README
¶
step-kms-plugin
step plugin to manage keys and certificates on a cloud KMSs and HSMs.
⚠️ This tool is currently in beta mode and its usage of might change without announcements.
TL;DR You can use go install
to compile and install step-kms-plugin
in
your $GOBIN
:
go install github.com/smallstep/step-kms-plugin@latest
Installation
The most generic way to install step-kms-plugin
is to use go install
to
compile it and install it in your $GOBIN
, which defaults to $(go env GOPATH)/bin
.
You can also download the last release for your platform in the releases page.
To use step-kms-plugin
as a step
plugin, you need the binary located either
in a plugins
directory of your $STEPPATH
($(step path --base)/plugins
) or
in your $PATH
.
Supported KMSs
The following "Key Management Systems" or KMSs are supported, but not all of them provide the full functionality:
- PKCS #11 modules
- Amazon AWS KMS
- Google Cloud Key Management
- Microsoft Azure Key Vault
- YubiKey PIV
- ssh-agent
Usage
step-kms-plugin
can be used as a standalone application or in conjunction with
step
.
The commands under step kms
will directly call step-kms-plugin
with the
given arguments. For example, these two commands are equivalent:
step kms create --kty EC --crv P384 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=1000;object=mykey?pin-value=password'
step-kms-plugin create --kty EC --crv P384 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=1000;object=mykey?pin-value=password'
For the rest of the examples, we are going to use the plugin usage, step kms
,
using the PKCS #11 KMS with SoftHSM 2.
To initialize the SoftHSM 2 we will run:
$ softhsm2-util --init-token --free --token smallstep \
--label smallstep --so-pin password --pin password
Slot 0 has a free/uninitialized token.
The token has been initialized and is reassigned to slot 715175552
You can later delete it running:
softhsm2-util --delete-token --token smallstep
Creating a new key
Our PKCS #11 implementation requires always an object id (id=1000
) and label
(object=my-key
) to create the key. We will add those as part of the URI that
defines the module to use.
By default, the create command creates an EC P-256 key:
$ step kms create 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=1000;object=my-p256?pin-value=password'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAEjg5Zs/fSuvfodhZQcxcu07deKsdX
sQf46/JPxQ39kPIkhD+onVVxCl462yMGVTQeLDCN3fwImoOdqZ3eKhoQOA==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
We can use --kty
, --crv
, and --size
to create other types of keys. On
other KMS implementations you can also use the --pss
and --alg
flags to
define precisely the key to generate. Here we are creating a P-384 and a
3072-bit RSA key:
$ step kms create --kty EC --crv P384 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=1001;object=my-p384?pin-value=password'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MHYwEAYHKoZIzj0CAQYFK4EEACIDYgAEBDdy2wnC6r8n2qZTa3kefjo3CEkaWXz6
rWTbDNEYrzc9LXEoA7zI1j+liSGR9wLmu91keOBnweQOIR06QV12InEKFX2l3lRx
nDPvq7P3MeRo9UqzKlZT+D+dhYQjB54K
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
$ step kms create --kty RSA --size 3072 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=1002;object=my-rsa?pin-value=password'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MIIBojANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAY8AMIIBigKCAYEAzAtriAh4ABfboPff15CD
Skzxghaeb5SqcCwvZYdlZDRlZHlcbweY80bHjFvcU+ytSZOoMgBw+XooUnTmeVo3
hOy039wlZwkfv/MEL4HP1AUVNA2iS19tmybAUTK0Myl/Ui+1iGllYA3e1ChCEZwV
3B5KPfpG5KiPurhKfv5q3edIVcMKL8qj8Y9HYrzFBebQil23vkWrFylb1r/54W/O
5kT2emYEGaJ8lJqzvJaIsvQpk8EqkJ7FHuAMeZyb3BK8cGjIP/GI22mL6NO3LpFc
PK3Zjo7mZS5tQlFR9CULEbCuM+jiOs7FRJdyhUhdkygDxuWk1hfrCMYcG59P8pQX
mPaCwE78GB3Bsi50Bp4+UI9KBcp+JARdPKocd6RvASDX1KpALpFhgqrC05+JfKA+
/51QMYY1mlJn7izHmwYJr0DRn1usrh5mtJEcOtwiNKR3bo1LI00XW93DIA442IzA
KqMBZrEYmuy+oL6Jy9Ys4nOVWEzFcOjmUWyjFOMMG/89AgMBAAE=
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
SoftHSM 2 does not support creating an extractable key, but on other devices, it
is recommended to use the --extractable
flag so you can backup a wrapped
version of the new keys.
Getting the public key
To retrieve the public key, we can use the id
, the object
, or both at the
same time:
$ step kms key 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=1000;object=my-p256?pin-value=password'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAEjg5Zs/fSuvfodhZQcxcu07deKsdX
sQf46/JPxQ39kPIkhD+onVVxCl462yMGVTQeLDCN3fwImoOdqZ3eKhoQOA==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
$ step kms key 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=1001?pin-value=password'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MHYwEAYHKoZIzj0CAQYFK4EEACIDYgAEBDdy2wnC6r8n2qZTa3kefjo3CEkaWXz6
rWTbDNEYrzc9LXEoA7zI1j+liSGR9wLmu91keOBnweQOIR06QV12InEKFX2l3lRx
nDPvq7P3MeRo9UqzKlZT+D+dhYQjB54K
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
$ step kms key 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;object=my-rsa?pin-value=password'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----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-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
Signing
Let's first, initialize a hello world to sign:
echo "Hello World" > data.txt
And then use the previous keys to sign, as before we can either use id
,
object
, or both:
$ step kms sign --in data.txt 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=1000;object=my-p256?pin-value=password'
MEQCIH2WfsgVRfCJs/sgIftT3i7xbpslS+9ShW/3qO9jXeA7AiBZFkcum+68zQ7pxluUE1v1yjCDyo34OEGIIyic9ItBcA==
$ step kms sign --in data.txt 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=1001?pin-value=password'
MGUCMQDtK5cADG4D3AXRLeTLvOpcDoOfYHJqt8eVVhKPg+Q5z9Hk3DSBlz/h1+YGyV11crYCMEVnQIqSdYQLB096DyLrZG28+cMjKfs+mlg+UUeVShnjHgBNGt2tHCeAZAS0VV4u4A==
$ step kms sign --in data.txt 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;object=my-rsa?pin-value=password'
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
We can use step
to verify one of these signatures:
$ step kms key 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=1000?pin-value=password' > my-p256.key
$ step crypto key verify --key my-p256.key \
--signature MEQCIH2WfsgVRfCJs/sgIftT3i7xbpslS+9ShW/3qO9jXeA7AiBZFkcum+68zQ7pxluUE1v1yjCDyo34OEGIIyic9ItBcA== data.txt
true
By default, RSA signatures use the RSA PKCS #1 scheme with SHA256, but we can
use the --alg
to select the hash function and --pss
to use the RSA-PSS
scheme:
$ step kms sign --alg SHA512 --in data.txt 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;object=my-rsa?pin-value=password'
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
$ step kms sign --alg SHA256 --pss --in data.txt 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;object=my-rsa?pin-value=password'
iT/enoe6zXfz4bZolrQUoYf+B5bDhn++cfkgM4x4ozqX8xd6lljPMODGB3Z43rfvUHc3A//ULzN8DjAzA7nuExneexrlAalwhqeMHSLHAmJsztgpuQ2OHdpsEfWIbkQgd4lfZWBq0Srri32SEqTnqp+s2Itf1R1By6PFcsftVMFvH3foXn3bEwWK8gHsxLRt/bnqC7ubXU+b/xjUQiu/LMl+p7RSFVjDtm3e0j07G6cbsABsr4EA0Xlw7JRrYbiP3hz4GwfRbfSBKBXrCF+edpBhGtscJnrdwL9LD/MbaDgEWrf8lO1UFmLp2B6NsjvNiQhZJ4ruQ4isHOF669z5cFcB5Hc14i4ZI81dYAI8AjG7NZvF07bH32gM2h6vVEgesrTqqcKpLW/dge3cpcEimA0Nfzpeg6ZnhnugCtI8FBDZAbo3KP9e4O2mXydP5MmZu4vWajjWc4h3sReBFXg888j2dh8gsJXCIGNUXUzULHysfdTVivnewtW2sDDnEK+L
Signing certificates with step
The step-kms-plugin
is automatically used by step certificate create
and
step certificate sign
commands if we use the --kms
flag. With these
commands, we can initialize our PKI using a key stored in a KMS.
Let's create first a root key:
$ step kms create 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=2000;object=root?pin-value=password'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAE5fbczGkGeLrLu3nD7mbdS0PmqDUT
jT/f0r5U71dCAhP2T4rTfdrgnFPacX/a4jeQ1sMn4grtNFc1A4CE6vBt0A==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
And use it to create the root certificate:
$ step certificate create --profile root-ca \
--kms 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep?pin-value=password' \
--key 'pkcs11:id=2000'
"Smallstep Root CA" root_ca.crt
Your certificate has been saved in root_ca.crt.
Note that currently, the configuration of the KMS and the reference to the key is passed using two different flags. This might be improved in the future.
Now let's create a key for the intermediate certificate:
$ step kms create 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=2001;object=intermediate?pin-value=password'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAEZUm9hNkXPn9KrXrG1vzhgzTwqD4+
j0Wo9CQOP7GQApJLcVO9TGpzpLQHEUsUEU2zAnrGlxH7oFAlbZGXH4ueHQ==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
And create the intermediate ca:
$ step certificate create --profile intermediate-ca \
--kms 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep?pin-value=password' \
--ca root_ca.crt --ca-key 'pkcs11:id=2000' \
--key pkcs11:id=2001 \
"Smallstep IntermediateCA" intermediate_ca.crt
Your certificate has been saved in intermediate_ca.crt.
We can also create a CSR backed by a key in the KMS and sign it using the intermediate key:
$ step kms create 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep;id=2002;object=leaf?pin-value=password'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAE6fMBiDFPAOCrHSQszpoLMQX9JYuk
JVX8J8X9t/OydimJAgBujwY8xRSgnWdU1SXXdMck+wPZZNBYvcWJWpLN9Q==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
$ step certificate create --csr \
--kms 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep?pin-value=password' \
--key pkcs11:id=2002 \
leaf.internal leaf.csr
Your certificate signing request has been saved in leaf.csr.
$ step certificate sign --kms 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep?pin-value=password' \
leaf.csr intermediate_ca.crt pkcs11:id=2001
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
Documentation
¶
Overview ¶
Copyright 2022 Smallstep Labs, Inc.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.