System Security Configuration Guide for Cisco NCS 540 Series Routers, IOS XR Release 7.8.x
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This release introduces secure vault, a secure storage for keys, user credentials, and other security-related information for third-party applications. With this
functionality, non-native and third-party applications running on the router will now be able to boot securely. This functionality
provides significant benefit for Datacenters that run a mix of native and non-native applications.
As we move away from static infrastructure defined by data centers that consisted of high trust networks, towards multiple
cloud and private data centers that have blurred perimeters, the definition and requirement of security has changed.
Network applications need to securely store and provide access control to secrets that include, but are not limited to, API
keys, tokens, SSH/TLS credentials, routing protocol authentication keys, user credentials, certificates like X.509 certificates,
and so on.
IOS-XR applications and modules, such as Type6, CEPKI, and Attestation use Trusted Anchor Module (TAm) based secure storage
through the XR-TAm services layer. This layer provides entropy sources, key management, and SUDI handling in addition to the
secure storage interfaces.
Non-native IOS-XR applications (also called Third-party applications or TPAs) that typically run as a docker applications,
often require secrets, such as private keys or API tokens to be stored on the devices.
The TPAs have the following basic requirements for secure storage:
Secure Storage: Stores the Key-Value pair type data of the TPA. These values must be stored in encrypted form in persistent
storage.
Access Control: Manages the access of the secrets through one or more authentication methods.
Authenticated access: Supports authenticated access to the stored secrets, such as via a token-based authentication method.
To cater to these requirements, Cisco IOS XR Release 7.4.1 supports the Secure Vault feature.
Effective Cisco IOS XR Release 7.4.1, key-value pair based secure storage for TPAs is supported through the Vault Open Source
Software (Vault OSS) front-end and middleware, with Cisco TAm services forming the storage backend. Vault OSS provides a multi-paradigm,
API-driven approach to secrets management.
Configuring Secure Vault
The Secure Vault process (svault) runs by default, but the feature and the service are not enabled by default. You must enable the secure vault server and service to allow the TPA to perform create, read, update,
or delete (CRUD) operations with secrets.
Note
You must have admin privileges to configure the secure vault feature.
Use the svault server enable command to enable the service.
Use the svault server disable command to stop the secure vault service. When the feature is disabled after enabling the same, the relevant keys are kept
safe in Cisco TAm secure storage to restart the service without further user intervention.
If you re-enable the feature or restart the secure vault process, the process fetches the relevant keys from the Cisco TAm
and the service is re-started and all the policies and path related configurations are re-played and re-configured automatically.
Configuring Secure Vault Address and Port
RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ios# configure terminal
RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ios(config)# svault server address ipv4 192.168.23.1
RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ios(config)# svault server port 8200
RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ios(config)# svault server enable
Note
The secure vault (svault) server IP address must be a Class C IP address.
Note
It is assumed that the client address is the next higher address than the server IP address.
Note
you must make any changes to the svault server address or port while the svault server is in disabled state.
Profiles
Profiles are used to specify a virtual path for storing secrets, rules, and privileges to access the path. Profiles can be
attached to TPAs.
svault
auth-method
token
ttl 20 the generated token will be in force for 20 hours
global this command sets the global parameters for the profile tpa_prof1
env-addr SVAULT_ADDR the IP address and port of svault server is imported as SVAULT_ADDR in the TPA
env-path SVAULT_PATH the profile’s path is imported as SVAULT_PATH in the TPA
env-token SVAULT_TOKEN the token generated for this profile is imported as SVAULT_TOKEN in the TPA
policy PROF1_POLICY defines the privileges and capabilities for tpa_prof1
preserve-data preserves TPA data even if the configuration is removed
path tpa_path1 lets tpa_prof1 know that its data is stored only in this path
delete read update write
Onboarding the TPAs As a Docker Instance
App Manager is used to onboard the TPA as docker instances.
RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ios# show svault status
Mon May 10 10:26:56.365 IST
Secure Vault Status:
--------------------
Server:Enabled (Note: Disabled when svault server not enabled)
Server Redundancy:Disabled (Note: Always Disabled in 7.4.1)
Server IP Address:192.168.10.10(Note: service address)
Server port:3000 (Note: service port)
Secure Server:Disabled (Note: Always disabled in 7.4.1)
Server Auth Methods:Token (Note: Always ‘Token’ in 7.4.1)
RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ios# show run svault
Mon May 10 10:26:22.444 IST
svault
server
address ipv4 192.168.10.10
port 3000
enable
!
profile-name tpa_prof1
auth-method
token
ttl 24
!
!
global
env-addr SVAULT_ADDR1
env-path SVAULT_PATH1
env-token SVAULT_TOKEN1
!
policy tpa_pol1
path tpa_path1
read write update delete
!
!
!
!
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