Open Stack

On Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 4:23 AM Gorka Eguileor <geguileo at redhat.com> wrote:

> On 19/01, Lance Bragstad wrote:
> > Hey all,
> >
> > I want to follow up on this thread because there's been some discussion
> and
> > questions (some of which are in reviews) as services work through the
> > proposed changes [0].
> >
> > TL;DR - OpenStack services implementing secure RBAC should update default
> > policies with the `reader` role in a consistent manner, where it is not
> > meant to protect sensitive information.
> >
>
> Hi Lance,
>
> Thank you very much for this great summary of all the different
> discussions and decisions.
>
> I have just one question regarding your TL;DR, shouldn't it be "where it
> is meant to protect sensitive information"?
>
> As I understood it the reader should be updated so it doesn't expose
> sensitive information (thus protecting it) because it's the least
> privileged role.
>
> Cheers,
> Gorka.
>

I think you're understanding things correctly, and re-reading my original
TL;DR I can see how the wording is confusing. Does the following help?


*OpenStack services implementing secure RBAC should update default policies
with the `reader` role in a consistent manner, where users with the
`reader` role are not allowed to view sensitive information.*

Nice catch, Gorka.


>
> > In the process of reviewing changes for various resources, some folks
> > raised concerns about the `reader` role definition.
> >
> > One of the intended use-cases for implementing a `reader` role was to use
> > it for auditing, as noted in the keystone definitions for each role and
> > persona [1]. Another key point of that document, and the underlying
> design
> > of secure RBAC, is that the default roles have role implications built
> > between them (e.g., reader implies member, and member implies admin).
> This
> > detail serves two important functions.
> >
> > First, it reduces duplication in check strings because keystone expands
> > role implications in token response bodies. For example, someone with the
> > `admin` role on a project will have `member` and `reader` roles in their
> > token body when they authenticate for a token or validate a token. This
> > reduces the complexity of our check strings by writing the policy to the
> > highest level of authorization required to access an API or resource.
> Users
> > with anything above that level will work through the role implications
> > feature.
> >
> > Second, it reduces the need for extra role assignments. If you grant
> > someone the `admin` role on a project you don't need to also give them
> > `reader` and `member` role assignments. This is true regardless of how
> > services implement check strings.
> >
> > Ultimately, the hierarchical role structure in keystone and role
> expansion
> > in token responses give us shorter check strings and less role
> assignments.
> > But, one thing we're aware of now is that we need to be careful how we
> > expose certain information to users via the `reader` role, since it is
> the
> > least-privileged role in the hierarchy. For example, one concern was
> > exposing license key information in images to anyone with the `reader`
> role
> > on the system. Some deployments, depending on their security posture or
> > auditing targets, might not allow sensitive information to be implicitly
> > exposed. Instead, they may require deployments to explicitly grant access
> > to sensitive information [2].
> >
> > So what do we do moving forward?
> >
> > I think it's clear that there are APIs and resources in OpenStack that
> fall
> > into a special category where we shouldn't expose certain information to
> > the lowest level of the role hierarchy, regardless of the scope. But, the
> > role implication functionality served a purpose initially to deliver a
> > least-privileged role used only for read operations within a given
> scope. I
> > think breaking that implication now is confusing considering we
> implemented
> > the implication in Rocky [3], but I think future work for an elevated
> > read-only role is a good path forward. Eventually, keystone can consider
> > implementing support for a new default role, which implies `reader`,
> making
> > all the work we do today still useful. At that time, we can update
> relevant
> > policies to expose sensitive information with the elevated read-only
> role.
> > I suspect this will be a much smaller set of APIs and policies. I think
> > this approach strikes a balance between what we have today, and a way to
> > move forward that still protects sensitive data.
> >
> > I proposed an update to the documentation in keystone to clarify this
> point
> > [4]. It also doesn't assume all audits are the same. Instead, it phrases
> > the ability to use `reader` roles for auditing in a way that leaves that
> up
> > to the deployer and auditor. I think that's an important detail since
> > different deployments have different security requirements. Instead of
> > assuming everyone can use `reader` for auditing, we can give them a list
> of
> > APIs they can interact with as a `reader` (or have them generate those
> > policies themselves, especially if they have custom policy) and let them
> > determine if that access is sufficient for their audit. If it isn't,
> > deployers aren't in a worse position today, but it emphasizes the
> > importance of expanding the default roles to include another tier for
> > elevated read-only permissions. Given where we are in the release cycle
> for
> > Wallaby, I don't expect keystone to implement a new default role this
> late
> > in the release [5]. Perhaps Xena is a better target, but I'll talk with
> > Kristi about it next week during the keystone meeting.
> >
> > I hope this helps clarify some of the confusion around the secure RBAC
> > patches. If you have additional comments or questions about this topic,
> let
> > me know. We can obviously iterate here, or use the policy pop up time
> slot
> > which is in a couple of days [6].
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Lance
> >
> > [0] https://review.opendev.org/q/topic:secure-rbac
> > [1]
> >
> https://docs.openstack.org/keystone/latest/admin/service-api-protection.html
> > [2] FedRAMP control AC -06 (01) is an example of this - *The organization
> > explicitly authorizes access to [Assignment: organization-defined
> security
> > functions (deployed in hardware, software, and firmware) and
> > security-relevant information].*
> > [3]
> https://docs.openstack.org/releasenotes/keystone/rocky.html#new-features
> > [4] https://review.opendev.org/c/openstack/keystone/+/771509
> > [5] https://releases.openstack.org/wallaby/schedule.html
> > [6] https://etherpad.opendev.org/p/default-policy-meeting-agenda
> >
> > On Thu, Dec 10, 2020 at 7:15 PM Ghanshyam Mann <gmann at ghanshyammann.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >  ---- On Wed, 09 Dec 2020 14:04:57 -0600 Lance Bragstad <
> > > lbragstad at gmail.com> wrote ----
> > >  > Hey everyone,
> > >  >
> > >  > I wanted to take an opportunity to clarify some work we have been
> doing
> > > upstream, specifically modifying the default policies across projects.
> > >  >
> > >  > These changes are the next phase of an initiative that’s been
> underway
> > > since Queens to fix some long-standing security concerns in OpenStack
> [0].
> > > For context, we have been gradually improving policy enforcement for
> years.
> > > We started by improving policy formats, registering default policies
> into
> > > code [1], providing better documentation for policy writers,
> implementing
> > > necessary identity concepts in keystone [2], developing support for
> those
> > > concepts in libraries [3][4][5][6][7][8], and consuming all of those
> > > changes to provide secure default policies in a way operators can
> consume
> > > and roll out to their users [9][10].
> > >  >
> > >  > All of this work is in line with some high-level documentation we
> > > started writing about three years ago [11][12][13].
> > >  >
> > >  > There are a handful of services that have implemented the goals that
> > > define secure RBAC by default, but a community-wide goal is still
> > > out-of-reach. To help with that, the community formed a pop-up team
> with a
> > > focused objective and disbanding criteria [14].
> > >  >
> > >  > The work we currently have in progress [15] is an attempt to start
> > > applying what we have learned from existing implementations to other
> > > projects. The hope is that we can complete the work for even more
> projects
> > > in Wallaby. Most deployers looking for this functionality won't be
> able to
> > > use it effectively until all services in their deployment support it.
> > >
> > > Thanks, Lance for pushing this work forwards. I completely agree and
> that
> > > is what we get feedback in
> > > forum sessions also that we should implement this in all the services
> > > first before we ask operators to
> > > move their cloud to the new RBAC.
> > >
> > > We discussed these in today's policy-popup meeting also and encourage
> > > every project to help in those
> > > patches to add tests and review. This will help to finish the work on
> > > priority and we can provide better
> > > RBAC experience to the deployer.
> > >
> > > -gmann
> > >
> > >  >
> > >  >
> > >  > I hope this helps clarify or explain the patches being proposed.
> > >  >
> > >  >
> > >  > As always, I'm happy to elaborate on specific concerns if folks have
> > > them.
> > >  >
> > >  >
> > >  > Thanks,
> > >  >
> > >  >
> > >  > Lance
> > >  >
> > >  >
> > >  > [0] https://bugs.launchpad.net/keystone/+bug/968696/
> > >  > [1]
> > >
> https://governance.openstack.org/tc/goals/selected/queens/policy-in-code.html
> > >  > [2]
> > >
> https://specs.openstack.org/openstack/keystone-specs/specs/keystone/queens/system-scope.html
> > >  > [3] https://review.opendev.org/c/openstack/keystoneauth/+/529665
> > >  > [4]
> > > https://review.opendev.org/c/openstack/python-keystoneclient/+/524415
> > >  > [5] https://review.opendev.org/c/openstack/oslo.context/+/530509
> > >  > [6]
> https://review.opendev.org/c/openstack/keystonemiddleware/+/564072
> > >  > [7] https://review.opendev.org/c/openstack/oslo.policy/+/578995
> > >  > [8]
> > >
> https://review.opendev.org/q/topic:%22system-scope%22+(status:open%20OR%20status:merged)
> > >  > [9]
> > >
> https://review.opendev.org/q/status:merged+topic:bp/policy-defaults-refresh+branch:master
> > >  > [10]
> > >
> https://review.opendev.org/q/topic:%22implement-default-roles%22+(status:open%20OR%20status:merged)
> > >  > [11]
> > >
> https://specs.openstack.org/openstack/keystone-specs/specs/keystone/ongoing/policy-goals-and-roadmap.html
> > >  > [12]
> > >
> https://docs.openstack.org/keystone/latest/admin/service-api-protection.html
> > >  > [13]
> > >
> https://docs.openstack.org/keystone/latest/contributor/services.html#authorization-scopes
> > >  > [14]
> > >
> https://governance.openstack.org/tc/reference/popup-teams.html#secure-default-policies
> > >  > [15]
> > > https://review.opendev.org/q/topic:%2522secure-rbac%2522+status:open
> > >  >
> > >
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-discuss/attachments/20210127/2ccdd3ec/attachment-0001.html>