Managing Secrets with Ansible Vault and macOS Keychain: A Multi-ID Approach
Ansible Vault is a powerful tool for encrypting sensitive data within your playbooks and keeping it secure. But when working with multiple users or systems, managing vault passwords can become cumbersome. macOS Keychain offers a convenient solution, allowing you to store and manage multiple vault passwords securely within the operating system's integrated keychain.
The Challenge of Multiple Vault Passwords
Imagine you're managing multiple Ansible projects, each requiring its own unique vault password. Manually remembering or storing these passwords is insecure and impractical. You might use a password manager, but that adds another layer of complexity and potential vulnerability.
Leveraging macOS Keychain
macOS Keychain provides a built-in secure storage mechanism for passwords and sensitive data. The solution lies in using the Keychain vault backend, allowing you to store each vault password within your keychain, associated with unique identities.
Ansible Vault Configuration
To use macOS Keychain, first install the ansible-vault-keychain package:
pip install ansible-vault-keychain
Then, in your Ansible playbook, configure the vault section to use the Keychain backend:
---
- hosts: all
become: true
tasks:
- name: Decrypt vault file
ansible.builtin.copy:
dest: /tmp/secrets.yml
content: "{{ lookup('file', 'secrets.yml.vault') | ansible.builtin.vault }}"
vars:
ansible_vault_password_file: "{{ lookup('env', 'ANSIBLE_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE') }}"
environment:
ANSIBLE_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE: "vault_password"
delegate_to: localhost
This configuration ensures that Ansible Vault will look for the vault password within the specified ANSIBLE_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE environment variable.
Storing Vault Passwords in Keychain
Now, you can store the vault password for each project within your macOS Keychain, associating it with a unique identity. Use the security command-line tool:
security add-generic-password -a "My Project Vault" -s "project1_vault_password" -w "My Project" -U "My Project User" -T "My Project Team" -A "My Project" -l "My Project" -i "My Project"
Replace the placeholders with the appropriate values:
- -a: Vault password alias
- -s: Vault password
- -w: Account name
- -U: User name
- -T: Team name
- -A: Access group
- -l: Label
- -i: Identity
By associating each vault password with a unique identity, you can manage multiple projects securely within the same keychain.
Managing Multiple Identities
When working with multiple users or systems, you can further categorize your vault passwords by associating them with specific identities. This allows you to control access based on user roles or project membership.
Conclusion
Integrating Ansible Vault with macOS Keychain through the Keychain vault backend enables secure management of multiple vault passwords. By storing passwords in the keychain with unique identities, you can streamline your workflow while maintaining strong security practices. This approach offers flexibility and convenience, particularly in collaborative environments or when managing complex projects with varying access levels.
