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Security report for hostux.social

Mastodon Hostux · Technology · France

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

58/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Hostux.social operates as an independent Mastodon instance serving a European audience interested in privacy, free software, and social networking within the fediverse. The platform is based on Mastodon version 4.3.8 and offers social interaction services to approximately 499 active users. The website content is well-structured and provides relevant information about the service and its administrators, but lacks comprehensive business contact details and formal policies such as terms of service or cookie consent mechanisms. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies including React and WebSockets, but suffers from slow load times and lacks a valid SSL/TLS certificate, resulting in insecure HTTP connections. The absence of HTTPS and security headers significantly weakens the security posture. DNSSEC is disabled and CAA records are improperly configured, further indicating gaps in security best practices. Security evaluation reveals critical vulnerabilities due to missing HTTPS, lack of HSTS, and no OCSP stapling. Privacy compliance is minimal with only a basic privacy policy present and no cookie consent mechanism. No incident response or vulnerability disclosure information is available, which may impact trust and compliance with regulations such as GDPR. Overall, while the platform provides a functional Mastodon service with a clear community focus, it requires urgent improvements in security infrastructure, privacy compliance, and transparency to enhance trustworthiness and protect user data effectively.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of hostux.social. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
40/ 100 · High
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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

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

    • High

      No Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • 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

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

Keep watching hostux.social

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
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  • 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
50
Security headers
75
Email security
50
DNS health
90
Network security
40
GDPR outside view
40
Average
58

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention hostux.social, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
239
Employees
0
Customers
239
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
6%

1 subdomain affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for hostux.social.

Select it in the checkout above.

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

Hostux.social positions itself as a niche Mastodon server targeting privacy-conscious European users and free software enthusiasts. Its business model revolves around providing a federated social networking platform without advertisements or tracking, relying on community participation. The presence of named administrators and active user statistics suggests a small but engaged user base. The platform leverages open-source Mastodon software, reducing development overhead and fostering transparency. The website's external links to Mastodon official resources and related social domains indicate integration within the broader fediverse ecosystem. However, the lack of formal business contact information and certifications limits its appeal to enterprise or commercial users. Growth potential may depend on improving security and compliance to meet user expectations and regulatory requirements.

Security posture

The current security posture of hostux.social is weak due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate and HTTPS enforcement, exposing users to potential interception and data tampering. The lack of security headers such as HSTS, Content-Security-Policy, and X-Frame-Options further increases risk. DNSSEC is disabled, and CAA records are invalid, which could allow unauthorized certificate issuance. No vulnerability disclosure policy or incident response contacts are provided, limiting transparency and preparedness for security incidents. The site does not implement cookie consent or tracking controls, which may violate privacy regulations. Overall, the platform needs significant security enhancements to protect user data and maintain trust.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Implement security headers including HSTS with preload, Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Enable DNSSEC and correct CAA DNS records to restrict certificate issuance.
  4. Develop and publish a comprehensive privacy policy and cookie consent mechanism to comply with GDPR.
  5. Provide clear contact information including security incident response and vulnerability disclosure channels.
  6. Optimize website performance to reduce load times and improve user experience.
  7. Regularly audit and update software dependencies to mitigate vulnerabilities.
Technical notes

Notes

Hostux.social runs on Mastodon 4.3.8, utilizing React and modern JavaScript frameworks. The site serves a significant number of resources (91) and has a relatively large page size (6.9 MB), contributing to slow load times (~7.2 seconds). The platform uses WebSockets for streaming API connections, enhancing real-time interactions. No CMS other than Mastodon is detected. Hosting appears to be in France (TH2LF), consistent with the domain's DNS records. The site lacks HTTPS, which is a critical technical deficiency. Accessibility features are basic, and SEO optimizations are minimal but present through meta tags and Open Graph data. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and theme color support for light/dark modes.
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. 69/100Medium25 findingsView report
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