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AWSAccessKeyRequest

What is AWSAccessKeyRequest

An AWSAccessKeyRequest is a Kubernetes CustomResourceDefinition (CRD) which allows a user to request for AWS credentials in a Kubernetes native way. If an AWSAccessKeyRequest is approved, then the KubeVault operator will issue credentials using a Vault server and create a Kubernetes secret containing the AWS credentials. The secret name will be specified in status.secret.name field. The operator will also create appropriate ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding for the k8s secret.

The KubeVault operator performs the following operations when an AWSAccessKeyRequest CRD is created:

• Checks whether status.conditions[].type is Approved or not
• If Approved, makes AWS access key request to Vault
• Creates a Kubernetes Secret which contains the AWS credentials
• Sets the name of the k8s secret to AWSAccessKeyRequest’s status.secret.name
• Assigns read permissions on that Kubernetes secret to specified subjects or user identities

AWSAccessKeyRequest CRD Specification

Like any official Kubernetes resource, a AWSAccessKeyRequest object has TypeMeta, ObjectMeta, Spec and Status sections.

A sample AWSAccessKeyRequest object is shown below:

apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: AWSAccessKeyRequest
metadata:
  name: aws-cred-req
  namespace: demo
spec:
  roleRef:
    name: aws-role
    namespace: demo
  subjects:
    - kind: ServiceAccount
      name: sa
      namespace: demo
status:
  conditions:
  - lastTransitionTime: "2019-11-13T12:18:07Z"
    message: This was approved by kubectl vault approve awsaccesskeyrequest
    reason: KubectlApprove
    type: Approved
    status: True
  lease:
    duration: 1h0m0s
    id: aws/creds/k8s.-.demo.aws-role/X9dCjtiQCykbuJ7UmzM64xfh
    renewable: true
  secret:
    name: aws-cred-rqst-ryym7w

Here, we are going to describe the various sections of the AWSAccessKeyRequest crd.

AWSAccessKeyRequest Spec

AWSAccessKeyRequest spec contains information about AWS role and subject.

spec:
  roleRef:
    apiGroup: <role-apiGroup>
    kind: <role-kind>
    name: <role-name>
    namespace: <role-namespace>
  subjects:
    - kind: <subject-kind>
      apiGroup: <subject-apiGroup>
      name: <subject-name>
      namespace: <subject-namespace>
  roleARN: <ARN-of-role>
  ttl: <ttl-for-STS-token>
  useSTS: <boolean-value>

AWSAccessKeyRequest spec has the following fields:

spec.roleRef

spec.roleRef is a required field that specifies the AWSRole against which credentials will be issued.

It has the following fields:

• roleRef.apiGroup : Optional. Specifies the APIGroup of the resource being referenced.

• roleRef.kind : Optional. Specifies the kind of the resource being referenced.

• roleRef.name : Required. Specifies the name of the object being referenced.

• roleRef.namespace : Required. Specifies the namespace of the referenced object.

spec:
  roleRef:
    name: aws-role
    namespace: demo

spec.subjects

spec.subjects is a required field that contains a list of references to the object or user identities on whose behalf this request is made. These object or user identities will have read access to the k8s credential secret. This can either hold a direct API object reference or a value for non-objects such as user and group names.

It has the following fields:

• kind : Required. Specifies the kind of object being referenced. Values defined by these API groups are “User”, “Group”, and “ServiceAccount”. If the Authorizer does not recognized the kind value, the Authorizer will report an error.

• apiGroup : Optional. Specifies the APIGroup that holds the API group of the referenced subject. Defaults to "" for ServiceAccount subjects.

• name : Required. Specifies the name of the object being referenced.

• namespace: Required. Specifies the namespace of the object being referenced.

spec:
  subjects:
    - kind: ServiceAccount
      name: sa
      namespace: demo

spec.roleARN

spec.roleARN is an optional field that specifies the ARN of the role to assume if credential_type on the Vault role is assumed_role. This must match one of the allowed role ARNs in the Vault role. This field is optional if the Vault role only allows a single AWS role ARN, required otherwise.

spec:
  roleARN: "arn:aws:iam::452618475015:role/hello.world"

spec.ttl

spec.ttl is an optional field that specifies the TTL for the use of the STS token. This is specified as a string with a duration suffix.

spec:
  ttl: "1h"

spec.useSTS

spec.useSTS is an optional field. If this is true, /aws/sts endpoint will be used to retrieve credential. Otherwise, /aws/creds endpoint will be used to retrieve credentials.

spec:
  useSTS: true

AWSAccessKeyRequest Status

status shows the status of the AWSAccessKeyRequest. It is managed by the KubeVault operator. It contains the following fields:

• secret: Specifies the name of the secret containing AWS credential.

• lease: Contains lease information of the issued credential.

• conditions : Represent observations of a AWSAccessKeyRequest.

  status:
    conditions:
      - type: Approved
  

  It has following field:

  • conditions[].type : Required. Specifies request approval state. Supported type: Approved and Denied.
  • conditions[].reason : Optional. Specifies brief reason for the request state.
  • conditions[].message : Optional. Specifies human readable message with details about the request state.

Note: AWS credential will be issued if conditions[].type is Approved. Otherwise, the KubeVault operator will not issue any credentials.