From 42ce78ed43c08320ad420e299cac46dc64b0e82a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mariano Cano Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2020 13:32:48 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Add initial docs for CAS. --- docs/cas.md | 212 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 212 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/cas.md diff --git a/docs/cas.md b/docs/cas.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b1f41c02 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/cas.md @@ -0,0 +1,212 @@ +# Certificate Management Services + +This document describes how to use a certificate management service or CAS to +sign X.509 certificates requests. + +A CAS is a system that implements an API to sign certificate requests, the +difference between CAS and KMS is that the latter can sign any data, while CAS +is intended to sign only X.509 certificates. + +`step-ca` defines an interface that can be implemented to support other +services, currently only CloudCAS and the default SoftCAS are implemented. + +The `CertificateAuthorityService` is defined in the package +`github.com/smallstep/certificates/cas/apiv1` and it is: + +```go +type CertificateAuthorityService interface { + CreateCertificate(req *CreateCertificateRequest) (*CreateCertificateResponse, error) + RenewCertificate(req *RenewCertificateRequest) (*RenewCertificateResponse, error) + RevokeCertificate(req *RevokeCertificateRequest) (*RevokeCertificateResponse, error) +} +``` + +The same package defines another interface that is used to get the root +certificates from the CAS: + +```go +type CertificateAuthorityGetter interface { + GetCertificateAuthority(req *GetCertificateAuthorityRequest) (*GetCertificateAuthorityResponse, error) +} +``` + +## SoftCAS + +SoftCAS is the default implementation supported by `step-ca`. No special +configurations are required to enable it. + +SoftCAS generally uses certificates and keys in the filesystem, but a KMS can +also be used instead of a key file for signing certificates. See [KMS](kms.md) +for more information. + +## CloudCAS + +CloudCAS is the implementation of the `CertificateAuthorityService` and +`CertificateAuthorityGetter` interfaces using [Google's Certificate Authority +Service](https://cloud.google.com/certificate-authority-service/). + +Before enabling CloudCAS in `step-ca` you do some steps in Google Cloud Console +or using `gcloud` CLI: + +1. Create or define a project to use. Let's say the name is `smallstep-cas-test`. +2. Create the KMS keyring and keys for root and intermediate certificates: + + ```sh + # Create key ring + gcloud kms keyrings create kr1 --location us-west1 + # Create key for Root certificate + gcloud kms keys create k1 \ + --location us-west1 \ + --keyring kr1 \ + --purpose asymmetric-signing \ + --default-algorithm ec-sign-p256-sha256 \ + --protection-level software + # Create key for Intermediate certicate + gcloud kms keys create k2 \ + --location us-west1 \ + --keyring kr1 \ + --purpose asymmetric-signing \ + --default-algorithm ec-sign-p256-sha256 \ + --protection-level software + + # Put the resource name for version 1 of the new KMS keys into a shell variable. + # This will be used in the other instructions below. + KMS_ROOT_KEY_VERSION=$(gcloud kms keys versions describe 1 --key k1 --keyring kr1 --location us-west1 --format "value(name)") + KMS_INTERMEDIATE_KEY_VERSION=$(gcloud kms keys versions describe 1 --key k2 --keyring kr1 --location us-west1 --format "value(name)") + ``` + +3. Enable the CA service API. You can do it on the console or running: + + ```sh + gcloud services enable privateca.googleapis.com + ``` + +4. Configure IAM. Create a service account using Google Console or running: + + ```sh + # Create service account + gcloud iam service-accounts create step-ca-sa \ + --project smallstep-cas-test \ + --description "Step-CA Service Account" \ + --display-name "Step-CA Service Account" + # Add permissions to use the privateca API + gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding smallstep-cas-test \ + --member=serviceAccount:step-ca-sa@smallstep-cas-test.iam.gserviceaccount.com \ + --role=roles/privateca.caManager + # Download the credentials.file + gcloud iam service-accounts keys create credentials.json \ + --iam-account step-ca-sa@smallstep-cas-test.iam.gserviceaccount.com + ``` + +5. Create a Root CA. You can do this on the console or running: + + ```sh + gcloud alpha privateca roots create prod-root-ca \ + --kms-key-version "$KMS_ROOT_KEY_VERSION" \ + --subject "CN=Example Root CA, O=Example LLC" \ + --max-chain-length 2 + ``` + +6. Create an Intermediate CA. You can do this on the console or running: + + ```sh + gcloud alpha privateca subordinates create prod-intermediate-ca \ + --issuer prod-root-ca --issuer-location us-west1 \ + --kms-key-version "$KMS_INTERMEDIATE_KEY_VERSION" \ + --subject "CN=Example Intermediate CA, O=Example LLC" \ + --reusable-config "subordinate-server-tls-pathlen-0" + ``` + +Not it's time to enable it in `step-ca` adding the new property `"cas"` must be added +to the `ca.json`. + +```json +{ + "cas": { + "type": "cloudCAS", + "credentialsFile": "/path/to/credentials.json", + "certificateAuthority": "projects//locations//certificateAuthorities/" + } +} +``` + +* **type** defines the name of the CAS to use, _cloudCAS_ must be used to enable it. +* **credentialsFile** defines the path to a Google Cloud credential file with + access to Google's Certificate AuthorityService. We created this file before + in step 4. Instead of setting this property, the environment variable + `GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS` can be pointed to the file to use. Or if the + `step-ca` is running in Google Cloud, the default service account in the + machine can also be used. +* **certificateAuthority** defines the Google Cloud resource to the intermediate + (or subordinated) certificate to use. We created this resource in step 6. + +As we said before, the CloudCAS implementation in `step-ca` also defines the +interface `CertificateAuthorityGetter`, this allows `step-ca` to automatically +download the root certificate from Cloud CAS. In the `ca.json` now you don't +need to configure `"root"`, and because the intermediate is in Google Cloud, +`"crt"` and `"key"` are no needed. A full `ca.json` can look like: + +```json +{ + "address": ":443", + "dnsNames": ["ca.example.com"], + "logger": {"format": "text"}, + "db": { + "type": "badger", + "dataSource": "/home/jane/.step/db", + }, + "cas": { + "type": "cloudCAS", + "credentialsFile": "/home/jane/.step/credentials.json", + "certificateAuthority": "projects/smallstep-cas-test/locations/us-west1/certificateAuthorities/prod-intermediate-ca" + }, + "authority": { + "provisioners": [ + { + "type": "JWK", + "name": "jane@example.com", + "key": { + "use": "sig", + "kty": "EC", + "kid": "ehFT9BkVOY5k_eIiMax0ZxVZCe2hlDVkMwZ2Y78av4s", + "crv": "P-256", + "alg": "ES256", + "x": "GtEftN0_ED1lNc2SEUJDXV9EMi7JY-kqINPIEQJIkjM", + "y": "8HYFdNe1MbWcbclF-hU1L80SCmMcZQI6vZfTOXfPOjg" + }, + "encryptedKey": "eyJhbGciOiJQQkVTMi1IUzI1NitBMTI4S1ciLCJjdHkiOiJqd2sranNvbiIsImVuYyI6IkEyNTZHQ00iLCJwMmMiOjEwMDAwMCwicDJzIjoiSjBSWnY5UFZrM3JKRUJkem5RbExzZyJ9.Fiwvo-RIKU5G6v5udeCT1nlX87ElxrocP2FcgNs3AqEz5OH9H4suew.NmzUJR_9xv8ynQC8.dqOveA_G5kn5lxjxnEZoJCystnJMVYLkZ_8CVzfJQhYchbZfNk_-FKdIuQxeWWBzvmomsILFNtLOIUoqSt30qk83lFyGQWN8Ke2bK5DhuwojF7RI_UqkMyiKP0F28Z4ZFhfQP5D2ZT_stoFaMlU8eak0-T8MOiBIfdAJTWM9x2DN-68mtUBuL5z5eU8bqsxELnjGauD_GHTdnduOosmYsw8vp_PmffTTwqUzDFH1RhkeSmRFRZntAizZMGYkxLamquHI3Jvuqiv4eeJ3yLqh3Ppyo_mVQKnxM7P9TyTxcvLkb2dB3K-cItl1fpsz92cy8euKsKG8n5-hKFRyPfY.j7jBN7nUwatoSsIZuNIwHA" + } + ] + }, + "tls": { + "cipherSuites": [ + "TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_CHACHA20_POLY1305", + "TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256" + ], + "minVersion": 1.2, + "maxVersion": 1.3, + "renegotiation": false + } +} +``` + +The we only need to run `step-ca` as usual, but this time, the CA will print the +root fingerprint too: + +```sh +$ step-ca /home/jane/.step/config/ca.json +2020/09/22 13:17:15 Using root fingerprint '3ef16343cf0952eedbe2b843066bb798fa7a7bceb16aa285e8b0399f661b28b7' +2020/09/22 13:17:15 Serving HTTPS on :9000 ... +``` + +We will need to bootstrap once our environment using the printed fingerprint: + +```sh +step ca bootstrap --ca-url https://ca.example.com --fingerprint 3ef16343cf0952eedbe2b843066bb798fa7a7bceb16aa285e8b0399f661b28b7 +``` + +And now we can sign sign a certificate as always: + +```sh +step ca certificate test.example.com test.crt test.key +```