NiFi LDAP Authentication: Unable To Locate Initial Admit Identity - security

Question

We're trying to configure NiFi to require users to authenticate using their Active Directory credentials when accessing the UI. We've tried multiple permutations, but we always get an error message along the lines of "cannot locate Initial Admin Identity jane.doe".
We've already tried the following:
Comment out nifi.security.identity.mapping.pattern.dn in nifi.properties and specify the entire dn for the Initial Admin Identity
Modifying the User Identity Attribute to something other than cn
Can anyone think of a reason why we might be running into this issue?
Thanks,
Cory
authorizers.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<authorizers>
<!--
The FileUserGroupProvider will provide support for managing users and groups which is backed by a file
on the local file system.
- Users File - The file where the FileUserGroupProvider will store users and groups.
- Legacy Authorized Users File - The full path to an existing authorized-users.xml that will be automatically
be used to load the users and groups into the Users File.
- Initial User Identity [unique key] - The identity of a users and systems to seed the Users File. The name of
each property must be unique, for example: "Initial User Identity A", "Initial User Identity B",
"Initial User Identity C" or "Initial User Identity 1", "Initial User Identity 2", "Initial User Identity 3"
NOTE: Any identity mapping rules specified in nifi.properties will also be applied to the user identities,
so the values should be the unmapped identities (i.e. full DN from a certificate).
-->
<userGroupProvider>
<identifier>file-user-group-provider</identifier>
<class>org.apache.nifi.authorization.FileUserGroupProvider</class>
<property name="Users File">./conf/users.xml</property>
<property name="Legacy Authorized Users File"></property>
<property name="Initial User Identity Node1">CN=xxx, OU=yyy, O=zzz, L=www, ST=vvv, C=kkk</property>
<property name="Initial User Identity Node2">CN=xxx, OU=yyy, O=zzz, L=www, ST=vvv, C=kkk</property>
</userGroupProvider>
<!--
The LdapUserGroupProvider will retrieve users and groups from an LDAP server. The users and groups
are not configurable.
'Authentication Strategy' - How the connection to the LDAP server is authenticated. Possible
values are ANONYMOUS, SIMPLE, LDAPS, or START_TLS.
'Manager DN' - The DN of the manager that is used to bind to the LDAP server to search for users.
'Manager Password' - The password of the manager that is used to bind to the LDAP server to
search for users.
'TLS - Keystore' - Path to the Keystore that is used when connecting to LDAP using LDAPS or START_TLS.
'TLS - Keystore Password' - Password for the Keystore that is used when connecting to LDAP
using LDAPS or START_TLS.
'TLS - Keystore Type' - Type of the Keystore that is used when connecting to LDAP using
LDAPS or START_TLS (i.e. JKS or PKCS12).
'TLS - Truststore' - Path to the Truststore that is used when connecting to LDAP using LDAPS or START_TLS.
'TLS - Truststore Password' - Password for the Truststore that is used when connecting to
LDAP using LDAPS or START_TLS.
'TLS - Truststore Type' - Type of the Truststore that is used when connecting to LDAP using
LDAPS or START_TLS (i.e. JKS or PKCS12).
'TLS - Client Auth' - Client authentication policy when connecting to LDAP using LDAPS or START_TLS.
Possible values are REQUIRED, WANT, NONE.
'TLS - Protocol' - Protocol to use when connecting to LDAP using LDAPS or START_TLS. (i.e. TLS,
TLSv1.1, TLSv1.2, etc).
'TLS - Shutdown Gracefully' - Specifies whether the TLS should be shut down gracefully
before the target context is closed. Defaults to false.
'Referral Strategy' - Strategy for handling referrals. Possible values are FOLLOW, IGNORE, THROW.
'Connect Timeout' - Duration of connect timeout. (i.e. 10 secs).
'Read Timeout' - Duration of read timeout. (i.e. 10 secs).
'Url' - Space-separated list of URLs of the LDAP servers (i.e. ldap://<hostname>:<port>).
'Page Size' - Sets the page size when retrieving users and groups. If not specified, no paging is performed.
'Sync Interval' - Duration of time between syncing users and groups (i.e. 30 mins). Minimum allowable value is 10 secs.
'Group Membership - Enforce Case Sensitivity' - Sets whether group membership decisions are case sensitive. When a user or group
is inferred (by not specifying or user or group search base or user identity attribute or group name attribute) case sensitivity
is enforced since the value to use for the user identity or group name would be ambiguous. Defaults to false.
'User Search Base' - Base DN for searching for users (i.e. ou=users,o=nifi). Required to search users.
'User Object Class' - Object class for identifying users (i.e. person). Required if searching users.
'User Search Scope' - Search scope for searching users (ONE_LEVEL, OBJECT, or SUBTREE). Required if searching users.
'User Search Filter' - Filter for searching for users against the 'User Search Base' (i.e. (memberof=cn=team1,ou=groups,o=nifi) ). Optional.
'User Identity Attribute' - Attribute to use to extract user identity (i.e. cn). Optional. If not set, the entire DN is used.
'User Group Name Attribute' - Attribute to use to define group membership (i.e. memberof). Optional. If not set
group membership will not be calculated through the users. Will rely on group membership being defined
through 'Group Member Attribute' if set. The value of this property is the name of the attribute in the user ldap entry that
associates them with a group. The value of that user attribute could be a dn or group name for instance. What value is expected
is configured in the 'User Group Name Attribute - Referenced Group Attribute'.
'User Group Name Attribute - Referenced Group Attribute' - If blank, the value of the attribute defined in 'User Group Name Attribute'
is expected to be the full dn of the group. If not blank, this property will define the attribute of the group ldap entry that
the value of the attribute defined in 'User Group Name Attribute' is referencing (i.e. name). Use of this property requires that
'Group Search Base' is also configured.
'Group Search Base' - Base DN for searching for groups (i.e. ou=groups,o=nifi). Required to search groups.
'Group Object Class' - Object class for identifying groups (i.e. groupOfNames). Required if searching groups.
'Group Search Scope' - Search scope for searching groups (ONE_LEVEL, OBJECT, or SUBTREE). Required if searching groups.
'Group Search Filter' - Filter for searching for groups against the 'Group Search Base'. Optional.
'Group Name Attribute' - Attribute to use to extract group name (i.e. cn). Optional. If not set, the entire DN is used.
'Group Member Attribute' - Attribute to use to define group membership (i.e. member). Optional. If not set
group membership will not be calculated through the groups. Will rely on group membership being defined
through 'User Group Name Attribute' if set. The value of this property is the name of the attribute in the group ldap entry that
associates them with a user. The value of that group attribute could be a dn or memberUid for instance. What value is expected
is configured in the 'Group Member Attribute - Referenced User Attribute'. (i.e. member: cn=User 1,ou=users,o=nifi vs. memberUid: user1)
'Group Member Attribute - Referenced User Attribute' - If blank, the value of the attribute defined in 'Group Member Attribute'
is expected to be the full dn of the user. If not blank, this property will define the attribute of the user ldap entry that
the value of the attribute defined in 'Group Member Attribute' is referencing (i.e. uid). Use of this property requires that
'User Search Base' is also configured. (i.e. member: cn=User 1,ou=users,o=nifi vs. memberUid: user1)
NOTE: Any identity mapping rules specified in nifi.properties will also be applied to the user identities.
Group names are not mapped.
-->
<userGroupProvider>
<identifier>ldap-user-group-provider</identifier>
<class>org.apache.nifi.ldap.tenants.LdapUserGroupProvider</class>
<property name="Authentication Strategy">LDAPS</property>
<property name="Manager DN">CN=xxx,OU=yyy,OU=zzz,OU=www,DC=vvv,DC=ggg,DC=hhh,DC=ppp</property>
<property name="Manager Password">xxx</property>
<property name="TLS - Keystore">/etc/localhost-keystore.jks</property>
<property name="TLS - Keystore Password">xxx</property>
<property name="TLS - Keystore Type">JKS</property>
<property name="TLS - Truststore">/etc/all-truststore.jks</property>
<property name="TLS - Truststore Password">xxx</property>
<property name="TLS - Truststore Type">JKS</property>
<property name="TLS - Client Auth"></property>
<property name="TLS - Protocol">TLS</property>
<property name="TLS - Shutdown Gracefully"></property>
<property name="Referral Strategy">FOLLOW</property>
<property name="Connect Timeout">10 secs</property>
<property name="Read Timeout">10 secs</property>
<property name="Url">ldaps://xxx:636</property>
<property name="Page Size"></property>
<property name="Sync Interval">30 mins</property>
<property name="Group Membership - Enforce Case Sensitivity">false</property>
<property name="User Search Base">OU=xxx,OU=yyy,OU=zzz,DC=www,DC=vvv,DC=ddd,DC=eee</property>
<property name="User Object Class">organizationalPerson</property>
<property name="User Search Scope">SUBTREE</property>
<property name="User Search Filter"></property>
<property name="User Identity Attribute">cn</property>
<property name="User Group Name Attribute"></property>
<property name="User Group Name Attribute - Referenced Group Attribute"></property>
<property name="Group Search Base"></property>
<property name="Group Object Class">group</property>
<property name="Group Search Scope">ONE_LEVEL</property>
<property name="Group Search Filter"></property>
<property name="Group Name Attribute"></property>
<property name="Group Member Attribute"></property>
<property name="Group Member Attribute - Referenced User Attribute"></property>
</userGroupProvider>
<!--
The ShellUserGroupProvider provides support for retrieving users and groups by way of shell commands
on systems that support `sh`. Implementations available for Linux and Mac OS, and are selected by the
provider based on the system property `os.name`.
'Refresh Delay' - duration to wait between subsequent refreshes. Default is '5 mins'.
'Exclude Groups' - regular expression used to exclude groups. Default is '', which means no groups are excluded.
'Exclude Users' - regular expression used to exclude users. Default is '', which means no users are excluded.
-->
<!-- To enable the shell-user-group-provider remove 2 lines. This is 1 of 2.
<userGroupProvider>
<identifier>shell-user-group-provider</identifier>
<class>org.apache.nifi.authorization.ShellUserGroupProvider</class>
<property name="Refresh Delay">5 mins</property>
<property name="Exclude Groups"></property>
<property name="Exclude Users"></property>
</userGroupProvider>
To enable the shell-user-group-provider remove 2 lines. This is 2 of 2. -->
<!--
The CompositeUserGroupProvider will provide support for retrieving users and groups from multiple sources.
- User Group Provider [unique key] - The identifier of user group providers to load from. The name of
each property must be unique, for example: "User Group Provider A", "User Group Provider B",
"User Group Provider C" or "User Group Provider 1", "User Group Provider 2", "User Group Provider 3"
NOTE: Any identity mapping rules specified in nifi.properties are not applied in this implementation. This behavior
would need to be applied by the base implementation.
-->
<userGroupProvider>
<identifier>composite-user-group-provider</identifier>
<class>org.apache.nifi.authorization.CompositeUserGroupProvider</class>
<property name="User Group Provider 1">ldap-user-group-provider</property>
<property name="User Group Provider 2">file-user-group-provider</property>
</userGroupProvider>
<!--
The CompositeConfigurableUserGroupProvider will provide support for retrieving users and groups from multiple sources.
Additionally, a single configurable user group provider is required. Users from the configurable user group provider
are configurable, however users loaded from one of the User Group Provider [unique key] will not be.
- Configurable User Group Provider - A configurable user group provider.
- User Group Provider [unique key] - The identifier of user group providers to load from. The name of
each property must be unique, for example: "User Group Provider A", "User Group Provider B",
"User Group Provider C" or "User Group Provider 1", "User Group Provider 2", "User Group Provider 3"
NOTE: Any identity mapping rules specified in nifi.properties are not applied in this implementation. This behavior
would need to be applied by the base implementation.
-->
<!-- To enable the composite-configurable-user-group-provider remove 2 lines. This is 1 of 2.
<userGroupProvider>
<identifier>composite-configurable-user-group-provider</identifier>
<class>org.apache.nifi.authorization.CompositeConfigurableUserGroupProvider</class>
<property name="Configurable User Group Provider">file-user-group-provider</property>
<property name="User Group Provider 1"></property>
</userGroupProvider>
To enable the composite-configurable-user-group-provider remove 2 lines. This is 2 of 2. -->
<!--
The FileAccessPolicyProvider will provide support for managing access policies which is backed by a file
on the local file system.
- User Group Provider - The identifier for an User Group Provider defined above that will be used to access
users and groups for use in the managed access policies.
- Authorizations File - The file where the FileAccessPolicyProvider will store policies.
- Initial Admin Identity - The identity of an initial admin user that will be granted access to the UI and
given the ability to create additional users, groups, and policies. The value of this property could be
a DN when using certificates or LDAP, or a Kerberos principal. This property will only be used when there
are no other policies defined. If this property is specified then a Legacy Authorized Users File can not be specified.
NOTE: Any identity mapping rules specified in nifi.properties will also be applied to the initial admin identity,
so the value should be the unmapped identity. This identity must be found in the configured User Group Provider.
- Legacy Authorized Users File - The full path to an existing authorized-users.xml that will be automatically
converted to the new authorizations model. If this property is specified then an Initial Admin Identity can
not be specified, and this property will only be used when there are no other users, groups, and policies defined.
NOTE: Any users in the legacy users file must be found in the configured User Group Provider.
- Node Identity [unique key] - The identity of a NiFi cluster node. When clustered, a property for each node
should be defined, so that every node knows about every other node. If not clustered these properties can be ignored.
The name of each property must be unique, for example for a three node cluster:
"Node Identity A", "Node Identity B", "Node Identity C" or "Node Identity 1", "Node Identity 2", "Node Identity 3"
NOTE: Any identity mapping rules specified in nifi.properties will also be applied to the node identities,
so the values should be the unmapped identities (i.e. full DN from a certificate). This identity must be found
in the configured User Group Provider.
- Node Group - The name of a group containing NiFi cluster nodes. The typical use for this is when nodes are dynamically
added/removed from the cluster.
NOTE: The group must exist before starting NiFi.
-->
<accessPolicyProvider>
<identifier>file-access-policy-provider</identifier>
<class>org.apache.nifi.authorization.FileAccessPolicyProvider</class>
<property name="User Group Provider">composite-user-group-provider</property>
<property name="Authorizations File">./conf/authorizations.xml</property>
<property name="Initial Admin Identity">jane.doe</property>
<property name="Node Identity 1">CN=xxx, OU=yyy, O=zzz, L=www, ST=vvv, C=sss</property>
<property name="Node Identity 2">CN=xxx, OU=yyy, O=zzz, L=www, ST=vvv, C=sss</property>
<property name="Legacy Authorized Users File"></property>
<property name="Node Group"></property>
</accessPolicyProvider>
<!--
The StandardManagedAuthorizer. This authorizer implementation must be configured with the
Access Policy Provider which it will use to access and manage users, groups, and policies.
These users, groups, and policies will be used to make all access decisions during authorization
requests.
- Access Policy Provider - The identifier for an Access Policy Provider defined above.
-->
<authorizer>
<identifier>managed-authorizer</identifier>
<class>org.apache.nifi.authorization.StandardManagedAuthorizer</class>
<property name="Access Policy Provider">file-access-policy-provider</property>
</authorizer>
<!--
NOTE: This Authorizer has been replaced with the more granular approach configured above with the Standard
Managed Authorizer. However, it is still available for backwards compatibility reasons.
The FileAuthorizer is NiFi's provided authorizer and has the following properties:
- Authorizations File - The file where the FileAuthorizer will store policies.
- Users File - The file where the FileAuthorizer will store users and groups.
- Initial Admin Identity - The identity of an initial admin user that will be granted access to the UI and
given the ability to create additional users, groups, and policies. The value of this property could be
a DN when using certificates or LDAP, or a Kerberos principal. This property will only be used when there
are no other users, groups, and policies defined. If this property is specified then a Legacy Authorized
Users File can not be specified.
NOTE: Any identity mapping rules specified in nifi.properties will also be applied to the initial admin identity,
so the value should be the unmapped identity.
- Legacy Authorized Users File - The full path to an existing authorized-users.xml that will be automatically
converted to the new authorizations model. If this property is specified then an Initial Admin Identity can
not be specified, and this property will only be used when there are no other users, groups, and policies defined.
- Node Identity [unique key] - The identity of a NiFi cluster node. When clustered, a property for each node
should be defined, so that every node knows about every other node. If not clustered these properties can be ignored.
The name of each property must be unique, for example for a three node cluster:
"Node Identity A", "Node Identity B", "Node Identity C" or "Node Identity 1", "Node Identity 2", "Node Identity 3"
NOTE: Any identity mapping rules specified in nifi.properties will also be applied to the node identities,
so the values should be the unmapped identities (i.e. full DN from a certificate).
-->
<!-- <authorizer>
<identifier>file-provider</identifier>
<class>org.apache.nifi.authorization.FileAuthorizer</class>
<property name="Authorizations File">./conf/authorizations.xml</property>
<property name="Users File">./conf/users.xml</property>
<property name="Initial Admin Identity"></property>
<property name="Legacy Authorized Users File"></property>
</authorizer>
-->
</authorizers>
login-identity-providers.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<loginIdentityProviders>
<!--
Identity Provider for users logging in with username/password against an LDAP server.
'Authentication Strategy' - How the connection to the LDAP server is authenticated. Possible
values are ANONYMOUS, SIMPLE, LDAPS, or START_TLS.
'Manager DN' - The DN of the manager that is used to bind to the LDAP server to search for users.
'Manager Password' - The password of the manager that is used to bind to the LDAP server to
search for users.
'TLS - Keystore' - Path to the Keystore that is used when connecting to LDAP using LDAPS or START_TLS.
'TLS - Keystore Password' - Password for the Keystore that is used when connecting to LDAP
using LDAPS or START_TLS.
'TLS - Keystore Type' - Type of the Keystore that is used when connecting to LDAP using
LDAPS or START_TLS (i.e. JKS or PKCS12).
'TLS - Truststore' - Path to the Truststore that is used when connecting to LDAP using LDAPS or START_TLS.
'TLS - Truststore Password' - Password for the Truststore that is used when connecting to
LDAP using LDAPS or START_TLS.
'TLS - Truststore Type' - Type of the Truststore that is used when connecting to LDAP using
LDAPS or START_TLS (i.e. JKS or PKCS12).
'TLS - Client Auth' - Client authentication policy when connecting to LDAP using LDAPS or START_TLS.
Possible values are REQUIRED, WANT, NONE.
'TLS - Protocol' - Protocol to use when connecting to LDAP using LDAPS or START_TLS. (i.e. TLS,
TLSv1.1, TLSv1.2, etc).
'TLS - Shutdown Gracefully' - Specifies whether the TLS should be shut down gracefully
before the target context is closed. Defaults to false.
'Referral Strategy' - Strategy for handling referrals. Possible values are FOLLOW, IGNORE, THROW.
'Connect Timeout' - Duration of connect timeout. (i.e. 10 secs).
'Read Timeout' - Duration of read timeout. (i.e. 10 secs).
'Url' - Space-separated list of URLs of the LDAP servers (i.e. ldap://<hostname>:<port>).
'User Search Base' - Base DN for searching for users (i.e. CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com).
'User Search Filter' - Filter for searching for users against the 'User Search Base'.
(i.e. sAMAccountName={0}). The user specified name is inserted into '{0}'.
'Identity Strategy' - Strategy to identify users. Possible values are USE_DN and USE_USERNAME.
The default functionality if this property is missing is USE_DN in order to retain
backward compatibility. USE_DN will use the full DN of the user entry if possible.
USE_USERNAME will use the username the user logged in with.
'Authentication Expiration' - The duration of how long the user authentication is valid
for. If the user never logs out, they will be required to log back in following
this duration.
-->
<provider>
<identifier>ldap-provider</identifier>
<class>org.apache.nifi.ldap.LdapProvider</class>
<property name="Authentication Strategy">LDAPS</property>
<property name="Manager DN">CN=xxx,OU=yyy,OU=zzz,OU=www,DC=vvv,DC=rrr,DC=ooo,DC=ppp</property>
<property name="Manager Password">xxx</property>
<property name="TLS - Keystore">/etc/localhost-keystore.jks</property>
<property name="TLS - Keystore Password">xxx</property>
<property name="TLS - Keystore Type">JKS</property>
<property name="TLS - Truststore">/etc/all-truststore.jks</property>
<property name="TLS - Truststore Password">xxx</property>
<property name="TLS - Truststore Type">JKS</property>
<property name="TLS - Client Auth"></property>
<property name="TLS - Protocol">TLS</property>
<property name="TLS - Shutdown Gracefully"></property>
<property name="Referral Strategy">FOLLOW</property>
<property name="Connect Timeout">10 secs</property>
<property name="Read Timeout">10 secs</property>
<property name="Url">ldaps://xxx:636</property>
<property name="User Search Base">OU=xxx,OU=yyy,OU=zzz,DC=www,DC=vvv,DC=uuu,DC=qqq</property>
<property name="User Search Filter">cn={0}</property>
<property name="Identity Strategy">USE_DN</property>
<property name="Authentication Expiration">12 hours</property>
</provider>
<!--
Identity Provider for users logging in with username/password against a Kerberos KDC server.
'Default Realm' - Default realm to provide when user enters incomplete user principal (i.e. NIFI.APACHE.ORG).
'Authentication Expiration' - The duration of how long the user authentication is valid for. If the user never logs out, they will be required to log back in following this duration.
-->
<!-- To enable the kerberos-provider remove 2 lines. This is 1 of 2.
<provider>
<identifier>kerberos-provider</identifier>
<class>org.apache.nifi.kerberos.KerberosProvider</class>
<property name="Default Realm">NIFI.APACHE.ORG</property>
<property name="Authentication Expiration">12 hours</property>
</provider>
To enable the kerberos-provider remove 2 lines. This is 2 of 2. -->
</loginIdentityProviders>
nifi.properties
nifi.security.keystore=/etc/localhost-keystore.jks
nifi.security.keystoreType=JKS
nifi.security.keystorePasswd=xxx
nifi.security.keyPasswd=
nifi.security.truststore=/etc/all-truststore.jks
nifi.security.truststoreType=JKS
nifi.security.truststorePasswd=xxx
nifi.security.user.authorizer=managed-authorizer
nifi.security.user.login.identity.provider=ldap-provider
nifi.security.ocsp.responder.url=
nifi.security.ocsp.responder.certificate=
...
# Identity Mapping Properties #
# These properties allow normalizing user identities such that identities coming from different identity providers
# (certificates, LDAP, Kerberos) can be treated the same internally in NiFi. The following example demonstrates normalizing
# DNs from certificates and principals from Kerberos into a common identity string:
#
# nifi.security.identity.mapping.pattern.dn=^CN=(.*?), OU=(.*?), O=(.*?), L=(.*?), ST=(.*?), C=(.*?)$
nifi.security.identity.mapping.pattern.dn=^CN=(.*?), OU=(.*?), OU=(.*?), OU=(.*?), DC=(.*?), DC=(.*?), DC=(.*?), DC=(.*?)$
nifi.security.identity.mapping.value.dn=$1
# nifi.security.identity.mapping.pattern.dn2=^CN=(.*?), OU=(.*?), O=(.*?), L=(.*?), S=(.*?), C=(.*?)$
# nifi.security.identity.mapping.value.dn2=$1
# nifi.security.identity.mapping.value.dn=$1#$2
# nifi.security.identity.mapping.transform.dn=NONE
# nifi.security.identity.mapping.pattern.kerb=^(.*?)/instance#(.*?)$
# nifi.security.identity.mapping.value.kerb=$1#$2
# nifi.security.identity.mapping.transform.kerb=UPPER

Answer 1

You have an "Initial Admin Identity" for jane.doe defined in the <accessPolicyProvider> but not in your file-based <userGroupProvider>. Is jane.doe an (exact) user identity you expect to be available in LDAP? If not, you should define the same user as the "Initial User Identity 1" in the file-based <userGroupProvider> alongside the node identities. If you do expect Jane Doe to be provided via LDAP, have you tried setting the IAI to CN=jane.doe, OU=<your org>, ... (the full value of the DN returned from LDAP)?
You can also look at the logs/nifi-app.log and logs/nifi-user.log files for more details, and increase the verbosity of those logs by modifying conf/logback.xml.