http-host-header-attacks

A guide to abusing the HTTP Host header, the part of a web request that names the requested website. It covers cases where an application trusts that value for links, routing, caching, or access checks.

In plain words
What is it for?
It helps test Host-header handling for password-reset poisoning, web-cache poisoning, server-side request forgery, open redirects, and virtual-host bypasses.
Why use it?
If the Host header is trusted without proper validation, an attacker may influence password-reset links, cached content, internal routing, or virtual-host access. The guide explains these attack paths and related bypasses.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/yaklang/hack-skills/http-host-header-attacks
Any agent
npx skills add yaklang/hack-skills --skill http-host-header-attacks
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/yaklang/hack-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 54 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,899 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan B 1 finding. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00054 $0.02899
Opus 5 $0.00027 $0.01450
Sonnet 5 $0.00011 $0.00580
Haiku 4.5 $0.00005 $0.00290

Measured 3d ago against content hash 4c0e5b2b2e3a, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

http-host-header-attacks scanned grade B with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 3d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Cloud metadata endpointmediumServer-side request forgery

One request to 169.254.169.254 can return temporary IAM credentials.

│ └── Host: 169.254.169.254 → cloud metadata?

Downgraded: this mod is about security review, or the phrase is quoted, so it is likely naming the pattern rather than instructing it.

Origin

Copies of this mod

2 near-identical copies found in the catalogue:

skills/http-host-header-attacks/SKILL.md · 324 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 324 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

SKILL: HTTP Host Header Attacks — Injection & Routing Abuse

AI LOAD INSTRUCTION: Covers Host header injection for password reset poisoning, cache poisoning, SSRF via routing, and virtual host bypass. Includes bypass techniques for Host validation and framework-specific behaviors. Base models often miss the double-Host trick, absolute-URI override, and connection-state attacks.


1. ATTACK SURFACE

The Host header is used by web applications and infrastructure for:

Usage Exploitation
URL generation (password reset links, email links) Inject attacker domain → user clicks link to attacker
Virtual host routing Spoof Host → access internal/admin vhost
Cache key component Inject different Host → poison cache for all users
Reverse proxy routing Host determines backend → SSRF to internal services
Access control decisions Host-based ACLs can be bypassed
Canonical URL / SEO redirects Host injection → open redirect

2. PASSWORD RESET POISONING

The most common and impactful Host header attack.

How It Works

1. Attacker requests password reset for [email protected]
2. Attacker modifies Host header in the reset request:
   POST /forgot-password HTTP/1.1
   Host: attacker.com    ← injected
   
   [email protected]

3. Server generates reset link using Host header value:
   "Click here to reset: https://attacker.com/reset?token=SECRET_TOKEN"

4. Victim receives email, clicks link → token sent to attacker
5. Attacker uses token on real target.com to reset password

Read the full file on GitHub · 324 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 3d ago First seen · 324 lines · 54 tokens per session scan B 4c0e5b2b2e3a

Subscribe to this mod's changes

http-host-header-attacks is a skill published in the GitHub repository yaklang/hack-skills (2,004 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 54 tokens to every session and 2,899 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (cloud metadata endpoint). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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