Git Hosting

X-WEBAUTH-USER

Zero-Day Shield

SSO + Zero-Day Protection for Gitea

by Gitea Community

Add SAML/OIDC SSO to Gitea — Secure Self-Hosted Git with Authenticated Proxy Protection

Overview

Why Gitea Needs an Authenticated Proxy

Gitea is a lightweight, self-hosted Git hosting solution used by thousands of organizations as a private alternative to GitHub and GitLab. Gitea hosts source code repositories, CI/CD configurations, issue trackers, and package registries. While smaller than GitLab, Gitea instances still contain valuable intellectual property and development credentials. OnePAM adds enterprise SSO to Gitea using its built-in reverse proxy authentication. Users authenticate through your corporate IdP, and OnePAM injects the verified identity via HTTP headers. Gitea trusts the authenticated user and creates the session — no Gitea login page, no separate passwords.

HTTP Header Authentication

X-WEBAUTH-USER

Gitea supports reverse proxy authentication via the X-WEBAUTH-USER header. When ENABLE_REVERSE_PROXY_AUTHENTICATION=true is set, Gitea trusts the username from this header for session creation.

Zero-Day Risk Profile

Gitea Vulnerability Risks

Without an authenticated proxy, these risks are directly exploitable by any network-reachable attacker.

Gitea has had critical RCE and authentication bypass vulnerabilities

Source code repositories contain intellectual property and trade secrets

CI/CD secrets and deployment keys are stored in repository settings

Package registry access allows malicious package injection

The Challenge

Security Challenges with Gitea

These are the risks organizations face when Gitea is not behind an authenticated proxy.

Source Code Protection

Gitea repositories contain proprietary source code, algorithms, and business logic. Unauthorized access exposes your intellectual property.

Authentication Bypass Risk

Gitea has had authentication bypass CVEs that allow unauthenticated access to private repositories.

CI/CD Secret Exposure

Repository secrets, deploy keys, and webhook configurations contain credentials for deployment infrastructure.

Package Registry Risk

Gitea's package registry can be used to inject malicious packages if access is not properly controlled.

Credential Sprawl

Gitea has its own user management system, creating another set of credentials outside your corporate IdP.

Limited Enterprise Auth

Gitea's built-in OAuth/SAML support is basic and may not meet enterprise requirements for group sync and RBAC.

The OnePAM Solution

How OnePAM Adds SSO + Zero-Day Protection to Gitea

A step-by-step guide to deploying OnePAM's authenticated proxy in front of Gitea.

Deploy OnePAM in Front of Gitea

Place OnePAM as the reverse proxy for Gitea's web interface and API.

Gitea is configured with ENABLE_REVERSE_PROXY_AUTHENTICATION=true. OnePAM becomes the sole entry point.

Configure IdP Federation

Connect OnePAM to your corporate IdP — Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace, or any SAML/OIDC provider.

OnePAM handles authentication, MFA enforcement, and group membership retrieval.

Enable Reverse Proxy Auth

Gitea reads the authenticated username from OnePAM's X-WEBAUTH-USER header.

Gitea auto-creates or maps user accounts from the trusted header. Users land on their Gitea dashboard without a login page.

Map Organization Access

IdP groups map to Gitea organizations and teams for centralized repository access management.

Engineering teams see their repos, DevOps gets infrastructure repos, and interns get read-only access — all from your IdP.

Audit Code Access

Every repository access is logged with corporate identity context for compliance.

OnePAM logs who accessed which repos, when, from where, with session recording for sensitive operations.

Business Impact

Benefits of Securing Gitea with OnePAM

Measurable security and operational outcomes from deploying OnePAM in front of Gitea.

Protect Source Code

Only authenticated users can access repositories. Auth bypass CVEs are blocked at the proxy layer.

Zero unauthorized code access

Enterprise SSO for Gitea

Users authenticate with corporate credentials — no separate Gitea passwords.

Single identity for Git

Shield from Gitea CVEs

Authentication bypass and RCE vulnerabilities are blocked when OnePAM enforces identity verification.

CVEs blocked at proxy

MFA for Code Access

Require MFA before accessing source code repositories.

MFA-protected repositories

Centralized Repo Access

Manage repository access from your IdP instead of Gitea's admin panel.

IdP-driven access control

Instant Deprovisioning

Disable a user in your IdP and Gitea access stops immediately.

Real-time access revocation

SSO Features

Gitea SSO Capabilities

Every feature needed to provide enterprise-grade SSO and access control for Gitea.

SAML 2.0 & OIDC SSO via Gitea reverse proxy authentication

X-WEBAUTH-USER header injection

IdP group to Gitea organization/team mapping

Repository-level access policies

Session recording for code access auditing

IP and geo-restriction for Git access

Device trust verification

API access policies and auditing

Package registry access controls

Auto-provisioning users from IdP

Security

Zero-Day Protection Features

Enterprise-grade security controls that shield Gitea from exploitation.

Gitea isolated from direct network access

End-to-end TLS encryption

Request-level identity verification

Protection against Gitea auth bypass CVEs

Repository and package registry protection

Automatic session termination on IdP sign-out

Real-World Scenarios

Gitea SSO + Security Use Cases

Common scenarios where organizations deploy OnePAM in front of Gitea.

Development teams accessing private repositories via corporate SSO

Open-source contributors accessing public repos while internal repos require SSO

CI/CD systems authenticating via API tokens while developers use SSO

Compliance-driven source code access auditing for regulated industries

Protecting Gitea from authentication bypass exploitation

Centralized Git access management across multiple Gitea instances

Frequently Asked Questions

Gitea SSO + Security FAQ

Common questions about deploying OnePAM's authenticated proxy for Gitea.

Does OnePAM work with Gitea's reverse proxy auth?

Yes. OnePAM sets the X-WEBAUTH-USER header that Gitea reads when ENABLE_REVERSE_PROXY_AUTHENTICATION is enabled. This is a fully supported Gitea authentication method.

Can we still use Git SSH access?

Yes. OnePAM protects the web UI and API. Git SSH access uses SSH keys managed through Gitea, which can be configured separately.

Does OnePAM affect Gitea Actions (CI/CD)?

No. OnePAM protects the user-facing web interface. Gitea Actions runners communicate internally and are unaffected.

Can we auto-create Gitea organizations from IdP groups?

OnePAM passes IdP group memberships via HTTP headers. Gitea can be configured to auto-create users and map them to organizations based on these groups.

What about Gitea's package registry?

OnePAM protects all Gitea endpoints including the package registry API. The same SSO and access policies apply to package push/pull operations.

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