Root of Trust Hardware Security Module
A Hardware Security Module (HSM) is a physical device that provides more secure management of sensitive data, such as keys, inside CipherTrust Manager.
CipherTrust Manager internally uses a chain of key encryption keys (KEKs) to securely store and protect sensitive data such as user keys. When an HSM is used, the CipherTrust Manager generates and uses a set of keys on the HSM partition that protect the KEKs chain and become the root of trust. If multiple CipherTrust Manager instances are configured to use the same HSM partition they end up using shared 'root of trust' keys.
After setting up an HSM to allow CipherTrust Manager to connect as a client, you can configure an HSM as the root-of-trust using the CipherTrust Manager GUI. This can also be done using the API or the CLI toolkit ksctl, as shown below. It is assumed that you have added a CipherTrust Manager user and URL to the ksctl configuration file.
You must set up the HSM to allow CipherTrust Manager to connect as a client, including creating necessary passwords, certificates, and string values. For more detailed information on creating these HSM objects, refer to HSM product documentation.
Note
Using the cloud-init method to set up a root-of-trust is not recommended because it exposes sensitive information, such as the partition password, that can be viewed by anyone with access to the associated cloud console.
Note
HSM setup might fail if time of the system is out of sync. It is recommended to set up time sync using NTP before continuing.
With the CipherTrust Manager API or CLI toolkit ksctl, it is possible to:
Setup HSMs
Get and List detailed information on existing HSMs
Add HSMs
Delete HSMs
Refer to the CipherTrust Manager API and CLI online documentation for more information.
Supported HSMs
The CipherTrust Manager supports the following HSMs:
Luna Network HSM (version 5, 6 and 7). See Luna Network HSM supported versions for more details.
TCT Luna T-Series Network HSM
TCT Luna PCIe HSM
Luna PCIe HSM
AWS CloudHSM (Cavium)
Thales Data Protection On Demand (DPoD) Luna Cloud HSM Service
IBM Hyper Protect Cloud Services (HPCS)
Azure Dedicated HSM with a Virtual CipherTrust Manager which is also hosted on Microsoft Azure. This setup requires a specific deployment architecture.
Hybrid HSM
Since release 1.3.0, any CipherTrust Manager can be clustered with another CipherTrust Manager, regardless of the HSM partition it is using, or even if it is not using an HSM partition at all. This is different from prior releases that required all CipherTrust Manager's in a cluster to be connected to the same HSM partition. When cluster nodes have different HSMs, it is called a "Hybrid HSM" configuration. When cluster nodes share the same HSM partition, it is called a "Shared HSM" configuration. There are several implications to a "Hybrid HSM" configuration that should be taken into consideration when deploying a cluster.
System Security: A system is only as secure as its weakest link. In a Hybrid HSM configuration, a CipherTrust Manager instance that is rooted in an HSM can be clustered with an instance that is not - this reduces the overall security of the system. The most secure configuration is to have all CipherTrust Manager instances use an HSM.
Cluster Join Security: When a system is joined to a cluster, it must receive certain keys that allow it to join the cluster. A shared HSM partition can protect these keys from ever being exposed. In this scenario, the join operation should use the ksctl utility's
--shared-hsm-partition
flag for the best security.Backup Security: When a backup is created, there is a ksctl option called
--tied-to-hsm
that can tie the backup to the HSM of the instance. This is the most secure backup, but also limits it to being restored on a system with access to that specific HSM partition. By default, a backup is not tied to a specific HSM partition and can be restored to any compatible CipherTrust Manager system.
Setting up an HSM
Creating the first HSM requires that you supply the hsm type and connection information (connInfo).
The general ksctl hsm setup command is:
$ ksctl hsm setup <hsm type> <config parameters>
The valid options for hsm type are:
"luna" for SafeNet Luna HSM,
"lunapci" for the embedded Luna PCIe HSM and TCT Luna PCIe HSM in CipherTrust Manager k570 models,
"lunatct" for TCT Luna T-Series Network HSM,
"aws" for AWS CloudHSM,
"dpod" for DPoD Luna Cloud HSM Service
"ibm-hpcs" for IBM Hyper Protect Cloud Services (HPCS)
The configuration info (config parameter) depends on the hsm type and is described below. You must set up the HSM to allow CipherTrust Manager to connect as a client, including creating necessary passwords, certificates, and string values. For more detailed information on creating these HSM objects, refer to HSM product documentation.
Note
CipherTrust Manager is reset after adding the HSM, with a delay in seconds (default: 5) specified before the reset is performed.
Caution
Be aware that performing a reset is destructive; it deletes all data in the CipherTrust Manager and so must be used with great care. You must backup all information you wish to retain.
Luna Network HSM and TCT Luna T-Series Network HSM (hsm type: luna, lunatct)
Caution
At least one of the following TLS ciphers must be enabled on the Luna Network HSM to allow communication with CipherTrust Manager:
• AES256-SHA
• AES256-SHA256
• AES256-GCM-SHA384
If you disable all of these TLS ciphers, CipherTrust Manager cannot add the Luna Network HSM as a root of trust, and receives a no shared ciphers
error. By default, these TLS ciphers are enabled.
For the Luna Network HSM or TCT Luna T-Series Network HSM, the required parameters for initial configuration are:
- hsm-host
: IP or hostname of the HSM- partition-name
: The name of the HSM partition to use- partition-password
: The password of the initial partition to use. For Luna 7 and most Luna 6, this is the Crypto Officer role password or challenge secret. For Luna 5, TCT Luna T-Series Network HSM, and some Luna 6, this is the partition password or challenge secret. This password will also be used if more servers and high-availability (HA) mode is used, in which case all HSM must have the same password.- serial
: Serial number of the partition to use- server-cert-file
: File containing server certificate in PEM format- client-cert-file
: File containing client certificate in PEM format- client-cert-key-file
: File containing client private key in PEM format- delay
: Delay in seconds before reset, defaults to 5 seconds- reset
: Reset the CipherTrust Manager instance as part of operation
Note
The Luna Network HSM Documentation provides detailed information to configure values for hsm-host
, partition-name
, partition-password
, serial
, server-cert-file
, client-cert-file
, and client-cert-key-file
.
Following is a full example for a SafeNet Luna Network HSM setup command:
$ ksctl hsm setup luna --reset --partition-name “partition name” --partition-password “sOmeP@ssword” --hsm-host https://192.168.0.1 --serial 1234 --server-cert-file server_cert.pem --client-cert-file client_cert.pem --client-cert-key-file client_cert_key.pem
Luna Network HSM Supported Versions
We support Luna firmware versions 5.x, 6.x, and 7.x.
We have tested specific combinations of Luna 7.x firmware and Luna 7.x software. Luna firmware versions 7.0.1 and 7.3.3 are validated with Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) level 140-2.
CipherTrust Manager k570 has been tested with following the Luna Network HSM versions:
Appliance Software HSM firmware FIPS validated 7.2 7.0.1 yes 7.2 7.3.3 yes 7.7 7.0.1 yes 7.7 7.3.3 yes CipherTrust Manager k470 and Virtual CipherTrust Manager have been tested with the following Luna Network HSM versions:
Appliance Software HSM firmware FIPS validated 7.2 7.2.0 no 7.2 7.0.3 yes 7.3 7.3.3 yes 7.4 7.4.0 no 7.4 7.3.3 yes 7.7.0 7.7.0 no 7.7.0 7.3.3 yes
Note
The following limitations apply to compatibility between CipherTrust Manager and Luna Network HSM:
CipherTrust Manager is not compatible with Functionality Module (FM) configuration on the Luna Network HSM.
For Luna firmware version 7.7.x and CipherTrust Manager 2.6.x and below, only cipher suites using RSA key exchange, called kRSA in OpenSSL arguments, are allowed for client communication.
Embedded Luna PCIe HSM or TCT Luna PCIe HSM (hsm type: lunapci)
Note
While the HSM type for both the Luna PCIe HSM or TCT Luna PCIe HSM is the same, the value required for the partition-name
parameter is different. The Thales CipherTrust Manager k570 contains a Luna PCIe HSM, and the Trusted Cyber Technologies CipherTrust Manager k570 contains a TCT Luna PCIe HSM.
For the embedded Luna PCIe HSM in CipherTrust Manager k570 models, the required parameters for initial configuration are:
- partition-name
: The name of the HSM partition to use. For TCT Luna PCIe HSM, this is the HSM label.- partition-password
: The password of the initial partition to use. For PED-authenticated HSMs, this is the challenge password.- delay
: Delay in seconds before reset, defaults to 5 seconds- reset
: Reset CipherTrust Manager instance as part of operation
Following is a full example for a Luna PCIe HSM setup command:
$ ksctl hsm setup lunapci --reset --partition-name “partition name” --partition-password “sOmeP@ssword”
AWS CloudHSM (Cavium) (hsm type: aws)
Prerequisite - Prepare an instance of CloudHSM in AWS:
Prior to configuring CipherTrust Manager instance to use AWS CloudHSM service, an instance of CloudHSM must be prepared in AWS. Refer to AWS CloudHSM documentation to create, initialize and activate a CloudHSM cluster. This step involves running a separate AWS client instance to connect and setup HSM users as well as sign the cluster CSR of your cloudhsm cluster instance. Upon completion of this step you will have a cloudhsm cluster in "Active" state. See: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cloudhsm/latest/userguide/getting-started.html
Create a new cryptouser on your new cloudhsm instance. Similar to the cluster activation step when you reset the CO password, use the cloudhsm_mgmt_util utility on the AWS client instance to create a new user with cryptouser role (CU). CipherTrust Manager will communicate to the HSM instance on behalf of this CU user you setup.
For AWS CloudHSM (Cavium), the required parameters for initial configuration are:
- partition-name
: (Optional) The name of the HSM partition to use for CloudHSM. Defaults to "cavium"- cryptouser-password
: Specify the credentials of a cryptouser in the form of "username:password"- hsm-host
: IP Address or host name of cloudhsm cluster- server-cert-file
: This is the CA public certificate that was used to sign the CloudHSM Cluster CSR during the cluster initialization. Restated, it is the certificate that signed the Cluster certificate. Refer to: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cloudhsm/latest/userguide/initialize-cluster.html- delay
: Delay in seconds before reset, defaults to 5 seconds- reset
: Reset CipherTrust Manager instance as part of operation
Following is a full example of an AWS CloudHSM setup command:
$ ksctl hsm setup aws-cloud-hsm --reset --cryptouser_password “sOmeP@ssword” --hsm-host https://192.168.0.1 --server-cert-file server_cert.pem
Thales Data Protection On Demand (DPoD) Luna Cloud HSM service (hsm type: dpod)
The CipherTrust Manager integration with Luna Cloud HSM service uses JWT-based authentication, which has been required for all clients to this service since December 31, 2021.
Note
CipherTrust Manager API and CLI still have the configuration parameter cv-app-specific-data
or cv_app_specific_data
, intended for the older authentication supported on DPoD prior to December 31, 2021. You cannot create a new root of trust configuration with this parameter.
You must provide the AuthTokenConfigURI, AuthTokenClientId, and the AuthTokenClientSecret values from the service client package's Chrystoki.conf file. For older clients, you must provide the CVAppSpecificData value from Chrystoki.conf.
Prerequisites:
You have installed a service client and provisioned the Luna Cloud HSM Service.
The connection information (partition-name and co-password) is obtained while provisioning your Luna Cloud HSM service.
The configuration information is obtained from the HSM client package. This includes certificate files and authentication values in the Chrystoki.conf file, and the cv-partition-data value from crystoki-template.ini.
For DPoD, the required parameters for initial configuration are:
-- partition-name
: The name of the partition configured during partition initialization-- co-password
: The password of the Crypto Officer-- server-cert-file
: Path to server-certificate.pem file-- partition-cert-file
: Path to partition-certificate.pem file-- partition-ca-cert-file
: Path to partition-ca-certificate.pem file-- cv-partition-data
: PartitionData00 value from crystoki-template.ini-- auth_token_config_uri
: AuthTokenConfigURI value from Chrystoki.conf-- auth-token-client-id
: AuthTokenClientId value from Chrystoki.conf-- auth-token-client-secret
: AuthTokenClientSecret value from Chrystoki.conf-- delay
: Delay in seconds before reset, defaults to 5 seconds-- reset
: Reset CipherTrust Manager instance as part of operation
The following is a full example for a DPoD Luna Cloud HSM setup command:
$ ksctl hsm setup dpod --reset --partition-name “partition name” --co-password “sOmeP@ssword” --server-cert-file "server-certificate.pem" --partition-cert-file "partition-certificate.pem" --partition-ca-cert-file "partition-ca-certificate.pem" --cv-partition-data "crystoki-template-PartitionData00" --auth-token-config-uri "https://111111.uaa.system.snakefly.dpsas.io/.well-known/openid-configuration" --auth-token-client-id "1111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111" --auth-token-client-secret "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Crypto Services
CipherTrust Manager is able to use IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Crypto Services (HPCS) as a root of trust through IBM Cloud HPCS's PKCS#11 API. To establish a connection between CipherTrust Manager and an HPCS PKCS#11 endpoint, you must perform the following configuration on IBM:
Create PKCS#11 user roles. Following IBM best practices, CipherTrust Manager requires a Normal User API Key with Key operator privileges.
Download the IBM PKCS#11 module and configure it. As part of this configuration, you create a private keystore, also called a
tokenspace
for CipherTrust Manager to access. Note the following values, as they need to be provided to CipherTrust Manager to access the HPCS instance:instance_id
EP11_endpoint_URL
CipherTrust Manager requires the public URL.EP11_endpoint_port_number
private_key_store_spaceid
Initialize the private keystore with the Security Officer(SO) user. The SO performs a
C_InitToken
operation. For example, to do this using the opensc pks11-tool:sudo apt install opensc pkcs11-tool --module=/usr/local/lib/pkcs11-grep11-amd64.so --init-token --label <you-can-choose> --so-pin=<your-so-api-key>
On CipherTrust Manager, you must provide the following configuration parameters:
host
: The hostname part of the public URL for the Enterprise PKCS#11 endpoint, calledEP11_endpoint_URL
in HPCS.port
: The port for the Enterprise PKCS#11 endpoint, calledEP11_endpoint_port_number
in HPCS.instance-id
: The id for the HPCS instance. There multiple ways to retrieve this value in IBM Cloud.api-key
: The api key for the Normal User with Key operator privileges.token-space-id
: The 128-bit Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) of the private key store accessible by the Normal User. This value is calledprivate_key_store_spaceid
in IBM HPCS.
The following is a full example for an IBM HPCS setup command:
$ ksctl hsm setup hsm setup ibm-hpcs --reset -m <EP11_endpoint_public_host> --port <EP11_endpoint_port> --instance-id <instance_id> --api-key <normal_user_api_key> --token-space-id <private_key_store_spaceid>
Getting and Listing HSMs
Get
and List
return detail information about the instance(s) added previously, Get
returns a single instance and List
returns an array of data.
Following is a full example of a HSM Servers List
command:
$ ksctl hsm servers list
{
"total": 2,
"resources": [
{
"id": "2f81163b-f53d-45c1-b151-9bc333ce3a04",
"type": "luna",
"config": {
"host": "192.168.0.1",
"serial": "1234",
"server-cert": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n...\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----"
}
},
{
"id": "be942b82-b00e-4f73-9081-28186e1580e6",
"type": "luna",
"config": {
"host": "192.168.0.2",
"serial": "4321",
"server-cert": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n...\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----"
}
}
]
}
Adding an HSM
Note
This operation is only supported by the SafeNet Luna Network HSM and Luna T-Series HSM.
Adding subsequent HSMs to a CipherTrust Manager inserts them into the HA group. The first hsm servers add
command that you do automatically creates an HA group. Adding an HSM only requires that you supply the configuration information.
Note
To add extra AWS CloudHSM instances to the existing HSM cluster, no change is required on CipherTrust Manager; consult AWS CloudHSM documentation.
The configuration information (config) is a JSON blob; it has the following keys:
host
serial
server-cert
forceClear (optional)
When set to "true", forcefully clears all existing data on the partition of the joining node before adding it to the HA group. Make sure the existing objects are not used elsewhere. They cannot be recovered after the deletion. Use with caution.
forceCopy (optional)
When set to "true", all existing objects on the joining partition are retained and propagated within the HA group. This option can be useful if the joining partition is shared among CipherTrust Manager instances that use the partition only as a member of a current HA group. This option can also be useful if the joining partition is shared among different applications other than CipherTrust Manager, and the goal is to retain the existing security objects.
Do not use the forceCopy option if the joining partition was previously used as root of trust for other CipherTrust Manager instance(s) and that it was not part of the current HSM HA group. Using this option in such cases can break the existing CipherTrust Managers that use the HA group servers. Use with caution.
Following is a full command example for adding a SafeNet Luna Network HSM:
$ ksctl hsm servers add --config '{ "host": "192.168.0.2", "serial": "4321", "server-cert": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n...\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----" }'
If the joining HSM partition contains data, the operation will fail unless forceClear or forceCopy flags are specified. The following example command shows how to forcefully add a partition by first wiping all its data:
$ ksctl hsm servers add --config '{ "host": "192.168.0.2", "serial": "4321", "forceClear": "true", "server-cert": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n...\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----" }'
Warning
DO NOT use forceClear and forceCopy flags by default when adding a new HSM server. If the command fails indicating the joining node contains objects:
1. Manually log on to the partition.
2. Carefully investigate the use of existing objects.
3. Repeat the command with forceClear or forceCopy flag.
Deleting an HSM
Delete
will remove the record for the "--id
" provided, with optional parameters for reset
and delay
. Just as in the Setup function, deleting the last HSM requires a reset of the CipherTrust Manager. After the reset
operation, newly encrypted data is longer rooted to an HSM.
Note
Just as in the Setup function (see Setting up an HSM after deleting the last HSM, a reset of the CipherTrust Manager must be performed before the HSM is reused.
Warning
Performing a CipherTrust Manager reset is destructive; it deletes all information in the system and so must be used with great care. You must backup all information you wish to retain.
Following is a full example for the delete
command:
$ ksctl hsm servers delete --id ce6da730-c266-44f8-a0f6-97e49c7596eb --reset