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Chapter 14. Managing users, groups, SSH keys, and secrets in image mode for RHEL

Learn more about users, groups, SSH keys, and secrets management in image mode for RHEL.

14.1. Users and groups configuration
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Image mode for RHEL is an update and configuration mechanism for generic operating systems. For best practices in selected use cases, see the following list:

Users and groups configuration for generic base images
Usually, the distribution base images do not have any configuration. Do not encrypt passwords and SSH keys with publicly-available private keys in generic images because of security risks.
Injecting SSH keys through systemd credentials
You can use systemd to inject a root password or SSH authorized_keys file in some environments. For example, use System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) to inject SSH keys system firmware. You can configure this in local virtualization environments, such as qemu.
Injecting users and SSH keys by using cloud-init
Many Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and virtualization systems use metadata servers that are commonly processed by software such as cloud-init or ignition. See AWS instance metadata. The base image you are using might include cloud-init or Ignition, or you can install it in your own derived images. In this model, the SSH configuration is managed outside of the bootc image.
Adding users and credentials by using container or unit custom logic
Systems such as cloud-init are not privileged. You can inject any logic you want to manage credentials in the way you want to launch a container image, for example, by using a systemd unit. To manage the credentials, you can use a custom network-hosted source, for example, FreeIPA.
Adding users and credentials statically in the container build

In package-oriented systems, you can use the derived build to inject users and credentials by using the following command: 

RUN useradd someuser
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You can find issues in the default shadow-utils implementation of useradd: Users and groups IDs are allocated dynamically, and this can cause drift.

User and group home directories and /var directory

For systems configured with persistent /home /var/home, any changes to /var made in the container image after initial installation will not be applied on subsequent updates.

For example, if you inject /var/home/someuser/.ssh/authorized_keys into a container build, existing systems do not get the updated authorized_keys file.

Using nss-altfiles

The nss-altfiles splits system users into /usr/lib/passwd and /usr/lib/group, aligning with the way the OSTree project handles the 3 way merge for /etc as it relates to /etc/passwd. Currently, if the /etc/passwd file is modified in any way on the local system, then subsequent changes to /etc/passwd in the container image are not applied.

Base images built by rpm-ostree have nss-altfiles enabled by default.

Also, base images have a system users pre-allocated and managed by the NSS file to avoid UID or GID drift.

In a derived container build, you can also append users to /usr/lib/passwd, for example. Use sysusers.d or DynamicUser=yes.

Using DynamicUser=yes for systemd units

Use the systemd DynamicUser=yes option where possible for system users.

This is significantly better than the pattern of allocating users or groups at package install time, because it avoids potential UID or GID drift.

Using systemd-sysusers

Use systemd-sysusers, for example, in your derived build. For more information, see the systemd -sysusers documentation. 

COPY mycustom-user.conf /usr/lib/sysusers.d
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The sysusers tool makes changes to the traditional /etc/passwd file as necessary during boot time. If /etc is persistent, this can avoid UID or GID drift. It means that the UID or GID allocation depends on how a specific machine was upgraded over time.

Machine-local state for users

The filesystem layout depends on the base image.

By default, the user data is stored in both /etc, /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow and groups, and /home, depending on the base image. However, the generic base images have to both be machine-local persistent state. In this model /home is a symlink to /var/home/user.

Injecting users and SSH keys at system provisioning time

For base images where /etc and /var are configured to persist by default, you can inject users by using installers such as Anaconda or Kickstart.

Typically, generic installers are designed for one time bootstrap. Then, the configuration becomes a mutable machine-local state that you can change in Day 2 operations, by using some other mechanism.

You can use the Anaconda installer to set the initial password. However, changing this initial password requires a different in-system tool, such as passwd.

These flows work equivalently in a bootc-compatible system, to support users directly installing generic base images, without requiring changes to the different in-system tool.

Transient home directories

Many operating system deployments minimize persistent, mutable, and executable state. This can damage user home directories.

The /home directory can be set as tmpfs, to ensure that user data is cleared across reboots. This approach works especially well when combined with a transient /etc directory.

To set up the user’s home directory to, for example, inject SSH authorized_keys or other files, use the systemd tmpfiles.d snippets: 

f~ /home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys 600 user user - <base64 encoded data>
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SSH is embedded in the image as: /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/<username-keys.conf. Another example is a service embedded in the image that can fetch keys from the network and write them. This is the pattern used by cloud-init.

UID and GID drift
The /etc/passwd and similar files are a mapping between names and numeric identifiers. When the mapping is dynamic and mixed with "stateless" container image builds, it can cause issues. Each container image build might result in the UID changing due to RPM installation ordering or other reasons. This can be a problem if that user maintains a persistent state. To handle such cases, convert it to use sysusers.d or use DynamicUser=yes.

14.2. Injecting secrets in image mode for RHEL
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Image mode for RHEL does not have an opinionated mechanism for secrets. You can inject container pull secrets in your system for some cases, for example:

  • For bootc to fetch updates from a registry that requires authentication, you must include a pull secret in a file. In the following example, the creds secret contains the registry pull secret. 

    FROM registry.redhat.io/rhel9/bootc-image-builder:latest
COPY containers-auth.conf /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/link-podman-credentials.conf
RUN --mount=type=secret,id=creds,required=true cp /run/secrets/creds /usr/lib/container-auth.json && \
    chmod 0600 /usr/lib/container-auth.json && \
    ln -sr /usr/lib/container-auth.json /etc/ostree/auth.json
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    To build it, run podman build --secret id=creds,src=$HOME/.docker/config.json. Use a single pull secret for bootc and Podman by using a symlink to both locations to a common persistent file embedded in the container image, for example /usr/lib/container-auth.json.

  • For Podman to fetch container images, include a pull secret to /etc/containers/auth.json. With this configuration, the two stacks share the /usr/lib/container-auth.json file.

    Injecting secrets by embedding them in a container build
    You can include secrets in the container image if the registry server is suitably protected. In some cases, embedding only bootstrap secrets into the container image is a viable pattern, especially alongside a mechanism for having a machine authenticate to a cluster. In this pattern, a provisioning tool, whether run as part of the host system or a container image, uses the bootstrap secret to inject or update other secrets, such as SSH keys, certificates, among others.
    Injecting secrets by using cloud metadata
    Most production Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) systems support a metadata server or equivalent which can securely host secrets, particularly bootstrap secrets. Your container image can include tools such as cloud-init or ignition to fetch these secrets.
    Injecting secrets by embedding them in disk images
    You can embed bootstrap secrets only in disk images. For example, when you generate a cloud disk image from an input container image, such as AMI or OpenStack, the disk image can contain secrets that are effectively machine-local state. Rotating them requires an additional management tool or refreshing the disk images.
    Injecting secrets by using bare metal installers
    Installer tools usually support injecting configuration through secrets.
    Injecting secrets through systemd credentials
    The systemd project has a credential concept for securely acquiring and passing credential data to systems and services, which applies in some deployment methodologies. See the systemd credentials documentation for more details.

14.3. Configuring container pull secrets
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To fetch container images, you must configure a host system with a "pull secret", which includes the host updates. See the appendix about Injecting secrets in image mode for RHEL for more details.

You can configure the container pull secrets to an image that is already built. If you use an external installer such as Anaconda for bare metal, or bootc-image-builder, you must configure the systems with any applicable pull secrets.

The host bootc updates write the configuration to the /etc/ostree/auth.json file, which is shared with rpm-ostree.

Podman does not have system wide credentials. Podman accepts the containers-auth locations that are underneath the following directories:

  • /run: The content of this directory vanishes on reboot, which is not desired.
  • /root: Part of root home directory, which is local mutable state by default.

To unify bootc and Podman credentials, use a single default global pull secret for both bootc and Podman. The following container build is an example to unify the bootc and the Podman credentials. The example expects a secret named creds to contain the registry pull secret to build.

Procedure

  1. Create a symbolic link between bootc and Podman to use a single pull secret. By creating the symbolic link, you ensure that both locations are present to a common persistent file embedded in the container image.

  2. Create the /usr/lib/container-auth.json file. 

    FROM quay.io/<namespace>/<image>:<tag>
COPY containers-auth.conf /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/link-podman-credentials.conf
RUN --mount=type=secret,id=creds,required=true cp /run/secrets/creds /usr/lib/container-auth.json && \
    chmod 0600 /usr/lib/container-auth.json && \
    ln -sr /usr/lib/container-auth.json /etc/ostree/auth.json
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    When you run the Containerfile, the following actions happen:

    • The Containerfile makes /run/containers/0/auth.json a transient runtime file.
    • It creates a symbolic link to the /usr/lib/container-auth.json.
    • It also creates a persistent file, which is also symbolic linked from /etc/ostree/auth.json.

14.4. Injecting pull secrets for registries and disabling TLS
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To make it possible for containerized environments to pull images from private or insecure registries, you can configure container images, pull secrets, and disable TLS for a registry within a system.

You can include container pull secrets and other configuration to access a registry inside the base image. However, when installing by using Anaconda, the installation environment might need a duplicate copy of "bootstrap" configuration to access the targeted registry when fetching over the network.

To perform arbitrary changes to the installation environment before the target bootc container image is fetched, you can use the Anaconda %pre command.

See the containers-auth.json(5) for more detailed information about format and configurations of the auth.json file.

Procedure

  1. Configure a pull secret: 

    %pre
mkdir -p /etc/ostree
cat > /etc/ostree/auth.json << 'EOF'
{
        "auths": {
                "quay.io": {
                        "auth": "<your secret here>"
                }
        }
}
EOF
%end
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    With this configuration, the system pulls images from quay.io using the provided authentication credentials, which are stored in /etc/ostree/auth.json.

  2. Disable TLS for an insecure registry: 

    %pre
mkdir -p /etc/containers/registries.conf.d/
cat > /etc/containers/registries.conf.d/local-registry.conf << 'EOF'

[[registry]]
location="[IP_Address]:5000"
insecure=true
EOF
%end
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    With this configuration, the system pulls container images from a registry that is not secured with TLS. You can use it in development or internal networks.

You can also use %pre to:

  • Fetch data from the network by using binaries included in the installation environment, such as curl.
  • Inject trusted certificate authorities into the installation environment /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors by using the update-ca-trust command.

You can configure insecure registries similarly by modifying the /etc/containers directory.

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