From patchwork Fri May 14 17:31:07 2021 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Patchwork-Submitter: =?utf-8?q?Daniel_P=2E_Berrang=C3=A9?= X-Patchwork-Id: 1478633 Return-Path: X-Original-To: incoming@patchwork.ozlabs.org Delivered-To: patchwork-incoming@bilbo.ozlabs.org Authentication-Results: ozlabs.org; spf=pass (sender SPF authorized) smtp.mailfrom=nongnu.org (client-ip=209.51.188.17; helo=lists.gnu.org; envelope-from=qemu-devel-bounces+incoming=patchwork.ozlabs.org@nongnu.org; receiver=) Authentication-Results: ozlabs.org; dkim=pass (1024-bit key; unprotected) header.d=redhat.com header.i=@redhat.com header.a=rsa-sha256 header.s=mimecast20190719 header.b=O+5eP50E; dkim-atps=neutral Received: from lists.gnu.org (lists.gnu.org [209.51.188.17]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by ozlabs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4FhbFf6Hcrz9sW8 for ; Sat, 15 May 2021 03:32:38 +1000 (AEST) Received: from localhost ([::1]:48644 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1lhbfw-0002xK-Sr for incoming@patchwork.ozlabs.org; Fri, 14 May 2021 13:32:36 -0400 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:37504) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1lhbeh-0002tI-JR for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Fri, 14 May 2021 13:31:19 -0400 Received: from us-smtp-delivery-124.mimecast.com ([170.10.133.124]:25129) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1lhbef-0007cB-9H for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Fri, 14 May 2021 13:31:19 -0400 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=redhat.com; s=mimecast20190719; t=1621013476; h=from:from:reply-to:subject:subject:date:date:message-id:message-id: to:to:cc:cc:mime-version:mime-version:content-type:content-type: content-transfer-encoding:content-transfer-encoding: in-reply-to:in-reply-to:references:references; bh=kXiuL+S3bOhDnw7FB5KqwGkHnt4PhdzWiMToBZ4Q2iw=; b=O+5eP50E16byzsTUeRg5ZEiqeBUOV247rm6khdubh3DyT/mkrHZ0YnrnI4Yg0K/aosVAtA MpvgHtbH4Pow7b/2HjXHD4YbrKkZhW6BhDltMYJDD1NPzCbfyLLhU/peMxdgaTNuv1qJJi 3qpmZy9BNjGEr5v3qBBxuPAPzXAJC1A= Received: from mimecast-mx01.redhat.com (mimecast-mx01.redhat.com [209.132.183.4]) (Using TLS) by relay.mimecast.com with ESMTP id us-mta-266-KOTQdw-4MLem6LLHh2oKKw-1; Fri, 14 May 2021 13:31:13 -0400 X-MC-Unique: KOTQdw-4MLem6LLHh2oKKw-1 Received: from smtp.corp.redhat.com (int-mx06.intmail.prod.int.phx2.redhat.com [10.5.11.16]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mimecast-mx01.redhat.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 3042391270 for ; Fri, 14 May 2021 17:31:13 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost.redhat.com (ovpn-113-212.ams2.redhat.com [10.36.113.212]) by smtp.corp.redhat.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 21FBF5C1C4; Fri, 14 May 2021 17:31:11 +0000 (UTC) From: =?utf-8?q?Daniel_P=2E_Berrang=C3=A9?= To: qemu-devel@nongnu.org Subject: [PATCH 1/4] docs: document how to pass secret data to QEMU Date: Fri, 14 May 2021 18:31:07 +0100 Message-Id: <20210514173110.1397741-2-berrange@redhat.com> In-Reply-To: <20210514173110.1397741-1-berrange@redhat.com> References: <20210514173110.1397741-1-berrange@redhat.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.79 on 10.5.11.16 Authentication-Results: relay.mimecast.com; auth=pass smtp.auth=CUSA124A263 smtp.mailfrom=berrange@redhat.com X-Mimecast-Spam-Score: 0 X-Mimecast-Originator: redhat.com Received-SPF: pass client-ip=170.10.133.124; envelope-from=berrange@redhat.com; helo=us-smtp-delivery-124.mimecast.com X-Spam_score_int: -34 X-Spam_score: -3.5 X-Spam_bar: --- X-Spam_report: (-3.5 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, DKIMWL_WL_HIGH=-0.699, DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_EF=-0.1, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW=-0.7, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_H4=0.001, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_WL=0.001, SPF_HELO_NONE=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: qemu-devel@nongnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: =?utf-8?q?Daniel_P=2E_Berrang=C3=A9?= Errors-To: qemu-devel-bounces+incoming=patchwork.ozlabs.org@nongnu.org Sender: "Qemu-devel" Signed-off-by: Daniel P. Berrangé --- docs/system/index.rst | 1 + docs/system/secrets.rst | 162 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 163 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/system/secrets.rst diff --git a/docs/system/index.rst b/docs/system/index.rst index b05af716a9..6aa2f8c05c 100644 --- a/docs/system/index.rst +++ b/docs/system/index.rst @@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ Contents: guest-loader vnc-security tls + secrets gdb managed-startup cpu-hotplug diff --git a/docs/system/secrets.rst b/docs/system/secrets.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..4a177369b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/system/secrets.rst @@ -0,0 +1,162 @@ +.. _secret data: + +Providing secret data to QEMU +----------------------------- + +There are a variety of objects in QEMU which require secret data to be provided +by the administrator or management application. For example, network block +devices often require a password, LUKS block devices require a passphrase to +unlock key material, remote desktop services require an access password. +QEMU has a general purpose mechanism for providing secret data to QEMU in a +secure manner, using the ``secret`` object type. + +At startup this can be done using the ``-object secret,...`` command line +argument. At runtime this can be done using the ``object_add`` QMP / HMP +monitor commands. The examples that follow will illustrate use of ``-object`` +command lines, but they all apply equivalentely in QMP / HMP. When creating +a ``secret`` object it must be given a unique ID string. This ID is then +used to identify the object when configuring the thing which need the data. + + +INSECURE: Passing secrets as clear text inline +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +**The following should never be done in a production environment or on a +multi-user host. Command line arguments are usually visible in the process +listings and are often collected in log files by system monitoring agents +or bug reporting tools. QMP/HMP commands and their arguments are also often +logged and attached to bug reports. This all risks compromising secrets that +are passed inline.** + +For the convenience of people debugging / developing with QEMU, it is possible +to pass secret data inline on the command line. + +:: + + -object secret,id=secvnc0,data=87539319 + + +Again it is possible to provide the data in base64 encoded format, which is +particularly useful if the data contains binary characters that would clash +with argument parsing. + +:: + + -object secret,id=secvnc0,data=ODc1MzkzMTk=,format=base64 + + +**Note: base64 encoding does not provide any security benefit.** + +Passing secrets as clear text via a file +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +The simplest approach to providing data securely is to use a file to store +the secret: + +:: + + -object secret,id=secvnc0,file=vnc-password.txt + + +In this example the file ``vnc-password.txt`` contains the plain text secret +data. It is important to note that the contents of the file are treated as an +opaque blob. The entire raw file contents is used as the value, thus it is +important not to mistakenly add any trailing newline character in the file if +this newline is not intended to be part of the secret data. + +In some cases it might be more convenient to pass the secret data in base64 +format and have QEMU decode to get the raw bytes before use: + +:: + + -object secret,id=sec0,file=vnc-password.txt,format=base64 + + +The file should generally be given mode ``0600`` or ``0400`` permissions, and +have its user/group ownership set to the same account that the QEMU process +will be launched under. If using mandatory access control such as SELinux, then +the file should be labelled to only grant access to the specific QEMU process +that needs access. This will prevent other processes/users from compromising the +secret data. + + +Passing secrets as cipher text inline +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +To address the insecurity of passing secrets inline as clear text, it is +possible to configure a second secret as an AES key to use for decrypting +the data. + +The secret used as the AES key must always be configured using the file based +storage mechanism: + +:: + + -object secret,id=secmaster,file=masterkey.data,format=base64 + + +In this case the ``masterkey.data`` file would be initialized with 32 +cryptographically secure random bytes, which are then base64 encoded. +The contents of this file will by used as an AES-256 key to encrypt the +real secret that can now be safely passed to QEMU inline as cipher text + +:: + + -object secret,id=secvnc0,keyid=secmaster,data=BASE64-CIPHERTEXT,iv=BASE64-IV,format=base64 + + +In this example ``BASE64-CIPHERTEXT`` is the result of AES-256-CBC encrypting +the secret with ``masterkey.data`` and then base64 encoding the ciphertext. +The ``BASE64-IV`` data is 16 random bytes which have been base64 encrypted. +These bytes are used as the initialization vector for the AES-256-CBC value. + +A single master key can be used to encrypt all subsequent secrets, **but it is +critical that a different initialization vector is used for every secret**. + +Passing secrets via the Linux keyring +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +The earlier mechanisms described are platform agnostic. If using QEMU on a Linux +host, it is further possible to pass secrets to QEMU using the Linux keyring: + +:: + + -object secret_keyring,id=secvnc0,serial=1729 + + +This instructs QEMU to load data from the Linux keyring secret identified by +the serial number ``1729``. It is possible to combine use of the keyring with +other features mentioned earlier such as base64 encoding: + +:: + + -object secret_keyring,id=secvnc0,serial=1729,format=base64 + + +and also encryption with a master key: + +:: + + -object secret_keyring,id=secvnc0,keyid=secmaster,serial=1729,iv=BASE64-IV + + +Best practice +~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +It is recommended for production deployments to use a master key secret, and +then pass all subsequent inline secrets encrypted with the master key. + +Each QEMU instance must have a distinct master key, and that must be generated +from a cryptographically secure random data source. The master key should be +deleted immediately upon QEMU shutdown. If passing the master key as a file, +the key file must have access control rules applied that restrict access to +just the one QEMU process that is intended to use it. Alternatively the Linux +keyring can be used to pass the master key to QEMU. + +The secrets for individual QEMU device backends must all then be encrypted +with this master key. + +This procedure helps ensure that the individual secrets for QEMU backends will +not be compromised, even if ``-object`` CLI args or ``object_add`` monitor +commands are collected in log files and attached to public bug support tickets. +The only item that needs strongly protecting is the master key file.