Blind Secret Rotation With Encrypted Key Materials
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing secret management systems expose secrets to attack during rotation, as they store and manage clear secrets, which can be accessed by compromised privileged users or cloud breaches, increasing the risk of network compromise.
Innovation Solution
Implement a blind secret management system where the secret management system remains unaware of the clear secret, generating and rotating encrypted key materials using a secret rotation manager and rotation agent, ensuring the secret is never decrypted within the management system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the secret management system stores and manages clear secrets during rotation, then the secret can be easily rotated and managed, but the secret is exposed to attack through compromised privileged users or cloud breaches
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary encryption layer between the secret management system and the clear secret. The secret management system stores and manages only encrypted secrets, while a key management system acts as an intermediary to handle the encryption keys. This mediator approach allows the secret management system to operate with ease while preventing direct exposure of clear secrets to attacks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the secret management function into two distinct components: a secret management system that handles encrypted secrets and a key management system that manages encryption keys. This segmentation isolates the clear secret handling from the secret management process, reducing the attack surface while maintaining operational capability.
2Extent of automation
If the secret management system has access to the clear secret for use during rotation, then the secret can be rotated automatically, but the clear secret may be accessed by a compromised privileged user
Solution Approach 1:
The key management system serves as an intermediary that provides encrypted secrets to the secret management system without exposing clear secrets to privileged users. The key management system handles the cryptographic operations, allowing automatic rotation while maintaining security even if privileged user accounts are compromised.
3Productivity
If the secret is updated in both the secret management system and the target network environment during rotation, then the secret rotation is complete, but the secret is subject to attack in multiple locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the secret storage and management across multiple locations: the secret management system stores only encrypted secrets, while the target network environment stores decrypted secrets locally. This segmentation limits the impact of breaches at any single location while maintaining complete rotation functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed embodiments relate to providing blind secret management and rotation. Techniques include identifying, by a secret rotation manager operating in a first network environment, an encrypted version of a first key material, generating, by the secret rotation manager, an additional key material, combining the encrypted first key material and the additional key material, and providing the combined key material to a rotation agent operating in a second network environment, wherein the rotation agent is configured to decrypt the encrypted first key material from the combined key material, and wherein the rotation agent is configured to generate, according to a secret generation policy, a secret using at least the combined key material.