open-vault/website/source/docs/enterprise/sealwrap/index.html.md
Jeff Escalante a3dfde5cec New Docs Website (#5535)
* conversion stage 1

* correct image paths

* add sidebar title to frontmatter

* docs/concepts and docs/internals

* configuration docs and multi-level nav corrections

* commands docs, index file corrections, small item nav correction

* secrets converted

* auth

* add enterprise and agent docs

* add extra dividers

* secret section, wip

* correct sidebar nav title in front matter for apu section, start working on api items

* auth and backend, a couple directory structure fixes

* remove old docs

* intro side nav converted

* reset sidebar styles, add hashi-global-styles

* basic styling for nav sidebar

* folder collapse functionality

* patch up border length on last list item

* wip restructure for content component

* taking middleman hacking to the extreme, but its working

* small css fix

* add new mega nav

* fix a small mistake from the rebase

* fix a content resolution issue with middleman

* title a couple missing docs pages

* update deps, remove temporary markup

* community page

* footer to layout, community page css adjustments

* wip downloads page

* deps updated, downloads page ready

* fix community page

* homepage progress

* add components, adjust spacing

* docs and api landing pages

* a bunch of fixes, add docs and api landing pages

* update deps, add deploy scripts

* add readme note

* update deploy command

* overview page, index title

* Update doc fields

Note this still requires the link fields to be populated -- this is solely related to copy on the description fields

* Update api_basic_categories.yml

Updated API category descriptions. Like the document descriptions you'll still need to update the link headers to the proper target pages.

* Add bottom hero, adjust CSS, responsive friendly

* Add mega nav title

* homepage adjustments, asset boosts

* small fixes

* docs page styling fixes

* meganav title

* some category link corrections

* Update API categories page

updated to reflect the second level headings for api categories

* Update docs_detailed_categories.yml

Updated to represent the existing docs structure

* Update docs_detailed_categories.yml

* docs page data fix, extra operator page remove

* api data fix

* fix makefile

* update deps, add product subnav to docs and api landing pages

* Rearrange non-hands-on guides to _docs_

Since there is no place for these on learn.hashicorp, we'll put them
under _docs_.

* WIP Redirects for guides to docs

* content and component updates

* font weight hotfix, redirects

* fix guides and intro sidenavs

* fix some redirects

* small style tweaks

* Redirects to learn and internally to docs

* Remove redirect to `/vault`

* Remove `.html` from destination on redirects

* fix incorrect index redirect

* final touchups

* address feedback from michell for makefile and product downloads
2018-10-19 08:40:11 -07:00

112 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown

---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Vault Enterprise Seal Wrap"
sidebar_title: "Seal Wrap / FIPS 140-2"
sidebar_current: "docs-vault-enterprise-sealwrap"
description: |-
Vault Enterprise features a mechanism to wrap values with an extra layer of
encryption for supporting seals
---
# Seal Wrap
Vault Enterprise features a mechanism to wrap values with an extra layer of
encryption for supporting [seals](/docs/configuration/seal/index.html). This adds an
extra layer of protection and is useful in some compliance and regulatory
environments, including FIPS 140-2 environments.
To use this feature, you must have an active or trial license for Vault
Enterprise (HSMs) or Vault Pro (AWS KMS). To start a trial, contact [HashiCorp
sales](mailto:sales@hashicorp.com).
## Enabling/Disabling
Seal Wrap is enabled by default on supporting seals. This implies that the seal
must be available throughout Vault's runtime. Most cloud-based seals should be
quite reliable, but, for instance, if using an HSM in a non-HA setup a
connection interruption to the HSM will result in issues with Vault
functionality.
To disable seal wrapping, set `disable_sealwrap = true` in Vault's
[configuration file][configuration]. This will not affect auto-unsealing functionality; Vault's
master key will still be protected by the seal wrapping mechanism. It will
simply prevent other storage entries within Vault from being seal wrapped.
*N.B.*: This is a lazy downgrade; as keys are accessed or written their seal
wrapping status will change. Similarly, if the flag is removed, it will be a
lazy upgrade (which is the case when initially upgrading to a seal
wrap-supporting version of Vault).
## FIPS 140-2 Compliance
Vault's Seal Wrap feature has been evaluated by Leidos for compliance with
FIPS 140-2 requirements. When used with a FIPS 140-2-compliant HSM, Vault will
store Critical Security Parameters (CSPs) in a manner that is compliant with
KeyStorage and KeyTransit requirements. This is on by default for many parts of
Vault and opt-in for each individual mount; see the Activating Seal Wrapping
section below for details.
[Download the current compliance letter](/docs/enterprise/sealwrap/Vault_Compliance_Letter_signed.pdf)
### Updates Since The Latest FIPS Compliance Audit
The following are values that take advantage of seal wrapping in the current
release of Vault that have not yet been asserted as compliant by Leidos. The
mechanism for seal wrapping is the same, they simply were not specifically
evaluated by the auditors.
* Root tokens
* Replication secondary activation tokens
* Client authentication information for the GCP Auth Backend
* Client authentication information for the Kubernetes Auth Backend
## Activating Seal Wrapping
For some values, seal wrapping is always enabled with a supporting seal. This
includes the recovery key, any stored key shares, the master key, the keyring,
and more; essentially, any Critical Security Parameter (CSP) within Vault's
core. If upgrading from a version of Vault that did not support seal wrapping,
the next time these values are read they will be seal-wrapped and stored.
Backend mounts within Vault can also take advantage of seal wrapping. Seal
wrapping can be activated at mount time for a given mount by mounting the
backend with the `seal_wrap` configuration value set to `true`. (This value
cannot currently be changed later.)
A given backend's author can specify which values should be seal-wrapped by
identifying where CSPs are stored. If no specific CSPs are identifiable, all
data for the backend may be seal-wrapped.
To see the current list of seal-wrapped data per backend type, see the latest
audit letter and updates in the FIPS 140-2 Compliance section above.
Note that it is often an order of magnitude or two slower to write to and read
from HSMs or remote seals. However, values will be cached in memory
un-seal-wrapped (but still encrypted by Vault's built-in cryptographic barrier)
in Vault, which will mitigate this for read-heavy workloads.
## Seal Wrap and Replication
Seal wrapping takes place below the replication logic. As a result, it is
transparent to replication. Replication will convey which values should be
seal-wrapped, but it is up to the seal on the local cluster to implement it.
In practice, this means that seal wrapping can be used without needing to have
the replicated keys on both ends of the connection; each cluster can have
distinct keys in an HSM or in KMS.
In addition, it is possible to replicate from a Shamir-protected primary
cluster to clusters that use HSMs when seal wrapping is required in downstream
datacenters but not in the primary.
Because of the level of flexibility targeted for replication, values sent over
replication connections do not currently meet KeyTransit requirements for FIPS
140-2. Vault's clustering implementation does support best practices guidance
given in FIPS 140-2, but the cryptographic implementation of TLS is not FIPS
140-2 certified. We may look into providing certified TLS in the future for
replication traffic; in the meantime, a transparent TCP proxy that supports
certified FIPS 140-2 TLS (such as
[stunnel](https://www.stunnel.org/index.html)) can be used for replication
traffic if meeting KeyTransit requirements for replication is necessary.
[configuration]: /docs/configuration/index.html