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      Secrets Management with Terraform


      Updated by Linode Contributed by Linode

      Terraform is an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool that allows you to write declarative code to manage your infrastructure. In order to implement IaC with Terraform it is necessary to supply secrets, such as server passwords and API tokens, within your code. This guide will discuss methods for securing those secrets within Terraform.

      Keeping Secrets Out of .tf Files

      In Terraform, .tf files contain the declarative code used to create, manage, and destroy infrastructure. This code is often committed to a version control system like Git, using a platform like GitHub, and shared within a team. Because it is easy for this information to become public-facing, it is important that you make sure your committed code is free of secrets.

      Input Variables

      Terraform configurations in .tf files can accept values from input variables. These variables are included in your configuration using Terraform’s interpolation syntax.

      For example, you might have a linode-infrastructure.tf file with a provider block that requires an API access token. The token variable definition is declared inside your .tf file and is then interpolated inside the provider declaration with the "${var.token}" syntax:

      linode-infrastructure.tf
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      variable "token" {
  description = "Your API access token"
}

provider "linode" {
    token = "${var.token}"
}

      Variable definitions are written in .tf files. In this example, it’s the same file as your provider configuration, but the definition could have been in a separate .tf file too.

      Note

      Your variable definitions can have default values assigned to them. Here’s an example that encodes Linode’s Newark data center as the default value for a region variable:

      variables.tf
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      variable "region" {
  description = "The region to deploy Linode instances in"
  default = "us-east"
}

      You could later use this variable when declaring your Linode instances.

      Assigning Variable Values in a File

      The values assigned to your variables (aside from default values) are not included in the variable definitions in your .tf files. Instead, the values are stored in separate files with the .tfvars extension. When Terraform runs a command like plan or apply, it automatically looks through the working directory for a file named terraform.tfvars, or for files with the .auto.tfvars extension.

      Here’s an example terraform.tfvars which supplies a value for the token variable from the previous example:

      terraform.tfvars
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      token = 'your-token-value'

      You would then add the terraform.tfvars file to your .gitignore file and keep it out of version control. This strategy allows you to safely commit the linode-infrastructure.tf file.

      For ease of use with large terraform.tfvars files, it might be beneficial to include an example terraform.tfvars.example in your Git repository with all of the variable names recorded (but none of the values entered). Team members could then copy this example into their local repository’s terraform.tfvars and enter the appropriate values.

      Note

      Variable value files with names that don’t match terraform.tfvars or *.auto.tfvars can be specified with the -var-file option:

      terraform apply -var-file=myvars.tfvars

      Supplying multiple .tfvars files is another way to further separate secret variables and non-secret variables; e.g.:

      terraform apply 
-var-file=non-secret-variables.tfvars 
-var-file=secret-variables.tfvars

      Assigning Values in Environment Variables

      Terraform allows you to keep input variable values in environment variables. These variables have the prefix TF_VAR_ and are supplied at the command line. Using the above example of an API access token, you could export the variable and use it like so:

      export TF_VAR_token=your-token-value
terraform apply

      You could also include the variable on the same line when running terraform plan or terraform apply:

      TF_VAR_token=your-token-value terraform apply

      Caution

      This method commits the environment variable to your shell’s history, so take care when using this method.

      Assigning Values in Command-Line Flags

      Variable values can be set with the -var option:

      terraform apply -var 'token=your-token-value'

      Caution

      This method commits the command-line variable to your shell’s history, so take care when using this method.

      Supply Variables at Prompt

      If Terraform does not find a default value for a defined variable; or a value from a .tfvars file, environment variable, or CLI flag; it will prompt you for a value before running an action:

        
$ terraform plan
var.token
  Your API access token

  Enter a value:

      This method is a bit easier to use than supplying environment variables, and has the added benefit of displaying the description you set up when defining your variable.

      How to Manage Your State File

      While it is relatively easy to keep secrets out of .tf files using any of the above methods, there is another file you need to be aware of when managing secrets, and that is the terraform.tfstate file.

      This state file contains a JSON object that holds your managed infrastructure’s current state. This state is a snapshot of the various attributes of your infrastructure at the time it was last modified. It is generated on terraform apply and is a necessary part of the Terraform process, as it maps the declarative code of your .tf files to your real world infrastructure.

      As of the writing of this guide, sensitive information used to generate your Terraform state can be stored as plain text in the terraform.tfstate file. For example, if you are working with the Linode provider and have supplied a root password for your Linode instance, that root password will be stored as plain text in the state file. Avoid checking your terraform.tfstate file into your version control repository. Instead, the following are some strategies for storing and sharing your state files.

      Remote Backends

      Terraform backends allow the user to securely store their state in a remote location, such as a key/value store like Consul, or an S3 compatible bucket storage like Minio. This allows the Terraform state to be read from the remote store, and because the state only ever exists locally in memory, there is no worry about storing secrets in plain text.

      Some backends, like Consul, also allow for state locking. If one user is applying a state, another user will be unable to make any changes.

      Using a Terraform backend is the preferred way to share a Terraform state file.

      Encrypting Secrets

      Third-party tools exist that allow you to encrypt your secrets. If you encrypt the secrets in your terraform.tfstate (or your .tfvars files), you can check them into version control securely:

      • git-crypt allows you to encrypt files when they are committed to a Git repository. git-crypt also decrypts files when they are checked out.

        Note

        You must initialize git-crypt in a repository before committing your state file or variable value files, or they will not be eligible for encryption.

      • Terrahelp allows you to encrypt and decrypt a whole state file, or just the variables you have include in your terraform.tfvars file.

      Use a Dummy Password

      It is possible to supply a dummy password to Terraform and later change that password manually to a more secure one. For instance, if you were to create a Linode instance with a dummy root password, you could later change that password from the command line or in the Linode Manager.

      Note

      Any attempt to change the password in a .tf file will result in the creation of new resources on terraform apply.

      Privatize Version Control

      If you are unwilling or unable to use the above options to help manage your state file, and if you are using a platform like GitHub or GitLab to share your state files, then at minimum the repository should be private.

      More Information

      You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

      Find answers, ask questions, and help others.

      This guide is published under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.



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      Secrets Management with Salt


      Updated by Linode Contributed by Linode

      Salt is a powerful configuration management tool which helps you manage your server deployments with configuration state files. These files are easily shared with others on your team and can be checked in to version control systems like Git.

      A common problem when working with Salt’s state files is the need access to sensitive data, like API keys and database passwords, within those files. Directly embedding that information as plain-text inside your state files can represent a security vulnerability, especially if you were to check those files into version control. This guide will explore some common methods for securing your secrets within Salt.

      Salt Pillar

      A primary method for storing secrets in Salt is to keep them in Salt’s Pillar feature. Salt Pillar is designed to maintain secrets and other variable information in a single location (generally, on the Salt master) and then deliver that information to specific minions. If you separate your secrets out from your states and into pillar files, you can ignore those files in your version control system.

      Note

      In addition to storing secrets, Salt Pillar can also maintain non-sensitive data; for example, the versions of the packages you want to install on your minions. So, you may still want to track some pillar files in version control.

      To handle this distinction, you could create a special directory at /srv/pillar/secrets and add set your version control system to ignore that directory (when using Git, list this directory in your .gitignore file). Keep all sensitive data inside pillar files within this directory, and maintain non-sensitive data in pillar files in /srv/pillar or another subfolder.

      Anatomy of Pillar Data Files

      Pillar data is kept in .sls files which are written in the same YAML syntax as states. These are generally stored within /srv/pillar on the Salt master, but this location can be configured via the pillar_roots option in your master’s configuration.

      For example, let’s say your minion runs an application which accesses the Linode API. This example pillar file records your API token in a variable called linode_api_token:

      /srv/pillar/app_secrets.sls
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      linode_api_token: YOUR_API_TOKEN

      As with state files, a top file (separate from your states’ top file) maps pillar data to minions. This example top file maps your app_secrets pillar data to your app server:

      /srv/pillar/top.sls
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      base:
  'appserver':
    - app_secrets

      Note

      You may want to create a pillar.example file (like those provided by Salt formulas) that lists all the known variable keys for your pillar but does not contain the actual secrets. If you check this file into your version control, other users that clone your states’ repository can duplicate this example pillar file and more quickly set up their own deployments.

      Accessing Pillar Data inside Salt States

      To inject pillar data into your states, use Salt’s Jinja template syntax. While Salt uses the YAML syntax for state and pillar files, the files are first interpreted as Jinja templates (by default).

      This example state embeds the API token in a file on your Linode; the data is accessed through the pillar dictionary:

      /srv/salt/setup_app.sls
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      api_token:
  file.managed:
    - name: /var/your_app/api_token
    - contents: {{ pillar['linode_api_token'] }}

      Caution

      There are times when pillar data could show up in the output that Salt generates, like when file.managed displays diffs of a modified file. To avoid displaying these diffs, you can set file.managed’s show_diff flag to false.

      Passing Pillar Data at the Command Line

      You can also supply pillar values as a dictionary through the command line, and those values will override any values set in your pillar files. This example command would apply the A_DIFFERENT_API_TOKEN value instead of the original YOUR_API_TOKEN from the previous example:

      salt '*' state.apply pillar='{"linode_api_token": "A_DIFFERENT_API_TOKEN"}'

      Environment Variables

      Another way to keep sensitive values out of version control is to use environment variables. The method for passing environment variables to your states is similar to how pillar data can be passed via the command line. The environment variable prefixes your salt command, as in this example:

      LINODE_API_TOKEN="YOUR_API_TOKEN" salt 'appserver' state.apply setup_app

      The environment variable is referenced by a Salt state file through the salt['environ.get']('ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE_NAME') syntax. The previous setup_app example state can be adapted to use an environment variable as follows:

      /srv/salt/setup_app.sls
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      api_token:
  file.managed:
    - name: /var/your_app/api_token
    - contents: {{ salt['environ.get']('LINODE_API_TOKEN') }}

      As with the previous pillar example, you’ll want to keep file.managed’s diffs from appearing on screen when dealing with sensitive information by setting show_diff: false. For more information, see Using Environment Variables in SLS Modules.

      GPG Encryption

      You can use Salt’s GPG renderer to decrypt GPG ciphers that are located in your pillar files. This decryption step happens before your pillar data is passed to your minions. As a result, any value in a pillar file can be encrypted. Because the values are encrypted, you can store your pillar files in version control securely.

      This approach requires that the GPG secret key is stored on your Salt master. It also makes sense to include the public key in version control so that your team members can use it to encrypt new data for your pillar files.

      SDB

      Salt comes with a database interface called SDB that was initially created to store non-minion-specific data, such as passwords. It was designed to connect to a package like Salt’s keyring module, but other options are available, such as Consul and Vault.

      These databases are set up using a configuration profile in /srv/salt/master.d. To access data, you supply an sdb:// url, such as password: sdb://mysecrets/mypassword. For more information on SDB, reference the Salt SDB documentation.

      Note

      More Information

      You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

      Find answers, ask questions, and help others.

      This guide is published under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.



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