diff --git a/aidlc-docs/features/gitea-deployment-workflow/construction/u3-security-headers/code/generation-summary.md b/aidlc-docs/features/gitea-deployment-workflow/construction/u3-security-headers/code/generation-summary.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a716c2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aidlc-docs/features/gitea-deployment-workflow/construction/u3-security-headers/code/generation-summary.md
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+# Code Generation Summary — U3 HTTP Security Headers & CSP
+
+**Generated**: 2026-07-28
+**Verified**: `dotnet build SlpModularCms.sln -c Release` → **0 errors**; `dotnet test` → **315 passed, 0 failed** (baseline 253, so **+62**)
+
+---
+
+## Files Created
+
+| File | Purpose |
+|---|---|
+| `Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersOptions.cs` | `SecurityHeadersOptions` + `PathPolicyRule`. Defaults **are** the production values |
+| `Core/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyCatalog.cs` | `SecurityHeaderSet` record + the two policy definitions as a pure function |
+| `Core/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyProvider.cs` | `ICspPolicyProvider` + `FrozenDictionary`-backed implementation |
+| `Core/Hosting/Security/PathPolicyResolver.cs` | Ordered, segment-aware prefix matching |
+| `Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeaderWriter.cs` | **All decision logic**, static and dependency-free |
+| `Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersMiddleware.cs` | Glue: gate, resolve, register the response-start callback |
+| `Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersExtensions.cs` | `AddCmsSecurityHeaders` / `UseCmsSecurityHeaders` + startup logging |
+
+## Test Files Created
+
+| File | Tests | Covers |
+|---|---|---|
+| `Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeaderWriterTests.cs` | 20 | Per-header scoping, HSTS gating, never-overwrite, content-type parsing |
+| `Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyCatalogTests.cs` | 24 | Directive content, `script-src 'self'` under Strict, origin injection, unknown policy |
+| `Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/PathPolicyResolverTests.cs` | 15 | Segment matching, `/administrator` vs `/admin`, first-match-wins, normalisation |
+| `Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersOptionsValidationTests.cs` | 15 | `ValidateOnStart` through a real container |
+
+## Files Modified
+
+| File | Change |
+|---|---|
+| `Api/Program.cs` | `AddCmsSecurityHeaders`; `UseCmsSecurityHeaders` first inside `UseExceptionHandler` |
+| `Api.Slave/Program.cs` | Same. The slave serves `/api/v1` and `/health` and is reached during diagnosis |
+| `Api/appsettings.json` | `SecurityHeaders` section — three strict prefixes |
+| `Api.Slave/appsettings.json` | `SecurityHeaders` section — two strict prefixes (no `/admin` there) |
+
+---
+
+## Business Rule Coverage
+
+| Rule | Where | Test |
+|---|---|---|
+| BR-U3-01 `nosniff` on every response | `SecurityHeaderWriter.Apply` | `Apply_ShouldWriteNosniff_ForAScriptFile` |
+| BR-U3-02 HSTS except in Development | `sendHsts` parameter | `Apply_ShouldSkipHsts_WhenSendHstsIsFalse` |
+| BR-U3-03 CSP/Frame/Referrer on HTML only | `IsHtml` early return | `Apply_ShouldWriteOnlyAlwaysHeaders_ForNonHtmlResponses` |
+| BR-U3-04 never overwrite | `TryAdd` | `Apply_ShouldNotOverwrite_HeadersAlreadyPresent` |
+| BR-U3-05 write at response start | `Response.OnStarting` | Carried to Build and Test |
+| BR-U3-06 before static files | `Program.cs` position | Carried to Build and Test |
+| BR-U3-07 never throw per request | catch-and-log in the callback | Carried to Build and Test |
+| BR-U3-08 all but HSTS in Development | `sendHsts: false` path | `Apply_ShouldSkipHsts_WhenSendHstsIsFalse` |
+| BR-U3-09 headers on error responses | inside `UseExceptionHandler` | Carried to Build and Test |
+| BR-U3-10…12 two policies, config mapping | `CspPolicyCatalog`, `PathPolicyResolver` | Catalog + resolver suites |
+| BR-U3-13 `script-src 'self'` under Strict | `CspPolicyCatalog.Build` | `Strict_ShouldNotAllowInlineOrEvalScript` |
+| BR-U3-14 `style-src 'unsafe-inline'` | `CspPolicyCatalog.Build` | `Strict_ShouldAllowInlineStyle_ButOnlyStyle` |
+| BR-U3-15, BR-U3-16 relaxed is enforcing, no external script | `CspPolicyCatalog.Build` | `Relaxed_ShouldNotPermitExternalScriptOrigins_ByDefault` |
+| BR-U3-17 `object-src`/`base-uri` | `CspPolicyCatalog.Build` | `BothPolicies_ShouldBlockPluginsAndBaseTagInjection` |
+| BR-U3-18 composed once | `FrozenDictionary` in the constructor | `Provider_ShouldComposeBothPolicies_WithNoOriginsConfigured` |
+| BR-U3-19 frame options per policy | `CspPolicyCatalog.Build` | `Strict_ShouldDenyFramingEntirely`, `Relaxed_ShouldAllowSameOriginFraming_…` |
+| BR-U3-20 unknown name fatal | `ValidateOnStart` | `Validation_ShouldFail_ForAnUnknownPolicyNameInPathPolicies` |
+| BR-U3-21 empty origin lists valid | `Join` returns the base list | `Validation_ShouldPass_WithNoConfigurationAtAll` |
+| BR-U3-22 Umami origin warning | **Withdrawn — REF-U3-01**, moved to the U5 CI gate | n/a |
+| BR-U3-23 log permitted origins | `UseCmsSecurityHeaders` | Carried to Build and Test |
+| BR-U3-24 disable logs a warning | `UseCmsSecurityHeaders` | Carried to Build and Test |
+
+---
+
+## Deviations and Additions
+
+**One rule withdrawn, one check added.** REF-U3-01 (raised at NFR Design): BR-U3-22's Umami-origin startup warning is not implementable, because the backend never sees `VITE_UMAMI_WEBSITE_ID`. Replaced by a blocking U5 CI gate. Nothing in the generated code attempts it.
+
+**Origin format validation added beyond the functional design.** `AllowedScriptOrigins` and `AllowedConnectOrigins` are validated at startup to be scheme-and-host without a path. A CSP source list silently ignores a malformed source, so `https://analytics.example.com/script.js` in configuration would produce a policy that looks configured and blocks the script anyway. Caught at startup instead.
+
+---
+
+## Carried to Phase-Level Build and Test
+
+Everything below needs a real response feature or a running host — `DefaultHttpContext.Response.OnStarting` is a no-op, so none of it can be asserted in a unit test without asserting the wrong thing:
+
+| Behaviour | Why it matters |
+|---|---|
+| Headers present on a **static website asset** | Verifies the registration sits before `UseCmsStaticContent`. A misordered registration compiles, starts, passes all 315 tests and serves the entire website with no CSP |
+| Headers present on the availability gate's **503** and on an unhandled-exception **ProblemDetails** | Verifies the position inside `UseExceptionHandler` (BR-U3-09) |
+| `/admin/dashboard` gets `DENY`, `/` gets `SAMEORIGIN` | End-to-end policy selection |
+| `/admin/assets/*.js` gets only `nosniff` + HSTS | Content-type scoping against real static-file responses |
+| Startup log lines for permitted origins and for `Enabled: false` | BR-U3-23, BR-U3-24 |
+| Both hosts start with the new section present | `ValidateOnStart` against the committed `appsettings.json` |
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Api.Slave/Program.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Api.Slave/Program.cs
index 9b65f9c..d544d94 100644
--- a/src/SlpModularCms.Api.Slave/Program.cs
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Api.Slave/Program.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 using SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting;
 using SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Health;
+using SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
 using Scalar.AspNetCore;
 
 var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
@@ -18,6 +19,11 @@ builder.Services.AddCmsCors(builder.Configuration);
 builder.Services.AddCmsRateLimiting(builder.Configuration);
 builder.Services.AddCmsHealthChecks();
 
+// This host serves no admin SPA and no public website, but it does serve /api/v1 and /health
+// and it will be reached directly during diagnosis. There is no reason for it to be the one
+// host without nosniff and HSTS. The path rules that do not apply here simply never match.
+builder.Services.AddCmsSecurityHeaders(builder.Configuration);
+
 // Registered BEFORE module services — see the note in DataProtectionExtensions.
 builder.Services.AddCmsDataProtection();
 
@@ -43,6 +49,10 @@ app.MigrateCoreDatabase();
 // 5. Global Exception Handling
 app.UseExceptionHandler();
 
+// First thing inside the exception handler, same as the master host, so error responses carry
+// the headers too.
+app.UseCmsSecurityHeaders();
+
 app.UseRateLimiter();
 
 // 6. Configure Pipeline
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Api.Slave/appsettings.json b/src/SlpModularCms.Api.Slave/appsettings.json
index 78ec923..78bd163 100644
--- a/src/SlpModularCms.Api.Slave/appsettings.json
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Api.Slave/appsettings.json
@@ -37,5 +37,15 @@
       "PermitLimit": 20,
       "WindowSeconds": 60
     }
+  },
+  "SecurityHeaders": {
+    "Enabled": true,
+    "DefaultPolicy": "Relaxed",
+    "PathPolicies": [
+      { "PathPrefix": "/api/v1", "Policy": "Strict" },
+      { "PathPrefix": "/health", "Policy": "Strict" }
+    ],
+    "AllowedScriptOrigins": [],
+    "AllowedConnectOrigins": []
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Api/Program.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Api/Program.cs
index 9002f43..6c1447e 100644
--- a/src/SlpModularCms.Api/Program.cs
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Api/Program.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 using SlpModularCms.Api.Extensions;
 using SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting;
 using SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Health;
+using SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
 using Scalar.AspNetCore;
 
 var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
@@ -18,6 +19,7 @@ builder.Services.AddCoreInfrastructure(builder.Configuration);
 builder.Services.AddCmsCors(builder.Configuration);
 builder.Services.AddCmsRateLimiting(builder.Configuration);
 builder.Services.AddCmsHealthChecks();
+builder.Services.AddCmsSecurityHeaders(builder.Configuration);
 
 // Registered BEFORE module services: modules must not configure Data Protection themselves,
 // because a later registration would override this persistent key store (see
@@ -50,6 +52,13 @@ app.MigrateCoreDatabase();
 // 5. Global Exception Handling
 app.UseExceptionHandler();
 
+// First thing INSIDE the exception handler, and before the static-file middleware below.
+// Both directions matter: the exception handler re-executes the pipeline from within itself,
+// so anything registered outside it never sees the ProblemDetails response; and static files
+// short-circuit the pipeline, so anything after them is invisible to the public website —
+// which is almost all of the HTML this host serves.
+app.UseCmsSecurityHeaders();
+
 app.UseRateLimiter();
 
 // 6. Configure Pipeline
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Api/appsettings.json b/src/SlpModularCms.Api/appsettings.json
index 4d7a6a8..2ffd1f6 100644
--- a/src/SlpModularCms.Api/appsettings.json
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Api/appsettings.json
@@ -42,5 +42,16 @@
       "PermitLimit": 20,
       "WindowSeconds": 60
     }
+  },
+  "SecurityHeaders": {
+    "Enabled": true,
+    "DefaultPolicy": "Relaxed",
+    "PathPolicies": [
+      { "PathPrefix": "/admin", "Policy": "Strict" },
+      { "PathPrefix": "/api/v1", "Policy": "Strict" },
+      { "PathPrefix": "/health", "Policy": "Strict" }
+    ],
+    "AllowedScriptOrigins": [],
+    "AllowedConnectOrigins": []
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyCatalogTests.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyCatalogTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad95f53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyCatalogTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+using FluentAssertions;
+using SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+using Xunit;
+
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Tests.Hosting.Security;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Guards the content of the two policies.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// The strict policy's <c>script-src 'self'</c> is the directive that matters: relax it and the
+/// value of the whole policy collapses. It is asserted here rather than left as a default so
+/// that loosening it requires deleting a test that says why.
+/// </remarks>
+public class CspPolicyCatalogTests
+{
+    [Fact]
+    public void Strict_ShouldNotAllowInlineOrEvalScript()
+    {
+        var set = CspPolicyCatalog.Build(CspPolicyCatalog.Strict, [], []);
+
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("script-src 'self';");
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().NotContain("script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'");
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().NotContain("'unsafe-eval'");
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The one documented exception. Radix UI positions its overlays with inline style
+    /// ATTRIBUTES, which no nonce or hash variant can permit, so this cannot be tightened
+    /// without breaking the admin UI. Bounded to style-src: injected CSS cannot execute.
+    /// </summary>
+    [Fact]
+    public void Strict_ShouldAllowInlineStyle_ButOnlyStyle()
+    {
+        var set = CspPolicyCatalog.Build(CspPolicyCatalog.Strict, [], []);
+
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'");
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Strict_ShouldDenyFramingEntirely()
+    {
+        var set = CspPolicyCatalog.Build(CspPolicyCatalog.Strict, [], []);
+
+        set.FrameOptions.Should().Be("DENY");
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("frame-ancestors 'none'");
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Relaxed_ShouldAllowSameOriginFraming_SoACustomerCanEmbedTheirOwnPages()
+    {
+        var set = CspPolicyCatalog.Build(CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed, [], []);
+
+        set.FrameOptions.Should().Be("SAMEORIGIN");
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("frame-ancestors 'self'");
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// "Relaxed" must not mean "absent": a third-party script still requires its origin to be
+    /// added to configuration, which is what keeps the website policy from being a rubber stamp.
+    /// </summary>
+    [Fact]
+    public void Relaxed_ShouldNotPermitExternalScriptOrigins_ByDefault()
+    {
+        var set = CspPolicyCatalog.Build(CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed, [], []);
+
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';");
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().NotContain("https://");
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Relaxed_ShouldAddConfiguredScriptOrigins()
+    {
+        var set = CspPolicyCatalog.Build(
+            CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed,
+            ["https://analytics.example.com"],
+            []);
+
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://analytics.example.com;");
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Configured script origins must never reach the admin UI's policy.
+    /// </summary>
+    [Fact]
+    public void Strict_ShouldIgnoreConfiguredScriptOrigins()
+    {
+        var set = CspPolicyCatalog.Build(
+            CspPolicyCatalog.Strict,
+            ["https://analytics.example.com"],
+            []);
+
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().NotContain("analytics.example.com");
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData(CspPolicyCatalog.Strict)]
+    [InlineData(CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed)]
+    public void BothPolicies_ShouldAddConfiguredConnectOrigins(string policy)
+    {
+        var set = CspPolicyCatalog.Build(policy, [], ["https://api.example.com"]);
+
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("connect-src 'self' https://api.example.com;");
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData(CspPolicyCatalog.Strict)]
+    [InlineData(CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed)]
+    public void BothPolicies_ShouldBlockPluginsAndBaseTagInjection(string policy)
+    {
+        var set = CspPolicyCatalog.Build(policy, [], []);
+
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("object-src 'none'");
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("base-uri 'self'");
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Build_ShouldIgnoreBlankAndDuplicateOrigins()
+    {
+        var set = CspPolicyCatalog.Build(
+            CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed,
+            ["https://a.example.com/", "  ", "https://A.example.com"],
+            []);
+
+        set.ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://a.example.com;");
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Build_ShouldThrow_ForAnUnknownPolicy()
+    {
+        var act = () => CspPolicyCatalog.Build("Stricct", [], []);
+
+        act.Should().Throw<ArgumentException>();
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("Strict", true)]
+    [InlineData("strict", true)]
+    [InlineData("Relaxed", true)]
+    [InlineData("Stricct", false)]
+    [InlineData("", false)]
+    [InlineData(null, false)]
+    public void IsKnownPolicy_ShouldRecogniseOnlyTheTwoPolicies(string? policy, bool expected)
+    {
+        CspPolicyCatalog.IsKnownPolicy(policy).Should().Be(expected);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/PathPolicyResolverTests.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/PathPolicyResolverTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a4414c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/PathPolicyResolverTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+using FluentAssertions;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+using SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+using Xunit;
+
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Tests.Hosting.Security;
+
+public class PathPolicyResolverTests
+{
+    private static PathPolicyResolver CreateDefault() =>
+        new(Options.Create(new SecurityHeadersOptions()));
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("/admin")]
+    [InlineData("/admin/")]
+    [InlineData("/admin/dashboard")]
+    [InlineData("/ADMIN/dashboard")]
+    [InlineData("/api/v1/Users")]
+    [InlineData("/health")]
+    public void Resolve_ShouldReturnStrict_ForAdminApiAndHealth(string path)
+    {
+        CreateDefault().Resolve(new PathString(path)).Should().Be(CspPolicyCatalog.Strict);
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("/")]
+    [InlineData("/about")]
+    [InlineData("/assets/site.css")]
+    public void Resolve_ShouldReturnRelaxed_ForTheWebsite(string path)
+    {
+        CreateDefault().Resolve(new PathString(path)).Should().Be(CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The trap this resolver exists to avoid. <c>"/administrator".StartsWith("/admin")</c> is
+    /// true, so a naive prefix check would hand a public page the strict policy and strip its
+    /// inline scripts — a failure that appears only as a broken page and a browser console
+    /// error, with no server-side trace whatsoever.
+    /// </summary>
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("/administrator")]
+    [InlineData("/admin-tools")]
+    [InlineData("/administration/contact")]
+    [InlineData("/healthcheck")]
+    [InlineData("/api/v10/Users")]
+    public void Resolve_ShouldNotMatchPartialSegments(string path)
+    {
+        CreateDefault().Resolve(new PathString(path)).Should().Be(CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Rules are evaluated in configured order and the first match wins — not the longest
+    /// prefix. Order in configuration is therefore meaningful, and this asserts it rather than
+    /// leaving readers to infer it.
+    /// </summary>
+    [Fact]
+    public void Resolve_ShouldUseFirstMatch_NotLongestPrefix()
+    {
+        var resolver = new PathPolicyResolver(Options.Create(new SecurityHeadersOptions
+        {
+            DefaultPolicy = CspPolicyCatalog.Strict,
+            PathPolicies =
+            [
+                new PathPolicyRule { PathPrefix = "/admin", Policy = CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed },
+                new PathPolicyRule { PathPrefix = "/admin/preview", Policy = CspPolicyCatalog.Strict }
+            ]
+        }));
+
+        resolver.Resolve(new PathString("/admin/preview")).Should().Be(CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed);
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("admin")]
+    [InlineData("/admin/")]
+    [InlineData("  /admin  ")]
+    public void Resolve_ShouldNormalisePrefixShapes(string configuredPrefix)
+    {
+        var resolver = new PathPolicyResolver(Options.Create(new SecurityHeadersOptions
+        {
+            DefaultPolicy = CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed,
+            PathPolicies = [new PathPolicyRule { PathPrefix = configuredPrefix, Policy = CspPolicyCatalog.Strict }]
+        }));
+
+        resolver.Resolve(new PathString("/admin/dashboard")).Should().Be(CspPolicyCatalog.Strict);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Resolve_ShouldFallBackToDefault_WhenNoRulesAreConfigured()
+    {
+        var resolver = new PathPolicyResolver(Options.Create(new SecurityHeadersOptions
+        {
+            DefaultPolicy = CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed,
+            PathPolicies = []
+        }));
+
+        resolver.Resolve(new PathString("/admin/dashboard")).Should().Be(CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeaderWriterTests.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeaderWriterTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85d69c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeaderWriterTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+using FluentAssertions;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
+using SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+using Xunit;
+
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Tests.Hosting.Security;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Covers per-header scoping, HSTS gating and the never-overwrite rule.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Tested against a bare <see cref="HeaderDictionary"/> rather than through the middleware,
+/// because <c>DefaultHttpContext.Response.OnStarting</c> is a no-op: a middleware-level test
+/// would observe no headers at all and an assertion that nothing was written would pass for
+/// entirely the wrong reason.
+/// </remarks>
+public class SecurityHeaderWriterTests
+{
+    private static readonly SecurityHeaderSet StrictSet =
+        CspPolicyCatalog.Build(CspPolicyCatalog.Strict, [], []);
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("text/html")]
+    [InlineData("text/html; charset=utf-8")]
+    [InlineData("TEXT/HTML; charset=utf-8")]
+    public void Apply_ShouldWriteAllFiveHeaders_ForHtmlResponses(string contentType)
+    {
+        var headers = new HeaderDictionary();
+
+        SecurityHeaderWriter.Apply(headers, contentType, StrictSet, sendHsts: true);
+
+        headers[SecurityHeaderWriter.ContentTypeOptionsHeader].ToString().Should().Be("nosniff");
+        headers[SecurityHeaderWriter.StrictTransportSecurityHeader].ToString().Should().Be(SecurityHeaderWriter.HstsValue);
+        headers[SecurityHeaderWriter.ContentSecurityPolicyHeader].ToString().Should().Be(StrictSet.ContentSecurityPolicy);
+        headers[SecurityHeaderWriter.FrameOptionsHeader].ToString().Should().Be("DENY");
+        headers[SecurityHeaderWriter.ReferrerPolicyHeader].ToString().Should().Be(StrictSet.ReferrerPolicy);
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("application/json")]
+    [InlineData("text/javascript")]
+    [InlineData("image/png")]
+    [InlineData("application/xhtml+xml")]
+    [InlineData(null)]
+    [InlineData("")]
+    public void Apply_ShouldWriteOnlyAlwaysHeaders_ForNonHtmlResponses(string? contentType)
+    {
+        var headers = new HeaderDictionary();
+
+        SecurityHeaderWriter.Apply(headers, contentType, StrictSet, sendHsts: true);
+
+        headers.Should().ContainKey(SecurityHeaderWriter.ContentTypeOptionsHeader);
+        headers.Should().ContainKey(SecurityHeaderWriter.StrictTransportSecurityHeader);
+        headers.Should().NotContainKey(SecurityHeaderWriter.ContentSecurityPolicyHeader);
+        headers.Should().NotContainKey(SecurityHeaderWriter.FrameOptionsHeader);
+        headers.Should().NotContainKey(SecurityHeaderWriter.ReferrerPolicyHeader);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// nosniff must reach non-HTML responses in particular — that is the whole point of it.
+    /// </summary>
+    [Fact]
+    public void Apply_ShouldWriteNosniff_ForAScriptFile()
+    {
+        var headers = new HeaderDictionary();
+
+        SecurityHeaderWriter.Apply(headers, "text/javascript", StrictSet, sendHsts: false);
+
+        headers[SecurityHeaderWriter.ContentTypeOptionsHeader].ToString().Should().Be("nosniff");
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Apply_ShouldSkipHsts_WhenSendHstsIsFalse()
+    {
+        var headers = new HeaderDictionary();
+
+        SecurityHeaderWriter.Apply(headers, "text/html", StrictSet, sendHsts: false);
+
+        headers.Should().NotContainKey(SecurityHeaderWriter.StrictTransportSecurityHeader);
+        // Every other header still applies in Development, so a CSP violation surfaces there.
+        headers.Should().ContainKey(SecurityHeaderWriter.ContentSecurityPolicyHeader);
+        headers.Should().ContainKey(SecurityHeaderWriter.ContentTypeOptionsHeader);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Apply_ShouldNotOverwrite_HeadersAlreadyPresent()
+    {
+        var headers = new HeaderDictionary
+        {
+            [SecurityHeaderWriter.ReferrerPolicyHeader] = "no-referrer",
+            [SecurityHeaderWriter.FrameOptionsHeader] = "SAMEORIGIN",
+            [SecurityHeaderWriter.ContentTypeOptionsHeader] = "custom"
+        };
+
+        SecurityHeaderWriter.Apply(headers, "text/html", StrictSet, sendHsts: true);
+
+        headers[SecurityHeaderWriter.ReferrerPolicyHeader].ToString().Should().Be("no-referrer");
+        headers[SecurityHeaderWriter.FrameOptionsHeader].ToString().Should().Be("SAMEORIGIN");
+        headers[SecurityHeaderWriter.ContentTypeOptionsHeader].ToString().Should().Be("custom");
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Apply_ShouldUseOneYearHsts_WithSubdomains()
+    {
+        var headers = new HeaderDictionary();
+
+        SecurityHeaderWriter.Apply(headers, null, StrictSet, sendHsts: true);
+
+        headers[SecurityHeaderWriter.StrictTransportSecurityHeader].ToString()
+            .Should().Be("max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersOptionsValidationTests.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersOptionsValidationTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8fee0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core.Tests/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersOptionsValidationTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+using FluentAssertions;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+using SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+using Xunit;
+
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Tests.Hosting.Security;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// A typo in a path-policy mapping must stop a deployment, not quietly serve /admin under the
+/// relaxed policy. These tests drive the real options pipeline, because the guarantee comes
+/// from <c>ValidateOnStart</c> rather than from any code that could be tested in isolation.
+/// </summary>
+public class SecurityHeadersOptionsValidationTests
+{
+    private static IServiceProvider BuildProvider(Dictionary<string, string?> settings)
+    {
+        var configuration = new ConfigurationBuilder().AddInMemoryCollection(settings).Build();
+        var services = new ServiceCollection();
+        services.AddLogging();
+        services.AddCmsSecurityHeaders(configuration);
+        return services.BuildServiceProvider();
+    }
+
+    private static void Validate(IServiceProvider provider) =>
+        provider.GetRequiredService<IStartupValidator>().Validate();
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Validation_ShouldPass_WithNoConfigurationAtAll()
+    {
+        // The built-in defaults are the production values: an environment that supplies no
+        // SecurityHeaders section still gets Strict on /admin, /api/v1 and /health.
+        var provider = BuildProvider([]);
+
+        var act = () => Validate(provider);
+
+        act.Should().NotThrow();
+
+        var options = provider.GetRequiredService<IOptions<SecurityHeadersOptions>>().Value;
+        options.Enabled.Should().BeTrue();
+        options.DefaultPolicy.Should().Be(CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed);
+        options.PathPolicies.Should().HaveCount(3);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Validation_ShouldFail_ForAnUnknownPolicyNameInPathPolicies()
+    {
+        var provider = BuildProvider(new Dictionary<string, string?>
+        {
+            ["SecurityHeaders:PathPolicies:0:PathPrefix"] = "/admin",
+            ["SecurityHeaders:PathPolicies:0:Policy"] = "Stricct"
+        });
+
+        var act = () => Validate(provider);
+
+        act.Should().Throw<OptionsValidationException>()
+            .WithMessage("*unknown policy name*");
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Validation_ShouldFail_ForAnUnknownDefaultPolicy()
+    {
+        var provider = BuildProvider(new Dictionary<string, string?>
+        {
+            ["SecurityHeaders:DefaultPolicy"] = "Permissive"
+        });
+
+        var act = () => Validate(provider);
+
+        act.Should().Throw<OptionsValidationException>()
+            .WithMessage("*DefaultPolicy*");
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("analytics.example.com")]              // no scheme
+    [InlineData("https://analytics.example.com/script.js")] // has a path
+    [InlineData("htp://analytics.example.com")]        // typo in the scheme
+    public void Validation_ShouldFail_ForOriginsThatAreNotSchemeAndHost(string origin)
+    {
+        var provider = BuildProvider(new Dictionary<string, string?>
+        {
+            ["SecurityHeaders:AllowedScriptOrigins:0"] = origin
+        });
+
+        var act = () => Validate(provider);
+
+        act.Should().Throw<OptionsValidationException>()
+            .WithMessage("*origins must be absolute scheme-and-host*");
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("https://analytics.example.com")]
+    [InlineData("https://analytics.example.com/")]
+    [InlineData("http://localhost:3000")]
+    public void Validation_ShouldPass_ForValidOrigins(string origin)
+    {
+        var provider = BuildProvider(new Dictionary<string, string?>
+        {
+            ["SecurityHeaders:AllowedScriptOrigins:0"] = origin
+        });
+
+        var act = () => Validate(provider);
+
+        act.Should().NotThrow();
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Empty origin lists are a normal state; the policy is simply stricter.</summary>
+    [Fact]
+    public void Provider_ShouldComposeBothPolicies_WithNoOriginsConfigured()
+    {
+        var provider = BuildProvider([]);
+
+        var policyProvider = provider.GetRequiredService<ICspPolicyProvider>();
+
+        policyProvider.Get(CspPolicyCatalog.Strict).ContentSecurityPolicy.Should().Contain("script-src 'self';");
+        policyProvider.Get(CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed).FrameOptions.Should().Be("SAMEORIGIN");
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Provider_ShouldThrow_ForAnUnknownPolicyName()
+    {
+        var provider = BuildProvider([]);
+
+        var act = () => provider.GetRequiredService<ICspPolicyProvider>().Get("Stricct");
+
+        act.Should().Throw<ArgumentException>();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyCatalog.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyCatalog.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d81095
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyCatalog.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The three HTML-only header values belonging to one policy.
+/// </summary>
+public sealed record SecurityHeaderSet(
+    string ContentSecurityPolicy,
+    string FrameOptions,
+    string ReferrerPolicy);
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The two Content-Security-Policy definitions, in code rather than in configuration.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// A pure function of (policy name, origin lists) to a header set: no dependencies, no state,
+/// directly unit-testable. Configuration can misroute a path to the wrong policy — visible and
+/// recoverable — but cannot invent a policy that is subtly permissive.
+/// </remarks>
+public static class CspPolicyCatalog
+{
+    public const string Strict = "Strict";
+    public const string Relaxed = "Relaxed";
+
+    private const string ReferrerPolicyValue = "strict-origin-when-cross-origin";
+
+    public static IReadOnlyList<string> KnownPolicies { get; } = [Strict, Relaxed];
+
+    public static bool IsKnownPolicy(string? policy) =>
+        policy is not null &&
+        KnownPolicies.Any(known => known.Equals(policy, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Builds the header set for <paramref name="policy"/>.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <exception cref="ArgumentException">The policy name is not known. Callers reach this only
+    /// past startup validation, so it indicates a code defect rather than a configuration one.</exception>
+    public static SecurityHeaderSet Build(
+        string policy,
+        IEnumerable<string> allowedScriptOrigins,
+        IEnumerable<string> allowedConnectOrigins)
+    {
+        var connect = Join("'self'", allowedConnectOrigins);
+
+        if (Strict.Equals(policy, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
+        {
+            return new SecurityHeaderSet(
+                ContentSecurityPolicy: string.Join("; ",
+                    "default-src 'self'",
+                    // The directive that matters. No 'unsafe-inline' and no 'unsafe-eval':
+                    // relax this and the value of the whole policy collapses.
+                    "script-src 'self'",
+                    // The one exception, and it is unavoidable. Radix UI positions dropdowns,
+                    // dialogs and selects with inline style ATTRIBUTES whose values are
+                    // recomputed per click, viewport and scroll position. CSP nonces apply only
+                    // to <style> and <script> ELEMENTS; inline style attributes are outside
+                    // their scope entirely. The alternatives are 'unsafe-inline' or
+                    // 'unsafe-hashes' with a hash per exact value — and the values are dynamic,
+                    // so no finite set exists. Bounded to style-src: injected CSS can restyle a
+                    // page but cannot execute, because script-src 'self' still holds.
+                    "style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'",
+                    "img-src 'self' data:",
+                    "font-src 'self'",
+                    $"connect-src {connect}",
+                    "frame-ancestors 'none'",
+                    "base-uri 'self'",
+                    "form-action 'self'",
+                    "object-src 'none'"),
+                FrameOptions: "DENY",
+                ReferrerPolicy: ReferrerPolicyValue);
+        }
+
+        if (Relaxed.Equals(policy, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
+        {
+            return new SecurityHeaderSet(
+                ContentSecurityPolicy: string.Join("; ",
+                    "default-src 'self'",
+                    // The public website is authored elsewhere, by someone who has never seen
+                    // this policy. Inline script and style are permitted so a normal marketing
+                    // page is not broken by a policy its author never chose. External script
+                    // ORIGINS are still blocked — a third-party script requires adding its
+                    // origin to configuration, which keeps this from being a rubber stamp.
+                    //
+                    // Note: when a source list contains 'unsafe-inline', browsers honour it AND
+                    // the listed origins, so adding an origin does not disable inline scripts.
+                    $"script-src {Join("'self' 'unsafe-inline'", allowedScriptOrigins)}",
+                    "style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'",
+                    "img-src 'self' data: https:",
+                    "font-src 'self' data: https:",
+                    $"connect-src {connect}",
+                    "frame-src 'self' https:",
+                    "frame-ancestors 'self'",
+                    "base-uri 'self'",
+                    "object-src 'none'"),
+                // A customer embedding one of their own pages in an iframe on their own site is
+                // not broken by a policy they never chose. The admin UI keeps DENY.
+                FrameOptions: "SAMEORIGIN",
+                ReferrerPolicy: ReferrerPolicyValue);
+        }
+
+        throw new ArgumentException($"Unknown security policy '{policy}'.", nameof(policy));
+    }
+
+    private static string Join(string baseSources, IEnumerable<string> extraOrigins)
+    {
+        var extras = extraOrigins
+            .Where(origin => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(origin))
+            .Select(origin => origin.Trim().TrimEnd('/'))
+            .Distinct(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
+            .ToArray();
+
+        return extras.Length == 0 ? baseSources : $"{baseSources} {string.Join(' ', extras)}";
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyProvider.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyProvider.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c8a11a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/CspPolicyProvider.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+using System.Collections.Frozen;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+
+/// <summary>Supplies the precomposed header set for a policy name.</summary>
+public interface ICspPolicyProvider
+{
+    /// <summary>Returns the header set for <paramref name="policyName"/>.</summary>
+    SecurityHeaderSet Get(string policyName);
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Composes every known policy once, at startup, and serves them from a frozen dictionary.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Composing a CSP string per response would be wasteful on a workload that is mostly static
+/// files. There are two policies and they are read on every HTML response, which is exactly
+/// what <see cref="FrozenDictionary{TKey,TValue}"/> exists for.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class CspPolicyProvider : ICspPolicyProvider
+{
+    private readonly FrozenDictionary<string, SecurityHeaderSet> _policies;
+
+    public CspPolicyProvider(IOptions<SecurityHeadersOptions> options)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(options);
+        var value = options.Value;
+
+        _policies = CspPolicyCatalog.KnownPolicies
+            .ToFrozenDictionary(
+                policy => policy,
+                policy => CspPolicyCatalog.Build(policy, value.AllowedScriptOrigins, value.AllowedConnectOrigins),
+                StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+    }
+
+    public SecurityHeaderSet Get(string policyName) =>
+        _policies.TryGetValue(policyName, out var set)
+            ? set
+            // Unreachable past startup validation, which rejects unknown names before the host
+            // starts. Throwing rather than falling back keeps that guarantee honest: a silent
+            // fallback here would be either wrong or permissive, and would hide the fact that
+            // validation had been bypassed.
+            : throw new ArgumentException($"Unknown security policy '{policyName}'.", nameof(policyName));
+}
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/PathPolicyResolver.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/PathPolicyResolver.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64c7689
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/PathPolicyResolver.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Maps a request path to a policy name using the configured, ordered prefix rules.
+/// </summary>
+public sealed class PathPolicyResolver
+{
+    private readonly (PathString Prefix, string Policy)[] _rules;
+    private readonly string _defaultPolicy;
+
+    public PathPolicyResolver(IOptions<SecurityHeadersOptions> options)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(options);
+        var value = options.Value;
+
+        _rules = value.PathPolicies
+            .Where(rule => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(rule.PathPrefix))
+            .Select(rule => (Normalize(rule.PathPrefix), rule.Policy))
+            .ToArray();
+
+        _defaultPolicy = value.DefaultPolicy;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Returns the policy name for <paramref name="path"/>. First matching rule wins.
+    /// </summary>
+    public string Resolve(PathString path)
+    {
+        foreach (var (prefix, policy) in _rules)
+        {
+            // StartsWithSegments, never string.StartsWith: "/administrator".StartsWith("/admin")
+            // is true, so a future route named /admin-tools or a public page at /administration
+            // would silently inherit the strict policy and lose its inline scripts — a failure
+            // that shows up as a broken page with a browser console error and no server-side
+            // trace at all. StartsWithSegments compares whole path segments and does not match.
+            if (path.StartsWithSegments(prefix, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
+            {
+                return policy;
+            }
+        }
+
+        return _defaultPolicy;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Accepts "admin", "/admin" and "/admin/" alike. <see cref="PathString"/> requires a
+    /// leading slash and treats a trailing slash inconsistently across overloads, so the shape
+    /// is fixed once here rather than depended on per rule.
+    /// </summary>
+    private static PathString Normalize(string prefix)
+    {
+        var trimmed = prefix.Trim().TrimEnd('/');
+
+        if (trimmed.Length == 0)
+        {
+            return PathString.Empty;
+        }
+
+        return new PathString(trimmed.StartsWith('/') ? trimmed : "/" + trimmed);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeaderWriter.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeaderWriter.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..80a4cb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeaderWriter.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
+using Microsoft.Net.Http.Headers;
+
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Decides which security headers apply to a response and writes them.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// All of U3's decision logic lives here, in a static function over an
+/// <see cref="IHeaderDictionary"/>, deliberately: <c>DefaultHttpContext.Response.OnStarting</c>
+/// is a no-op — there is no response feature to trigger it — so a unit test that drives the
+/// middleware through a <c>DefaultHttpContext</c> finds no headers and looks like a bug. Worse,
+/// a test asserting that nothing was set passes for the wrong reason and keeps passing after
+/// the middleware is deleted. Testing this function directly against a bare
+/// <c>HeaderDictionary</c> avoids both, and leaves the middleware as glue whose only real risk
+/// is registration order.
+/// </remarks>
+public static class SecurityHeaderWriter
+{
+    public const string ContentTypeOptionsHeader = "X-Content-Type-Options";
+    public const string StrictTransportSecurityHeader = "Strict-Transport-Security";
+    public const string ContentSecurityPolicyHeader = "Content-Security-Policy";
+    public const string FrameOptionsHeader = "X-Frame-Options";
+    public const string ReferrerPolicyHeader = "Referrer-Policy";
+
+    /// <summary>One year, with subdomains — the value SECURITY-04 asks for.</summary>
+    public const string HstsValue = "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains";
+
+    private const string HtmlMediaType = "text/html";
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Applies the headers appropriate to this response.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="headers">Response headers, mutated in place.</param>
+    /// <param name="contentType">Raw <c>Content-Type</c>; null for bodyless responses.</param>
+    /// <param name="headerSet">The resolved policy's HTML-only header values.</param>
+    /// <param name="sendHsts">False in Development only; see <see cref="SecurityHeadersMiddleware"/>.</param>
+    public static void Apply(
+        IHeaderDictionary headers,
+        string? contentType,
+        SecurityHeaderSet headerSet,
+        bool sendHsts)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(headers);
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(headerSet);
+
+        // nosniff exists to stop a browser guessing the type of a NON-HTML resource — an
+        // uploaded .txt or .svg interpreted as HTML or JavaScript is the attack it prevents.
+        // Restricting it to HTML would remove it precisely where it does its job.
+        headers.TryAdd(ContentTypeOptionsHeader, "nosniff");
+
+        // A host-level transport directive rather than a page directive: a visitor whose first
+        // request is an asset would otherwise never receive it.
+        if (sendHsts)
+        {
+            headers.TryAdd(StrictTransportSecurityHeader, HstsValue);
+        }
+
+        // The remaining three govern documents and are meaningless on an image or a script
+        // file. A null content type — 304, redirect, empty body — is not HTML, which is what
+        // makes those cases fall out here instead of needing branches of their own.
+        if (!IsHtml(contentType))
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        headers.TryAdd(ContentSecurityPolicyHeader, headerSet.ContentSecurityPolicy);
+        headers.TryAdd(FrameOptionsHeader, headerSet.FrameOptions);
+        headers.TryAdd(ReferrerPolicyHeader, headerSet.ReferrerPolicy);
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// TryAdd, never the indexer: <c>headers["X-Frame-Options"] = value</c> overwrites, and a
+    /// component that deliberately set a header knows something this writer does not.
+    /// TryAdd is a no-op when the key exists, which is exactly the rule, and it states the
+    /// intent in the call rather than in a surrounding if.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static bool IsHtml(string? contentType)
+    {
+        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(contentType))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        // Parsed rather than matched with Contains("text/html"): the real header is
+        // "text/html; charset=utf-8", so a substring check happens to work — until something
+        // serves application/xhtml+xml or a type whose PARAMETER contains the string.
+        return MediaTypeHeaderValue.TryParse(contentType, out var parsed)
+               && parsed.MediaType.Equals(HtmlMediaType, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersExtensions.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersExtensions.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f7c388
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersExtensions.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+
+[ExcludeFromCodeCoverage]
+public static class SecurityHeadersExtensions
+{
+    public static IServiceCollection AddCmsSecurityHeaders(
+        this IServiceCollection services,
+        IConfiguration configuration)
+    {
+        services.AddOptions<SecurityHeadersOptions>()
+            .Bind(configuration.GetSection(SecurityHeadersOptions.SectionName))
+            .Validate(
+                options => options.PathPolicies.All(rule => CspPolicyCatalog.IsKnownPolicy(rule.Policy)),
+                $"SecurityHeaders:PathPolicies contains an unknown policy name. Known policies: {string.Join(", ", CspPolicyCatalog.KnownPolicies)}.")
+            .Validate(
+                options => CspPolicyCatalog.IsKnownPolicy(options.DefaultPolicy),
+                $"SecurityHeaders:DefaultPolicy is not a known policy. Known policies: {string.Join(", ", CspPolicyCatalog.KnownPolicies)}.")
+            .Validate(
+                options => options.AllowedScriptOrigins.Concat(options.AllowedConnectOrigins).All(IsOrigin),
+                "SecurityHeaders origins must be absolute scheme-and-host values without a path, e.g. https://analytics.example.com.")
+            // ValidateOnStart, not a constructor check: options resolve lazily, so without this
+            // a typo in PathPolicies is discovered when the first request arrives — by which
+            // time the deployment has been reported successful and /health is green. This
+            // registers a startup validator, so the process exits non-zero instead and the
+            // release switch is visibly broken. Fail closed (SECURITY-15): any fallback would
+            // be either wrong or silently permissive.
+            .ValidateOnStart();
+
+        services.AddSingleton<ICspPolicyProvider, CspPolicyProvider>();
+        services.AddSingleton<PathPolicyResolver>();
+
+        return services;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Registers the security headers middleware.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <b>Position matters in both directions.</b> Call this first inside
+    /// <c>UseExceptionHandler()</c>: the exception handler re-executes the pipeline from inside
+    /// itself, so middleware registered outside it never observes the ProblemDetails response.
+    /// And call it BEFORE <c>UseCmsStaticContent()</c>, because static-file middleware
+    /// terminates the request — anything after it is invisible to the public website, which is
+    /// almost all of the HTML this host serves.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public static IApplicationBuilder UseCmsSecurityHeaders(this IApplicationBuilder app)
+    {
+        var options = app.ApplicationServices.GetRequiredService<IOptions<SecurityHeadersOptions>>().Value;
+        var logger = app.ApplicationServices
+            .GetRequiredService<ILoggerFactory>()
+            .CreateLogger(typeof(SecurityHeadersExtensions).FullName!);
+
+        if (!options.Enabled)
+        {
+            // A diagnostic escape hatch is worth having, but silently disabled security headers
+            // are worse than none at all, so switching them off announces itself.
+            logger.LogWarning(
+                "HTTP security headers are DISABLED by configuration (SecurityHeaders:Enabled = false). " +
+                "No CSP, HSTS, nosniff, frame or referrer headers will be sent.");
+            return app;
+        }
+
+        // Records what was actually permitted, so the log answers the question later rather
+        // than requiring someone to reconstruct it from the deployed appsettings.
+        logger.LogInformation(
+            "HTTP security headers enabled. Default policy: {DefaultPolicy}. Path policies: {PathPolicies}. " +
+            "Allowed script origins: {ScriptOrigins}. Allowed connect origins: {ConnectOrigins}.",
+            options.DefaultPolicy,
+            string.Join(", ", options.PathPolicies.Select(rule => $"{rule.PathPrefix} => {rule.Policy}")),
+            Describe(options.AllowedScriptOrigins),
+            Describe(options.AllowedConnectOrigins));
+
+        return app.UseMiddleware<SecurityHeadersMiddleware>();
+    }
+
+    private static string Describe(ICollection<string> origins) =>
+        origins.Count == 0 ? "(none)" : string.Join(", ", origins);
+
+    private static bool IsOrigin(string origin) =>
+        !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(origin)
+        && Uri.TryCreate(origin.TrimEnd('/'), UriKind.Absolute, out var uri)
+        && (uri.Scheme == Uri.UriSchemeHttps || uri.Scheme == Uri.UriSchemeHttp)
+        && uri.AbsolutePath == "/"
+        && string.IsNullOrEmpty(uri.Query);
+}
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersMiddleware.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersMiddleware.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8ced7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersMiddleware.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Emits the HTTP security headers that a reverse proxy would normally supply.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// NFR-01 forbids depending on server configuration, so the application must send these itself.
+/// That changes the failure mode: a bad nginx config fails loudly at reload, whereas a
+/// middleware that never runs sends nothing and says nothing — which is why registration order
+/// is asserted by an integration test rather than trusted to the comment at the call site.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class SecurityHeadersMiddleware
+{
+    private readonly RequestDelegate _next;
+    private readonly ICspPolicyProvider _policyProvider;
+    private readonly PathPolicyResolver _resolver;
+    private readonly ILogger<SecurityHeadersMiddleware> _logger;
+    private readonly bool _enabled;
+    private readonly bool _sendHsts;
+
+    public SecurityHeadersMiddleware(
+        RequestDelegate next,
+        IOptions<SecurityHeadersOptions> options,
+        ICspPolicyProvider policyProvider,
+        PathPolicyResolver resolver,
+        IHostEnvironment environment,
+        ILogger<SecurityHeadersMiddleware> logger)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(options);
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(environment);
+
+        _next = next;
+        _policyProvider = policyProvider;
+        _resolver = resolver;
+        _logger = logger;
+        _enabled = options.Value.Enabled;
+
+        // Browsers remember HSTS per host for a long time, and localhost is shared with every
+        // other local project — sending it during development would affect unrelated work and
+        // is awkward to undo. Every OTHER header does apply in Development, so a CSP violation
+        // surfaces while developing rather than in production.
+        //
+        // Resolved once here rather than per response: EnvironmentName cannot change while the
+        // process runs, and this middleware sees every static asset the website serves.
+        _sendHsts = !environment.IsDevelopment();
+    }
+
+    public async Task InvokeAsync(HttpContext context)
+    {
+        if (!_enabled)
+        {
+            await _next(context);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        // The policy is resolved on the way in, from the path; the headers are written at
+        // response start, because the content type — which decides whether the HTML-only
+        // headers apply — is not known any earlier. Doing both at response start would repeat
+        // path matching on every static asset.
+        var headerSet = _policyProvider.Get(_resolver.Resolve(context.Request.Path));
+
+        // The (callback, state) overload with a cached static delegate. The lambda overload
+        // allocates a closure and a delegate on every response, including every static asset of
+        // the public website — the bulk of the traffic in this hosting model.
+        context.Response.OnStarting(
+            WriteHeadersCallback,
+            new HeaderWriteState(context.Response, headerSet, _sendHsts, _logger));
+
+        await _next(context);
+    }
+
+    private static readonly Func<object, Task> WriteHeadersCallback = static state =>
+    {
+        var s = (HeaderWriteState)state;
+
+        try
+        {
+            SecurityHeaderWriter.Apply(s.Response.Headers, s.Response.ContentType, s.HeaderSet, s.SendHsts);
+        }
+        catch (Exception ex)
+        {
+            // Deliberately the one place in this unit that swallows. An exception thrown from an
+            // OnStarting callback surfaces after the response has begun — too late for the
+            // exception handler — and produces a truncated or malformed response instead of a
+            // diagnosable error. Startup validation is what keeps this catch honest: by the time
+            // a request arrives the configuration is already known good, so anything reaching
+            // here is a code defect and belongs in the log.
+            s.Logger.LogError(ex, "Failed to apply security headers to the response.");
+        }
+
+        return Task.CompletedTask;
+    };
+
+    private sealed record HeaderWriteState(
+        HttpResponse Response,
+        SecurityHeaderSet HeaderSet,
+        bool SendHsts,
+        ILogger Logger);
+}
diff --git a/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersOptions.cs b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersOptions.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f1091f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SlpModularCms.Core/Hosting/Security/SecurityHeadersOptions.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+namespace SlpModularCms.Core.Hosting.Security;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Configuration for the HTTP security headers emitted by <see cref="SecurityHeadersMiddleware"/>.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// The split between this class and <see cref="CspPolicyCatalog"/> is deliberate: configuration
+/// decides WHERE a policy applies and WHICH external origins are permitted, while code decides
+/// WHAT a policy means. A misconfiguration can therefore misroute a path or omit an origin —
+/// both recoverable and both visible — but cannot produce a policy that is subtly wrong.
+///
+/// The defaults below are the production values. An environment that supplies no
+/// <c>SecurityHeaders</c> section at all still gets the strict policy on /admin, /api/v1 and
+/// /health and the relaxed policy elsewhere: omission cannot produce an unprotected host.
+///
+/// No secret belongs in this section — origins are public hostnames — so it is committed with
+/// real values per environment rather than supplied through environment variables (contrast
+/// D-16, which governs credentials).
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class SecurityHeadersOptions
+{
+    public const string SectionName = "SecurityHeaders";
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Diagnostic escape hatch. Disabling is logged as a warning at startup, because silently
+    /// disabled security headers are worse than none at all.
+    /// </summary>
+    public bool Enabled { get; set; } = true;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Policy applied when no <see cref="PathPolicies"/> prefix matches — the public website.
+    /// </summary>
+    public string DefaultPolicy { get; set; } = CspPolicyCatalog.Relaxed;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Ordered path-prefix to policy mapping. <b>First match wins</b>, not longest prefix, so
+    /// the order in configuration is meaningful.
+    /// </summary>
+    public IList<PathPolicyRule> PathPolicies { get; set; } =
+    [
+        new() { PathPrefix = "/admin", Policy = CspPolicyCatalog.Strict },
+        new() { PathPrefix = "/api/v1", Policy = CspPolicyCatalog.Strict },
+        new() { PathPrefix = "/health", Policy = CspPolicyCatalog.Strict }
+    ];
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Extra origins added to <c>script-src</c> under the relaxed policy — in practice the
+    /// Umami script host. Never added to the strict policy: the admin SPA must not load script
+    /// from anywhere but itself.
+    /// </summary>
+    public IList<string> AllowedScriptOrigins { get; set; } = [];
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Extra origins added to <c>connect-src</c> under both policies.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// No Sentry ingest origin is expected here: the Sentry tunnel keeps browser error
+    /// reporting same-origin, so <c>connect-src 'self'</c> already covers it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public IList<string> AllowedConnectOrigins { get; set; } = [];
+}
+
+/// <summary>One entry in <see cref="SecurityHeadersOptions.PathPolicies"/>.</summary>
+public sealed class PathPolicyRule
+{
+    /// <summary>Matched case-insensitively against whole leading path segments.</summary>
+    public string PathPrefix { get; set; } = string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>Must name a policy known to <see cref="CspPolicyCatalog"/>, or startup fails.</summary>
+    public string Policy { get; set; } = string.Empty;
+}