Checklist

Check-Key-Manager-01: Is the ownership of config files set to root/barbican?

Configuration files contain critical parameters and information required for smooth functioning of the component. If an unprivileged user, either intentionally or accidentally, modifies or deletes any of the parameters or the file itself then it would cause severe availability issues resulting in a denial of service to the other end users. User ownership of such critical configuration files must be set to root and group ownership must be set to barbican. Additionally, the containing directory should have the same ownership to ensure that new files are owned correctly.

Run the following commands:

$ stat -L -c "%U %G" /etc/barbican/barbican.conf | egrep "root barbican"
$ stat -L -c "%U %G" /etc/barbican/barbican-api-paste.ini | egrep "root barbican"
$ stat -L -c "%U %G" /etc/barbican/policy.json | egrep "root barbican"
$ stat -L -c "%U %G" /etc/barbican | egrep "root barbican"

Pass: If user and group ownership of all these config files is set to root and barbican respectively. The above commands show output of root / barbican.

Fail: If the above commands do not return any output, it is possible that the user and group ownership may have been set to any user other than root or any group other than barbican.

Check-Key-Manager-02: Are strict permissions set for configuration files?

Similar to the previous check, we recommended to set strict access permissions for such configuration files.

Run the following commands:

$ stat -L -c "%a" /etc/barbican/barbican.conf
$ stat -L -c "%a" /etc/barbican/barbican-api-paste.ini
$ stat -L -c "%a" /etc/barbican/policy.json
$ stat -L -c "%a" /etc/barbican

A broader restriction is also possible: if the containing directory is set to 750, the guarantee is made that newly created files inside this directory would have the desired permissions.

Pass: If permissions are set to 640 or stricter, or the containing directory is set to 750. The permissions of 640 translates into owner r/w, group r, and no rights to others, for example “u=rw,g=r,o=”.

Note

With Check-Key-Manager-01: Is the ownership of config files set to root/barbican? and permissions set to 640, root has read/write access and barbican has read access to these configuration files. The access rights can also be validated using the following command. This command will only be available on your system if it supports ACLs.

$ getfacl --tabular -a /etc/barbican/barbican.conf
getfacl: Removing leading '/' from absolute path names
# file: etc/barbican/barbican.conf
USER   root  rw-
GROUP  barbican  r--
mask         r--
other        ---

Fail: If permissions are set greater than 640.

Check-Key-Manager-03: Is OpenStack Identity used for authentication?

OpenStack supports various authentication strategies like noauth and keystone. If the noauth strategy is used then the users can interact with OpenStack services without any authentication. This could be a potential risk since an attacker might gain unauthorized access to the OpenStack components. We strongly recommend that all services must be authenticated with keystone using their service accounts.

Pass: If the parameter authtoken is listed under the pipeline:barbican-api-keystone section in barbican-api-paste.ini.

Fail: If the parameter authtoken is missing under the pipeline:barbican-api-keystone section in barbican-api-paste.ini.

Check-Key-Manager-04: Is TLS enabled for authentication?

OpenStack components communicate with each other using various protocols and the communication might involve sensitive or confidential data. An attacker may try to eavesdrop on the channel in order to get access to sensitive information. All the components must communicate with each other using a secured communication protocol.

Pass: If value of parameter www_authenticate_uri under [keystone_authtoken] section in /etc/barbican/barbican.conf is set to Identity API endpoint starting with https:// and value of parameter insecure under the same [keystone_authtoken] section in the same /etc/barbican/barbican.conf is set to False.

Fail: If value of parameter www_authenticate_uri under [keystone_authtoken] section in /etc/barbican/barbican.conf is not set to Identity API endpoint starting with https:// or value of parameter insecure under the same [keystone_authtoken] section in the same /etc/barbican/barbican.conf is set to True.