How to Check the Nginx Version: nginx -v, curl, apt, and Hiding the Version

The Nginx version comes up more often than expected: when searching CVEs, writing config syntax for a specific release, upgrading through the package manager, or diagnosing module incompatibility. There are several ways to find it — from a one-liner to reading HTTP response headers.

nginx -v: Short Form

The fastest command — version only, nothing else:

nginx -v

nginx version: nginx/1.24.0

nginx -V: Version Plus Build Parameters

Capital -V gives the full picture — version, compiler, build flags, and the list of compiled-in modules:

nginx -V

This matters when checking whether the installed nginx supports a specific module — for example --with-http_v2_module for HTTP/2 or --with-stream for TCP proxying.

apt / dpkg: Package Version

On Debian and Ubuntu, Nginx is installed through the package manager. The package version may differ from the binary version if nginx was updated manually.

Via apt:

apt show nginx

Via dpkg:

dpkg -l nginx

If nginx-full or nginx-extras is installed:

dpkg -l | grep nginx

On RHEL / CentOS / Rocky:

rpm -q nginx

curl: Version From HTTP Header

If nginx is running and accessible over the network — the version can be read from the response header:

curl -sI http://localhost | grep Server

Server: nginx/1.24.0

The -s flag suppresses the progress bar, -I requests headers only without the response body.

If the server listens on a non-standard port:

curl -sI http://localhost:8080 | grep Server

If the Server header is absent — server_tokens off is enabled. That is intentional version hiding for security. Use nginx -v instead.

systemctl status: Version in Service Output

The service status sometimes shows the version in the unit description:

systemctl status nginx

The version appears in the description line if the package was installed from the official nginx repository. On some distributions this information is not in the status — use nginx -v in that case.

What Version Is Available for Update

Check currently installed and latest available version:

apt list --installed nginx 2>/dev/null
apt list --upgradable 2>/dev/null | grep nginx

If the second command returns a line with nginx — an update is available.

Hiding the Nginx Version

A visible version number in the Server header is a security minus — an attacker immediately knows what to look for in the CVE database. Hide it via config.

Open /etc/nginx/nginx.conf, add inside the http block:

server_tokens off;

Reload the config:

sudo nginx -s reload

After this the Server header returns just nginx with no version number.

Quick Reference