diff --git a/.nvmrc b/.nvmrc
index 0719d81..02c8b48 100644
--- a/.nvmrc
+++ b/.nvmrc
@@ -1 +1 @@
-10.3.0
+18.18.0
diff --git a/lib/chitragupta/chitragupta.js b/lib/chitragupta/chitragupta.js
index b22c2fe..bf19f1e 100644
--- a/lib/chitragupta/chitragupta.js
+++ b/lib/chitragupta/chitragupta.js
@@ -105,4 +105,5 @@ module.exports = {
   getUniqueLogId,
   jsonLogFormatter,
   setMetaData,
+  extendSensitiveHeaders: util.extendSensitiveHeaders,
 };
diff --git a/lib/chitragupta/util.js b/lib/chitragupta/util.js
index 29f17ed..e97a45a 100644
--- a/lib/chitragupta/util.js
+++ b/lib/chitragupta/util.js
@@ -4,6 +4,45 @@ const formatVersions = require('./format_versions');
 const fieldLimits = require('./field_limits');
 const os = require('os');
 
+// Sensitive headers that must never reach the log sink as cleartext values.
+// Closes DATA-12974 (Authorization/Cookie/etc serialised verbatim) and weakens
+// DATA-13003/13004 chains by removing the secret material at the source.
+// Names are matched case-insensitively against the request header keys.
+const DEFAULT_SENSITIVE_HEADERS = new Set([
+  'authorization',
+  'cookie',
+  'set-cookie',
+  'x-api-key',
+  'x-auth-token',
+  'proxy-authorization',
+  'www-authenticate',
+]);
+
+const customSensitiveHeaders = new Set();
+
+function extendSensitiveHeaders(headerNames) {
+  if (!Array.isArray(headerNames)) return;
+  headerNames.forEach((h) => {
+    if (typeof h === 'string' && h.length) {
+      customSensitiveHeaders.add(h.toLowerCase());
+    }
+  });
+}
+
+function isSensitiveHeader(name) {
+  const lower = String(name).toLowerCase();
+  return DEFAULT_SENSITIVE_HEADERS.has(lower) || customSensitiveHeaders.has(lower);
+}
+
+function redactHeaders(headers) {
+  if (!headers || typeof headers !== 'object') return headers;
+  const out = {};
+  Object.keys(headers).forEach((key) => {
+    out[key] = isSensitiveHeader(key) ? '[REDACTED]' : headers[key];
+  });
+  return out;
+}
+
 function populateServerData(dataParam) {
   const data = dataParam;
   const request = cls.get('request');
@@ -17,7 +56,7 @@ function populateServerData(dataParam) {
   const indexOfQuestionMark = url.indexOf('?');
   let endpoint = '';
   let params = '';
-  let headers = JSON.stringify(request.headers);
+  let headers = JSON.stringify(redactHeaders(request.headers));
   if (indexOfQuestionMark > 0) {
     endpoint = url.slice(0, indexOfQuestionMark);
     params = url.slice(indexOfQuestionMark + 1);
@@ -40,7 +79,7 @@ function populateServerData(dataParam) {
     data.data.request.params = JSON.stringify(data.data.request.params);
   }
   if (data.data.request.headers && typeof data.data.request.headers === 'object') {
-    data.data.request.headers = JSON.stringify(data.data.request.headers);
+    data.data.request.headers = JSON.stringify(redactHeaders(data.data.request.headers));
   }
   data.data.request.params = data.data.request.params.substring(0, fieldLimits.PARAMS) || '';
 
@@ -135,3 +174,4 @@ function sanitizeKeys(logLevel, message, metaData) {
 }
 
 module.exports.sanitizeKeys = sanitizeKeys;
+module.exports.extendSensitiveHeaders = extendSensitiveHeaders;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a5eeff7..68bc499 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 {
   "name": "chitragupta",
-  "version": "1.7.5",
+  "version": "1.7.6",
   "description": "An easy to install node module to convert unstructured logs into informative structured logs",
   "main": "lib/index.js",
+  "engines": {
+    "node": ">=14.0.0"
+  },
   "scripts": {
     "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
   },