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Add proposal CLI-secret-for-api #250

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Add proposal CLI-secret-for-api #250

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Add proposal CLI-secret-for-api
LGhoull Aug 19, 2024
3df2a7f
Only deprecate auth via Id token instead of removing it completely
LGhoull Oct 10, 2024
34ad578
Further clarify CLI-secret-for-api
LGhoull Oct 30, 2024
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45 changes: 45 additions & 0 deletions proposals/new/CLI-secret-for-api
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# Proposal: Use CLI secret for auth against the API (OIDC)

Author: Luis Fittkau

Discussion: -

## Abstract

Allow basic auth, consisting of username and CLI secret, in addition to the OIDC id token when authenticating against the API when OIDC is enabled. Deprecate auth via OIDC id token.
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Can you outline the backward compatibility or its lack of?

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just added some more clarification in the compatibility section. The id token can still be used, but is deprecated.


## Background

With OIDC enabled, it is not possible for a normal user to use the API without accessing the OIDC id token, which is not accessible by appropriate means; this proposal fixes that.

The usual workaround for this is to use robot accounts, but that would mean that each user has to own a separate robot account just to access the API, which doesn't seem clean to me.
Also, this means that robot accounts can not be created via the API by someone other than the local admin.

The OIDC id token is accessible via either the harbor debug log, which the user can't see, or via direct communication with the identity provider, which requires credentials that the user isn't supposed to have.

## Proposal

- Extend oidc_cli security context generator to include calls to the v2 API
- document the fact that the cli secret can be used for oidc authentication in general in the docs

## Non-Goals

- The UI doesn't really have to be changed since the cli secret is already a thing and used for docker login. Perhaps we can rename it to "user secret" or something similar.

## Rationale

This change can be seen as a security "downgrade", but since this way of authenticating is already present when using the docker cli, the vulnerability already exists (if it can be considered one).
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@reasonerjt reasonerjt Aug 22, 2024 •
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We should double check if the token is invalid the secret becomes invalid at the same time, and clarify it in the design. If there is vulnerability existing now, we should absolutely not move forward, we should fix the vulnerability.

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What I meant with this being a possible "vulnerability" (depending on the way you look at it, personally I don't think it is a vulnerability) is the fact that the CLI secret only needs to be copied from the UI once and can be used repeatedly without signing in with OIDC again. But:

  • This is already the case for the CLI secret
  • The CLI secret is invalidated when the id token can not be renewed (for example when the user in the ID provider is deleted)
  • This is basically how API keys work in numerous other applications


This change disables deprecates the authentication via id token.

## Compatibility

Authentication against the API via OIDC id token will be deprecated (but still possible), and removed in a future release.

## Implementation

A first version is already done, see https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/pull/20851 (still needs to be adjusted to only deprecate and not remove the id Token)

## Open issues (if applicable)

https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/issues/14236