Self-hosting a password manager sounds secure until you're locked out at the airport

Self-hosting a password manager like Vaultwarden or Bitwarden gives you full control over your credentials, but comes with underappreciated operational risks. These include the lack of emergency access features (unlike commercial managers), backup corruption pitfalls where automated scripts silently replicate broken data, remote access challenges when traveling with VPN-only setups, and update anxiety that leads to running outdated software with known CVEs. The risks aren't from hackers but from systemic failures that surface at the worst possible moments.