Self-hosting

Certificate Options

This article defines the certificate options available to self-hosted instances of Bitwarden. You will select your certificate option during installation.

note

The information in this article may not apply to Bitwarden Unified self-hosted deployments.

Generate a certificate with Let's Encrypt

Let's Encrypt is a certificate authority (CA) that issues trusted SSL certificates free of charge for any domain. The Bitwarden installation script offers the option to generate a trusted SSL certificate for your domain using Let's Encrypt and Certbot.

Certificate renewal checks occur each time Bitwarden is restarted. Using Let's Encrypt will require you to enter an email address for certificate expiration reminders.

Using Let's Encrypt requires ports 80 and 443 to be open on your machine.

Manually update a Let's Encrypt certificate

If you change the domain name of your Bitwarden server, you will need to manually update your generated certificate. Run the following commands to create a backup, update your certificate, and rebuild Bitwarden:

Bash

Bash
./bitwarden.sh stop mv ./bwdata/letsencrypt ./bwdata/letsencrypt_backup mkdir ./bwdata/letsencrypt chown -R bitwarden:bitwarden ./bwdata/letsencrypt chmod -R 740 ./bwdata/letsencrypt docker pull certbot/certbot docker run -i --rm --name certbot -p 443:443 -p 80:80 -v <Full Path from / >/bwdata/letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt/ certbot/certbot certonly --email <user@email.com> --logs-dir /etc/letsencrypt/logs

Select 1, then follow the instructions:

Bash
openssl dhparam -out ./bwdata/letsencrypt/live/<your.domain.com>/dhparam.pem 2048 ./bitwarden.sh rebuild ./bitwarden.sh start

PowerShell

tip

You will need to install a build of OpenSSL for Windows.

Bash
.\bitwarden.ps1 -stop mv .\bwdata\letsencrypt .\bwdata\letsencrypt_backup mkdir .\bwdata\letsencrypt docker pull certbot/certbot docker run -i --rm --name certbot -p 443:443 -p 80:80 -v <Full Path from \ >\bwdata\letsencrypt\:/etc/letsencrypt/ certbot/certbot certonly --email <user@email.com> --logs-dir /etc/letsencrypt/logs Select 1, then follow instructions <path/to/openssl.exe> dhparam -out .\bwdata\letsencrypt\live\<your.domain.com>\dhparam.pem 2048 .\bitwarden.ps1 -rebuild .\bitwarden.ps1 -start

Use an existing SSL certificate

You may alternatively opt to use an existing SSL certificate, which will require you to have the following files:

  • A server certificate (certificate.crt)

  • A private key (private.key)

  • A CA certificate (ca.crt)

You may need to bundle your primary certificate with intermediate CA certificates to prevent SSL trust errors. All certificates should be included in the server certificate file when using a CA certificate. The first certificate in the file should be your server certificate, followed by any intermediate CA certificate(s), followed by the root CA.

Under the default configuration, place your files in ./bwdata/ssl/your.domain. You may specify a different location for your certificate files by editing the following values in ./bwdata/config.yml:

Bash
ssl_certificate_path: <path> ssl_key_path: <path> ssl_ca_path: <path>
note

The values defined in config.yml represent locations inside the NGINX container. Directories on the host are mapped to directories within the NGINX container. Under the default configuration, mappings line up as follows:

The following values in config.yml:

Bash
ssl_certificate_path: /etc/ssl/your.domain/certificate.crt ssl_key_path: /etc/ssl/your.domain/private.key ssl_ca_path: /etc/ssl/your.domain/ca.crt

Map to the following files on the host:

Bash
./bwdata/ssl/your.domain/certificate.crt ./bwdata/ssl/your.domain/private.key ./bwdata/ssl/your.domain/ca.crt

You should only ever need to work with files in ./bwdata/ssl/. Working with files directly in the NGINX container is not recommended.

Using Diffie-Hellman key exchange

Optionally, if using Diffie-Hellman key exchange to generate ephemeral parameters:

  • Include a dhparam.pem file in the same directory.

  • Set the ssl_diffie_hellman_path: value in config.yml.

note

You can create your own dhparam.pem file using OpenSSL with openssl dhparam -out ./dhparam.pem 2048.

Using a self-signed Certificate

You may alternatively opt to use a self-signed certificate, however this is only recommended for testing.

Self-signed certificates will not be trusted by Bitwarden client applications by default. You will be required to manually install this certificate to the trusted store of each device you plan to use Bitwarden with.

Generate a self-signed certificate:

Bash
mkdir ./bwdata/ssl/bitwarden.example.com openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -sha256 -nodes -days 365 \ -keyout ./ssl/bitwarden.example.com/private.key \ -out ./ssl/bitwarden.example.com/certificate.crt \ -reqexts SAN -extensions SAN \ -config <(cat /usr/lib/ssl/openssl.cnf <(printf '[SAN]\nsubjectAltName=DNS:bitwarden.example.com\nbasicConstraints=CA:true')) \ -subj "/C=US/ST=New York/L=New York/O=Company Name/OU=Bitwarden/CN=bitwarden.example.com"

Your self-signed certificate (.crt) and private key (private.key) can be placed in the ./bwdata/ssl/self/your.domain directory and configured in the ./bwdata/config.yml:

Bash
ssl_certificate_path: /etc/ssl/bitwarden.example.com/certificate.crt ssl_key_path: /etc/ssl/bitwarden.example.com/private.key

Trust a self-signed certificate

Windows

To trust a self-signed certificate on Windows, run certmgr.msc and import your certificate into the Trusted Root Certification Authorities.

Linux

To trust a self-signed certificate on Linux, add your certificate to the following directories:

Bash
/usr/local/share/ca-certificates/ /usr/share/ca-certificates/

And run the following commands:

Bash
sudo dpkg-reconfigure ca-certificates sudo update-ca-certificates

For our Linux desktop app, accessing the web vault using Chromium-based browsers, and the Directory Connector desktop app, you also need to complete this Linux cert management procedure.

For the Bitwarden CLI and Directory Connector CLI, your self-signed certificate must be stored in a local file and referenced by a NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS= environment variable, for example:

Bash
export NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=~/.config/Bitwarden/certificate.crt

Android

To trust a self-signed certificate on an Android device, refer to Google's Add & remove certificates documentation.

note

If you are not self-hosting and encounter the following certificate error on your android device:

Bash
Exception message: java.security.cert.CertPathValidatorException: Trust anchor for certification path not found.

You will need to upload Bitwarden's certificates to your device. Refer to this community thread for help finding the certificates.

Use no certificate

warning

If you opt to use no certificate, you must front your installation with a proxy that serves Bitwarden over SSL. This is because Bitwarden requires HTTPS; trying to use Bitwarden without the HTTPS protocol will trigger errors.

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