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# In a Weird Case, German Deutsche Bahn's Website Was Locking Out Linux Users
- URL: https://itsfoss.com/news/deutsche-bahn-blocking-linux-users/
- Published: 2026-05-23T01:32:12.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-23T01:32:12.000Z
- Description: DB says it was not intentional, and the block seems to have been fixed.
- Author: Sourav Rudra
- Tags: News

Since a few days now, people trying to plan a trip on Deutsche Bahn's (DB) [main booking website](https://www.bahn.de/?ref=itsfoss.com) have been getting stopped by *error 751*. The site accused their web browser of acting like a bot, and even logging into accounts made no difference.

So, what was actually triggering it? Just the word "*Linux*" in the [User-Agent](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/Headers/User-Agent?ref=itsfoss.com) string it looks like. [heise online](https://www.heise.de/en/news/Deutsche-Bahn-No-information-under-Linux-11300847.html?ref=itsfoss.com) tested this by setting a *Linux User-Agent* on Firefox under Windows and on Safari under macOS, and both got blocked.

## People noticed

![an error page is shown here for the deutsche bahn website, all of it is in deutsche, and the error code is 751](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/05/deutsche-bahn-linux-loading-error.png)

**Source:* [**MaksDampf*](https://www.reddit.com/r/deutschebahn/comments/1thtx4x/was%5Fmacht%5Fdie%5Fit%5Fder%5Fdeutschen%5Fbahn%5Feigentlich/?ref=itsfoss.com)

Heise had picked up on a thread from Reddit's [r/deutschebahn](https://www.reddit.com/r/deutschebahn/comments/1thtx4x/was%5Fmacht%5Fdie%5Fit%5Fder%5Fdeutschen%5Fbahn%5Feigentlich/?ref=itsfoss.com) as evidence that real users were being affected. Someone had posted about getting locked out just from clicking "*earlier connections*" a few times while planning a trip.

*They, as you know, tested it on their end and found out that Linux systems were being blocked.*

Later in the thread, a commenter tied it to the wave of vibe-coded projects, specifically ones built to scrape Deutsche Bahn's fare data. Another commenter identified themselves as a DB employee, pointing out that internal staff have to deal with DB Systel's problems regularly. 

*Before you ask,* [*DB Systel*](https://www.dbsystel.de/dbsystel?ref=itsfoss.com) *is the train operator's IT and digital solutions provider.*

## DB's official response

Deutsche Bahn [has responded](https://www.heise.de/en/news/Deutsche-Bahn-No-general-blocking-of-individual-operating-systems-11302490.html?ref=itsfoss.com) to heise online. A spokesperson said Linux users are supposed to be able to use bahn.de and [DB Navigator](https://www.bahn.de/service/mobile/db-navigator?ref=itsfoss.com) without issues, and that the company's security systems look at traffic behavior, request origins, and browser traits to identify potential threats.

**Normal traffic can get caught in this sometimes**, they said, while emphasizing that they are working to bring those cases down. Heise ran a test again the same day and found out that a Linux User-Agent on a Windows machine still triggered the block.

**I ran two tests of my own**. The first was on a [Fedora Workstation](https://fedoraproject.org/workstation/?ref=itsfoss.com) system with a VPN active, where I accessed *bahn.de* on Firefox in private mode and spammed various header menu options, reloading repeatedly.

![a cropped screenshot of the bahn.de website](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/05/deutsche-bahn-website.png)

The portal never locked me out. I did the same on an [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/?ref=itsfoss.com) virtual machine and got the same result. So it is safe to assume the fixes have been made, though false positives may still happen occasionally.

---

**Suggested Read 📖:** [*Rust Could Eliminate 80% of Linux Kernel CVEs*](https://itsfoss.com/news/linux-kernel-rust-cve-reduction/)

[Rust Could Eliminate 80% of Linux Kernel CVEs!Linux’s stable maintainer is betting on a new Rust type to address a class of bugs C has never been able to fully prevent.![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/icon/android-chrome-512x512-1aa7ab64dc35165bb92fe0ec683780e84b27cd37df02b7bf66a6d1c19edbe254.png)It's FOSSSourav Rudra![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/thumbnail/gkh-tux-rust-banner-732f990d1570a7df622f4b4da2d4fac7c9f0bfaf50a55440ae0eced400dcab73.png)](https://itsfoss.com/news/linux-kernel-rust-cve-reduction/)