diff --git a/cmd/hook.go b/cmd/hook.go
index f07568dd8..9f547362d 100644
--- a/cmd/hook.go
+++ b/cmd/hook.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 	"code.gitea.io/gitea/models"
 	"code.gitea.io/gitea/modules/git"
 	"code.gitea.io/gitea/modules/private"
+	"code.gitea.io/gitea/modules/setting"
 
 	"github.com/urfave/cli"
 )
@@ -55,7 +56,13 @@ var (
 
 func runHookPreReceive(c *cli.Context) error {
 	if len(os.Getenv("SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND")) == 0 {
-		return nil
+		if setting.OnlyAllowPushIfGiteaEnvironmentSet {
+			fail(`Rejecting changes as Gitea environment not set.
+If you are pushing over SSH you must push with a key managed by
+Gitea or set your environment appropriately.`, "")
+		} else {
+			return nil
+		}
 	}
 
 	setup("hooks/pre-receive.log")
@@ -115,7 +122,13 @@ func runHookPreReceive(c *cli.Context) error {
 
 func runHookUpdate(c *cli.Context) error {
 	if len(os.Getenv("SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND")) == 0 {
-		return nil
+		if setting.OnlyAllowPushIfGiteaEnvironmentSet {
+			fail(`Rejecting changes as Gitea environment not set.
+If you are pushing over SSH you must push with a key managed by
+Gitea or set your environment appropriately.`, "")
+		} else {
+			return nil
+		}
 	}
 
 	setup("hooks/update.log")
@@ -125,7 +138,13 @@ func runHookUpdate(c *cli.Context) error {
 
 func runHookPostReceive(c *cli.Context) error {
 	if len(os.Getenv("SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND")) == 0 {
-		return nil
+		if setting.OnlyAllowPushIfGiteaEnvironmentSet {
+			fail(`Rejecting changes as Gitea environment not set.
+If you are pushing over SSH you must push with a key managed by
+Gitea or set your environment appropriately.`, "")
+		} else {
+			return nil
+		}
 	}
 
 	setup("hooks/post-receive.log")
diff --git a/docs/content/doc/advanced/config-cheat-sheet.en-us.md b/docs/content/doc/advanced/config-cheat-sheet.en-us.md
index 68c33f710..ab353f9d5 100644
--- a/docs/content/doc/advanced/config-cheat-sheet.en-us.md
+++ b/docs/content/doc/advanced/config-cheat-sheet.en-us.md
@@ -244,6 +244,7 @@ relation to port exhaustion.
    authentication provided email.
 - `DISABLE_GIT_HOOKS`: **false**: Set to `true` to prevent all users (including admin) from creating custom
    git hooks.
+- `ONLY_ALLOW_PUSH_IF_GITEA_ENVIRONMENT_SET`: **true**: Set to `false` to allow local users to push to gitea-repositories without setting up the Gitea environment. This is not recommended and if you want local users to push to gitea repositories you should set the environment appropriately.
 - `IMPORT_LOCAL_PATHS`: **false**: Set to `false` to prevent all users (including admin) from importing local path on server.
 - `INTERNAL_TOKEN`: **\<random at every install if no uri set\>**: Secret used to validate communication within Gitea binary.
 - `INTERNAL_TOKEN_URI`: **<empty>**: Instead of defining internal token in the configuration, this configuration option can be used to give Gitea a path to a file that contains the internal token (example value: `file:/etc/gitea/internal_token`)
diff --git a/modules/setting/setting.go b/modules/setting/setting.go
index f3dd45d7b..c0b9b99e3 100644
--- a/modules/setting/setting.go
+++ b/modules/setting/setting.go
@@ -140,18 +140,19 @@ var (
 	}
 
 	// Security settings
-	InstallLock           bool
-	SecretKey             string
-	LogInRememberDays     int
-	CookieUserName        string
-	CookieRememberName    string
-	ReverseProxyAuthUser  string
-	ReverseProxyAuthEmail string
-	MinPasswordLength     int
-	ImportLocalPaths      bool
-	DisableGitHooks       bool
-	PasswordComplexity    []string
-	PasswordHashAlgo      string
+	InstallLock                        bool
+	SecretKey                          string
+	LogInRememberDays                  int
+	CookieUserName                     string
+	CookieRememberName                 string
+	ReverseProxyAuthUser               string
+	ReverseProxyAuthEmail              string
+	MinPasswordLength                  int
+	ImportLocalPaths                   bool
+	DisableGitHooks                    bool
+	OnlyAllowPushIfGiteaEnvironmentSet bool
+	PasswordComplexity                 []string
+	PasswordHashAlgo                   string
 
 	// UI settings
 	UI = struct {
@@ -778,6 +779,7 @@ func NewContext() {
 	MinPasswordLength = sec.Key("MIN_PASSWORD_LENGTH").MustInt(6)
 	ImportLocalPaths = sec.Key("IMPORT_LOCAL_PATHS").MustBool(false)
 	DisableGitHooks = sec.Key("DISABLE_GIT_HOOKS").MustBool(false)
+	OnlyAllowPushIfGiteaEnvironmentSet = sec.Key("ONLY_ALLOW_PUSH_IF_GITEA_ENVIRONMENT_SET").MustBool(true)
 	PasswordHashAlgo = sec.Key("PASSWORD_HASH_ALGO").MustString("pbkdf2")
 	CSRFCookieHTTPOnly = sec.Key("CSRF_COOKIE_HTTP_ONLY").MustBool(true)