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Security model, stated precisely.

What auraPanel controls, how, and what remains yours. Written to be read rather than skimmed — including by whoever reviews software before it reaches your servers.

Overview

auraPanel runs on infrastructure you control. It provisions and manages sites, databases, certificates and users on a Debian or Ubuntu host, and it is the only party on that host with panel-level authority.

This page states which controls auraPanel provides and which responsibilities remain with whoever operates the server. Both halves matter: a control panel cannot secure a host on its own, and claiming otherwise would be the opposite of useful.

Authentication

Passkey sign-in (WebAuthn) is the primary credential; password with TOTP two-factor is the alternative. Sessions are held server-side, sign-in is rate-limited on the client address nginx reports, and sensitive actions require step-up verification.

An administrator can revoke the passkeys registered to a lost device.

  • Passkeys / WebAuthn
  • TOTP two-factor
  • Step-up verification
  • Server-side sessions
  • Login rate-limiting

Authorisation

Access is role-based with per-resource permissions. A role maps to exact create, read, update and delete rights on each panel resource, and grants can be scoped to individual sites.

  • Per-resource CRUD
  • Custom roles
  • Per-site grants

Execution model

System commands run without a shell. Arguments are passed directly to the process rather than interpolated into a command line, which removes the class of vulnerability where a value in a form becomes part of a command. Panel operations validate their input before acting.

  • No shell interpolation
  • Validated input

Filesystem isolation

Each site is its own Linux user. SFTP is chroot-jailed to that site. The browser file manager drops privileges to the site user and is kernel-confined to the site directory, so a crafted path cannot escape it.

The practical consequence: one site does not automatically get to read another site’s files or its database credentials.

  • One Linux user per site
  • chroot SFTP
  • Kernel-confined file operations

Secrets and data storage

Stored secrets and two-factor seeds are encrypted at rest with NaCl secretbox; the key lives at /etc/aurapanel/secret.key with 0600 permissions. Panel state is written crash-safely and durably.

  • Encrypted at rest
  • Durable writes

Network edge

HTTPS is issued and renewed automatically for hosted sites, including wildcard certificates over DNS-01 where configured.

Origin lock is available per site: allowlist your CDN’s published address ranges, refreshed automatically, and require authenticated origin pulls (mTLS), so the origin answers only traffic that arrived through the edge.

  • Automatic HTTPS with daily renewal
  • DNS-01 wildcards
  • Origin allowlist
  • Authenticated origin pulls (mTLS)

Updates and supply chain

Updates are fetched on demand. There is no scheduled background polling. Each build is Ed25519-signed and checksum-verified before it installs, and an unverified build fails closed rather than installing.

  • On demand only
  • Ed25519-signed
  • Checksum-verified
  • Fails closed

Audit log

Privileged actions are recorded with actor, resource and timestamp — who did what, to which resource, and when. The log is readable in the panel by anyone holding the permission to see it.

  • Actor / resource / time

Network behaviour

auraPanel does not continuously transmit product usage information. Outbound connections happen when you act — fetching an update, issuing a certificate, reaching an integration you enabled — and to validate an active subscription. The contents of the sites you host are never part of that.

  • No usage telemetry
  • Outbound on action
  • Subscription validation

Shared responsibility

auraPanel secures what it manages. The following remain with the server operator, and no control panel can take them over:

  • Host hardening beyond the panel’s scope: SSH configuration, kernel updates, firewall policy (the installer can set up UFW and fail2ban, but policy is yours)
  • Credential hygiene for the accounts you create, and timely review of panel updates
  • Application-level security of the sites and code you deploy
  • Verifying that backups restore — the panel schedules and ships them; confirming they work is an operational habit

Questionnaires and review

Every auraPanel licence includes the whole model on this page — nothing here is held back for a higher plan. Enterprise adds the commercial side of a security review: priority response with agreed times, support for your questionnaire and procurement process, and contract terms.

Request a written response →