# BeaverCheck Audit Report — https://www.cnn.com **Date:** May 9, 2026 **URL:** https://www.cnn.com **Overall Grade:** C (75/100) **Report:** https://beavercheck.com/results/a2b40dd3-35e0-48f6-bac9-228dce79bcb2 ## Top Findings 1. **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — Security > Security Headers 2. **[CRITICAL]** HSTS header is missing — Security > Security Headers 3. **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — Security > Content Security Policy 4. **[CRITICAL]** Page weighs 27.9 MB (16.4 MB transferred) — Performance > Page Weight Budget 5. **[CRITICAL]** Missing attribute (WCAG 3.1.1) — Accessibility > Document Language --- ## Lighthouse Scores | Category | Score | |----------|-------| | Performance | 30 | | Accessibility | 96 | | Best Practices | 96 | | SEO | 85 | --- ## Security ### Security Headers (F — 10/100) *2 of 10 headers properly configured* - **[CRITICAL]** HSTS header is missing — Strict-Transport-Security forces browsers to use HTTPS, preventing downgrade attacks. Add the header with a max-age of at least 1 year. - **[WARNING]** X-Content-Type-Options header is missing — This header prevents MIME-type sniffing, which can lead to XSS attacks. Set it to 'nosniff'. - **[WARNING]** X-Frame-Options header is missing — This header prevents clickjacking by controlling who can embed your page in a frame. Set it to DENY or SAMEORIGIN. - **[WARNING]** Referrer-Policy header is missing — Controls how much referrer information is sent with requests. Set to 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin' or stricter. - **[WARNING]** Permissions-Policy header is missing — Controls which browser features (camera, microphone, geolocation) are allowed. Set it to restrict unused features. - **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — CSP is the most important header for preventing XSS attacks. See the CSP section for detailed analysis. - **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy header is missing — COOP isolates your browsing context, preventing cross-origin side-channel attacks. Set to 'same-origin'. - **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy header is missing — COEP prevents loading cross-origin resources without explicit permission. Required for SharedArrayBuffer and high-resolution timers. - **[PASS]** X-Powered-By header is not present - **[PASS]** Server header is not present - **[INFO]** Domain is not in the Chrome HSTS preload list (status: unknown) — Submit your domain to hstspreload.org to close the trust-on-first-use gap. Requires a preload-ready HSTS header (max-age=31536000+, includeSubDomains, preload). ### Content Security Policy (F — 0/100) *No enforcing CSP policy found* - **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — CSP is the most effective defense against XSS attacks. Add a Content-Security-Policy header to restrict resource loading. ### TLS & Certificates (A+ — 100/100) *TLS 1.3, 8 checks passed* - **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 is used - **[PASS]** Strong cipher suite is used - **[INFO]** HTTP/2 is not negotiated — HTTP/2 provides multiplexing and header compression for better performance. - **[PASS]** OCSP stapling enabled - **[PASS]** Certificate is valid (expires in 56 days) - **[PASS]** Certificate chain has 2 certificates - **[PASS]** Certificate uses modern signature algorithm - **[PASS]** Certificate covers 2 domain(s) - **[PASS]** Certificate is issued by a trusted CA ### Cookie Security (A — 85/100) *3 cookies analyzed, 6 checks passed* - **[PASS]** Cookie 'countryCode' has the Secure flag - **[WARNING]** Cookie 'countryCode' is missing the HttpOnly flag — Without HttpOnly, this cookie can be accessed by JavaScript, making it vulnerable to XSS-based theft. - **[PASS]** Cookie 'countryCode' has SameSite=None - **[PASS]** Cookie 'stateCode' has the Secure flag - **[WARNING]** Cookie 'stateCode' is missing the HttpOnly flag — Without HttpOnly, this cookie can be accessed by JavaScript, making it vulnerable to XSS-based theft. - **[PASS]** Cookie 'stateCode' has SameSite=None - **[PASS]** Cookie 'geoData' has the Secure flag - **[WARNING]** Cookie 'geoData' is missing the HttpOnly flag — Without HttpOnly, this cookie can be accessed by JavaScript, making it vulnerable to XSS-based theft. - **[PASS]** Cookie 'geoData' has SameSite=None ### Cookie Hygiene (A+ — 100/100) *All 3 cookie(s) pass hygiene checks* - **[PASS]** All 3 cookie(s) pass hygiene checks ### WAF / Bot Protection (B — 75/100) *No WAF detected via response headers* - **[INFO]** No WAF detected — Response headers don't match any known WAF or bot-management product. Sites exposed to abuse (login, signup, payment) typically benefit from a WAF such as Cloudflare, Akamai, AWS WAF, or Imperva. ### security.txt (C — 60/100) *No security.txt file found* - **[INFO]** No security.txt file found — security.txt (RFC 9116) provides a standardized way for security researchers to report vulnerabilities. Create one at /.well-known/security.txt with at least a Contact field. ### Cross-Origin Tab Safety (A+ — 100/100) *No new-tab links found -- no tabnabbing surface* - **[PASS]** No new-tab links present ### CSP Inline-Style Readiness (B — 90/100) *1 inline style attribute(s) detected* - **[INFO]** 1 inline style attribute(s) detected — Each `style=""` attribute forces `style-src 'unsafe-inline'` in any Content-Security-Policy, which negates most of CSP's XSS-mitigation value. 1 inline style(s) is low. Affected element types include: pre. Move styles to a stylesheet; use CSS custom properties for runtime-dynamic values; or adopt a nonce/hash CSP policy. Most teams take the stylesheet path because it's also a maintainability win. ### Trusted Types (XSS Sink Hardening) (A+ — 100/100) *No CSP header -- Trusted Types check is N/A* - **[PASS]** No CSP header found -- Trusted Types check is N/A ### Source Map Exposure (A+ — 100/100) *Source-map probe didn't run on this scan* - **[PASS]** Source-map probe didn't run on this scan ### HTML Version Disclosure (A+ — 100/100) *No software-version disclosures in HTML* - **[PASS]** No software-version disclosures in HTML ### Open Redirect Surface (A+ — 100/100) *No redirect-shaped query parameters in DOM links* - **[PASS]** No redirect-shaped query parameters in DOM links ### Subdomain Inventory Exposure (A+ — 100/100) *No risky subdomain names in certificate SANs* - **[PASS]** No risky subdomain names in certificate SANs --- ## Advanced Security ### Subresource Integrity (A+ — 100/100) *No external resources* - **[PASS]** No external resources to protect ### JS Library Vulnerabilities (A+ — 100/100) *No known vulnerabilities* - **[PASS]** No known JavaScript library vulnerabilities detected ### Information Leakage (A+ — 100/100) *No exposures* - **[INFO]** No security.txt found — Consider adding a security.txt at /.well-known/security.txt. - **[PASS]** No sensitive files exposed ### Email Security (F — 0/100) *no DMARC, no SPF* - **[WARNING]** No DMARC record found — Without DMARC, email receivers have no policy for handling authentication failures. Add a TXT record at _dmarc. starting with v=DMARC1. - **[WARNING]** No SPF record found — Without SPF (Sender Policy Framework), receivers can't tell which servers are authorized to send mail for your domain. Add a TXT record at the apex starting with v=spf1, ending in -all. - **[INFO]** No DKIM detected via common selectors — DKIM signs outbound mail to prove origin. We probed common selectors (default, google, selector1, etc.) without finding a record. If you use a non-standard selector, this is a false negative. - **[INFO]** MTA-STS not configured — MTA-STS forces inbound mail to use TLS, preventing downgrade attacks. Requires both a TXT record at _mta-sts. and a policy file at https://mta-sts./.well-known/mta-sts.txt. - **[INFO]** TLS-RPT not configured — TLS-RPT (RFC 8460) lets MTAs report TLS-handshake failures, so you can detect and fix MTA-STS misconfigurations. Add a TXT record at _smtp._tls.. - **[INFO]** BIMI not configured — BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) lets supporting clients (Gmail, Apple Mail, Yahoo) display your verified logo next to your messages. Optional but raises trust signals. Requires DMARC at p=quarantine or p=reject to be honored. ### API Surface (A+ — 100/100) *No API specs or GraphQL introspection found (probed 11 candidate path(s))* - **[PASS]** No API specs or GraphQL introspection found (probed 11 path(s)) ### Permissions-Policy (D — 40/100) *No header set* - **[WARNING]** No Permissions-Policy header — Consider adding a Permissions-Policy header to restrict browser feature access from embedded content. ### CORS Configuration (B — 80/100) *No CORS headers* - **[PASS]** No CORS headers present — secure default --- ## Performance ### Page Weight Budget (F — 0/100) *16.4 MB transferred, 140 requests* - **[CRITICAL]** Page weighs 27.9 MB (16.4 MB transferred) - **[WARNING]** JavaScript is 4.4 MB — consider code splitting or lazy loading — Large JavaScript bundles delay interactivity. Split code by route or defer non-critical scripts. - **[WARNING]** Images are 4.0 MB — compress or use modern formats — Convert images to WebP/AVIF and resize to display dimensions to reduce transfer size. - **[INFO]** Fonts are 298 KB — consider subsetting or using system fonts — Subset fonts to include only used characters, or switch to system font stacks. - **[WARNING]** 140 HTTP requests — consider bundling or reducing — Each request adds latency. Bundle small files, use sprites, or eliminate unnecessary requests. - **[INFO]** Estimated 3.4 g CO2 per page load ### Third-Party Impact (D — 50/100) *100% third-party, 0 ms blocking* - **[WARNING]** Third-party code accounts for 100% of page weight (16.4 MiB of 16.4 MiB) - **[PASS]** Third-party blocking time is low (0 ms) ### Text Compression (A+ — 100/100) *All text resources are compressed* - **[PASS]** All text resources are compressed ### Image Optimization (B — 75/100) *75 images, 0 KB saveable* - **[PASS]** All images are well-optimized ### JS Execution Cost (F — 20/100) *8072ms total JS execution* - **[WARNING]** https://edition.cnn.com/: 2852ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** Unattributable: 1244ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://registry.api.cnn.io/bundles/fave/boltPlaye...: 708ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://edition.cnn.com/media/sites/js/bundles/cnn...: 484ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://registry.api.cnn.io/bundles/fave/boltInsta...: 460ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** Third-party scripts: 8072ms (100% of total) ### Font Loading (A+ — 100/100) *4 fonts (298 KB)* - **[INFO]** 4 font(s) use font-display: swap (FOUT risk but functional) ### JS Bundles (F — 20/100) *27 scripts, 1.6 MB unused* - **[WARNING]** https://registry.api.cnn.io/bundles/fave/boltPlaye...: 437 KB unused (67%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://registry.api.cnn.io/bundles/fave/vendor-b9...: 256 KB unused (73%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://registry.api.cnn.io/bundles/fave/ui-34d81a...: 247 KB unused (11%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://js.stripe.com/v3: 169 KB unused (73%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://edition.cnn.com/media/sites/js/bundles/cnn...: 158 KB unused (74%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[INFO]** Total unused JavaScript: 1.6 MB ### Resource Caching (A+ — 100/100) *All resources properly cached* - **[PASS]** No caching issues found ### Critical Rendering Path (A+ — 100/100) *No render-blocking resources* - **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected ### Resource Hints (A+ — 100/100) *No optimization needed* - **[PASS]** No resource hint issues ### HTTP/3 (QUIC) (A+ — 100/100) *HTTP/3 advertised via Alt-Svc* - **[PASS]** HTTP/3 (QUIC) is supported — First-load mobile users on cellular networks see meaningful latency improvements with HTTP/3. The QUIC transport collapses TLS + TCP handshakes into one and recovers faster from packet loss. ### Compression Algorithm (C — 70/100) *Main response served uncompressed* - **[INFO]** Main HTML response has no Content-Encoding (uncompressed) — The main HTML document is served without compression. The Text Compression section above lists the broader picture; for the main response specifically, even gzip would shave ~70-80% off most text payloads. ### LCP Image Preload (A+ — 100/100) *LCP preload audit not available* - **[PASS]** LCP image preload audit not available for this scan ### Main HTML Cache-Control (A+ — 100/100) *Main HTML max-age=60 (≤ 5min) is appropriate* - **[PASS]** Main HTML max-age=60 (≤ 5min) is appropriate ### Server-Timing Observability (B — 85/100) *No Server-Timing header found* - **[INFO]** No Server-Timing header found — Server-Timing exposes backend timing breakdowns to browser DevTools (e.g., `db: 45ms; render: 120ms; cache: 2ms`). Useful for diagnosing slow pages without backend log access. Most modern frameworks (Next.js, Cloudflare Workers, Fastly) emit it automatically; absence on a managed platform usually means telemetry headers are stripped at the edge. ### Page Weight Inventory (F — 15/100) *140 resources · 16.4 MB · 1.6 MB savings available* - **[WARNING]** Page weight 16.4 MB exceeds 1 MB target by 15.4 MB - **[INFO]** ~1.6 MB of savings available - **[WARNING]** 139 third-party resources (100% of weight) - **[INFO]** 12 resources over 200KB ### Render-Blocking Resources (A+ — 100/100) *No render-blocking resources detected* - **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected in ### Third-Party Resources (A+ — 100/100) *No third-party resources detected* ### JavaScript Blocking (A — 90/100) *1 JS blocking issue(s) detected* - **[WARNING]** Total JS execution time is 8.1 s -- over the 3.5s budget — Total JavaScript execution (parse + compile + run) across all scripts exceeds 3.5 seconds. On low-end devices that becomes 7-15+ seconds and shows up directly in TBT and INP. Reduce by: tree-shaking unused dependencies, code-splitting (dynamic `import()`), removing or deferring third-party tracking, and replacing heavy frameworks where they're not needed. ### CSS Performance Depth (A+ — 100/100) *No CSS performance depth issues detected* - **[PASS]** No CSS performance depth issues detected --- ## Content Quality ### Links (A+ — 100/100) *No links to check.* - **[PASS]** No links found on the page ### Mixed Content (A+ — 100/100) *No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS.* - **[PASS]** No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS ### Open Graph (F — 0/100) *No Open Graph tags found — social sharing previews will be generic.* - **[WARNING]** No Open Graph meta tags found — Without og:title, og:description, and og:image, social media platforms will generate a generic preview when your page is shared. ### Structured Data (C — 40/100) *No structured data (JSON-LD) found.* - **[INFO]** No structured data (JSON-LD) found — Adding structured data helps search engines understand your content and can enable rich results. ### Rich Results Eligibility (C — 75/100) *No JSON-LD found -- no rich-result eligibility* - **[INFO]** No JSON-LD structured data on the page — No `