How to programmatically authenticate to Azure Kubernetes (AKS) - azure

I'm having an AKS cluster setup and recently enabled the Azure Active Directory integration. I'm having a C# application that is running outside of the Kubernetes cluster that is creating Kubernetes Jobs. Therefore, I'm using the C# KubernetesClient package which has been working fine before (and still is). However, it is using a so called "local account" (so the local admin user) which is not integrated with the Active Directory. My goal is to completely deactivate the local accounts in the long run, meaning I need a different way of authenticating. As the Kubernetes Cluster is now fully integrated with the AAD, I preferrably want to use a service principal for authentication.
Microsoft is not providing any documentation on how to achieve this and the support hasn't been particular helpful.

You need to manually get an Access Token for the Kubernetes environment. This can be done with the following code:
var credFactory = new AzureCredentialsFactory();
var credentials = credFactory.FromServicePrincipal(
"CLIENT_ID",
"CLIENT_SECRET",
"TENANT_ID",
AzureEnvironment.AzureGlobalCloud
);
var azure = Microsoft.Azure.Management.Fluent.Azure
.Authenticate(credentials)
.WithSubscription("SUBSCRIPTION_ID");
var kubeConfigBytes = azure.KubernetesClusters.GetUserKubeConfigContents(
"K8S_RESOURCE_GROUP",
"K8S_CLUSTER_NAME"
);
var kubeConfigRaw = KubernetesClientConfiguration.LoadKubeConfig(new MemoryStream(kubeConfigBytes));
var authProvider = kubeConfigRaw.Users.Single().UserCredentials.AuthProvider;
if (!authProvider.Name.Equals("azure", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
throw new Exception("Invalid k8s auth provider!");
// Token Helper is a small helper utility that I use instead of MSAL
// This method is doing a POST call to https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenantId}/oauth2/v2.0/token
var token = TokenHelper.GetTokenByClientCredentials(
"CLIENT_ID",
"CLIENT_SECRET",
"TENANT_ID",
"6dae42f8-4368-4678-94ff-3960e28e3630/.default" // This scope is always the same. It's the "Azure Kubernetes Service AAD Server" app from Microsoft. (az ad sp show --id 6dae42f8-4368-4678-94ff-3960e28e3630)
).GetAwaiter().GetResult();
authProvider.Config["access-token"] = token.AccessToken;
authProvider.Config["expires-on"] = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.AddSeconds(token.ExpiresIn).ToUnixTimeSeconds().ToString();
var kubeConfig = KubernetesClientConfiguration.BuildConfigFromConfigObject(kubeConfigRaw);
var kubernetes = new Kubernetes(kubeConfig);
Please keep in mind that the token expires every hour, so you need to creat a new Kubernetes instance regularly. Also note that this only takes care of the Authentication, not Authorization. Meaning, you will be able to login, but your service principal might not be allowed to read/edit any kubernetes resources. For that to work you need to assign a Role or CluterRole to your service principal as described HERE.

Related

How to ask DefaultAzureCredential to use my user credential locally

I'm trying to develop a web app on an Azure VM that uses Azure Key Vault. Later this app will also be deployed to Azure. As far as I know, the most straight forward way to make the app work, both locally and deployed, with the key vault, is to use the DefaultAzureCredential class. The code would be like this:
string kvUri = "https://" + keyvaultName + ".vault.azure.net";
SecretClient client = new SecretClient(new Uri(kvUri), new DefaultAzureCredential());
KeyVaultSecret secret = await client.GetSecretAsync(secretName);
At runtime, the provider will try different credential types in order.
This sounds exactly what I want:
When developing locally (on the Azure VM, though), I want to use my user credential (user identity added to the key vault's permission) without any configuration, since I have already logged into the Visual Studio using the same user credential.
Once deployed to Azure, I want to use the app registration credential (also added to the key vault's permission).
But when running the app locally, I'm getting a 403 error The user, group or application .... does not have secrets get permission on key vault ...
After looking up the object id in the error message, I realize it's the dev machine Azure VM's credential that the application uses, not my user credential.
Is there a way to change this behavior?
To prevent the Azure VM from getting a token, you can exclude the ManagedIdentityCredential in your Development environment and only enable it in a Non-Development environment.
if (environment.IsDevelopment())
{
var credentials = new DefaultAzureCredential(new DefaultAzureCredentialOptions
{
ExcludeManagedIdentityCredential = true,
ExcludeAzureCliCredential = true
});
}
else
{
var credentials = new DefaultAzureCredential(new DefaultAzureCredentialOptions
{
ExcludeVisualStudioCodeCredential = true,
ExcludeVisualStudioCredential = true
});
}
Once deployed to Azure, I want to use the app registration credential (also added to the key vault's permission).
An Azure App Service can use a managed identity as well. There is no need for a separate App Registration.
See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/overview/azure/identity-readme#key-concepts for more information.
Create and identity if you wish to use (default identity)
appservice -> select you application -> identity->enable it ->should give you a Id
and than add it to key Vault Access policy
alternatively app registration can be used with tenantId,clientId,secret to connect to keyvault

OAUTH / Azure Functions: Method to auth AAD user for endpoints that don't support service principals

I've been leveraging Azure Function Apps to automate items in Azure. I currently have working functions that connect to Microsoft Graph, Resource Explorer, KV etc. using service principal / OAUTH client credentials flow (inside the function app). To call my function app, I've implemented implicit flow. While I'm not an expert at OAUTH, I am familiar enough now to get this configured and working.
However, there are Azure endpoints I need to use that don't support using a service principal token, they only support an actual AAD user requesting a token. Here's one that I want to run: Create synchronizationJob
If you look at the permissions section of the above link, you'll see that "application" is not supported. I did test this in a function: I can run these endpoints in Graph Explorer fine (as myself), but they fail in the function when using a token linked to a service principal.
Since this new automation is going to be an Azure Function (and not an interactive user), I can't use the authorization code flow. I need this service account's OAUTH to be non-interactive.
TL;DR
I can run the above endpoint in Azure's Graph Explorer just fine:
Azure Graph Explorer
since I'm authenticating as myself, and have a token generated based on my user ID. But for automating using Azure Functions where I need to use this endpoint (which doesn't support OAUTH using an SP), I need some way to have a back-end AAD user auth and pull a token that can be used to run the endpoint.
Any help is welcome! Feel free to tell me that I'm either missing something very basic, or not understanding a core principal here.
As juunas mentioned no guarantee that will work though, I test in my side and it seems doesn't work although I assigned "Global administrator" role to the service principal.
For your situation, you can request the access token in your function code and then use the access token to request the graph api.
Add the code like below in your function to get access token.
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
var values = new Dictionary<string, string>
{
{ "client_id", "<your app client id>" },
{ "scope", "<scope>" },
{ "username", "<your user name>" },
{ "password", "<your password>" },
{ "grant_type", "password" },
};
var content = new FormUrlEncodedContent(values);
var response = await client.PostAsync("https://login.microsoftonline.com/<your tenant id>/oauth2/v2.0/token", content);
var responseString = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
var obj = JObject.Parse(responseString);
var accessToken = (string)obj["access_token"];
And then use the access token got above to request graph api.

Retrieve Azure KeyVault secret using client secret

I'm experimenting with various Azure features and currently want to retrieve a secret from KeyVault.
Straight to the case:
I'm using this nuget package to interact with my azure resources.
I've developed a simple .NET Core console app and run it locally.
I have a KeyVault resource with one secret defined which is active and not expired.
I've registered an App in AAD so my locally shipped .NET Core console app has an identity within AAD.
Than I've created a "client secret" within this registered app in AAD to use it to authenticate myself as an app.
After that I've added access policy in my KeyVault resource to allow GET operation for secrets for this registered app:
Then I've developed a small piece of code which should retrieve the desired secret:
public class AzureAuthentication
{
public async Task<string> GetAdminPasswordFromKeyVault()
{
const string clientId = "--my-client-id--";
const string tenantId = "--my-tenant-id--";
const string clientSecret = "--my-client-secret--";
var credentials = new ClientSecretCredential(tenantId, clientId, clientSecret);
var client = new SecretClient(new Uri("https://mykeyvaultresource.vault.azure.net"), credentials);
var secret = await client.GetSecretAsync("admincreds");
return secret.Value.Value;
}
}
However when I'm trying to do this I'm getting an AccessDenied error:
Am I missing something painfully obvious here? Or there is some latency (>30 min for this moment) for which changes from Access policies screen in KeyVault resource are applied?
I test your code and Get permission, it works fine.
From your screenshot, it looks you didn't add the correct service principal related to the AD App to the Access policies.
If you add the service principal related to the AD App, it will appear as APPLICATION, not COMPOUND IDENTITY.
So when you add it, you could search for the client Id(i.e. application Id) or the name of your App Registration directly, make sure you add the correct one.
Make sure your AD App(service principal) has the correct permission in your keyvault -> Access policies

Is the KeyVaultClient method GetSecret() safe?

I'm working with Azure Key Vault and I'm testing the "Managed Identities" for Azure Resource. Long story short: with this feature we can easily access to a KeyVault secrets from (e.g.) VM, App Service... I wrote this simple code:
private void GetKeyVaultSecrets()
{
AzureServiceTokenProvider azureServiceTokenProvider = new AzureServiceTokenProvider();
var akvCallback = new KeyVaultClient.AuthenticationCallback(azureServiceTokenProvider.KeyVaultTokenCallback);
var keyVaultClient = new KeyVaultClient(akvCallback);
var secret = keyVaultClient.GetSecretAsync("https://mykeyvault.vault.azure.net/secrets/mySecret").GetAwaiter().GetResult();
string superSecret = secret.Value;
}
And I'm able to access my "Secret" without any kind of Authorization. Is it safe? Am I missing something? It looks so strange that with those 7 lines of code you have access to all your secrets. Thanks for your attention.
If you are running this on a service with a system-assigned Managed Identity, here's what actually happens (example for App Service, VM is slightly different):
Your app reads IDENTITY_ENDPOINT and IDENTITY_HEADER environment variables
HTTP call to IDENTITY_ENDPOINT using the IDENTITY_HEADER as authentication
This endpoint cannot be called from the outside, only from within the instance.
Its port is also random
In the call, your app specifies it wants a token for Key Vault (resource https://vault.azure.net)
The Managed Identity endpoint uses the certificate it has created to authenticate to Azure Active Directory with the Client Credentials flow
Azure AD verifies the request and issues a token
Managed Identity endpoint returns the token to your app
KeyVaultClient uses the token to authorize the call to Key Vault
On Virtual Machines, the Instance Metadata Service is used to get tokens.
The main thing to understand is that any process running on the instance itself is capable of getting tokens from the Managed Identity.
Though if you were to get malicious code running on your instance,
other approaches could be in trouble as well :)
If you run that code locally, it can work as well.
AzureServiceTokenProvider also attempts Visual Studio authentication as well as Azure CLI authentication.
So if you are logged in to e.g. AZ CLI, it is able to get an access token for your user to Azure Key Vault and access it.
Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/overview-managed-identity?context=azure%2Factive-directory%2Fmanaged-identities-azure-resources%2Fcontext%2Fmsi-context&tabs=dotnet#rest-protocol-examples
Example request done in VMs: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/managed-identities-azure-resources/tutorial-windows-vm-access-nonaad#access-data

Use Azure Vault Secret from onpremise Web Application

I would like to use an Azure Key Vault secret from an on-premise web application.
I created a Key Vault with a Secret, but in Access Policies I should specify an Authorized Application and in the samples is used an Azure WebApp.
I want instead use the Secret from on-premise MVC web app: shoud i specify nothing and it works ? i specified the Azure Vault and as Principal myself but i'm not sure if this is correct.
Well, something will need to authenticate to access the secret.
Either the current user, or you can use a service principal.
Since we are talking about an MVC app, the service principal is probably easier.
You will need to register a new app in Azure Active Directory via the Azure Portal.
Find Azure AD, and register a new app via App registrations.
The name and URLs don't really matter, but it needs to be of type Web app/API.
The sign-on URL can be https://localhost for example.
Then add a key in the Keys blade to the app (click Settings after the app is created, then Keys).
Copy the client id (application id) and the key somewhere.
Now you can go to your Key Vault, and create a new access policy, and choose the app you created as the principal.
Give it the rights you want, like Secrets -> Get.
Then you can save the policy.
In your app, you can then use the Key Vault library + ADAL like so:
var kvClient = new KeyVaultClient(async (authority, resource, scope) =>
{
var context = new AuthenticationContext(authority);
var credential = new ClientCredential("client-id-here", "key-here");
AuthenticationResult result = await context.AcquireTokenAsync(resource, credential);
return result.AccessToken;
});
SecretBundle secret = await kvClient.GetSecretAsync("https://yourvault.vault.azure.net/", "secret-name");
string secretValue = secret.Value;

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