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Security report for alpinelinux.org

Alpine Linux Development Team · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

61/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

Alpine Linux is a well-established open source project founded in 2006, focused on providing a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution leveraging musl libc and busybox. The project targets developers and security-conscious users seeking a minimal and secure operating system. The website reflects a mature community-driven model with regular releases, active development, and comprehensive documentation resources. The business model is primarily community and sponsor supported, emphasizing open collaboration and transparency. Technically, the website employs a clean, responsive design using Pure.css and FontAwesome, hosted on Linode infrastructure with DNS managed by Linode name servers. The site is performant and mobile-optimized, though it lacks advanced SEO and accessibility features. No CMS or complex frameworks are detected, indicating a lightweight and maintainable technical stack. From a security perspective, the domain is registered with privacy protection but shows no suspicious patterns and has a long registration history, supporting legitimacy. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and no HTTP security headers or explicit security policies are present on the site. The absence of cookie consent mechanisms and vulnerability disclosure policies suggests room for improvement in compliance and transparency. No tracking or advertising scripts are detected, aligning with privacy-friendly practices. Overall, the website is trustworthy, professional, and safe for general audiences, with a solid foundation but opportunities to enhance security posture and privacy compliance. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, implementing security headers, adding vulnerability disclosure information, and improving privacy notices to align with GDPR best practices.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of alpinelinux.org. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  3. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      SSL Certificate Expires Soon

      SSL certificate expires in 23 days

      What to do: Renew SSL certificate before expiration

      • NIS2 21(2)(h)
      • IR 2024/2690 9.2(c): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 9.2(c): Cryptography
      • NIST SC-17: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-17: Public Key Infrastructure Certificates

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching alpinelinux.org

This scan found 21 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
75
Security headers
55
Email security
70
DNS health
70
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
53
Average
61

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Alpine Linux occupies a niche market within the Linux distribution ecosystem, focusing on security and lightweight design. Its competitive advantage lies in its minimalistic approach using musl libc and busybox, appealing to users requiring secure and efficient systems. The project operates on an open source community model, supported by sponsors and donations, with no direct commercial revenue streams evident. Target customers include developers, system administrators, and organizations prioritizing security and minimal resource usage. The active development and frequent releases indicate healthy growth and engagement. The ecosystem includes documentation, package repositories, and community forums, fostering collaboration. Partnerships appear limited to open source infrastructure providers and sponsors, with no commercial subsidiaries or parent companies identified.

Security posture

The security maturity of the Alpine Linux website and project is moderate. The domain registration is stable and privacy-protected appropriately. However, the lack of DNSSEC and absence of HTTP security headers reduce the overall security posture. No explicit security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are present, which could hinder timely response to security incidents. The website does not collect user data or employ tracking, reducing privacy risks. The project’s focus on security in its Linux distribution is a positive indicator, but the website itself could benefit from enhanced security controls and transparency to align with best practices and compliance requirements such as GDPR and NIS2.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve DNS security.
  2. Implement standard HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Publish a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting of security issues.
  4. Add a cookie policy and consent mechanism if any tracking or cookies are introduced in the future to comply with privacy regulations.
  5. Enhance privacy policy to explicitly address GDPR compliance and data protection practices.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Alpine Linux Development Team
Description
Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox.
Key services
Linux distribution releases, Community support, Documentation, Package management
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS (Pure.css), FontAwesome, Responsive design
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • Domain status clientTransferProhibited
  • Use of musl libc and busybox for security and lightweight design

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is focused on Alpine Linux distribution with regular updates and active development.
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on homepage.
  4. No cookie consent or tracking detected, indicating privacy-friendly approach.
  5. No explicit security policies or incident response contacts found.
  6. WHOIS data shows privacy protection but domain age and status indicate legitimacy.
  7. Technical stack is simple, modern, and performant with responsive design.
  8. No advertising or analytics scripts detected, minimal user tracking.
  9. No adult or questionable content detected; content is safe for general audience.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a simple, clean technical stack with HTML5, Pure.css for styling, and FontAwesome for icons. It is hosted on Linode with DNS managed by Linode name servers. The site is responsive and mobile-friendly, with fast loading times and no detected broken elements. There is no CMS or complex backend framework detected, which reduces attack surface and technical debt. However, the lack of advanced SEO and accessibility features suggests opportunities for modernization. The absence of security headers and DNSSEC indicates technical risks that could impact trust and security. Overall, the infrastructure is solid but could benefit from incremental improvements to security and compliance features.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 62/100Medium30 findingsView report
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