• Appliance Hardening Guide
• Introduction to Hardening Infrastructure Automation
  • SSH Security
    • Setting the Root Password on the Appliance
    • Setting SSH Keys on the Appliance
  • Appliance Security
    • Setting the Password for the Administrative User
    • Configuring Host-Based Access Control Rules on your IPA Server
  • Server Security
    • Configuring Firewall Ports
    • Generating SSL Certificates for Your Appliance and Database
      • Creating a Certificate Signing Request
      • Creating a Self-signed Certificate
      • Enabling Your Certificate
    • Creating Custom Encryption Keys
    • Applying SCAP Standards
  • Database Security
    • Restricting Hosts Access to the Database
    • Configuring the Database to use SSL
      • Configure SSL on the database appliance
      • Configure SSL on all connected appliances
      • Hardening TLS Protocol Version

Appliance Hardening Guide

Introduction to Hardening Infrastructure Automation

The Infrastructure Automation appliance is distributed as a virtual machine image, which provides users with a simple installation process. The appliance also contains a set of factory default settings that can expose appliances to vulnerabilities if left unset. This guide provides a set of procedures to enhance security on your Infrastructure Automation appliance. This ensures your appliance has enhanced protection against any unwarranted intrusion.

It is recommended to perform these steps immediately after installing all appliances in your infrastructure.

SSH Security

Setting the Root Password on the Appliance

The Infrastructure Automation appliance is a virtual machine image that runs on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based operating system. This means users can access the base operating system through SSH. This is why it is advisable to change the default password. Continuing to use the default password leaves the appliance vulnerable to any user attempting to gain root access.

Changing the root password on the appliance ‘uses’ the same process as changing any user password on a Linux-based system.

1. Access your appliance through SSH as the root user:

   [user@localhost ~]$ ssh root@10.1.1.205
   

   Substitute 10.1.1.205 with the address of your appliance.

2. Enter the passwd command, which changes the password for the current user:

   [root@ ~]# passwd
   

3. Enter and Confirm and new password for the root user.

   Changing password for user root.
   New password: ************
   Confirm password: ************
   

4. Log out of the appliance.

The Infrastructure Automation appliance now has a non-default root password. This prevents unauthorized access to your appliance through SSH.

Setting SSH Keys on the Appliance

Another recommended practice is to use SSH keys to access the appliance from a single machine. An SSH key provides access from one machine to another through the SSH protocol. The following procedure shows how to create an SSH key on your local machine and add it to the appliance.

1. Check the .ssh/ directory in your home directory for any existing key pairs:

   [user@localhost ~]$ ls ~/.ssh/
   

   A key pair usually consists of two files. One file is the private key, which stays on your local machine, and the other is the public key, which you copy to another machine. But files are named the same except the public key ends with a .pub extension.

   If a key pair already exists, you can use this key pair. Otherwise, use the next few steps to create your own.

2. On your local machine, start the key pair generation process using the ssh-keygen command:

   [user@localhost ~]$ ssh-keygen -t rsa
   

3. A prompt asks for the file and location to store these keys:

   Enter file in which to save the key (/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa):
   

   Accept the default path if you do not have a id_rsa key pair.

4. Another prompt asks for a passphrase:

   Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
   

   This encrypts the key pair with a password. This protects the key pair if it ever falls into the wrong hands. Alternatively, you can leave the passphrase empty, which provides an automatic login between your local machine and the remote machine.

5. The ssh-keygen command generates two files:

   • The private key - the default is /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa

   • The public key - the default is /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

     Copy the public key to the appliance using the ssh-copy-id command:

     [user@localhost ~]$ ssh-copy-id ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub root@10.1.1.205
     

     The command copies the public key to the appliance. You might receive a prompt for the password of the root user on the appliance.

6. Test the SSH key authentication:

   [user@localhost ~]$ ssh root@10.1.1.205
   

   This authenticates using the SSH key pair. If you entered a passphrase for the key, the command prompts you for the passphrase.

7. As an additional security measure, edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config on the appliance and modify the following parameter:

   PermitRootLogin without-password
   

   This forces the root user account to use certificates instead of passwords for SSH login. This means only your local system can access the appliance.

The appliance now restricts access to only a single machine using the SSH key.

Appliance Security

Setting the Password for the Administrative User

Infrastructure Automation uses a unique admin user to control all functions in the web-based user interface. After installing the appliance, change the default password of the admin to restrict administrative access to the appliance’s UI.

Changing the admin password uses the same process as changing any standard user in the appliance.

1. Access the appliance through your web browser and log in.

2. Click (Configuration).

3. In the accordion tree on the left, click on Access Control, then select the Administrator under the Users section. This displays the details for the admin user.

4. On the details page, select Configuration > Edit this user from the toolbar.

5. Enter a new password in the Change Password / Confirm Password fields.

6. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

7. Log out of the user interface.

8. Test your new password by logging into the user interface. Additionally, test your new password in the appliance console.

The Infrastructure Automation appliance now has a non-default admin password. This restricts access to your appliance’s administrative functions.

Configuring Host-Based Access Control Rules on your IPA Server

Infrastructure Automation provides support for external authentication using an IPA server. However, there are certain recommendations to enhance security to your appliance, such as creating a specific user group and host group that can access the appliance authentication service.

Run the following steps on your IPA server:

1. Create a user group and restrict access to only the Infrastructure Automation users:

   [root@ipa ~]# ipa group-add infrastructure_automation_users --desc="infrastructure_automation Users"
   [root@ipa ~]# ipa group-add-member infrastructure_automation_users --users=testuser1,testuser2
   

2. Create a host group and restrict access to your appliance hosts:

   [root@ipa ~]# ipa hostgroup-add infrastructure_automation_hosts --desc "Infrastructure Automation hosts"
   [root@ipa ~]# ipa hostgroup-add-member infrastructure_automation_hosts --hosts=appliance1.example.com,appliance2.example.com
   

3. Add rules to allow the host group and user group access to the Infrastructure Automation HTTP service:

   [root@ipa ~]# ipa hbacrule-add infrastructure_automation_access --srchostcat=all
   [root@ipa ~]# ipa hbacrule-add-service infrastructure_automation_access --hbacsvcs httpd-auth
   [root@ipa ~]# ipa hbacrule-add-user infrastructure_automation_access --groups infrastructure_automation_users
   [root@ipa ~]# ipa hbacrule-add-host infrastructure_automation_access --hostgroups infrastructure_automation_hosts
   

4. Remove the default rule on your IPA server to allow access to all:

   [root@ipa ~]# ipa hbacrule-disable allow_all
   

This ensures only users in the infrastructure_automation_users group can access the authentication service (http-auth) on the appliances in the infrastructure_automation_hosts host group.

Server Security

Configuring Firewall Ports

A new appliance starts with a few standard ports open:

• 22 for SSH communication

• 80 for HTTP access to the appliance

• 443 for HTTPS access to the appliance

• 5432 for the appliance database

You might need to restrict or open access to certain services on your appliance in the future. In such situations, use the following method:

• Use firewalld to enable a service or port, specifying the zone in use. For example, to open the LDAP port:

  [root@ ~]# firewall-cmd --zone=manageiq --permanent --add-port=389/tcp
  

The following table lists the appliance’s main services and their respective ports.

Ports Used by Infrastructure Automation

The following tables detail the ports used by Infrastructure Automation to communicate with providers.

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Ports Used by Infrastructure Automation

Red Hat OpenStack Platform Ports Used by Infrastructure Automation

OpenShift Container Platform Ports Used by Infrastructure Automation

VMware vSphere Ports Used by Infrastructure Automation

SCVMM Ports Used by Infrastructure Automation

Azure Ports Used by Infrastructure Automation

Generating SSL Certificates for Your Appliance and Database

It is important to enhance the security of SSL communication of your appliances, which, depending on your setup, may include your database appliance. The appliance image ships with a default SSL certificate. It is recommended to replace this certificate with your own certificate, either signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) or self-signed.

Creating a Certificate Signing Request

The first step is to determine the host name of your appliance or database appliance by running the following command:

$ hostname

The next step is to create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) using the openssl command:

[root@ ~]# openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -out appliance.csr -keyout appliance.key

This command generates a 2048-bit RSA private key and asks for a passphrase for the key.

Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key
..................+++
...........................+++
writing new private key to 'appliance.key'
Enter PEM pass phrase: **********
Verifying - Enter PEM pass phrase: **********

The command then provides a questionnaire requesting certain details for the key. Fill out this questionnaire. Use the output of the hostname command to specify the Common Name.

For example:

Country Name (2 letter code) [XX]:US
State or Province Name (full name) []:North Carolina
Locality Name (eg, city) [Default City]:Raleigh
Organization Name (eg, company) [Default Company Ltd]:Infrastructure Automation
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:Customer Content Services
Common Name (eg, your name or your server's hostname) []:$(hostname)
Email Address []:example@example.com

Please enter the following 'extra' attributes to be sent with your certificate request
A challenge password []:
An optional company name []:

Running the command produces two files:

• appliance.key - The private key

• appliance.csr - The Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

At this stage, you would send the CSR to a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) and in return they would send you a signed certificate.

Creating a Self-signed Certificate

As an alternative to obtaining a signed certificate, you can use the appliance.key and appliance.csr files to create a self-signed certificate by running the following openssl commands:

[root@ ~]# openssl rsa -in appliance.key -out server.cer.key
[root@ ~]# openssl x509 -in appliance.csr -out server.cer -req -signkey server.cer.key -days 3650

This produces two files:

• server.cer.key - The private key for your signed certificate

• server.cer - The self-signed certificate

Enabling Your Certificate

Despite whether you used a trusted CA or self-signed the certificate, you should now have your own certificate for your appliance.

Copy the certificate and key files to the certificate directory on the appliance:

[root@ ~]# cp ~/server.cer.key /var/www/miq/vmdb/certs/server.cer.key
[root@ ~]# cp ~/server.cer /var/www/miq/vmdb/certs/server.cer

After the certificate and key files have been copied, restart the appliance:

[root@ ~]# systemctl restart evmserverd

The appliance now uses your own certificate.

If your environment consists of multiple appliances connecting to a single database appliance, you can use your certificate and key files to set up SSL for the database connection. For more information, see Configuring the Database to use SSL.

Important:

Updates from the Red Hat Content Delivery Network might overwrite these certificate and key files. Make sure to copy your own certificate and key files to the certificate directory after performing an update to your appliance.

Note:

See also the following article for information on replacing SSL certificates in Infrastructure Automation : https://access.redhat.com/articles/449033.

Creating Custom Encryption Keys

To avoid storing passwords in plain text, Infrastructure Automation appliances use an encryption key to encode and decode passwords. Each appliance stores the key in the /var/www/miq/vmdb/certs/v2_key. Changing the encryption key is recommended during setting up new Infrastructure Automation appliances only.

To generate a new encryption key:

1. Log in to the console of your master appliance as the root user.

2. Run the appliance_console command. The Infrastructure Automation appliance information screen appears.

3. Press any key to view the appliance menu.

4. Select Generate Custom Encryption Key.

5. A prompt asks if for confirmation to overwrite the existing key. Enter Y.

6. Enter 1 for 1) Create key.

7. The appliance generates the new key. Press any key to complete this procedure.

This completes the procedure for generating the new key. If you have external Infrastructure Automation appliances, you must share this key to ensure your whole Infrastructure Automation infrastructure is using consistent encryption. Failure to use the same key results in encryption and decryption problems.

To copy an encryption key:

1. Log in to the console of an external appliance as the root user.

2. Run the appliance_console command. The Infrastructure Automation appliance information screen appears.

3. Press any key to view the appliance menu.

4. Select Generate Custom Encryption Key.

5. A prompt asks if for confirmation to overwrite the existing key. Enter Y.

6. Select Fetch key from remote machine.

7. Enter the hostname or IP address of the master appliance.

8. Enter the username for SSH access to the master appliance. Use the default root user.

9. Enter the password for SSH access to the master appliance.

10. Enter the location of the remote key. Accept the default as /var/www/miq/vmdb/certs/v2_key.

11. The appliance copies the new key from the remote server. Press any key to complete this procedure.

After distributing the new key, all appliances require an update to the database configuration. For all appliances, log in as the root user and run the following commands replacing dbpassword with your database password:

[root@{productname_short_l} ~]# fix_auth --databaseyml --hostname localhost --password dbpassword
[root@{productname_short_l} ~]# systemctl restart evmserverd

This completes the new encryption key generation for your Infrastructure Automation infrastructure.

Applying SCAP Standards

The Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) is a set of standards to assist with vulnerability management and policy compliance. Infrastructure Automation provides a set of SCAP standards to apply to your appliance. View these SCAP rules in the /var/www/miq/vmdb/productization/appliance_console/config/scap_rules.yml file.

To apply the SCAP standards to your appliance’s server:

1. Log in to the appliance as the root user.

2. Enter the appliance_console command. The Infrastructure Automation Appliance summary screen displays.

3. Press Enter to manually configure settings.

4. Select Harden Appliance Using SCAP Configuration.

5. The appliance console displays the following:

   Harden Appliance Using SCAP Configuration
   
   Locking down the appliance for SCAP...
   

   The appliance applies the SCAP settings from the scap_rules.yml file.

6. When complete, press any key to return to the summary screen.

The appliance now meets the SCAP standards set in the scap_rules.yml file.

Database Security

Restricting Hosts Access to the Database

Strengthening the host-based authentication (HBA) settings on a database appliance helps with preventing unauthorized access from external hosts. The HBA settings restrict access to an IP address range so that only hosts within that range have access.

Restricting access to the database requires modifications to the /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf file. This file contains a text-based table with some initial settings:

# TYPE    DATABASE USER  ADDRESS       METHOD
local     all      all                 peer map=usermap
host      all      all   all           md5
#hostssl  all      all   all           md5

This format for this table uses the following header columns:

• TYPE This defines the access type, either local access from the database host (local), remote access from an external host regardless of encryption (host), external access with encryption (hostssl), or external access without encryption (nohostssl).

• DATABASE The name of the database the host can access. Use all for all databases.

• USER The name of the user the host can use to access the database. Use all for all users.

• ADDRESS The IP address of the host or address range of hosts with access to the database. This can either be:

  • A single address:

    host    all      all   192.168.1.10           md5
    

  • An address range using a CIDR mask:

    host    all      all   192.168.1.0/24           md5
    

  • An address range using a separate subnet mask value

    host    all      all   192.168.1.0  255.255.255.0            md5
    

    Note:

    ADDRESS is not required for local connections.

• METHOD The authentication method, which includes:

  • trust - Allow the connection unconditionally. This method allows anyone that can connect to the PostgreSQL database server to login as any PostgreSQL user they wish, without the need for a password or any other authentication.

  • reject - Reject the connection unconditionally. This is useful for “filtering out” certain hosts from a group, for example a reject line could block a specific host from connecting, while a later line allows the remaining hosts in a specific network to connect.

  • md5 - Require the client to supply an MD5-encrypted password for authentication.

  • password - Require the client to supply an unencrypted password for authentication. Since the password is sent in clear text over the network, this should not be used on untrusted networks.

  • ident - Obtain the operating system user name of the client by contacting the ident server on the client and check if it matches the requested database user name. Ident authentication can only be used on TCP/IP connections. When specified for local connections, peer authentication will be used instead.

  • peer - Obtain the client’s operating system user name from the operating system and check if it matches the requested database user name. This is only available for local connections.

Using a combination of these options, you create a series of rules that govern which hosts can access your database and which hosts are denied. For example, you might change the default HBA rules to only allow remote access to the Infrastructure Automation database (vmdb_production) from hosts in a certain subnet. The modified HBA table would looks like this:

# TYPE  DATABASE          USER  ADDRESS         METHOD
local   all               all                   peer map=usermap
host    vmdb_production   all   192.168.1.0/24  md5
#hostssl all              all   all             md5

These restrictions help when structuring your Infrastructure Automation appliances in relationships. For example, use these database restrictions to grant access only between a master database appliance in one region and appliances connecting from a separate region.

Configuring the Database to use SSL

Infrastructure Automation initially connects to the database through an unencrypted communication. If you are using multiple appliances that are connecting to a single database appliance, you can set up the database connection to use SSL. An SSL connection encrypts the communication between the Infrastructure Automation and the database.

The procedures in this section use the SSL certificate and the following key files. These files can be found on your main Infrastructure Automation database appliance.

Note:

The appliance image ships with a default SSL certificate and it is recommended to change this certificate. You can use a certificate that is signed by a trusted CA, or generate a self-signed certificate.

For more information, see Generating SSL Certificates for Your Appliance and Database.

• /var/www/miq/vmdb/certs/server.cer - Signed or self-signed certificate for the database appliance.
• /var/www/miq/vmdb/certs/server.cer.key - Private key for server certificate.

It is also recommended to stop all Infrastructure Automation services before configuring the database to use SSL.

Configure SSL on the database appliance

To configure SSL on the database appliance:

1. Log in as root to the appliance where the database resides.

2. Stop the evmserverd and postgresql services:

   $ systemctl stop evmserverd
   $ systemctl stop postgresql.service
   

3. Install the server key file in the correct location and set the ownership and permissions for it:

   $ install -m 600 -o postgres -g postgres \
   /var/www/miq/vmdb/certs/server.cer.key /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgres.key
   

4. Install the server certificate file in the correct location and set the ownership and permissions for it:

   $ install -m 644 -o postgres -g postgres \
   /var/www/miq/vmdb/certs/server.cer /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgres.crt
   

5. Open the /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf file and uncomment and edit the ssl option:

   ssl=on
   

   In the same file, locate the options ssl_cert_file and ssl_key_file that specify the location of SSL certificates and edit them so that they are uncommented and point to the correct certificate files:

   ssl_cert_file = 'postgres.crt'  # (change requires restart)
   ssl_key_file  = 'postgres.key'  # (change requires restart)
   

6. Open the /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf file and locate the two lines that contain:

   host      all      all   all           md5
   #hostssl  all      all   all           md5
   

   Modify the two lines to comment the host entry and uncomment the hostssl entry:

   #host     all      all   all           md5
   hostssl   all      all   all           md5
   

   This changes the incoming communication protocol to use SSL and refuse any unencrypted PostgreSQL connections.

7. Start the postgresql and evmserverd services so that the changes take effect:

   $ systemctl start postgresql.service
   $ systemctl start evmserverd
   

Configure SSL on all connected appliances

The database appliance now accepts only connections from connecting appliances that use SSL. The following procedure sets up connecting appliances to communicate to the database by using SSL. Use this procedure for each connecting appliance:

1. Log in as root to the connecting appliance.

2. Copy the root certificate file from the database to the operating system’s list of valid certificates:

   $ DATABASE=[database_appliance_fqdn]
   $ scp root@${DATABASE}:/var/www/miq/vmdb/certs/root.crt /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/${DATABASE}-postgres
   $ update-ca-trust extract
   $ export PGSSLROOTCERT=/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
   

   Where [database_appliance_fqdn] is the fully qualified domain name of the database appliance.

3. Test the certificate got added to the certificate database:

   $ openssl x509 -in /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt -text -noout
   

4. Test the connection between the connecting appliance and the database appliance by using the psqlcommand:

   $ PGSSLMODE=verify-full psql -h [database_appliance_fqdn] -d vmdb_production \
     -c "SELECT * from pg_stat_ssl WHERE pid=pg_backend_pid()"
   Password: ********
   psql (9.2.8)
   SSL connection (cipher: DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, bits: 256)
   Type "help" for help.
   
   vmdb_production=#
   

   The psql displays information about the SSL connection, which indicates that the configuration succeeded. Enter \q to leave psql. The PGSSLMODE variable forces a certain level of SSL. To learn more, please see postgress sslmode documentation.

5. Ensure /etc/default/manageiq.properties has the proper ssl key file location defined:

   $ grep PGSSLROOTCERT /etc/default/manageiq.properties || \
   echo PGSSLROOTCERT=/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt >> /etc/default/manageiq.properties
   

   The standard manageiq.properties should already have the PGSSLROOTCERT defined. The above command adds an entry to manageiq.properties if it is not already present.

Complete this procedure for each external appliance. This enhances the security of all database transactions in your Infrastructure Automation infrastructure.

Hardening TLS Protocol Version

After configuring the database to use SSL, protocol TLS version 1.2 is used as default. The older versions of this protocol (TLS 1.0 and 1.1) are still available for clients to choose. You can disable older versions by inserting the following lines into /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf:

ssl_ciphers = 'TLSv1.2:!aNULL'
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers=true