101 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
101 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
---
|
|
layout: docs
|
|
page_title: Connect - Security
|
|
sidebar_title: Securing Connect
|
|
description: |-
|
|
Connect enables secure service-to-service communication over mutual TLS. This
|
|
provides both in-transit data encryption as well as authorization. This page
|
|
will document how to secure Connect.
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Connect Security
|
|
|
|
Connect enables secure service-to-service communication over mutual TLS. This
|
|
provides both in-transit data encryption as well as authorization. This page
|
|
will document how to secure Connect. To try Connect locally, complete the
|
|
[Getting Started guide](https://learn.hashicorp.com/consul/gs-consul-service-mesh/understand-consul-service-mesh?utm_source=WEBSITE&utm_medium=WEB_IO&utm_offer=ARTICLE_PAGE&utm_content=DOCS) or for a full security model reference,
|
|
see the dedicated [Consul security model](/docs/internals/security.html) page. When
|
|
setting up Connect in production, review this [guide](https://learn.hashicorp.com/consul/developer-mesh/connect-production?utm_source=consul.io&utm_medium=docs).
|
|
|
|
Connect will function in any Consul configuration. However, unless the checklist
|
|
below is satisfied, Connect is not providing the security guarantees it was
|
|
built for. The checklist below can be incrementally adopted towards full
|
|
security if you prefer to operate in less secure models initially.
|
|
|
|
~> **Warning**: The checklist below should not be considered exhaustive. Please
|
|
read and understand the [Consul security model](/docs/internals/security)
|
|
in depth to assess whether your deployment satisfies the security requirements
|
|
of Consul.
|
|
|
|
## Checklist
|
|
|
|
### ACLs Enabled with Default Deny
|
|
|
|
Consul must be configured to use ACLs with a default deny policy. This forces
|
|
all requests to have explicit anonymous access or provide an ACL token. The
|
|
configuration also forces all service-to-service communication to be explicitly
|
|
whitelisted via an allow [intention](/docs/connect/intentions).
|
|
|
|
To learn how to enable ACLs, please see the
|
|
[guide on ACLs](https://learn.hashicorp.com/consul/security-networking/production-acls).
|
|
|
|
**If ACLs are enabled but are in default allow mode**, then services will be
|
|
able to communicate by default. Additionally, if a proper anonymous token
|
|
is not configured, this may allow anyone to edit intentions. We do not recommend
|
|
this. **If ACLs are not enabled**, deny intentions will still be enforced, but anyone
|
|
may edit intentions. This renders the security of the created intentions
|
|
effectively useless.
|
|
|
|
### TCP and UDP Encryption Enabled
|
|
|
|
TCP and UDP encryption must be enabled to prevent plaintext communication
|
|
between Consul agents. At a minimum, `verify_outgoing` should be enabled
|
|
to verify server authenticity with each server having a unique TLS certificate.
|
|
`verify_incoming` provides additional agent verification, but doesn't directly
|
|
affect Connect since requests must also always contain a valid ACL token.
|
|
Clients calling Consul APIs should be forced over encrypted connections.
|
|
|
|
See the [Consul agent encryption page](/docs/agent/encryption) to
|
|
learn more about configuring agent encryption.
|
|
|
|
**If encryption is not enabled**, a malicious actor can sniff network
|
|
traffic or perform a man-in-the-middle attack to steal ACL tokens, always
|
|
authorize connections, etc.
|
|
|
|
### Prevent Unauthorized Access to the Config and Data Directories
|
|
|
|
The configuration and data directories of the Consul agent on both
|
|
clients and servers should be protected from unauthorized access. This
|
|
protection must be done outside of Consul via access control systems provided
|
|
by your target operating system.
|
|
|
|
The [full Consul security model](/docs/internals/security) explains the
|
|
risk of unauthorized access for both client agents and server agents. In
|
|
general, the blast radius of unauthorized access for client agent directories
|
|
is much smaller than servers. However, both must be protected against
|
|
unauthorized access.
|
|
|
|
### Prevent Non-Connect Traffic to Services
|
|
|
|
For services that are using
|
|
[proxies](/docs/connect/proxies)
|
|
(are not [natively integrated](/docs/connect/native)),
|
|
network access via their unencrypted listeners must be restricted
|
|
to only the proxy. This requires at a minimum restricting the listener
|
|
to bind to loopback only. More complex solutions may involve using
|
|
network namespacing techniques provided by the underlying operating system.
|
|
|
|
For scenarios where multiple services are running on the same machine
|
|
without isolation, these services must all be trusted. We call this the
|
|
**trusted multi-tenancy** deployment model. Any service could theoretically
|
|
connect to any other service via the loopback listener, bypassing Connect
|
|
completely. In this scenario, all services must be trusted _or_ isolation
|
|
mechanisms must be used.
|
|
|
|
For developer or operator access to a service, we recommend
|
|
using a local Connect proxy. This is documented in the
|
|
[development and debugging guide](/docs/connect/dev).
|
|
|
|
**If non-proxy traffic can communicate with the service**, this traffic
|
|
will not be encrypted or authorized via Connect.
|