ec620a7765
* implement mdx remote * fix an unfenced code block * fix partials path Co-authored-by: Jim Kalafut <jkalafut@hashicorp.com>
41 lines
1.9 KiB
Plaintext
41 lines
1.9 KiB
Plaintext
---
|
|
layout: docs
|
|
page_title: Security Details - HSM Integration - Vault Enterprise
|
|
sidebar_title: Security
|
|
description: Recommendations to ensure the security of a Vault Enterprise HSM deployment.
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Vault Enterprise HSM Security Details
|
|
|
|
This page provides information to help ensure that a Vault HSM deployment is
|
|
performed as securely as possible.
|
|
|
|
## PKCS#11 Authentication
|
|
|
|
PKCS#11 authentication occurs via a slot number and PIN. In practice, because
|
|
the PIN is not required to be numeric (and some HSMs require more complex
|
|
PINs), this behaves like a username and password.
|
|
|
|
Like a username and password, these values should be protected. If they are
|
|
stored in Vault's configuration file, read access to the file should be tightly
|
|
controlled to appropriate users. (Vault's configuration file should always have
|
|
tight write controls.) Rather than storing these values into Vault's
|
|
configuration file, they can also be supplied via the environment; see the
|
|
[Configuration](/docs/configuration/seal/pkcs11) page for more details.
|
|
|
|
The attack surface of stolen PKCS#11 credentials depends highly on the
|
|
individual HSM, but generally speaking, it should be assumed that if an
|
|
attacker can see these credentials and has access to a machine on which Vault
|
|
is running, the attacker will be able to access the HSM key protecting Vault's
|
|
master key. Therefore, it is extremely important that access to the machine on
|
|
which Vault is running is also tightly controlled.
|
|
|
|
## Recovery Key Shares Protection
|
|
|
|
Recovery key shares should be protected in the same way as your organization
|
|
would protect key shares for the cryptographic barrier. As a quorum of recovery
|
|
key shares can be used with the `generate-root` feature to generate a new root
|
|
token, and root tokens can do anything within Vault, PGP encryption should
|
|
always be used to protect the returned recovery key shares and the recovery
|
|
share holders should be highly trusted individuals.
|