16 January 2023

Vault Cheat Sheet

create CONF file /etc/vault/vault.conf

 
 backend "file" {   
    path = "vault"
 }
 listener "tcp" {
    address = "0.0.0.0:8200"
    tls_disable = 1
 }

* path refers to the path on your OS, so here it will be /vault

* bind the listener address to 0.0.0.0 not 127.0.0.1, otherwise you wont be able to authenticate from other machines

export VAULT_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:8200

or add to your ENV file /etc/vault/vault_env,

export VAULT_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:8200

export VAULT_UNSEAL_KEY=66JulX5NeL2z0xPjNFqOnCKQh3WHIYCc0nlPYZawRtU=

export VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN=39dafbec-0631-09e3-293e-231dcdd0a3a9

source vault_env

START/STOP

start an unsealed DEV test server (you will be authenticated in as root automatically)

vault server -dev

start a normal server

vault server -config /etc/vault/vault.conf &

Stop vault server

ps -ef | grep "vault server" | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}' | xargs kill -9

or use a Service script

INIT

This initializes Vault with 1 key and 1 threshold (only 1 key is needed to unseal or open the vault). For more secure implementation, use multiple keys and have a threshold of at least 2, meaning you need at least 2 keys provided to open the vault

cmd

vault operator init -key-shares=1 -key-threshold=1 -tls-skip-verify

curl

curl -X PUT -d "{\"secret_shares\":1, \"secret_threshold\":1}" http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/init

{

"keys":["8d8e174384b37456198d1803f4a72b6370d855ff9f8f426b48b88c9750b37381"],

"keys_base64":["jY4XQ4SzdFYZjRgD9KcrY3DYVf+fj0JrSLiMl1Czc4E="],

"root_token":"ac36e083-cd31-3f2c-5f0d-d6dd29fb4ae9"

}

export ENV

export VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN=ac36e083-cd31-3f2c-5f0d-d6dd29fb4ae9

export VAULT_UNSEAL_KEY=8d8e174384b37456198d1803f4a72b6370d855ff9f8f426b48b88c9750b37381

or add VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN, VAULT_UNSEAL_KEY to your ~/.bashrc

check Status

cmd

vault status

RE-INIT UNSEAL KEYS

If you need to re-init vault (and generate new unseal keys), delete the local backend storage, so if your vault.conf is

path = "vault"

run

rm -rf /vault

then start, stop vault service, run init again

UNSEAL

Before adding any passwords, unseal the vault using the Unseal Key from above step. Unsealing makes Vault available for operations, it should only be sealed in event of a breach.

unseal Vault

cmd

vault operator unseal $VAULT_UNSEAL_KEY

curl

curl -X PUT -d '{"key": "8d8e174384b37456198d1803f4a72b6370d855ff9f8f426b48b88c9750b37381"}' http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/unseal

{"sealed":false,"t":1,"n":1,"progress":0,"nonce":"","version":"0.6.5","cluster_name":"vault-cluster-b47dfa63","cluster_id":"abbb17c0-faad-e0b8-8dc1-8bd2db93e39b"}

check seal/unseal status

curl

curl -X GET -H "X-Vault-Token:$VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/seal-status

Seal the vault (will remove Master key)

cmd

curl

curl -X PUT -H "X-Vault-Token:$VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/seal

AUTHENTICATE

if using cmd line, you need to authenticate. If using CURL, dont need to authenticate, just pass your auth token

Auth into Vault

cmd

vault login $VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN

curl

automatically provided as -H "X-Vault-Token:$VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN"

User Management

create new user

curl \ --header "X-Vault-Token:$VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN" \ --request POST \ --data {"password": "superSecretPassword","policies": "admin,default"} \ $VAULT_ADDR/v1/auth/userpass/users/mreider

show user's properties

curl --header "X-Vault-Token: $VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN" $VAULT_ADDR/v1/auth/userpass/users/mreider

{"request_id":"63da2f69-96ad-d4ee-7279-dd8d5d976f10","lease_id":"","renewable":false,"lease_duration":0,"data":{"bound_cidrs":[],"max_ttl":0,"policies":["mreider","user_default"],"ttl":0},"wrap_info":null,"warnings":null,"auth":null}

update users password

$ curl \ --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \ --request POST \ --data { "password": "superSecretPassword2"} \

http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/userpass/users/mitchellh/password

create a new token for a user "lonestar",

vault token create --display-name=lonestar

update user with a policy

vault write auth/userpass/users/mreider policies="mreider"

SECRETS

Backend or a Mount is a file system that Vault uses to store information. Secrets is a generic backend.

Write a secret

cmd

vault write secret/users password=a341xr09

curl

curl -X POST -H "X-Vault-Token:$VAULT_TOKEN" -d '{"password":"a341xr09"}' http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/secret/users

write multiple values

vault write secret/users name=joe lastname=smith age=39

write a JSON structure as a secret (from a JSON file)

cmd

vault write secret/apps/maestro @/opt/maestro/config.dev.json

curl

curl -X POST -H "X-Vault-Token:$VAULT_TOKEN" -d '@config.dev.json' http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/secret/apps/maestro

read secret

vault read secret/users

read secret in JSON, use 'jq' to parse JSON output

vault read -format=json secret/users | jq .data.password

show all keys in secret data

curl -X GET -H "X-Vault-Token:$VAULT_TOKEN" -X LIST http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/secret/apps/

show secrets for a key, will dump out a JSON object

curl -X GET -H "X-Vault-Token:$TEMP_TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/secret/apps/maestro

read secret in JSON, use python to parse JSON output

vault read -format=json secret/users | python -c 'import sys,json; print json.load(sys.stdin)["data"]["password"]'

show all secret keys

vault list secret

delete secret

vault delete secret/users

if this doesnt work, delete from OS path (if backend=File)

rm -rf /vault/logical/GUID

Wrap/Unwrap tokens

This example shows how to create a secret token to access and get configuration data from a JSON file, then wrapping that secret token into a temporary WRAP token. The WRAP token is then given out to the customer (human or application) to be used to get into Vault, unwrap the Secret token, and use the Secret token to unlock the JSON config secret data.

    1. Create a MAESTRO (or your App name) Token

    2. vault token create --display-name "maestro"

    3. token: ce61c443-e602-496e-dbb7-5fbe3921fc95

      1. curl

      2. curl --header "X-Vault-Token: $VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN" --request POST --data '{"display-name":"maestro"}' http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/token/create

    4. Export the token

    5. export MAESTRO_TOKEN=ce61c443-e602-496e-dbb7-5fbe3921fc95

    6. Write a secret to a path, in this case its a JSON config file with passwords in it,

    7. vault write secret/apps/maestro @/opt/maestro/config.dev.json

    8. test getting the JSON output using MAESTRO_TOKEN

      1. curl

      2. curl -X GET -H "X-Vault-Token:$MAESTRO_TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/secret/apps/maestro

    1. should get a JSON dump. This confirms MAESTRO token is working.

    2. Create a Wrapper Token that will Wrap around MAESTRO_TOKEN,

    3. vault write sys/wrapping/wrap -wrap-ttl=60 token=$MAESTRO_TOKEN

    4. token: 7d791fa1-6157-c641-fddd-ca0eeba0505c (set to 60 min lifetime, only valid for 5 min by default)

      1. curl

      2. curl --header "X-Vault-Token: $VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN" --header "X-Vault-Wrap-TTL: 60" --request POST --data "{\"token\":\"${MAESTRO_TOKEN}\"}" http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/wrapping/wrap

    1. export WRAP_TOKEN=7d791fa1-6157-c641-fddd-ca0eeba0505c

    2. Send the WRAP token to the customer

    3. Customer unwraps the MAESTRO token using the WRAP token

    4. vault unwrap 7d791fa1-6157-c641-fddd-ca0eeba0505c

    5. 2018/04/12 11:00:03.596305 [INFO ] expiration: revoked lease: lease_id=sys/wrapping/wrap/aff6ad7fdd4be451bab07b98c566af150efc4817

    6. Key Value

    7. --- -----

    8. token ce61c443-e602-496e-dbb7-5fbe3921fc95 (MAESTRO token!)

      1. curl

      2. curl -X POST -H "X-Vault-Token:$WRAP_TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/wrapping/unwrap

CUSTOM BACKEND & MOUNTS

custom backends can be created or 'mounted', using "Generic" type

vault mount -path myStuff -description="my secrets" generic

check mounts

vault mounts

Path Type Default TTL Max TTL Description

cubbyhole/ cubbyhole n/a n/a per-token private secret storage

myStuff/ generic system system my stuff

secret/ generic system system generic secret storage

sys/ system n/a n/a system endpoints used for control

write to your custom backend

vault write myStuff/info id=123 region=US rank=3

vault read myStuff/info

Key Value

--- -----

refresh_interval 768h0m0s

id 123

rank 3

region US

unmount your backend

vault unmount myStuff

ACL POLICY

(Access Control List)

Access control policies in Vault control what a user can access, these are the ultimate controllers of who can see what

for example

path "secret/jira/password" {

policy = "read"

}

only allows a read on the password, to whoever is accessing it

create new file called dev.hcl

name = "dev"

path "secret/*" {

policy = "write"

}

path "myCorp/projectA/database/password" {

policy = "read"

}

path "auth/token/lookup-self" {

policy = "read"

}

write the policy

cmd

vault policy write mypolicy ACL.hcl

you policy is now written in-memory

see all written policies

cmd

vault policy list

curl

curl -X GET -H "X-Vault-Token:$VAULT_ROOT_TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/policy

{"keys":["master","default","acl","root"],"policies":["mypolicy","default","acl","root"],"request_id":"d557373c-962c-e86b-3089-d7671c03c54f","lease_id":"","renewable":false,"lease_duration":0,"data":{"keys":["mypolicy","default","acl","root"],"policies":["mypolicy","acl","root"]},"wrap_info":null,"warnings":null,"auth":null}

see your specific policy

cmd

vault policy read mypolicy

path "secret/*" {

policy = "write"

}

path "secret/projectA/database/password" {

policy = "read"

}

path "auth/token/lookup-self" {

policy = "read"

}

AUTH BACKEND - TOKENS

create a token

vault token create

Key Value

--- -----

token e032a2fd-8c25-1746-f5b6-ef7497d5ed65

token_accessor 7ec939a8-ae11-4ebe-5bba-facf97066167

token_duration 0s

token_renewable false

token_policies [root]

create token for specific policy

vault token create -policy=myPolicy

create time-based token for specific policy, can only use it 3 times, then it self-destructs

vault token create -policy=maestro -period=120m -use-limit=3

Key Value

--- -----

token 7eb6c3d4-a396-8c6f-bca4-0ba5aca53df9

token_accessor 90aac38c-a4a3-8983-b5b5-f11313b0f7f3

token_duration 2h

token_renewable true

token_policies [default maestro]

revoke a token

vault token revoke

authenticate with token (only for cmd line)

vault auth 0e2b4e8e-e15d-c2b0-1354-2546ce42fde7

revoke all tokens for a secret

vault revoke -prefix secret/users/password

lookup current token info

vault token-lookup

generate a new ROOT token (root tokens never expire and have access to everything)

    1. unseal Vault

    2. generate 1 time password

    3. vault generate-root -genotp

    4. OTP: qIoKVrKsaLOzBqYTxX1r0A==

    5. get encoded root token

    6. vault generate-root -otp qIoKVrKsaLOzBqYTxX1r0A==

    7. 2017/03/16 13:43:20.166090 [INFO ] core: root generation initialized: nonce=bff2360c-9366-2385-dc15-fc842a0a83a5

    8. Root generation operation nonce: bff2360c-9366-2385-dc15-fc842a0a83a5

    9. Key(will be hidden): provide $VAULT_UNSEAL_KEY here

    10. 2017/03/16 13:51:13.114477 [INFO ] core: root generation finished: nonce=bff2360c-9366-2385-dc15-fc842a0a83a5

    11. Nonce: bff2360c-9366-2385-dc15-fc842a0a83a5

    12. Started: true

    13. Rekey Progress: 1

    14. Required Keys: 1

    15. Complete: true

    16. Encoded root token: JilLZtsUVHzwUHU2rMMcvg==

    17. decode encoded root token

    18. vault generate-root -otp qIoKVrKsaLOzBqYTxX1r0A== -decode=JilLZtsUVHzwUHU2rMMcvg==

    19. Root token: 8ea34130-69b8-3ccf-4356-d32569be776e

AUTH BACKEND - AppRoles

check available auth methods

cmd

vault auth -methods

enable approle

cmd

vault auth-enable approle

curl

curl -X POST -H "X-Vault-Token:$ROOT_VAULT_TOKEN" -d '{"type":"approle"}' http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/auth/approle

create AppRole

cmd

vault write -f auth/approle/role/nyc-admins

curl

curl -X POST -H "X-Vault-Token:$ROOT_VAULT_TOKEN" -d '{"policies":"dev-policy,test-policy"}' http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/approle/role/testrole

get Role ID

cmd

vault read auth/approle/role/testrole/role-id

curl

curl -X GET -H "X-Vault-Token:$ROOT_VAULT_TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/approle/role/testrole/role-id | jq .

get Secret ID for role

cmd

vault write -f auth/approle/role/testrole/secret-id

curl

curl -X POST -H "X-Vault-Token:$VAULT_TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/approle/role/testrole/secret-id | jq .

get Token via Role

login with Role

cmd

vault write auth/approle/login role_id=ROLE_ID secret_id=SECRET_ID

curl

curl -X POST \ -d '{"role_id":"988a9dfd-ea69-4a53-6cb6-9d6b86474bba","secret_id":"37b74931-c4cd-d49a-9246-ccc62d682a25"}' \ http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/approle/login | jq .

EXAMPLE

get MYSQL passwords making calls from another machine

create policy 'mysql'

mysql.hcl

path "sys/*" {

policy = "deny"

}

path "my_corp/mysql/*" {

policy = "read"

}

create role called 'nyc-admins'

vault write -f auth/approle/role/nyc-admins

associate Role to a set of policies

vault write auth/approle/role/nyc-admins policies=mysql, devs

get the Role ID of the role

vault read auth/approle/role/nyc-admins/role-id

Key Value

--- -----

role_id ca1dbec4-37f1-61a2-8a83-87a3d980d8b9

get a Secret ID for the role

vault write -f auth/approle/role/nyc-admins/secret-id

Key Value

--- -----

secret_id 445f6eab-4207-a45b-b6b8-a3e86f128fcc

secret_id_accessor c7da2183-3d68-31c6-70ef-b0d9081e6ceb

get a token cred for this role

vault write auth/approle/login role_id=ca1dbec4-37f1-61a2-8a83-87a3d980d8b9 secret_id=445f6eab-4207-a45b-b6b8-a3e86f128fcc

save it as $VAULT_TOKEN

from machine123, get the credentials for mysql

curl -X GET -H "X-Vault-Token:$VAULT_TOKEN" http://<IP of Vault Server>:8200/v1/secrets/mysql

{"request_id":"18b7ed7b-d349-6132-3ea4-20e4dbd6d9a5","lease_id":"","renewable":false,"lease_duration":2764800,"data":{"pw":"abcdef","server":"mysql23.corp"},"wrap_info":null,"warnings":null,"auth":null}