Security & Misconfiguration Risks
Critical cautions when modifying middlewares, services, and Traefik config.
Live traffic impact
Middleware, router, and service changes affect production paths immediately. Use staging hosts and change windows.
Common risks
- ForwardAuth / BasicAuth: incorrect endpoints or secrets can lock out users.
- Headers: overwriting
Hostor removing security headers can break origin checks or weaken protections. - RateLimit: too-low thresholds can DOS your own services; too-high can leave you unprotected.
- Redirects/Rewrites: regex errors can create open redirects or bypass auth chains.
- Priority changes: raising priority can route traffic to unintended routers.
- Custom services: mis-typed backends or protocol mismatch (HTTP vs TCP) lead to outages.
Plugin-specific risks
- Installing untrusted plugins can execute arbitrary code in Traefik.
- Static config path mistakes mean plugins are “installed” in UI but not loaded, leading to false confidence.
- Always restart Traefik after plugin changes and monitor logs.
mTLS risks
- Wrong CA path or missing
mtlswhitelistplugin breaks TLS handshakes. - Over-broad rules or disabled verification can expose internal services.
Recommended controls
- Version-control Traefik static config and keep backups.
- Use staged entrypoints/hosts to validate middleware chains before production.
- Monitor Traefik access/error logs and health after each change.
- Limit dashboard/API exposure; prefer network-level ACLs.
Screenshot placeholder — security checklist or warning banner.