Security fix guide
HSTS max-age Too Short
HSTS header is present but max-age is under 1 year. Browsers will not cache the HTTPS preference long enough for reliable protection.
Issue ID: SEC-HSTS-002
Severity: low
Impact: Low
Effort: S
Use this article when
- You need deeper remediation guidance than the issue card can show.
- You want CMS-specific steps before handing the fix to a developer.
- You want a repeatable re-check path after shipping the change.
What this issue is
HSTS header is present but max-age is under 1 year. Browsers will not cache the HTTPS preference long enough for reliable protection.
Why it matters
HSTS header is present but max-age is under 1 year. Browsers will not cache the HTTPS preference long enough for reliable protection. This affects browser trust signals and whether visitors feel safe submitting contact details.
How we detect it
- FreeSiteAudit flags this issue when the rule for SEC-HSTS-002 fails and the page evidence points to Http headers.
- You can usually confirm this by checking the page source or the relevant page settings inside your CMS.
Evidence examples
Check the affected page source, rendered output, or relevant CMS setting to confirm the missing or incorrect element.
How to fix it
- 1Increase max-age to at least 31536000 (1 year)
- 2Example: Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
How to re-check it
- Check that max-age is at least 31536000
Related tools
This issue is best verified with the full FreeSiteAudit crawl rather than a single-point mini tool.