Using quorum authentication for admins: first time setup
The following topics describe the steps that you must complete to configure your hardware security module (HSM) so that admins can use quorum authentication. You need to do these steps only once when you first configure quorum authentication for admins. After you complete these steps, see Using quorum authentication for admins.
Prerequisites
To understand this example, you should be familiar with CloudHSM CLI. In this example, the AWS CloudHSM cluster has two HSMs, each with the same admins, as shown in the following output from the user list command. For more information about creating users, see Using CloudHSM CLI.
aws-cloudhsm>user list
{
"error_code": 0,
"data": {
"users": [
{
"username": "admin",
"role": "admin",
"locked": "false",
"mfa": [],
"quorum": [],
"cluster-coverage": "full"
},
{
"username": "admin2",
"role": "admin",
"locked": "false",
"mfa": [],
"quorum": [],
"cluster-coverage": "full"
},
{
"username": "admin3",
"role": "admin",
"locked": "false",
"mfa": [],
"quorum": [],
"cluster-coverage": "full"
},
{
"username": "admin4",
"role": "admin",
"locked": "false",
"mfa": [],
"quorum": [],
"cluster-coverage": "full"
},
{
"username": "app_user",
"role": "internal(APPLIANCE_USER)",
"locked": "false",
"mfa": [],
"quorum": [],
"cluster-coverage": "full"
}
]
}
}
Create and register a key for signing
To use quorum authentication, each admin must complete all of the following steps:
Topics
Create an RSA key pair
There are many different ways to create and protect a key pair. The following examples
show how to do it with OpenSSL
Example – Create a private key with OpenSSL
The following example demonstrates how to use OpenSSL to create a 2048-bit RSA key
that is protected by a pass phrase. To use this example, replace
<admin.key> with the name of the file where you want to
store the key.
$openssl genrsa -out<admin.key>-aes256 2048Generating RSA private key, 2048 bit long modulus .....................................+++ .+++ e is 65537 (0x10001) Enter pass phrase for admin.key: Verifying - Enter pass phrase for admin.key:
Next, generate the public key using the private key that you just created.
Example – Create a public key with OpenSSL
The following example demonstrates how to use OpenSSL to create a public key from the private key you just created.
$openssl rsa -in admin.key -outform PEM -pubout -out admin1.pubEnter pass phrase for admin.key: writing RSA key
Create and sign a registration token
You create a token and sign it with the private key you just generated in the previous step.
Example – Create a registration token
-
Use the following command to start the CloudHSM CLI:
-
Create a registration token by running the quorum token-sign generate command:
aws-cloudhsm >quorum token-sign generate --service registration --token /path/tokenfile{ "error_code": 0, "data": { "path": "/path/tokenfile" } } -
The quorum token-sign generate command generates a registration token at the specified file path. Inspect the token file:
$cat /path/tokenfile{ "version": "2.0", "tokens": [ { "approval_data":<approval data in base64 encoding>, "unsigned":<unsigned token in base64 encoding>, "signed": "" } ] }The token file consists of the following:
approval_data: A base64 encoded randomized data token whose raw data doesn’t exceed the maximum of 245 bytes.
unsigned: A base64 encoded and SHA256 hashed token of the approval_data.
signed: A base64 encoded signed token (signature) of the unsigned token, using the RSA 2048-bit private key previously generated with OpenSSL.
You sign the unsigned token with the private key to demonstrate that you have access to the private key. You will need the registration token file fully populated with a signature and the public key to register the admin as a quorum user with the AWS CloudHSM cluster.
Example – Sign the unsigned registration token
Decode the base64 encoded unsigned token and place it into a binary file:
$echo -n '6BMUj6mUjjko6ZLCEdzGlWpR5sILhFJfqhW1ej3Oq1g=' | base64 -d > admin.binUse OpenSSL and the private key to sign the now binary unsigned registration token and create a binary signature file:
$openssl pkeyutl -sign \ -inkey admin.key \ -pkeyopt digest:sha256 \ -keyform PEM \ -in admin.bin \ -out admin.sig.bin-
Encode the binary signature into base64:
$base64 -w0 admin.sig.bin > admin.sig.b64 -
Copy and paste the base64 encoded signature into the token file:
{ "version": "2.0", "tokens": [ { "approval_data":<approval data in base64 encoding>, "unsigned":<unsigned token in base64 encoding>, "signed":<signed token in base64 encoding>} ] }
Register the public key with the HSM
After creating a key, the admin must register the public key with the AWS CloudHSM cluster.
To register a public key with the HSM
-
Use the following command to start CloudHSM CLI:
-
Using CloudHSM CLI, log in as an admin.
aws-cloudhsm >login --username admin --role adminEnter password: { "error_code": 0, "data": { "username": "admin", "role": "admin" } } -
Use the user change-quorum token-sign register command to register the public key. For more information, see the following example or use the help user change-quorum token-sign register command.
Example – Register a public key with AWS CloudHSM cluster
The following example shows how to use the user change-quorum token-sign register command in CloudHSM CLI to register an admin' public key with the HSM. To use this command, the admin must be logged in to the HSM. Replace these values with your own:
aws-cloudhsm >user change-quorum token-sign register --public-key</path/admin.pub>--signed-token</path/tokenfile>{ "error_code": 0, "data": { "username": "admin", "role": "admin" } }
Note
/path/admin.pub: The filepath to the public key PEM file
Required: Yes
/path/tokenfile: The filepath with token signed by user private key
Required: Yes
After all admins register their public keys, the output from the user list command shows this in the quorum field, stating the enabled quorum strategy in use, as shown below:
aws-cloudhsm >user list{ "error_code": 0, "data": { "users": [ { "username": "admin", "role": "admin", "locked": "false", "mfa": [], "quorum": [ { "strategy": "token-sign", "status": "enabled" } ], "cluster-coverage": "full" }, { "username": "admin2", "role": "admin", "locked": "false", "mfa": [], "quorum": [ { "strategy": "token-sign", "status": "enabled" } ], "cluster-coverage": "full" }, { "username": "admin3", "role": "admin", "locked": "false", "mfa": [], "quorum": [ { "strategy": "token-sign", "status": "enabled" } ], "cluster-coverage": "full" }, { "username": "admin4", "role": "admin", "locked": "false", "mfa": [], "quorum": [ { "strategy": "token-sign", "status": "enabled" } ], "cluster-coverage": "full" }, { "username": "app_user", "role": "internal(APPLIANCE_USER)", "locked": "false", "mfa": [], "quorum": [], "cluster-coverage": "full" } ] } }
Set the quorum minimum value on the HSM
To use quorum authentication, an admin must log in to the HSM and then set the quorum minimum value. This is the minimum number of admin approvals that are required to perform HSM user management operations. Any admin on the HSM can set the quorum minimum value, including admins who have not registered a key for signing. You can change the quorum minimum value at any time. for more information, see Change the minimum value.
To set the quorum minimum value on the HSM
-
Use the following command to start CloudHSM CLI:
-
Using CloudHSM CLI, log in as an admin.
aws-cloudhsm >login --username admin --role adminEnter password: { "error_code": 0, "data": { "username": "admin", "role": "admin" } } -
Use the quorum token-sign set-quorum-value command to set the quorum minimum value. For more information, see the following example or use the help quorum token-sign set-quorum-value command.
Example – Set the quorum minimum value on the HSM
This example uses a quorum minimum value of two (2). You can choose any value from two (2) to eight (8), up to the total number of admins on the HSM. In this example, the HSM has four (4) admins, so the maximum possible value is four (4).
To use the following example command, replace the final number
(<2>) with the preferred quorum minimum value.
aws-cloudhsm >quorum token-sign set-quorum-value --service user --value<2>{ "error_code": 0, "data": "Set quorum value successful" }
In this example, the service identifies the HSM service whose quorum minimum value you are setting. The quorum token-sign list-quorum-values command lists the HSM service types, names, and descriptions that are included in the service.
Admin Services: Quorum authentication is used for admin privileged services like creating users, deleting users, changing user passwords, setting quorum values, and deactivating quorum and MFA capabilities.
Each service type is further broken down into a qualifying service name, which contains a specific set of quorum supported service operations that can be performed.
| Service name | Service type | Service operations |
|---|---|---|
| user | Admin |
|
| quorum | Admin |
|
| cluster1 | Admin |
|
[1] Cluster service is exclusively available on hsm2m.medium
To get the quorum minimum value for a service, use the quorum token-sign list-quorum-values command:
aws-cloudhsm >quorum token-sign list-quorum-values{ "error_code": 0, "data": { "user": 2, "quorum": 1 } }
The output from the preceding quorum token-sign list-quorum-values command shows that the quorum minimum value for HSM user service, responsible for user management operations, is now two (2). After you complete these steps, see Using quorum (M of N).
