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To ensure a higher level of credential security that may be required in specific industries, ACLI 11.0 introduces the Secure Properties functionality.
Secure Properties replaces augments the acli.properties file preventing , mitigating any breach of security that could occur if the credentials in the n acli.properties were interceptedACLI configuration files were to escape your system.
🌱 Solution
The Secure Properties in ACLI 11.0 provides a key-store-based credential storage solution using password based encryption (PBE). The specific key store format utilized is the UBER format, provided by the excellent Bouncy Castle provided UBER format cryptography library for Java.
The Secure Properties key store can store any value, while it prevents sensitive credentials from being stored as plain text on disk.
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NOTE Once you have configured the use of Secure Properties, ACLI will require the password before executing any actions. The password can be provided interactively each time ACLI is run, or via an environment variable. |
The ACLI Shell can create Secure Properties entries as part of its guided site configuration functionality, which can be launched using the slash-command, /sites add.
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If you forget the password to a Secure Properties key store, the only solution is to manually rename or delete the file (we recommend renaming if there’s any hope you will later remember the password). The key store file is named Appfire support cannot recover data stored in these files if you forget your password! |
Working with Secure Properties
Secure Properties adds actions for creating, updating, reading, and deleting values in an encrypted key store. This key store can then act as a source of variable values that can be referenced in acli.properties.
Prior to the introduction of secure properties, resolution of variables in the acli.properties configuration file included a search of these locations:
other properties defined in
acli.propertiesJava system properties
runtime environment variables
The Secure Properties key store adds a 4th location from which variables may be resolved. By default, this location is only consulted for values if the variable name contains the secret: prefix.
Using Secure Properties consists of three main steps:
Creating a key store
A new key store is created when the action setSecureProperty is run for the first time. For When you create the key store file (named .acli.keystore), it can be found in your home directory.
Each ACLI user on a given system has their own such file. Note that on a multi-user system, each user is required to maintain their own ACLI installation.
The key store file path can be overridden to point to an alternative location through the use of the environment variable ACLI_SECURE_PROPERTIES. This can be useful if you need to work with multiple key stores or multiple installations of ACLI.
When a secure property is first added, ACLI:
First prompts for the value of the secret to be stored.
Prompts for the new key store file password (with confirmation).
To create your key store, run the action setSecureProperty, as shown in the example:
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$ acli system setSecureProperty --name my.secret --secret - Enter secure value: <secret value prompt> Secure properties file does not yet exist. Creating... Enter new secure properties password: <new password prompt> Confirm secure properties password: <new password prompt> Remember your password, it cannot be recovered! Secure properties file created. Value for key 'foo' set in secure properties file. |
The value for the --secret parameter, provided in this the example is provided as - which , is - The value set to - indicates that the value should be obtain obtained via an interactive prompt (or read from stdin if not connected to a tty).
We strongly recommend providing sensitive values this way so that they are not that you use this method to provide sensitive values to avoid them being accidentally recorded in your shell history, where they would could end up existing in plain text anyway!
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The key store requires a non-blank password. Once created, do not forget the password! Key store passwords cannot be recovered by ACLI support. If your password is ever compromised, you should consider the contents of the key store to also be compromised and rotate any secrets it contains accordingly |
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Once created, the key store file (named .acli.keystore) can be found in your home directory. Each ACLI user on a given system has their own such file (because of other ACLI limitations, it is still necessary on a multi-user system for each user to maintain their own ACLI installation). The key store file path can be overridden to point to an alternative location through the use of the environment variable ACLI_SECURE_PROPERTIES
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Referencing secrets in acli.properties
When in use, the key store file can be used to provide values to acli.propertiesby way of substitution variables similar to the current method of referring to environment variables or other properties (i.e., using ${my.variable} syntax). In ACLI 11.0.0, the default
The syntax for referring to key store values is with a variation of that the syntax of the form ${secret:my.secret} (note the addition of the secret: prefix).
Because the key store is password-protected, we require the secret: prefix in order allows you to only consult the key store only when necessary. This requirement can be disabled by setting for the Secure Properties key variables. To disable this requirement, set the environment variable ACLI_SECURE_PROPERTIES_SAFE_MODE=false.
When disabled, the key store will be is consulted for any variable names that are not found in the acli.properties itself file or the environment, but this may result in an interactive prompt requesting to supply a password!
Unlocking the key store
Once your When the ACLI configuration refers to secure property values (i.e., using ${secret:...} style variables in acli.properties) then you will be prompted to unlock the key store , each time that you run an ACLI command (including starting the ACLI Shell), you are prompted to unlock the key store.
Normally, this means that ACLI will prompt prompts you interactively for your key store password before it continues (or read reads it from stdin when not connected to a tty). At your discretion, you may optionally To short-circuit this the prompting behavior by setting , set the environment variable ACLI_SECURE_PROPERTIES_PASSWORD with your password as a value.
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Setting your key store password as an environment variable may or may not be appropriate, depending on your risk tolerance. Doing so is a convenience , but one that comes at a cost of reduced security. You still have the advantage that if Advantage: Disadvantage: Whether you decide this is an acceptable risk is entirely at your discretion, and depends on considerations on the threat modeling under consideration by that you and your organization use. Use this method at your own risk. |
Actions
Use ACLI actions, part of the ACLI system client, to create, update, read, and delete key-value pairs stored in the Secure Properties key store.
To use a secure property in acli.properties, follow the example as illustrated here:
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my-jira = jiracloud -s https://myjira.atlassian.net -u me@example.com -t ${secret:my-jira.token} |
The Actions and Examples table shows how you can work with the secure properties and provides examples.
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If a property name already exists, you are prompted to confirm that you wish to overwrite the value. |
Use Example: Set Secure Property
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To ensure that a value is not accidentally removed, you are prompted for confirmation. |
If you add the
Example: Clear all Secure Properties
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retrieves a secure property from the key store. |
By default, it only indicates whether the named entry exists in the key store. To retrieve the property value as well, use: Example: Get Secure Property
Example: Get Secure Property with value
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To do so, you need the password for both the source and destination key stores.
Note that each of the imported properties, take a regular expression value that is evaluated against the list of keys in the source key store.
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removeSecureProperty
This action removes a secure property from
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To ensure that a value is not accidentally removed, you are prompted for confirmation.
If you add the --force parameter, the secure property is removed without confirmation.
If after this operation the key store is empty, it is automatically removed.
exportSecureProperties
This action allows you to export secure properties from your default key store to another key store file.
To do so, you need the password for both the source and destination key stores.
OPTIONS
Use the
--replaceparameter to avoid being asked to confirm overwriting properties during export.Use the
--includeand--excludeparameters to filter the properties being exported.
Note that each of the exported properties, take a regular expression value that is evaluated against the list of keys in the source key store.
getSecurePropertyList
This action only returns all secure properties from the key store.
To retrieve the list of property value, use:
--outputFormat 2.
getSecureProperty
This action will get a secure property from the key store. By default it will only report whether or not the property was found in the key store. To also return the value, use --outputFormat 2.
removeSecureProperty
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The following examples assume that both Example: Import Secure Properties
Example: Import select Secure Properties (via inclusion) with replacement
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add the If after this operation the key store is empty |
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, it is automatically removed. |
getSecurePropertyList
This action returns all secure properties from the key store. By default it will only report the existing property names. To also return their values, use --outputFormat 2.
clearSecureProperties
This action clears the entire secure properties key store file. In order to ensure you don’t casually destroy the file, you will be prompted for confirmation unless you also add the --force parameter.
You may be prompted for the key store password to complete this action. If you have forgotten the password and wish to start fresh, you must manually delete the key store file (see above for location information).
importSecureProperties
This action allows you to import secure properties from another key store file to your default key store. You will need the password for both the source and destination key stores. To avoid being asked to confirm overwriting properties during import, use the --replace parameter. You may also use the --include and --exclude parameters to filter the properties being imported – each of these take a regular expression value that is evaluated against the list of keys in the source key store.
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Example: Remove a Secure Property
Example: Force remove a Secure Property (with deletion of empty key store)
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To do so, you need the password for both the source and destination key stores. |
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the exported properties, take a regular expression value that is evaluated against the list of keys in the source key store. |
Examples
The following examples assumes that both Example: Export select Secure Properties (via exclusion) with replacement
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Get a secure property
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$ acli system -a getSecureProperty --name my-jira.token
Enter secure properties password: <password prompt>
Secure property 'foo' exists in the secure properties file. |
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Example: Get Secure Property list with values
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Use a secure property in acli.properties
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my-jira = jiracloud -s https://myjira.atlassian.net -u me@example.com -t ${secret:my-jira.token} |
Remove a secure property
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| Locating your Secure Properties key store Your key store is normally located in your home directory and is named Example: Display key store file path
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Clear all secure properties
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Import secure properties
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$ acli system -a importSecureProperties -f import.keystore
Enter secure properties password: <destination password prompt>
Enter inbound secure properties password: <source password prompt>
Imported 0 secure properties.
Ignored: buz,foo. Use --replace to overwrite existing values. |
Import select secure properties (via inclusion) with overwrite
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$ acli system -a importSecureProperties -f import.keystore --include '(?i)^F' --replace
Enter secure properties password: <destination password prompt>
Enter inbound secure properties password: <source password prompt>
Imported 1 secure property: foo. |
Export select secure properties (via exclusion) with overwrite
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