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/sys/managed-keys

Restricted endpoint

Clients must call the API path from the root namespace.

The /sys/managed-keys endpoint is used to manage the Managed Key configuration within Vault. See the Managed Keys section for further details on the Managed Keys system.

List managed keys.

This endpoint lists all the Managed Keys of a certain type within the namespace.

MethodPath
LIST/sys/managed-keys/:type

Parameters

  • type (string: <required>) – The backend type of keys to be listed. Supported options are pkcs11, awskms and azurekeyvault.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --request LIST \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/managed-keys/pkcs11

Sample response

{
  "keys": [
    "hsm-key1",
    "hsm-key2"
  ]
}

Create/Update managed key

An endpoint that will create or update a Managed Key within a given namespace. The :type refers to the backend type that the key is to use, such as pkcs11. The :name argument is unique name within all managed key types in the namespace.

MethodPath
POST/sys/managed-keys/:type/:name

Sample payload

{
  "library": "softhsm",
  "slot": "693149389",
  "pin": "12345",
  "key_label": "hsm-key1",
  "mechanism": "0x0001"
}

Sample request

$ curl \
    --request POST \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --data @payload.json \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/managed-keys/pkcs11/hsm-key1

Generic parameters

  • name (string: <required>) - A unique lowercase name that serves as identifying the key. Must be unique throughout all types in the namespace.

  • type (string: <required>) – The backend type that will be leveraged for the managed key. Supported options are pkcs11, awskms and azurekeyvault.

  • allow_generate_key (string: "false") - If no existing key can be found in the referenced backend, instructs Vault to generate a key within the backend.

    NOTE: Once the initial key creation has occurred, it is advisable to disable this flag to prevent any unintended key creation in the future.

  • allow_replace_key (string: "false") - Controls the ability for Vault to replace through generation or importing a key into the configured backend even if a key is present, if set to false those operations are forbidden if a key exists.

  • allow_store_key (string: "false") - Controls the ability for Vault to export a Vault private key to the configured HSM, if "false" those operations will be forbidden.

  • any_mount (string: "false") - Allow usage from any mount point within the namespace if "true". If "false" specific mount points will need their allowed_managed_keys parameter to be updated with the key name to grant usage.

  • usages (comma-delimited string: "sign,verify") - A comma-delimited list of the allowed usages of this key. Valid values are encrypt, decrypt, sign, verify, wrap, unwrap, mac, and random.

PKCS#11 backend parameters

Note

The pkcs11 backend is only available with Vault Enterprise plus HSMs

  • type (string: "pkcs11") - To select a PKCS#11 backend, the type parameter must be set to pkcs11.

  • library (string: <required>) - The name of the kms_library stanza to use from Vault's config to lookup the local library path. See kms_library stanza for further details.

  • key_label (string: <required>) - The label of the key to use. If the key does not exist and generation is enabled, this is the label that will be given to the generated key. This value or key_id must be specified.

  • key_id (string: <required>) - The id of a PKCS#11 key to use. As key ids are created by the HSM, it is an error if the key does not yet exist. This value or key_label must be specified.

  • mechanism (string: <required>) - The encryption/decryption mechanism to use, specified as a hexadecimal (prefixed by 0x) string. The following are supported mechanisms

    Note: It is possible to use unsupported mechanisms with a managed key, however automatic key generation is only possible with the above supported mechanisms. Automatic key generation is also currently a best effort operation and may not function correctly on all HSMs.

  • pin (string: <required>): The PIN for login.

  • slot (string: <slot or token label required>): The slot number to use, specified as a string in a decimal format (e.g. "2305843009213693953").

    Note: Slots are typically listed as hex-decimal values in the OS setup utility but this configuration uses their decimal equivalent. For example, using the HSM command-line pkcs11-tool, a slot listed as 0x2000000000000001in hex is equal to 2305843009213693953 in decimal; these values may be listed shorter or differently as determined by the HSM in use.

  • token_label (string: <slot or token label required>): The slot token label to use.

  • curve (string: "" <required if allow_generate_key is true>) - supplies the curve value when using the CKM_ECDSA mechanism. The supported values are

  • key_bits (int: 0 <required if allow_generate_key is true>) - supplies the size in bits of the key when using CKM_RSA_PKCS_PSS, CKM_RSA_PKCS_OAEP or CKM_RSA_PKCS as a value for mechanism. The supported values are

    • 2048
    • 3072
    • 4096

  • force_rw_session (string: "false") - Force all operations to open up a read-write session to the HSM. This is a boolean expressed as a string (e.g. "true"). This key is mainly to work around a limitation within AWS's CloudHSM v5 pkcs11 implementation.

  • max_parallel (int: 1) - The number of concurrent requests that may be in flight to the HSM at any given time.

AWS KMS parameters

  • type (string: "awskms") - To select an AWS KMS backend, the type parameter must be set to awskms.

  • access_key (string: <required>): The AWS access key to use. This may also be provided in the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID environment variable or as part of the AWS profile from the AWS CLI or instance profile.

  • curve (string: "" <required if allow_generate_key is true>): The curve to use for an ECDSA key. This field is used when key_type is ECDSA. Supported options are P256, P384, or P521.

  • endpoint (string: ""): Used to specify a custom AWS endpoint. If not set, Vault will use the default API endpoint for your region.

  • key_bits (string: <required>): The size in bits for an RSA key. This field is required when key_type is RSA. Supported values are 2048, 3072, and 4096.

  • key_type (string: <required>): The type of key to use. Supported values are RSA and ECDSA (not case sensitive). If the key type is RSA, the key_bits field is also required. If the key type is ECDSA, the curve field is required.

  • kms_key (string: <required>): An identifier for the key. If allow_generate_key is set to false, the value can be either an ARN, an AWS alias, or the key ID generated by AWS KMS. If allow_generate_key is set to true, the value must be an AWS alias. If a key with the provided alias does not already exist, Vault will generate a key and create an alias for it using this parameter.

    Note: when creating a key through AWS KMS to be used with managed keys, note that the key usage must be SIGN_VERIFY. When using an elliptic curve key, the combination key_type=ECDSA and curve=P256 corresponds to the AWS Key Spec ECC_NIST_P256.

  • region (string: "us-east-1"): The AWS region where the keys are stored (or will be stored). This may also be provided in the AWS_REGION or AWS_DEFAULT_REGION environment variables, from your ~/.aws/config file, or from instance metadata.

  • secret_key (string: <required>): The AWS secret key ID to use. This may also be provided in the AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY environment variable or as part of the AWS profile from the AWS CLI or instance profile.

Azure key Vault parameters

  • type (string: "azurekeyvault") - To select an Azure Key Vault backend, the type parameter must be set to azurekeyvault.

  • tenant_id (string: <required>): The tenant id for the Azure Active Directory organization.

  • client_id (string: <required or MSI>): The client id for credentials to query the Azure APIs.

  • client_secret (string: <required or MSI>): The client secret for credentials to query the Azure APIs.

  • environment (string: "AZUREPUBLICCLOUD"): The Azure Cloud environment API endpoints to use.

  • vault_name (string: <required>): The Key Vault vault to use the encryption keys for encryption and decryption.

  • key_name (string: <required>): The Key Vault key to use for encryption and decryption.

  • resource (string: "vault.azure.net"): The Azure Key Vault resource's DNS Suffix to connect to. Needs to be changed to connect to Azure's Managed HSM KeyVault instance type.

  • key_bits (string: <required if allow_generate_key is true>): The size in bits for an RSA key. This field is required when key_type is RSA. Supported values are 2048, 3072, and 4096.

  • key_type (string: <required>): The type of key to use. At this time only supported value is RSA-HSM.

GCP Cloud KMS parameters

Read managed key

This endpoint returns the managed key configuration at the given path.

MethodPath
GET/sys/managed-keys/:type/:name

Parameters

  • name (string: <required>) - The lowercase name identifying the key.

  • type (string: <required>) – The backend type for the managed key. Supported options are pkcs11, awskms and azurekeyvault.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/managed-keys/pkcs11/hsm-key1

Sample response

{
  "UUID": "af0a688e-d2c1-fc07-b365-40325674114d",
  "allow_generate_key": true,
  "allow_replace_key": false,
  "allow_store_key": false,
  "any_mount": false,
  "curve": "",
  "force_rw_session": false,
  "key_bits": 0,
  "key_label": "test-kms-root",
  "library": "softhsm",
  "mechanism": 1,
  "name": "hsm-key1",
  "pin": "redacted",
  "slot": 1,
  "token_label": "",
  "type": "pkcs11"
}

Test sign with a managed key

This endpoint allows an operator to validate that a managed key configuration works by signing and verifying some randomly generated data. If the call returns a successful HTTP status code, the configuration can be considered valid.

Note: if key generation is allowed and no existing key can be found, this call will generate the key

MethodPath
POST/sys/managed-keys/:type/:name/test/sign

Parameters

  • name (string: <required>) - The lowercase name identifying the key.

  • type (string: <required>) – The backend type for the managed key. Supported options are pkcs11, awskms, azurekeyvault, or gcpckms.

  • use_pss (bool: false) - Use RSA PSS signatures within the signing/verification api calls.

  • hash_algorithm (string: sha2-256) - Use the following hashing algorithm within the signing/verification api calls. The supported values are

    • sha1
    • sha2-224
    • sha2-256
    • sha2-384
    • sha2-512
    • sha3-224
    • sha3-256
    • sha3-384
    • sha3-512

Sample request

$ curl \
    --request POST \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/managed-keys/pkcs11/hsm-key1/test/sign

Delete managed key

This endpoint deletes the managed key at the given path provided it is not listed within any mount point's allowed_managed_keys.

MethodPath
DELETE/sys/managed-keys/:type/:name

Parameters

  • name (string: <required>) - The lowercase name identifying the key.

  • type (string: <required>) – The backend type for the managed key. Supported options are pkcs11, awskms and azurekeyvault.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --request DELETE \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/managed-keys/pkcs11/hsm-key1
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