KV Secrets Engine - Version 1

The kv secrets engine is used to store arbitrary secrets within the configured physical storage for Vault.

Writing to a key in the kv backend will replace the earlier value; sub-fields are not merged together.

Key names must always be strings. If you write non-string values directly via the CLI, they will be converted into strings. However, you can preserve non-string values by writing the key/value pairs to Vault from a JSON file or using the HTTP API.

This secrets engine honors the distinction between the create and update capabilities inside ACL policies.

Setup

To enable a version 1 kv store:

$ vault secrets enable -version=1 kv

Usage

After the secrets engine is configured and a user/machine has a Vault token with the proper permission, it can generate credentials. The kv secrets engine allows for writing keys with arbitrary values.

1. Write arbitrary data:

   $ vault kv put kv/my-secret my-value=s3cr3t
   Success! Data written to: kv/my-secret
   

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2. Read arbitrary data:

   $ vault kv get kv/my-secret
   Key                 Value
   ---                 -----
   my-value            s3cr3t
   

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3. List the keys:

   $ vault kv list kv/
   Keys
   ----
   my-secret
   

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4. Delete a key:

   $ vault kv delete kv/my-secret
   Success! Data deleted (if it existed) at: kv/my-secret
   

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You can also use Vault's password policy feature to generate arbitrary values.

1. Write a password policy:

   $ vault write sys/policies/password/example policy=-<<EOF
   
     length=20
   
     rule "charset" {
       charset = "abcdefghij0123456789"
       min-chars = 1
     }
   
     rule "charset" {
       charset = "!@#$%^&*STUVWXYZ"
       min-chars = 1
     }
   
   EOF
   

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2. Write data using the example policy:

   $ vault kv put kv/my-generated-secret \
       password=$(vault read -field password sys/policies/password/example/generate)
   

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3. Read the generated data:

   $ vault kv get kv/my-generated-secret
   ====== Data ======
   Key         Value
   ---         -----
   password    ^dajd609Xf8Zhac$dW24
   

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TTLs

Unlike other secrets engines, the KV secrets engine does not enforce TTLs for expiration. Instead, the lease_duration is a hint for how often consumers should check back for a new value.

If provided a key of ttl, the KV secrets engine will utilize this value as the lease duration:

$ vault kv put kv/my-secret ttl=30m my-value=s3cr3t
Success! Data written to: kv/my-secret

Even with a ttl set, the secrets engine never removes data on its own. The ttl key is merely advisory.

When reading a value with a ttl, both the ttl key and the refresh interval will reflect the value:

$ vault kv get kv/my-secret
Key                 Value
---                 -----
my-value            s3cr3t
ttl                 30m

Tutorial

Refer to the Static Secrets: Key/Value Secrets Engine tutorial to learn how to set up a uniform workflow to securely store sensitive information.

API

The KV secrets engine has a full HTTP API. Please see the KV secrets engine API for more details.