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Security report for readthedocs.io

Read the Docs, Inc · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

66/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

Read the Docs, Inc operates a documentation building and hosting platform primarily targeting developers. The platform offers features such as versioned documentation, integrated search, and pull request previews, positioning itself as a key player in the developer tools market. The website content is professional and clearly communicates the business purpose, catering to a technical audience. The technical infrastructure is based on the Pelican static site generator and utilizes modern web technologies including Font Awesome icons and social media meta tags, indicating a moderate level of digital maturity. However, the absence of visible security headers and privacy policies suggests room for improvement in security and compliance practices. Overall, the website is accessible and functional with good content quality but lacks some critical security and privacy features. Strategic recommendations include implementing comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, enhancing security headers, and providing clear contact information for incident response. These improvements will strengthen trust and compliance, supporting the company’s market position and user confidence.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of readthedocs.io. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

6 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
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  • Security score drift

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
65
Security headers
25
Email security
75
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
66

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Read the Docs serves a niche market of developers needing documentation hosting and building services. Its business model revolves around platform-as-a-service offerings with key features that support software development workflows. The company appears to have a medium-sized operation with consistent branding and a focus on technology sector clients. The lack of explicit contact details and privacy documentation may limit trust for some users. The platform’s integration with developer tools and version control systems likely provides competitive advantages. Growth potential exists through enhanced security posture and compliance adherence, which are increasingly important in the technology sector. Partnerships or subsidiaries were not identified in the provided data, suggesting a focused operational scope.

Security posture

The security posture of the website is moderate but incomplete. While HTTPS is presumably enabled (inferred from the URL scheme), no explicit security headers were detected in the provided content. There is no evidence of security or incident response policies, vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, or security.txt files. The absence of privacy and cookie policies further indicates compliance gaps, particularly with GDPR and related regulations. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were identified, but the lack of visible security best practices suggests potential risks. The company should prioritize implementing standard security headers, publishing clear privacy and security policies, and establishing incident response contact channels to enhance security maturity and reduce risk exposure.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to improve compliance and user trust.
  2. Add standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance security posture.
  3. Provide clear contact information including security and incident response email addresses to facilitate vulnerability reporting and incident management.
  4. Conduct a security audit to identify and remediate any potential vulnerabilities or outdated libraries.
  5. Develop a long-term security strategy including regular policy updates, staff training, and compliance monitoring.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Read the Docs, Inc
Description
Read the Docs is a documentation building and hosting platform aimed at helping developers creating documentation from code with versioned documentation, integrated search, pull request previews and more.
Key services
documentation building, documentation hosting, versioned documentation, integrated search, pull request previews
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Pelican static site generator, Font Awesome 6 Pro, Open Graph meta tags, Twitter Cards, Atom feed
Frameworks
Pelican
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is a documentation platform targeting developers.
  2. Content is professional and relevant to the business.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in the provided HTML snippet.
  4. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies explicitly found in the provided content.
  5. No security or incident response policies or contacts found.
  6. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  7. WHOIS data is unavailable for the subdomain, which is expected.
  8. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected.
  9. No advertising or tracking scripts detected in the provided content.
  10. Good use of meta tags for SEO and social media sharing.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses the Pelican static site generator, which is suitable for documentation sites and supports good performance and SEO. The inclusion of Font Awesome Pro icons indicates attention to design quality. Meta tags for Open Graph and Twitter Cards are well implemented, supporting social media sharing. However, no CMS or hosting provider details were identified. Performance appears moderate with good mobile optimization and basic accessibility features. The site could benefit from enhanced accessibility compliance and performance optimizations. Technical debt is not evident from the provided data, but the lack of security headers and privacy mechanisms suggests areas for modernization and risk mitigation.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 66/100Medium32 findingsView report
  2. 66/100 +2Medium31 findingsView report
  3. 64/100Medium27 findingsView report
  4. 64/100Medium27 findingsView report
  5. 64/100Medium27 findingsView report
  6. 64/100Medium27 findingsView report
  7. 64/100Medium27 findingsView report
  8. 64/100Medium27 findingsView report
  9. 64/100Medium27 findingsView report
  10. 64/100Medium27 findingsView report
  11. 64/100Medium27 findingsView report
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