authelia/docs/configuration/secrets.md

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Secrets

Configuration of Authelia requires some secrets and passwords. Even if they can be set in the configuration file, the recommended way to set secrets is to use environment variables as described below.

Environment variables

A secret can be configured using an environment variable with the prefix AUTHELIA_ followed by the path of the option capitalized and with dots replaced by underscores followed by the suffix _FILE.

The contents of the environment variable must be a path to a file containing the secret data. This file must be readable by the user the Authelia daemon is running as.

For instance the LDAP password can be defined in the configuration at the path authentication_backend.ldap.password, so this password could alternatively be set using the environment variable called AUTHELIA_AUTHENTICATION_BACKEND_LDAP_PASSWORD_FILE.

Here is the list of the environment variables which are considered secrets and can be defined. Any other option defined using an environment variable will not be replaced.

Configuration Key	Environment Variable
jwt_secret	AUTHELIA_JWT_SECRET_FILE
duo_api.secret_key	AUTHELIA_DUO_API_SECRET_KEY_FILE
session.secret	AUTHELIA_SESSION_SECRET_FILE
session.redis.password	AUTHELIA_SESSION_REDIS_PASSWORD_FILE
storage.mysql.password	AUTHELIA_STORAGE_MYSQL_PASSWORD_FILE
storage.postgres.password	AUTHELIA_STORAGE_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE
notifier.smtp.password	AUTHELIA_NOTIFIER_SMTP_PASSWORD_FILE
authentication_backend.ldap.password	AUTHELIA_AUTHENTICATION_BACKEND_LDAP_PASSWORD_FILE

Secrets exposed in an environment variable

Prior to implementing file secrets you were able to define the values of secrets in the environment variables themselves in plain text instead of referencing a file. This is still supported but discouraged. If you still want to do this just remove _FILE from the environment variable name and define the value in insecure plain text. See this article for reasons why this is considered insecure and is discouraged.

DEPRECATION NOTICE: This backwards compatibility feature will be removed in 4.18.0+.

Secrets in configuration file

If for some reason you prefer keeping the secrets in the configuration file, be sure to apply the right permissions to the file in order to prevent secret leaks if an another application gets compromised on your server. The UNIX permissions should probably be something like 600.

Kubernetes

Secrets can be mounted as files using the following sample manifests.

Kustomization

• Filename: ./kustomization.yaml
• Command: kubectl apply -k
• Notes: this kustomization expects the Authelia configuration.yml in the same directory. You will need to edit the kustomization.yaml with your desired secrets after the equal signs. If you change the value before the equal sign you'll have to adjust the volumes section of the daemonset template (or deployment template if you're using it).

#filename: ./kustomization.yaml
generatorOptions:
  disableNameSuffixHash: true
  labels:
    type: generated
    app: authelia
configMapGenerator:
  - name: authelia
    files:
      - configuration.yml
secretGenerator:
  - name: authelia
    literals:
      - jwt_secret=myverysecuresecret
      - session_secret=mysessionsecret
      - redis_password=myredispassword
      - sql_password=mysqlpassword
      - ldap_password=myldappassword
      - duo_secret=myduosecretkey
      - smtp_password=mysmtppassword

DaemonSet

• Filename: ./daemonset.yaml
• Command: kubectl apply -f ./daemonset.yaml
• Notes: assumes Kubernetes API 1.16 or greater

#filename: daemonset.yaml
#command: kubectl apply -f daemonset.yaml
#notes: assumes kubernetes api 1.16+
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: DaemonSet
metadata:
  name: authelia
  labels:
    app: authelia
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: authelia
  updateStrategy:
    type: RollingUpdate
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: authelia
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: authelia
          image: authelia/authelia:latest
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          env:
            - name: AUTHELIA_JWT_SECRET_FILE
              value: /usr/app/secrets/jwt
            - name: AUTHELIA_DUO_API_SECRET_KEY_FILE
              value: /usr/app/secrets/duo
            - name: AUTHELIA_SESSION_SECRET_FILE
              value: /usr/app/secrets/session
            - name: AUTHELIA_AUTHENTICATION_BACKEND_LDAP_PASSWORD_FILE
              value: /usr/app/secrets/ldap_password
            - name: AUTHELIA_NOTIFIER_SMTP_PASSWORD_FILE
              value: /usr/app/secrets/smtp_password
            - name: AUTHELIA_STORAGE_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE
              value: /usr/app/secrets/sql_password
          ports:
            - name: http
              containerPort: 80
          startupProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /api/configuration
              port: http
            initialDelaySeconds: 10
            timeoutSeconds: 5
            periodSeconds: 5
            failureThreshold: 4
          livenessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /api/configuration
              port: http
            initialDelaySeconds: 60
            timeoutSeconds: 5
            periodSeconds: 30
            failureThreshold: 2
          readinessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /api/configuration
              port: http
            initialDelaySeconds: 10
            timeoutSeconds: 5
            periodSeconds: 5
            failureThreshold: 5
          volumeMounts:
            - mountPath: /etc/authelia
              name: config-volume
            - mountPath: /usr/app/secrets
              name: secrets
              readOnly: true
            - mountPath: /etc/localtime
              name: localtime
              readOnly: true
      volumes:
        - name: config-volume
          configMap:
            name: authelia
            items:
              - key: configuration.yml
                path: configuration.yml
        - name: secrets
          secret:
            secretName: authelia
            items:
              - key: jwt_secret
                path: jwt
              - key: duo_secret
                path: duo
              - key: session_secret
                path: session
              - key: redis_password
                path: redis_password
              - key: sql_password
                path: sql_password
              - key: ldap_password
                path: ldap_password
              - key: smtp_password
                path: smtp_password
        - name: localtime
          hostPath:
            path: /etc/localtime