02
- CWE: CWE-326, CWE-327
- OWASP Top 10 2021: A02:2021
- OWASP ASVS 4.0.3: 9.1.3
- OWASP WSTG v4.2: WSTG-CRYP-01
- NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: SC-8, SC-13
- Benchmark topic: TLS protocol versions (topic only, no benchmark text)

## Why It Matters

TLS 1.0 and 1.1 are deprecated by RFC 8996 and lack the protections of TLS 1.2 and 1.3. Clients that negotiate them are exposed to downgrade and known cipher weaknesses. The directive is not the last word: nginx uses the system OpenSSL, and when its configuration already sets a floor of TLS 1.2 (MinProtocol in openssl.cnf on Debian 12 and Ubuntu 22.04 and later, or a crypto policy of DEFAULT, FUTURE or FIPS on the RHEL family) the old versions cannot be negotiated whatever the directive lists. In that case the check reports Pass and names the floor, because rating a server High for a line that has no effect would contradict the live handshake checks (WEB-TLS). The directive is still worth tidying so the configuration says what it does.

## How It Detects

Skipped when no server block is served over TLS (no ssl_certificate and no listen ... ssl). Otherwise reads every ssl_protocols directive in the nginx configuration tree. Any listed version below TLSv1.2 fails, unless /etc/crypto-policies/config or openssl.cnf (with its .include files) shows the system library already refuses TLS 1.0 and 1.1, in which case the result is Pass with the floor as evidence. When no ssl_protocols is set and the floor is unknown, the result is Incomplete because the default changed between nginx releases.

## How to Fix

Set  ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;  in the http block (the Mozilla intermediate profile), run nginx -t and reload.

## How to Verify

```
openssl s_client -connect 127.0.0.1:443 -servername <site> -tls1_1  should fail to connect.
```

## Learn the Theory

- [P18 Web Server Hardening: nginx and Apache](https://openvapt.com/academy/p18.md)

## References

- [nginx documentation, ngx_http_ssl_module](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_ssl_module.html)
- [Mozilla, Server Side TLS guidelines](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Server_Side_TLS)
- [NIST SP 800-52 Rev. 2, Guidelines for TLS Implementations](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/52/r2/final)
- [RFC 8996, Deprecating TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8996.html)
- [OpenSSL, config(5): system default TLS settings (MinProtocol)](https://docs.openssl.org/3.0/man5/config/)

## Source Code

https://github.com/OpenVAPT/openvapt/blob/574f7f3333c44b75a3c649e2d93a76d507f75adf/internal/checks/web/serverconf.go

Run it: `openvapt scan --only WEB-NGX-003`. Read it offline: `openvapt explain WEB-NGX-003`.

---

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