Using CSMS to Prevent AK and SK Leakage

Scenario

Application secrets are stored and can be accessed temporarily to prevent AK and SK leakage.

How It Works

You can use Identity and Access Management (IAM) to obtain temporary access keys for Elastic Cloud Server (ECS) to protect AKs and SKs.

Access secrets can be classified into permanent secrets and temporary secrets based on their validity periods. Permanent access secrets include usernames and passwords. Temporary access keys have a shorter validity period, are updated frequently, thus are more secure. You can assign an IAM agency to an ECS instance, so that applications in the ECS instance can use the temporary AK, SK, and security token to access CSMS. The temporary access keys are dynamically obtained every time they are required. They can also be cached in the memory and updated periodically.

Process Flow

Figure 1 ECS agency configuration process

Constraint

Only the administrator or an IAM user with the ECS permission can configure an agency for an ECS instance.

Procedure

1. Create an ECS agency on IAM.
   1. Log in to the management console.
   2. Click on the left of the page and choose Management & Governance > Identity and Access Management. The Users page is displayed.
   3. In the navigation pane, choose Agencies.
   4. Click Create Agency in the upper right corner.
   5. Configure parameters in the Create Agency dialog box. For more information, see Agency parameters.
      Figure 2 Creating an agency
      

      Table 1 Agency parameters

      Parameter Name	Description
      Agency Name	Enter an agency name. Example: ECS_TO_CSMS
      Agency Type	Select Cloud service.
      Cloud Service	Select Elastic Cloud Server (ECS) and Bare Metal Server (BMS).
      Validity Period	Select a duration. The value can be Unlimited, 1 day, or Custom.
      Description	(Optional) Enter agency description.

   6. Click Next to go to the authorization page.
   7. Click Create Policy in the upper right corner. If you already have a policy, skip this step.
      1. Configure policy parameters. For more information, see Policy parameters.
         Figure 3 Creating a policy
         

         Table 2 Policy parameters

         Parameter Name	Description
         Policy Name	Enter a policy name.
         Policy View	Select Visual editor.
         Policy Content	Allow: Select Allow. Select service: Select Cloud Secret Management Service (CSMS). Select action: Select read and write permissions as required. (Optional) Select resource: Select the scope of resources. Specific: Access specific secrets. NOTE: You can select Specify resource path, and then click Add Resource Path to specify an accessible secret. All: Access all secrets. (Optional) Add request condition: Click Add Request Condition, select a condition key and an operator, and enter values as required.
         Description	(Optional) Enter policy description.

   8. Select a policy for the agency. Click Next.
   9. Select a scope and click OK.
      • All resources: IAM users will be able to use all resources, including those in enterprise projects, region-specific projects, and global services under your account based on assigned permissions.
      • Enterprise projects: The selected permissions will be applied to resources in the enterprise projects you select.
      • Region-specific projects: The selected permissions will be applied to resources in the region-specific projects you select.

2. Assign an agency (for example, ECS_TO_CSMS) to an ECS instance.
   • To create an ECS instance, perform the operations described in Creating an ECS. In Step 3: Configure Advanced Settings, select the new agency (for example, ECS_TO_CSMS).
   • To use an existing ECS instance, perform the following steps:
     1. Click on the left of the page and choose Management & Governance > Identity and Access Management. Go to the ECS page.
     2. Click the name of an ECS instance to go to the Summary page.
     3. In the Management Information area, click and select an agency (for example, ECS_TO_CSMS).
        Figure 4 Selecting an agency
        

3. In an application running on the ECS instance, call an API to obtain the temporary agency secrets, including the temporary AK, SK, and security token, to access CSMS.
   1. Obtain the temporary AK and SK (in the Security Key directory). For details, see Obtaining Metadata.
      • URI

        /openstack/latest/securitykey

      • Method

        GET request

      • The following data is returned:

        {
              "credential":{
                  "access": "LDHZK30XXXXXXXXXXXXV",
                  "secret":"gyqcdzVXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXMl6",
                  "securitytoken": "El9FI2C65qXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXnkcaoV",
                  "expires_at": "2022-07-14T12:09:24.147000Z"
                          }
        }

        

        • Extract the values of access, secret, and securitytoken to access CSMS.
        • ECS automatically rotates temporary secrets to ensure that they are secure and valid.
   2. Use the temporary AK, SK, and security token to access CSMS.
      • An example of the secret list is as follows. For details, see Secret Management APIs.
      • Prepare basic authentication information.
        • ACCESS_KEY: Access key of the Huawei account. For details, see How Do I Obtain an Access Key (AK/SK)?
        • SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: Secret access key of the Huawei account. For details, see How Do I Obtain an Access Key (AK/SK)?
        • There will be security risks if the AK/SK used for authentication is directly written into code. Encrypt the AK/SK in the configuration file or environment variables for storage.
        • In this example, the AK/SK stored in the environment variables are used for identity authentication. Configure the environment variables HUAWEICLOUD_SDK_AK and HUAWEICLOUD_SDK_SK in the local environment first.

        package com.huaweicloud.sdk.test;
        
        import com.huaweicloud.sdk.core.auth.ICredential;
        import com.huaweicloud.sdk.core.auth.BasicCredentials;
        import com.huaweicloud.sdk.core.exception.ConnectionException;
        import com.huaweicloud.sdk.core.exception.RequestTimeoutException;
        import com.huaweicloud.sdk.core.exception.ServiceResponseException;
        import com.huaweicloud.sdk.csms.v1.region.CsmsRegion;
        import com.huaweicloud.sdk.csms.v1.*;
        import com.huaweicloud.sdk.csms.v1.model.*;
        
        public class ListSecretsSolution {
            public static void main(String[] args) { 
             * Basic authentication information:
             * - ACCESS_KEY: Access key of the Huawei account
             * - SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: Secret access key of the Huawei account
             * - PROJECT_ID: Huawei Cloud project ID. For details, see https://support.huaweicloud.com/intl/en-us/productdesc-iam/iam_01_0023.html
        * - CSMS_ENDPOINT: endpoint address for accessing CSMS. For details, see https://support.huaweicloud.com/intl/en-us/api-dew/dew_02_0052.html.
             * - There will be security risks if the AK/SK used for authentication is directly written into code. Encrypt the AK/SK in the configuration file or environment variables for storage.
             * - In this example, the AK/SK stored in the environment variables are used for identity authentication. Configure the environment variables HUAWEICLOUD_SDK_AK and HUAWEICLOUD_SDK_SK in the local environment first.
             */
            private static final String ACCESS_KEY = System.getenv("HUAWEICLOUD_SDK_AK");
            private static final String SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = System.getenv("HUAWEICLOUD_SDK_SK");
            String securitytoken = "<YOUR SecurityToken>";
                     
                String ak = System.getenv("CLOUD_SDK_AK");        
                String sk = System.getenv("CLOUD_SDK_SK");
        
                ICredential auth = new BasicCredentials()
                        .withAk(ak)
                        .withSk(sk)
                        .withSecurityToken(securitytoken);
        
                 CsmsClient client = CsmsClient.newBuilder()
                         .withCredential(auth)
                         .withRegion(CsmsRegion.valueOf("cn-north-1"))
                         .build();
                 ListSecretsRequest request = new ListSecretsRequest();
                 try {
                     ListSecretsResponse response = client.listSecrets(request);
                     System.out.println(response.toString());
                 } catch (ConnectionException e) {
                     e.getMessage();
                 } catch (RequestTimeoutException e) {
                     e.getMessage();
                 } catch (ServiceResponseException e) {
                     e.getMessage();
                     System.out.println(e.getHttpStatusCode());
                     System.out.println(e.getErrorCode());
                     System.out.println(e.getErrorMsg());
                 }
             }
        }