**Please note**: We take Vault's security and our users' trust very seriously. If you believe you have found a security issue in Vault, _please responsibly disclose_ by contacting us at [security@hashicorp.com](mailto:security@hashicorp.com).
The current authentication model requires providing Vault with a Service Account token, which can be used to make authenticated calls to Kubernetes. This token should not typically be shared, but in order for Kubernetes to be treated as a trusted third party, Vault must validate something that Kubernetes has cryptographically signed and that conveys the identity of the token holder.
We expect Kubernetes to support less sensitive mechanisms in the future, and the Vault integration will be updated to use those mechanisms when available.
You can then download any required build tools by bootstrapping your
environment:
```sh
$ make bootstrap
```
To compile a development version of this plugin, run `make` or `make dev`.
This will put the plugin binary in the `bin` and `$GOPATH/bin` folders. `dev`
mode will only generate the binary for your platform and is faster:
```sh
$ make
$ make dev
```
Put the plugin binary into a location of your choice. This directory
will be specified as the [`plugin_directory`](https://www.vaultproject.io/docs/configuration/index.html#plugin_directory)
in the Vault config used to start the server.
```json
...
plugin_directory = "path/to/plugin/directory"
...
```
Start a Vault server with this config file:
```sh
$ vault server -config=path/to/config.json ...
...
```
Once the server is started, register the plugin in the Vault server's [plugin catalog](https://www.vaultproject.io/docs/internals/plugins.html#plugin-catalog):
