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Security report for pixelfed.org

Pixelfed · Technology · Canada

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Pixelfed is an open-source decentralized photo sharing social media platform founded in 2018, headquartered in Canada. It offers privacy-friendly, ad-free, chronological feeds and federated social networking via the ActivityPub protocol. The platform targets users seeking ethical and privacy-focused alternatives to mainstream social media. Technically, Pixelfed employs modern web technologies including Vue.js, serves content over HTTPS, and is hosted on DigitalOcean with DNS and domain registration managed by Cloudflare. The website is well-designed, mobile-optimized, and provides apps on major mobile platforms. Security posture is solid with HTTPS and CSRF protections, but lacks some security headers and formal policies. Privacy compliance is limited due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Overall, Pixelfed demonstrates a mature, trustworthy presence in the decentralized social media niche with strong community and sponsor support.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
50/ 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

6 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • 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 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 pixelfed.org

This scan found 19 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

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  • 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
50
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
50
Average
72

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

Pixelfed occupies a niche market within the decentralized social media ecosystem, leveraging the fediverse and ActivityPub to interoperate with platforms like Mastodon. Its open-source model and community funding via Kickstarter and sponsors like NLnet indicate a sustainable, grassroots business approach. The platform's competitive advantage lies in its privacy-first, ad-free experience and chronological feeds, appealing to users disillusioned with algorithm-driven social networks. The presence of mobile apps and self-hosting options broadens its appeal. Partnerships with organizations like NLnet enhance credibility and funding. Growth indicators include 810K users across 1.7K servers and over 103 million shared media items, reflecting active adoption and community engagement.

Security posture

Pixelfed exhibits a good security maturity level with HTTPS enforced, CSRF tokens implemented, and no visible sensitive data exposure. However, the absence of DNSSEC, security.txt, explicit security headers, and formal incident response or vulnerability disclosure policies represent gaps. Privacy compliance is incomplete due to missing privacy and cookie policies, which could expose the platform to regulatory risks. The platform's decentralized nature and open-source codebase may mitigate some risks through community scrutiny. Overall, Pixelfed's security posture is solid but would benefit from formalizing policies and enhancing DNS and HTTP security configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to improve GDPR compliance and user trust.
  2. Implement and publish a security.txt file and vulnerability disclosure policy to facilitate responsible reporting.
  3. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  4. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and X-Frame-Options to harden HTTP security.
  5. Consider providing more visible contact information and incident response channels to improve transparency and trust.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Pixelfed
Description
Pixelfed is a free and open-source decentralized photo sharing social media platform that emphasizes privacy, ad-free experience, and chronological feeds.
Key services
Photo and video sharing, Albums, Comments, Direct Messages, Filters, Likes, Stories, Federated social networking via ActivityPub
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript (ES Modules), CSS, Cloudflare DNS and registrar, DigitalOcean hosting (inferred from badge), ActivityPub protocol
Platforms
Web, Android (Google Play app), iOS (App Store app)
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced (implied by https URLs)
  • CSRF token present in meta tag
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
excellent

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-designed, privacy-focused decentralized social media platform.
  2. No privacy or cookie policy pages found, which is a compliance gap.
  3. No visible contact phone numbers or physical addresses; only email contact found.
  4. No security.txt or vulnerability disclosure information present.
  5. No advertising or tracking scripts detected, aligning with privacy claims.
  6. Strong emphasis on federated social networking and open source community.
  7. Use of modern web technologies and mobile app presence.
  8. No signs of adult or questionable content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack including Vue.js for frontend SPA, CSS modules, and ES modules for JavaScript. Hosting is on DigitalOcean with Cloudflare DNS and domain registration, ensuring reliable infrastructure. The site is mobile-optimized with dedicated Android and iOS apps. Performance appears fast with preloading of CSS and JS assets. SEO is well addressed with meta tags and Open Graph data. Accessibility is good with semantic HTML and responsive design. No CMS detected, indicating a custom or framework-based build. Technical risks include lack of DNSSEC and missing HTTP security headers, which should be addressed to reduce attack surface.
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

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