174dc24867
* add SSO session extend flow (management)
Adds the management-server half of the SSO session-extension feature:
- New ExtendAuthSession gRPC RPC that refreshes a peer's session expiry
using a fresh JWT, validated through the same pipeline as Login but
without tearing down the tunnel or redoing the NetworkMap sync.
- Per-peer SessionExpiresAt timestamp on every LoginResponse and
SyncResponse so connected clients learn the deadline on the existing
long-lived stream, and admin-side changes (toggling expiration,
changing the expiration window) reach every peer within seconds.
- SessionExpiresAt(...) helper on Peer that derives the absolute UTC
deadline from LastLogin + the account-level PeerLoginExpiration
setting, returning zero when the peer is not SSO-tracked or expiration
is disabled.
The matching client-side consumer of these fields lands separately.
* encode SessionExpiresAt as 3-state on the wire
Previously the `sessionExpiresAt` field on LoginResponse, SyncResponse
and ExtendAuthSessionResponse was 2-state: a valid timestamp meant
"new deadline", and nil meant "clear". That conflated two distinct
meanings — "no info in this snapshot" vs "expiry is explicitly off /
peer is not SSO-tracked" — so a Sync push that legitimately couldn't
compute the deadline (settings lookup failed) would silently clear the
client's anchor and lose the warning window.
Three states now, encoded on the same field number (no .proto schema
churn — only comments and the server-side encoder change):
- nil pointer (field absent) → "no info"; client preserves anchor
- &Timestamp{} (seconds=0, nanos=0) → explicit "disabled / not SSO"
sentinel; client clears
- valid timestamp → new absolute UTC deadline
A new encodeSessionExpiresAt helper centralises the zero/non-zero
encoding and is shared by the Sync, Login and ExtendAuthSession
builders. The Sync builder still emits nil when settings are missing.
Login and ExtendAuthSession always carry an authoritative value.
The matching client-side decoder lands on feature/session-extend.
* add UserExtendedPeerSession activity event
ExtendAuthSession previously reused UserLoggedInPeer for its audit
record, which conflated two distinct user actions: a full interactive
SSO login (tunnel re-established, network map resync) versus an
in-place deadline refresh (tunnel untouched). Auditors reading the log
couldn't tell which one happened, and downstream dashboards/alerts on
"login" volume were polluted by routine extends.
Adds a dedicated UserExtendedPeerSession Activity (code 125,
"user.peer.session.extend") and switches ExtendPeerSession over to it.
The peer-extend audit trail is now distinguishable from interactive
logins.
* make ExtendAuthSession JWT-retry backoff cancellable
Skip the retry log and 200ms wait on the final attempt, and replace the
uncancellable time.Sleep with a select on time.After/ctx.Done so an
upstream cancellation aborts the wait instead of running it to
completion.
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See Documentation
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NetBird combines a configuration-free peer-to-peer private network and a centralized access control system in a single platform, making it easy to create secure private networks for your organization or home.
Connect. NetBird creates a WireGuard-based overlay network that automatically connects your machines over an encrypted tunnel, leaving behind the hassle of opening ports, complex firewall rules, VPN gateways, and so forth.
Secure. NetBird enables secure remote access by applying granular access policies while allowing you to manage them intuitively from a single place. Works universally on any infrastructure.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/10cec749-bb56-4ab3-97af-4e38850108d2
Self-host NetBird (video)
Key features
Quickstart with NetBird Cloud
- Download and install NetBird at https://app.netbird.io/install.
- Follow the steps to sign up with Google, Microsoft, GitHub or your email address.
- Check the NetBird admin UI.
Quickstart with self-hosted NetBird
This is the quickest way to try self-hosted NetBird. It should take around 5 minutes to get started if you already have a public domain and a VM. Follow the Advanced guide with a custom identity provider for installations with different IdPs.
Infrastructure requirements:
- A Linux VM with at least 1 CPU and 2 GB of memory.
- The VM should be publicly accessible on TCP ports 80 and 443 and UDP port 3478.
- A public domain name pointing to the VM.
Software requirements:
- Docker with the Compose plugin (Compose v2 or higher). See the Docker installation guide.
Steps
- Download and run the installation script:
export NETBIRD_DOMAIN=netbird.example.com; curl -fsSL https://github.com/netbirdio/netbird/releases/latest/download/getting-started.sh | bash
A bit on NetBird internals
- Every machine in the network runs the NetBird agent, which manages WireGuard.
- Every agent connects to the Management Service, which holds network state, manages peer IPs, and distributes updates to agents.
- Agents use ICE (via pion/ice) to discover connection candidates for peer-to-peer connections.
- Candidates are discovered with the help of STUN servers.
- Agents negotiate a connection through the Signal Service, exchanging end-to-end encrypted messages with candidates.
- When NAT traversal fails (e.g. mobile carrier-grade NAT) and a direct p2p connection isn't possible, the system falls back to a Relay Service and a secure WireGuard tunnel is established through it.
See a complete architecture overview for details.
Community projects
- NetBird installer script
- netbird-tui - terminal UI for managing NetBird peers, routes, and settings
- caddy-netbird - Caddy plugin that embeds a NetBird client for proxying HTTP and TCP/UDP traffic through NetBird networks
Note: The main branch may be in an unstable or even broken state during development.
For stable versions, see releases.
Support acknowledgement
In November 2022, NetBird joined the StartUpSecure program sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany. Together with the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, NetBird brings security best practices and simplicity to private networking.
Acknowledgements
We build on open-source technologies like WireGuard®, Pion ICE, and Rosenpass. We greatly appreciate the work these projects are doing, and we'd love it if you could support them too (e.g., by starring or contributing).
Legal
This repository is licensed under the BSD-3-Clause license, which applies to all parts of the repository except for the directories management/, signal/ and relay/. Those directories are licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3.0 (AGPLv3). See the respective LICENSE files inside each directory.
WireGuard and the WireGuard logo are registered trademarks of Jason A. Donenfeld.