Please take this discussion to this post: https://lemmy.ml/post/28376589

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Selfhosting is always a dilemma in terms of security for a lot of reasons. Nevertheless, I have one simple goal: selfhost a Jellyfin instance in the most secure way possible. I don’t plan to access it anywhere but home.

TL;DR

I want the highest degree of security possible, but my hard limits are:

  • No custom DNS
  • Always-on VPN
  • No self-signed certificates (unless there is no risk of MITM)
  • No external server

Full explanation

I want to be able to access it from multiple devices, so it can’t be a local-only instance.

I have a Raspberry Pi 5 that I want to host it on. That means I will not be hosting it on an external server, and I will only be able to run something light like securecore rather than something heavy like Qubes OS. Eventually I would like to use GrapheneOS to host it, once Android’s virtual machine management app becomes more stable.

It’s still crazy to me that 2TB microSDXC cards are a real thing.

I would like to avoid subscription costs such as the cost of buying a domain or the cost of paying for a VPN, however I prioritize security over cost. It is truly annoying that Jellyfin clients seldom support self-signed certificates, meaning the only way to get proper E2EE is by buying a domain and using a certificate authority. I wouldn’t want to use a self-signed certificate anyways, due to the risk of MITM attacks. I am a penetration tester, so I have tested attacks by injecting malicious certificates before. It is possible to add self-signed certificates as trusted certificates for each system, but I haven’t been able to get that to work since it seems clients don’t trust them anyways.

Buying a domain also runs many privacy risks, since it’s difficult to buy domains without handing over personal information. I do not want to change my DNS, since that risks browser fingerprinting if it differs from the VPN provider. I always use a VPN (currently ProtonVPN) for my devices.

If I pay for ProtonVPN (or other providers) it is possible to allow LAN connections, which would help significantly, but the issue of self-signed certificates still lingers.

With that said, it seems my options are very limited.

  • The 8232 Project@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
    1·
    4 days ago

    You could do a vpn hosting by yourself.

    I’m uneasy about this, because I don’t trust myself to do it securely. VPNs are a very complex piece of software, so I highly prefer to stick with widely used setups (i.e. “stock” VPN software such as ProtonVPN, Mullvad VPN, etc.)

    • Badabinski@kbin.earth
      9·
      4 days ago

      Wireguard was written with the explicit goal of having sane, secure defaults. I totally feel you w.r.t. openvpn or ipsec, since it’s easy to do something wrong. Wireguard is much easier because it simply refuses to give you the choice to do things incorrectly.

      w.r.t. the certificate thing, you could set up a reverse proxy and do HSTS to ensure nobody can load up a rogue CA on your devices. HSTS has the issue that SSH has (trust on first use or whatever it’s called), but you just need to make sure nobody is MITM you for that first connecting and then you’ll be good to go. This would let you use a self-signed certificate if you do desired.

      • The 8232 Project@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
        3·
        4 days ago

        Wireguard was written with the explicit goal of having sane, secure defaults.

        Wireguard is much easier because it simply refuses to give you the choice to do things incorrectly.

        Security my beloved

        I totally feel you w.r.t. openvpn or ipsec, since it’s easy to do something wrong.

        This is one reason I’ve avoided selfhosting for this long. I am not a network engineer, and I have no plans to be. That means if I am managing an entire server from my physical home location, that’s a recipe for disaster. There’s simply no way to ensure you’ve done things correctly, especially since a lot of the selfhosting community has an… aversion to good security practices (which is why I had to make this post to begin with).

        w.r.t. the certificate thing, you could set up a reverse proxy and do HSTS to ensure nobody can load up a rogue CA on your devices.

        Would that work while having ProtonVPN still enabled?

        trust on first use

        My favorite food

        This would let you use a self-signed certificate if you do desired.

        Jellyfin clients don’t accept self-signed certificates, as I mentioned. Is there a way around that (or does HSTS somehow solve it)? From what I’ve learned about HSTS up until know, it is simply there to require the use of proper certificates and HTTPS. Am I wrong about that?

    • otacon239@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      4 days ago

      A self-hosted VPN is the most secure free way to host your Jellyfin. I’ve had to learn the hard way over the years, but all the features and control you gain for hosting services yourself comes with all the same responsibilities and risk that the provider would be taking on for you.

      The money you spend on their service is the alternative to the many hours it takes to learn how to properly host your own server.

      You can definitely learn how to do it and it will be difficult and confusing at times, but that’s what the community is there for. I recommend joining a Matrix server or similar so you can get more real-time feedback for when you’re just getting started.

      Totally understand not wanting to take the risk, though. Just something worth considering.