docs: rewrite security/operator docs for the multi-user panel (P2)
test / test (push) Has been cancelled

The CSRF ADR, guide.md, architecture.md route table, the internal/backup
package comment, roadmap/dmarc-reports admin.dmarc_report_email references,
the e2e coverage summary, and the setupManager/store package comments still
described the pre-1.2.0 single-administrator panel or stale implementation
details. Closes P2 of docs/plans/code-review.md; no behaviour change.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-08-13 16:15:14 +03:00
parent 4761991dd5
commit 1cf8bfcbe2
11 changed files with 134 additions and 51 deletions
+20
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@@ -56,6 +56,26 @@ Format follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/); version
`schema-squash` (replace the 1.x SQLite migration chain with a 2.x baseline;
not a reason to cut a major on its own).
- docs: security and operator docs updated for the panel that has shipped
global administrators and domain-admins since 1.2.0. The CSRF ADR in
[security.md](docs/security.md) no longer argues from "single-user"; it now
states that cross-user CSRF between panel roles is not the threat the origin
check defends against, and gives a new revisit trigger. Dropped the
unimplemented "or argon2" alternative for the password hash.
[guide.md](docs/guide.md) documents the Users page and the two roles,
the Settings page's default DMARC report address, level-2 rate limiting's
fail-open behaviour, that restoring an older backup can resurrect sessions,
and that a domain-admin can export working SASL passwords for domains
assigned to them. [architecture.md](docs/architecture.md)'s route table now
lists `/license` and the `/account``/settings` redirect. Fixed the
`internal/backup` package comment, which claimed the panel regenerates
Postfix/OpenDKIM state from SQLite on every restore boot (it only runs the
version guard; drifted daemon state is healed by the Status page's Reload
button). Corrected stale `admin.dmarc_report_email` references in
[roadmap.md](docs/roadmap.md) and
[docs/plans/dmarc-reports.md](docs/plans/dmarc-reports.md) to the setting's
actual home after migration `0005`. No behaviour change.
## [1.2.5] - 2026-08-13
Rate-limit form polish after 1.2.4. Upgrading is a tag bump; no migration.
+2
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@@ -161,8 +161,10 @@ unless noted. The table below is a summary — HTMX fragment endpoints
| Route | Purpose |
|---|---|
| `/healthz` | Liveness (no auth) |
| `/license` | Embedded `LICENSE` text (no auth) |
| `/setup/*` | One-time admin bootstrap |
| `/login`, `/logout` | Session auth |
| `/account` | 308 redirect to `/settings` (pre-1.2.3 route, kept as a compat shim) |
| `/status` | Process, cert, socket, PTR checks; machine CPU/memory/network |
| `/domains`, `/domains/*` | Domain and application CRUD, DKIM, L2 limits |
| `/domains/import` | Domain import (`POST`; form on the Backup page) |
+5 -1
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@@ -265,7 +265,11 @@ operator would actually use.
**Coverage (summary):** bootstrap → SMTP AUTH → delivery → DKIM verify →
send-log `queued → sent`; negatives (no AUTH, relay, sender/login mismatch,
L1/L2 limits, milter fail-open, bad `SELFPOST_HOSTNAME`, session survives
`docker restart`). Polling with timeouts only — no fixed `sleep`.
`docker restart`); startup checks that supervisord actually brought up
OpenDKIM, the panel, and Postfix (`checkSupervisorProcesses`), plus logrotate
config-mode and forced-rotation checks (`checkLogrotateConfigMode`,
`checkLogrotateRotation` — [test/e2e/logrotate_check.go](../test/e2e/logrotate_check.go)).
Polling with timeouts only — no fixed `sleep`.
Requires **Docker + Compose v2** on the machine running the suite.
+34 -3
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@@ -230,8 +230,22 @@ service healthy and will mail be accepted?"
- **Backup** (`/backup`) — download a full-server backup; the same page hosts
the domain-import form (`POST /domains/import`). See
[Backup, restore, and moving a single domain](#backup-restore-and-moving-a-single-domain).
- **Settings** (`/settings`) — change the administrator username and/or password.
Application SASL logins are separate and are not changed here.
- **Settings** (`/settings`) — change the administrator username and/or
password, and the panel-wide default DMARC report address (`rua=`) offered
when a domain doesn't set its own — see [DNS setup](#dns-setup). Application
SASL logins are separate and are not changed here.
- **Users** (`/users`, global administrator only) — create, edit, and delete
panel users. There are two roles:
- **Global administrator** — full access to every page and every domain,
including Users, Backup, Status, Mail queue, and System log.
- **Domain-admin** — scoped to one or more domains assigned by a global
administrator. Sees only those domains' pages, applications, and
Deliveries rows; `/users`, `/backup`, `/status`, `/mail-queue`, and
`/system-log` are not reachable (404). A domain-admin can *export* the
domains assigned to them — see the note on working credentials below.
The panel refuses to remove or demote the **last** global administrator, so
it can never end up with none.
**Sessions.** A login survives a container restart: sessions live in SQLite, not
in memory. Expiry is a sliding idle window (`PANEL_SESSION_IDLE_DAYS`, default
@@ -296,6 +310,12 @@ An application override without trusted IPs is inactive.
When a level-2 ceiling is exceeded, Postfix returns a 4xx and the refusal is
recorded in Deliveries as `rejected`.
**Level 2 is best-effort, not a guarantee.** It runs inside the journal-milter
and is deliberately fail-open: if the rate-limit lookup hits a store error, or
the connecting client's IP is not available to the milter, level 2 is skipped
and the message is accepted rather than held up. Level 1 (the Postfix anvil
limit above) is the backstop that keeps working even when level 2 cannot run.
## Backup, restore, and moving a single domain
Two related but distinct operations
@@ -317,6 +337,12 @@ Two related but distinct operations
`:latest`: without a known version, there'd be no way to tell which image
restoring a given backup actually requires.
Restoring an archive taken **before** you invalidated a session (password
change, logout everywhere) can bring that session back: session rows travel
with the backup, and a browser that still holds the matching cookie is
logged in again once the idle timeout allows it. If a restore might do this,
changing every user's password afterwards clears it out.
**Alternative: archive `./data` while stopped.** If the service can be taken
offline, `docker compose down` then `tar czf selfpost-data.tar.gz ./data` on
the host is safe — nothing is writing to SQLite. Unlike the panel/CLI backup
@@ -332,7 +358,12 @@ Two related but distinct operations
file, *Backup**Import a domain* to read it back in): moves one domain — its DKIM key and its applications' **working**
SASL passwords — to a different SelfPost instance without regenerating
anything, so DNS (the DKIM TXT record) doesn't need to change. Unlike a full
restore, this works across different hostnames/instances.
restore, this works across different hostnames/instances. *Import* is
global-administrator only; *export* is available to any user who can access
the domain, **including a domain-admin** for a domain assigned to them — so
a domain-admin can walk away with that domain's working SASL passwords in
the clear. Weigh that when deciding which domains to assign to a
domain-admin account.
Both files are **secrets** — they contain the admin password hash (full
backup) or working application credentials (domain export) in the clear or in
+8 -8
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@@ -522,21 +522,21 @@ the list, the fragment, or query parameters. `go test ./...` green.
**Model: Sonnet** (English docs). No code behaviour change except copy.
- [ ] Rewrite the CSRF ADR in [security.md](../security.md) for a panel that
- [x] Rewrite the CSRF ADR in [security.md](../security.md) for a panel that
already has global + domain-admin. Keep the origin-check mechanism
unless a new decision says otherwise. New revisit trigger (e.g. untrusted
domain-admins, or a requirement that does not depend on browser
headers).
- [ ] Drop “or argon2” unless argon2 is implemented.
- [ ] [guide.md](../guide.md): Users / roles; Settings DMARC field; L2
- [x] Drop “or argon2” unless argon2 is implemented.
- [x] [guide.md](../guide.md): Users / roles; Settings DMARC field; L2
fail-open; restore can resurrect sessions; domain-admin can export
working SASL passwords for assigned domains.
- [ ] Architecture route table: `/license`, `/account``/settings`.
- [ ] Fix `internal/backup` package comment (restore = extract tarball +
- [x] Architecture route table: `/license`, `/account``/settings`.
- [x] Fix `internal/backup` package comment (restore = extract tarball +
`CheckRestore`; maps come from the archive; Reload heals drift).
- [ ] `admin.dmarc_report_email``settings` in roadmap + dmarc-reports plan.
- [ ] development.md e2e summary: logrotate + process checks.
- [ ] `setupManager` / `store` package comments: `users`, not `admin` row.
- [x] `admin.dmarc_report_email``settings` in roadmap + dmarc-reports plan.
- [x] development.md e2e summary: logrotate + process checks.
- [x] `setupManager` / `store` package comments: `users`, not `admin` row.
**Done when:** an operator who reads only the guide knows the panel has two
roles, and security.md no longer calls the panel single-user.
+2 -1
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@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ operator.
- gzip + XML aggregate parsing → SQLite summaries per sending domain.
- Panel page and/or per-domain section: recent reports, third-party senders,
delivery health of report ingestion.
- Reuse `admin.dmarc_report_email` and `domains.dmarc_rua` for DNS templates;
- Reuse the `dmarc_report_email` setting (moved off the old `admin` table into
`settings` by migration `0005`) and `domains.dmarc_rua` for DNS templates;
when enabled, suggest a SelfPost-hosted report address.
**Out:**
+4 -3
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@@ -118,9 +118,10 @@ reports (`ruf=`) out of scope for v1.
**Dependencies / risks:** inbound SMTP in the image (may share infrastructure
with [inbound-relay](plans/inbound-relay.md) but must not require backup-MX);
storage and retention of parsed summaries; the `admin.dmarc_report_email` and
`domains.dmarc_rua` settings added in the DMARC template work must stay the
source of truth for `rua=` in DNS guidance.
storage and retention of parsed summaries; the `dmarc_report_email` setting
(migration `0005` moved it off the old `admin` table into `settings`) and
`domains.dmarc_rua` added in the DMARC template work must stay the source of
truth for `rua=` in DNS guidance.
**Order:** after the DMARC `rua=` settings ship; may follow or overlap with
inbound-relay depending on how port 25 acceptance is structured.
+40 -23
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@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ The panel is exposed to the internet — the items below are **not optional**.
- Failed attempts do **not** invalidate the token early (protects setup from
being DoS-ed).
- Once the administrator exists the token is void forever, `/setup/*` → 404.
- The administrator password is bcrypt (or argon2) in SQLite only; no plaintext
and no MD5.
- The administrator password is bcrypt in SQLite only; no plaintext and no
MD5.
- `PANEL_USERNAME` / `PANEL_PASSWORD_HASH` in env are **not used**.
### Application SASL passwords
@@ -112,19 +112,21 @@ deferred item from the roadmap.
- **A `POST` with neither `Sec-Fetch-Site` nor `Origin` is allowed through.**
A client that sends neither — a genuinely old browser, or a webview with a
frozen engine — stays vulnerable to CSRF from any site. Accepted
deliberately: the panel is single-user, the administrator picks the browser,
and a strict mode would not "protect" such a client, it would simply break the
panel in it. Tightening is one line in `originAllowed`
deliberately: every panel user (global or domain-admin) is an operator who
picks their own browser, not an untrusted party the panel needs to defend
against, and a strict mode would not "protect" such a client, it would
simply break the panel in it. Tightening is one line in `originAllowed`
([internal/web/security.go](../internal/web/security.go)): return `false`
instead of `true` in the "neither header present" branch.
- **Session-bound CSRF tokens are not implemented.** The origin check closes the
neighbouring-subdomain case but depends on browser behaviour; a token does
not. The price is a hidden field in roughly two dozen forms. The trigger to
revisit is a requirement for protection that holds regardless of the browser.
A token would not save the panel from XSS inside it either: code executing in
the panel's origin sends the request itself — against that, `html/template`
auto-escaping and CSP do the work, which is why templates must contain no
inline scripts and no inline styles.
revisit is a requirement for protection that holds regardless of the browser,
or a domain-admin population the global administrator does not fully trust
(see the ADR below). A token would not save the panel from XSS inside it
either: code executing in the panel's origin sends the request itself —
against that, `html/template` auto-escaping and CSP do the work, which is why
templates must contain no inline scripts and no inline styles.
- **Encrypting backups and exports is an option, not the default.** With the
checkbox cleared the file downloads in the clear, as in 1.0. Otherwise an
operator with nowhere to keep a password would lose the ability to take a
@@ -158,24 +160,35 @@ deferred item from the roadmap.
**Context.** The panel is forms (`POST`) with a cookie session — the classic
CSRF surface. What is needed is a way to tell a request from the panel's own
page apart from one initiated by a third-party site in the logged-in
administrator's browser.
page apart from one initiated by a third-party site in a logged-in user's
browser. The panel is multi-user since 1.2.0 (a global administrator plus
zero or more domain-admin users, each scoped to their assigned domains), but
that is an authorization boundary (who can see or change what), not a change
to the CSRF threat: the attacker in scope here is still an external site
riding a legitimate user's cookie, not one panel user attacking another
through the browser.
**Decision.** `originAllowed` in
[internal/web/security.go](../internal/web/security.go) checks `Sec-Fetch-Site`
(when the browser sends it) or `Origin` (fallback) against the panel's host; a
request carrying neither header is **allowed through** rather than rejected.
There are no session-bound tokens embedded in forms.
There are no session-bound tokens embedded in forms. The check applies the same
way regardless of the requesting user's role.
**Why not tokens.** The panel is single-user (one administrator per instance) —
the threat model does not include cross-user CSRF inside the panel itself, only
an external site making the administrator's browser send a request. The origin
check covers that without touching a single template: a token would need a
hidden field in roughly two dozen forms and synchronisation with every new form,
and it would still not protect against XSS inside the panel — code executing in
the panel's origin reads the token and sends the request itself. XSS is handled
by `html/template` auto-escaping and CSP, so that is a separate line of defence,
not a CSRF token.
**Why not tokens.** Cross-user CSRF is not the threat model here: a
domain-admin's browser sending a request still needs that domain-admin's own
cookie, so a token would not add a boundary between roles that the
authorization checks (`Principal.CanAccessDomain`,
[internal/web/auth/principal.go](../internal/web/auth/principal.go); route
gating in [internal/web/auth/middleware.go](../internal/web/auth/middleware.go))
don't already enforce. The remaining case is an external site making a
logged-in user's browser send a request, which the origin check covers without
touching a single template.
A token would need a hidden field in roughly two dozen forms and
synchronisation with every new form, and it would still not protect against
XSS inside the panel — code executing in the panel's origin reads the token
and sends the request itself. XSS is handled by `html/template` auto-escaping
and CSP, so that is a separate line of defence, not a CSRF token.
**Trade-off.** A client that sends neither `Sec-Fetch-Site` nor `Origin` (a
genuinely old browser, or a webview with a frozen engine) stays vulnerable — see
@@ -183,7 +196,11 @@ genuinely old browser, or a webview with a frozen engine) stays vulnerable — s
such a client, at the price of a narrow residual surface.
**Revisit if:** a requirement appears for protection that does not depend on
browser behaviour, or the panel becomes multi-user.
browser behaviour, or domain-admin accounts stop being trusted operators (for
example, if a future release lets a global administrator invite domain-admins
whose browsers/devices are not vetted) — at that point cross-role request
forgery inside the panel would need its own analysis, separate from the
external-site case this ADR covers.
## How this list grows
+12 -7
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@@ -6,13 +6,18 @@
// it. TLS certificates (the reverse proxy's responsibility) and the Postfix
// queue are deliberately excluded (architecture.md § Persistence).
//
// Restore is intentionally not a separate code path: a backup is extracted
// into the /data bind mount before first start, and the panel regenerates
// Postfix and OpenDKIM from the restored SQLite state exactly as on any normal
// start. The only restore-specific step is CheckRestore, which refuses to boot
// if the manifest's version does not match the running binary, so
// schema/format skew between versions cannot silently corrupt state
// (architecture.md § Persistence).
// Restore is not a separate code path in the panel: a backup is extracted into
// the /data bind mount before first start, and the archive already carries
// everything the mail path needs — DKIM keys, sasldb2, and Postfix's sender
// map — so nothing needs to be regenerated from SQLite for the daemons to
// start correctly. The only restore-specific step the panel runs is
// CheckRestore, which refuses to boot if the manifest's version does not match
// the running binary, so schema/format skew between versions cannot silently
// corrupt state (architecture.md § Persistence). If a daemon's on-disk state
// ever drifts from what SQLite records — for example after a manual edit
// under /data — the Status page's "Reload configuration" button re-derives
// OpenDKIM's tables and the Postfix sender map from the database; that is a
// deliberate, operator-triggered heal, not something restore does on its own.
package backup
import (
+4 -3
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@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
// Package store owns the SelfPost SQLite database: the single file under /data
// that persists the administrator account, sending domains and applications,
// the send log and rate-limit settings (architecture.md § Persistence). It
// exposes typed queries so the rest of the panel never builds SQL by hand.
// that persists panel users (global administrators and domain-admins), sending
// domains and applications, the send log and rate-limit settings
// (architecture.md § Persistence). It exposes typed queries so the rest of the
// panel never builds SQL by hand.
package store
import (
+3 -2
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@@ -16,8 +16,9 @@ const setupTokenTTL = 10 * time.Minute
// setupManager owns the one-time administrator setup token. The token itself is
// ephemeral (regenerated on restart or expiry) and lives only in memory; the
// persistent "setup complete" fact is the presence of the admin row in the
// store, so once that exists the token is gone for good (security.md).
// persistent "setup complete" fact is the presence of any row in the store's
// users table (`store.UserExists`), so once the first global administrator is
// created the token is gone for good (security.md).
type setupManager struct {
store *store.Store
hostname string