GitBucket security depends heavily on JVM runtime hygiene, plugin control, and strict reverse-proxy isolation for user-published content.
- Install only required plugins from trusted maintainers.
- Remove old/unused plugin JARs from
${GITBUCKET_HOME}/plugins.
- Test plugin upgrades in staging before production.
- Restrict plugin administration to a minimal admin group.
- If GitBucket Pages is enabled, serve it from a separate domain.
- Block shared cookies between core GitBucket UI and pages domain.
- Apply strict CSP and MIME hardening headers at reverse proxy.
- Limit who can publish pages and monitor publish events.
¶ 3) Harden JVM process and filesystem
- Run service as non-root user with write access only to GitBucket data directories.
- Keep JDK patched (LTS branch) and remove legacy insecure JVM options.
- Restrict outbound network from GitBucket host to required destinations only.
- Keep DB credentials in root-only readable service env files.
¶ 4) Authentication and access policy
- Disable public registration if instance is internal-only.
- Enforce strong password policy and MFA at upstream IdP when used.
- Restrict admin UI with IP allow-lists or VPN.
- Rotate personal tokens and integration credentials regularly.
¶ Verification commands
sudo ls -1 /var/lib/gitbucket/plugins
sudo ss -tulpn | grep -E ':8080|:443'
sudo journalctl -u gitbucket --since '24 hours ago' | grep -Ei 'auth|failed|plugin'
- GitBucket docs/news: https://gitbucket.github.io/gitbucket-news/
- GitBucket source: https://github.com/gitbucket/gitbucket
- GitBucket Pages plugin: https://github.com/gitbucket/gitbucket-pages-plugin
Any questions?
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