Using Arduino as contact to the world for linux box if app crashes
I will put our comments together in an answer.

You are overthinking the security issue. In my opinion, using RFID to reset the system is a bigger security thread, than using ssh the correct way. Normal RFID chips are susceptible to spoofing (copying an existing chip). Also the intruder could remove the RFID module to directly access the communication lines (depending on how much you will have accessible of the extra hardware). Also you can of course use the Serial interface of an Arduino to execute shell commands on your machine. You need a program on the machine to read the input and execute the commands (Majenko mentioned agetty for this). But is that really the best way? Using an Arduino here is a very hardware-ry way of solving a software issue. It is overly complex to do things this way and there are better options.

Instead you should really just use ssh with key-based authentication (disable password authentication). You can limit the ssh daemon to the local network (though, if you don't have configured corresponding port forwarding in your router, it isn't reachable from the internet either way), or - if you really want the additional security - to one specific device in your network. With a normal ssh key (I think 2048 bit is the standard), brute forcing is not a viable option for intruders. If you keep your private key save, there is very very little chance, that an intruder can get past that. You can also save the private key only on an USB stick, which you only use for resetting the machine. Also you can limit the commands, that the ssh user can execute, to only the resetting (like only allowing rebooting).

Depending on your actual security needs, you can choose, how far you want to go. I personally would just use key-based ssh limited to the local network. That should be plenty enough security and would also give you the possibility to access the machine, that is running in your home easier.



Or, if you really don't want to open ssh for the machine, you can write a simple watchdog program, that can run on the machine. Since the webapp is failing, you can write a simple python program (or any other language you like), which is regularly loading the webapp (how exactly depends largely on the webapp and the exact type of failure - may be a simple HTTP GET request) to check, if it is still alive. If the liveliness test fails for a defined number of times (let's say 3), it will reboot the machine.

This method does not require any access to the machine, but you will have to develop the liveliness test. Writing the program is then really simple. 



All that said, it is not a good sign, that the app fails that often. You didn't write, what app that is, and what exactly fails. Maybe you are able to fix that issue directly. Or the developer of the app can, so maybe raise an issue on his platform (where the project is hosted).