1# Security Policy 2 3For information on gRPC Security Policy and reporting potentional security 4issues, please see [gRPC CVE Process][]. 5 6[gRPC CVE Process]: https://github.com/grpc/proposal/blob/master/P4-grpc-cve-process.md 7 8# Authentication 9 10gRPC supports a number of different mechanisms for asserting identity between an 11client and server. This document provides code samples demonstrating how to 12provide SSL/TLS encryption support and identity assertions in Java, as well as 13passing OAuth2 tokens to services that support it. 14 15# Transport Security (TLS) 16 17HTTP/2 over TLS mandates the use of [ALPN](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7301) 18to negotiate the use of the h2 protocol and support for the GCM mode of AES. 19 20There are multiple options available, but on Android we recommend using the 21[Play Services Provider](#tls-on-android) and for non-Android systems we 22recommend [netty-tcnative with 23BoringSSL](#tls-with-netty-tcnative-on-boringssl). 24 25## TLS on Android 26 27On Android we recommend the use of the [Play Services Dynamic Security 28Provider][] to ensure your application has an up-to-date OpenSSL library with 29the necessary cipher-suites and a reliable ALPN implementation. This requires 30[updating the security provider at runtime][config-psdsp]. 31 32Although ALPN mostly works on newer Android releases (especially since 5.0), 33there are bugs and discovered security vulnerabilities that are only fixed by 34upgrading the security provider. Thus, we recommend using the Play Service 35Dynamic Security Provider for all Android versions. 36 37*Note: The Dynamic Security Provider must be installed **before** creating a 38gRPC OkHttp channel. gRPC statically initializes the security protocol(s) 39available, which means that changes to the security provider after the first 40channel is created will not be noticed by gRPC.* 41 42[Play Services Dynamic Security Provider]: https://www.appfoundry.be/blog/2014/11/18/Google-Play-Services-Dynamic-Security-Provider/ 43[config-psdsp]: https://developer.android.com/training/articles/security-gms-provider.html 44 45### Bundling Conscrypt 46 47If depending on Play Services is not an option for your app, then you may bundle 48[Conscrypt](https://conscrypt.org) with your application. Binaries are available 49on [Maven Central][conscrypt-maven]. 50 51Like the Play Services Dynamic Security Provider, you must still "install" 52Conscrypt before use. 53 54```java 55import org.conscrypt.Conscrypt; 56import java.security.Security; 57... 58 59Security.insertProviderAt(Conscrypt.newProvider(), 1); 60``` 61 62[conscrypt-maven]: https://search.maven.org/#search%7Cga%7C1%7Cg%3Aorg.conscrypt%20a%3Aconscrypt-android 63 64## TLS on non-Android 65 66OpenJDK versions prior to Java 8u252 do not support ALPN. Java 8 has 10% the 67performance of OpenSSL. 68 69We recommend most users use grpc-netty-shaded, which includes netty-tcnative on 70BoringSSL. It includes pre-built libraries for 64 bit Windows, OS X, and 64 bit 71Linux. For 32 bit Windows, Conscrypt is an option. For all other platforms, Java 729+ is required. 73 74For users of xDS management protocol, the grpc-netty-shaded transport is 75particularly appropriate since it is already used internally for the xDS 76protocol and is a runtime dependency of grpc-xds. 77 78For users of grpc-netty we recommend [netty-tcnative with 79BoringSSL](#tls-with-netty-tcnative-on-boringssl), although using the built-in 80JDK support in Java 9+, [Conscrypt](#tls-with-conscrypt), and [netty-tcnative 81with OpenSSL](#tls-with-netty-tcnative-on-openssl) are other valid options. 82 83[Netty TCNative](https://github.com/netty/netty-tcnative) is a fork of 84[Apache Tomcat's tcnative](https://tomcat.apache.org/native-doc/) and is a JNI 85wrapper around OpenSSL/BoringSSL/LibreSSL. 86 87We recommend BoringSSL for its simplicitly and low occurrence of security 88vulnerabilities relative to OpenSSL. BoringSSL is used by Conscrypt as well. 89 90### TLS with netty-tcnative on BoringSSL 91 92Netty-tcnative with BoringSSL includes BoringSSL statically linked in the 93binary. This means the system's pre-installed TLS libraries will not be used. 94Production systems that have centralized upgrade agility in the face of 95security vulnerabilities may want to use [netty-tcnative on 96OpenSSL](#tls-with-netty-tcnative-on-openssl) instead. 97 98Users of grpc-netty-shaded will automatically use netty-tcnative with 99BoringSSL. 100 101grpc-netty users will need to add the appropriate 102`netty-tcnative-boringssl-static` artifact to the application's classpath. 103Artifacts are available for 64 bit Windows, OS X, and 64 bit Linux. 104 105Depending on netty-tcnative-boringssl-static will include binaries for all 106supported platforms. For Maven: 107 108```xml 109 <dependencies> 110 <dependency> 111 <groupId>io.netty</groupId> 112 <artifactId>netty-tcnative-boringssl-static</artifactId> 113 <version>2.0.20.Final</version> <!-- See table for correct version --> 114 <scope>runtime</scope> 115 </dependency> 116 </dependencies> 117``` 118 119And for Gradle: 120 121```gradle 122dependencies { 123 // See table for correct version 124 runtime 'io.netty:netty-tcnative-boringssl-static:2.0.20.Final' 125} 126``` 127 128For projects sensitive to binary size, specify the classifier for the precise 129platform you need: `windows-x86_64`, `osx-x86_64`, `linux-x86_64`. You can also 130use [os-maven-plugin](https://github.com/trustin/os-maven-plugin) or 131[osdetector-gradle-plugin](https://github.com/google/osdetector-gradle-plugin), 132to choose the classifier for the platform running the build. 133 134### TLS with netty-tcnative on OpenSSL 135 136Using OpenSSL can have more initial configuration issues, but can be useful if 137your OS's OpenSSL version is recent and kept up-to-date with security fixes. 138OpenSSL is not included with tcnative, but instead is dynamically linked using 139your operating system's OpenSSL. 140 141To use OpenSSL you will use the `netty-tcnative` artifact. It requires: 142 1431. [OpenSSL](https://www.openssl.org/) version >= 1.0.2 for ALPN support. 1442. [Apache APR library (libapr-1)](https://apr.apache.org/) version >= 1.5.2. 145 146You must specify a classifier for the correct netty-tcnative binary: 147`windows-x86_64`, `osx-x86_64`, `linux-x86_64`, or `linux-x86_64-fedora`. 148Fedora derivatives use a different soname from other Linux distributations, so 149you must select the "fedora" version on those distributions. 150 151In Maven, you can use the 152[os-maven-plugin](https://github.com/trustin/os-maven-plugin) to help simplify 153the dependency. 154 155```xml 156<project> 157 <dependencies> 158 <dependency> 159 <groupId>io.netty</groupId> 160 <artifactId>netty-tcnative</artifactId> 161 <version>2.0.20.Final</version> <!-- see table for correct version --> 162 <classifier>${tcnative.classifier}</classifier> 163 <scope>runtime</scope> 164 </dependency> 165 </dependencies> 166 167 <build> 168 <extensions> 169 <!-- Use os-maven-plugin to initialize the "os.detected" properties --> 170 <extension> 171 <groupId>kr.motd.maven</groupId> 172 <artifactId>os-maven-plugin</artifactId> 173 <version>1.7.1</version> 174 </extension> 175 </extensions> 176 <plugins> 177 <!-- Use Ant to configure the appropriate "tcnative.classifier" property --> 178 <plugin> 179 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> 180 <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId> 181 <executions> 182 <execution> 183 <phase>initialize</phase> 184 <configuration> 185 <exportAntProperties>true</exportAntProperties> 186 <target> 187 <condition property="tcnative.classifier" 188 value="${os.detected.classifier}-fedora" 189 else="${os.detected.classifier}"> 190 <isset property="os.detected.release.fedora"/> 191 </condition> 192 </target> 193 </configuration> 194 <goals> 195 <goal>run</goal> 196 </goals> 197 </execution> 198 </executions> 199 </plugin> 200 </plugins> 201 </build> 202</project> 203``` 204 205And in Gradle you can use the 206[osdetector-gradle-plugin](https://github.com/google/osdetector-gradle-plugin). 207 208```gradle 209buildscript { 210 repositories { 211 mavenCentral() 212 } 213 dependencies { 214 classpath 'com.google.gradle:osdetector-gradle-plugin:1.4.0' 215 } 216} 217 218// Use the osdetector-gradle-plugin 219apply plugin: "com.google.osdetector" 220 221def tcnative_classifier = osdetector.classifier; 222// Fedora variants use a different soname for OpenSSL than other linux distributions 223// (see http://netty.io/wiki/forked-tomcat-native.html). 224if (osdetector.os == "linux" && osdetector.release.isLike("fedora")) { 225 tcnative_classifier += "-fedora"; 226} 227 228dependencies { 229 runtime 'io.netty:netty-tcnative:2.0.20.Final:' + tcnative_classifier 230} 231``` 232 233### TLS with Conscrypt 234 235[Conscrypt](https://conscrypt.org) provides an implementation of the JSSE 236security APIs based on BoringSSL. Pre-built binaries are available for 32 and 23764 bit Windows, OS X, and 64 bit Linux. 238 239Depend on `conscrypt-openjdk-uber` for binaries of all supported JRE platforms. 240For projects sensitive to binary size, depend on `conscrypt-openjdk` and 241specify the appropriate classifier. `os-maven-plugin` and 242`osdetector-gradle-plugin` may also be used. See the documentation for 243[netty-tcnative-boringssl-static](#tls-with-netty-tcnative-on-boringssl) for 244example usage of the plugins. 245 246Generally you will "install" Conscrypt before use, for gRPC to find. 247 248```java 249import org.conscrypt.Conscrypt; 250import java.security.Security; 251... 252 253// Somewhere in main() 254Security.insertProviderAt(Conscrypt.newProvider(), 1); 255``` 256 257## Enabling TLS on a server 258 259To use TLS on the server, a certificate chain and private key need to be 260specified in PEM format. The standard TLS port is 443, but we use 8443 below to 261avoid needing extra permissions from the OS. 262 263```java 264ServerCredentials creds = TlsServerCredentials.create(certChainFile, privateKeyFile); 265Server server = Grpc.newServerBuilderForPort(8443, creds) 266 .addService(serviceImplementation) 267 .build() 268 .start(); 269``` 270 271If the issuing certificate authority is not known to the client then a properly 272configured trust manager should be provided to TlsChannelCredentials and used to 273construct the channel. 274 275## Mutual TLS 276 277[Mutual authentication][] (or "client-side authentication") configuration is similar to the server by providing truststores, a client certificate and private key to the client channel. The server must also be configured to request a certificate from clients, as well as truststores for which client certificates it should allow. 278 279```java 280ServerCredentials creds = TlsServerCredentials.newBuilder() 281 .keyManager(certChainFile, privateKeyFile) 282 .trustManager(clientCAsFile) 283 .clientAuth(TlsServerCredentials.ClientAuth.REQUIRE) 284 .build(); 285``` 286 287Negotiated client certificates are available in the SSLSession, which is found 288in the `Grpc.TRANSPORT_ATTR_SSL_SESSION` attribute of the call. A server 289interceptor can provide details in the current Context. 290 291```java 292// The application uses this in its handlers. 293public static final Context.Key<MySecurityInfo> SECURITY_INFO = Context.key("my.security.Info"); 294 295@Override 296public <ReqT, RespT> ServerCall.Listener<ReqT> interceptCall(ServerCall<ReqT, RespT> call, 297 Metadata headers, ServerCallHandler<ReqT, RespT> next) { 298 SSLSession sslSession = call.getAttributes().get(Grpc.TRANSPORT_ATTR_SSL_SESSION); 299 if (sslSession == null) { 300 return next.startCall(call, headers); 301 } 302 // This interceptor can provide a centralized policy to process the client's 303 // certificate. Avoid exposing low-level details (like SSLSession) and 304 // instead provide a higher-level concept like "authenticated user." 305 MySecurityInfo info = process(sslSession); 306 return Contexts.interceptCall( 307 Context.current().withValue(SECURITY_INFO, info), call, headers, next); 308} 309``` 310 311[Mutual authentication]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security#Client-authenticated_TLS_handshake 312 313## Troubleshooting 314 315If you received an error message "ALPN is not configured properly" or "Jetty ALPN/NPN has not been properly configured", it most likely means that: 316 - ALPN related dependencies are either not present in the classpath 317 - or that there is a classpath conflict 318 - or that a wrong version is used due to dependency management 319 - or you are on an unsupported platform (e.g., 32-bit OS). See [Transport 320 Security](#transport-security-tls) for supported platforms. 321 322### Netty 323If you aren't using gRPC on Android devices, you are most likely using `grpc-netty` transport. 324 325If you are developing for Android and have a dependency on `grpc-netty`, you should remove it as `grpc-netty` is unsupported on Android. Use `grpc-okhttp` instead. 326 327If you are on a 32-bit operating system, using Java 11+ may be the easiest 328solution, as ALPN was added to Java in Java 9. If on 32-bit Windows, [Conscrypt 329is an option](#tls-with-conscrypt). Otherwise you need to [build your own 32-bit 330version of 331`netty-tcnative`](https://netty.io/wiki/forked-tomcat-native.html#wiki-h2-6). 332 333If on Alpine Linux and you see "Error loading shared library libcrypt.so.1: No 334such file or directory". Run `apk update && apk add libc6-compat` to install the 335necessary dependency. 336 337If on Alpine Linux, try to use `grpc-netty-shaded` instead of `grpc-netty` or 338(if you need `grpc-netty`) `netty-tcnative-boringssl-static` instead of 339`netty-tcnative`. If those are not an option, you may consider using 340[netty-tcnative-alpine](https://github.com/pires/netty-tcnative-alpine). 341 342If on Fedora 30 or later and you see "libcrypt.so.1: cannot open shared object 343file: No such file or directory". Run `dnf -y install libxcrypt-compat` to 344install the necessary dependency. 345 346Most dependency versioning problems can be solved by using 347`io.grpc:grpc-netty-shaded` instead of `io.grpc:grpc-netty`, although this also 348limits your usage of the Netty-specific APIs. `io.grpc:grpc-netty-shaded` 349includes the proper version of Netty and `netty-tcnative-boringssl-static` in a 350way that won't conflict with other Netty usages. 351 352Find the dependency tree (e.g., `mvn dependency:tree`), and look for versions of: 353 - `io.grpc:grpc-netty` 354 - `io.netty:netty-handler` (really, make sure all of io.netty except for 355 netty-tcnative has the same version) 356 - `io.netty:netty-tcnative-boringssl-static:jar` 357 358If `netty-tcnative-boringssl-static` is missing, then you either need to add it as a dependency, or use alternative methods of providing ALPN capability by reading the *Transport Security (TLS)* section carefully. 359 360If you have both `netty-handler` and `netty-tcnative-boringssl-static` dependencies, then check the versions carefully. These versions could've been overridden by dependency management from another BOM. You would receive the "ALPN is not configured properly" exception if you are using incompatible versions. 361 362If you have other `netty` dependencies, such as `netty-all`, that are pulled in from other libraries, then ultimately you should make sure only one `netty` dependency is used to avoid classpath conflict. The easiest way is to exclude transitive Netty dependencies from all the immediate dependencies, e.g., in Maven use `<exclusions>`, and then add an explict Netty dependency in your project along with the corresponding `tcnative` versions. See the versions table below. 363 364If you are running in a runtime environment that also uses Netty (e.g., Hadoop, Spark, Spring Boot 2) and you have no control over the Netty version at all, then you should use a shaded gRPC Netty dependency to avoid classpath conflicts with other Netty versions in runtime the classpath: 365 - Remove `io.grpc:grpc-netty` dependency 366 - Add `io.grpc:grpc-netty-shaded` dependency 367 368Below are known to work version combinations: 369 370grpc-netty version | netty-handler version | netty-tcnative-boringssl-static version 371------------------ |-----------------------| --------------------------------------- 3721.0.0-1.0.1 | 4.1.3.Final | 1.1.33.Fork19 3731.0.2-1.0.3 | 4.1.6.Final | 1.1.33.Fork23 3741.1.x-1.3.x | 4.1.8.Final | 1.1.33.Fork26 3751.4.x | 4.1.11.Final | 2.0.1.Final 3761.5.x | 4.1.12.Final | 2.0.5.Final 3771.6.x | 4.1.14.Final | 2.0.5.Final 3781.7.x-1.8.x | 4.1.16.Final | 2.0.6.Final 3791.9.x-1.10.x | 4.1.17.Final | 2.0.7.Final 3801.11.x-1.12.x | 4.1.22.Final | 2.0.7.Final 3811.13.x | 4.1.25.Final | 2.0.8.Final 3821.14.x-1.15.x | 4.1.27.Final | 2.0.12.Final 3831.16.x-1.17.x | 4.1.30.Final | 2.0.17.Final 3841.18.x-1.19.x | 4.1.32.Final | 2.0.20.Final 3851.20.x-1.21.x | 4.1.34.Final | 2.0.22.Final 3861.22.x | 4.1.35.Final | 2.0.25.Final 3871.23.x-1.24.x | 4.1.38.Final | 2.0.25.Final 3881.25.x-1.27.x | 4.1.42.Final | 2.0.26.Final 3891.28.x | 4.1.45.Final | 2.0.28.Final 3901.29.x-1.31.x | 4.1.48.Final | 2.0.30.Final 3911.32.x-1.34.x | 4.1.51.Final | 2.0.31.Final 3921.35.x-1.41.x | 4.1.52.Final | 2.0.34.Final 3931.42.x-1.43.x | 4.1.63.Final | 2.0.38.Final 3941.44.x-1.47.x | 4.1.72.Final | 2.0.46.Final 3951.48.x-1.49.x | 4.1.77.Final | 2.0.53.Final 3961.50.x-1.53.x | 4.1.79.Final | 2.0.54.Final 3971.54.x-1.55.x | 4.1.87.Final | 2.0.56.Final 3981.56.x- | 4.1.87.Final | 2.0.61.Final 399 400_(grpc-netty-shaded avoids issues with keeping these versions in sync.)_ 401 402### OkHttp 403If you are using gRPC on Android devices, you are most likely using 404`grpc-okhttp` transport. 405 406Find the dependency tree (e.g., `mvn dependency:tree`), and look for 407`io.grpc:grpc-okhttp`. If you don't have `grpc-okhttp`, you should add it as a 408dependency. 409 410# gRPC over plaintext 411 412An option is provided to use gRPC over plaintext without TLS. While this is convenient for testing environments, users must be aware of the security risks of doing so for real production systems. 413 414# Using OAuth2 415 416The following code snippet shows how you can call the Google Cloud PubSub API using gRPC with a service account. The credentials are loaded from a key stored in a well-known location or by detecting that the application is running in an environment that can provide one automatically, e.g. Google Compute Engine. While this example is specific to Google and it's services, similar patterns can be followed for other service providers. 417 418```java 419// Use the default credentials from the environment 420ChannelCredentials creds = GoogleDefaultChannelCredentials.create(); 421// Create a channel to the service 422ManagedChannel channel = Grpc.newChannelBuilder("dns:///pubsub.googleapis.com", creds) 423 .build(); 424// Create a stub and send an RPC 425PublisherGrpc.PublisherBlockingStub publisherStub = PublisherGrpc.newBlockingStub(channel); 426publisherStub.publish(someMessage); 427``` 428