Helm Chart Secret Extraction Using Secure Vault Placeholders
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sensitive data in helm charts is vulnerable to unauthorized access, posing a risk of compromise during the deployment of computer-implemented services.
Innovation Solution
Sensitive data is extracted from helm charts and stored in a secure vault, with placeholders in the helm chart prototype, and added back only when needed for service execution, ensuring secure data management and reducing vulnerability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sensitive data is stored in helm charts for deployment configuration, then service deployment functionality is enabled, but security vulnerability increases due to unauthorized access risk
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts sensitive data from helm charts and stores it separately in a secure vault. The helm chart contains only placeholders for sensitive data, while the actual sensitive values are stored in an external secure storage system. This separation eliminates the security vulnerability of storing sensitive data in plain text within helm charts while maintaining the functionality required for service deployment.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If sensitive data is extracted and stored separately in a secure vault, then security is improved, but system complexity increases due to additional storage and retrieval mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component (secure vault with placeholder mechanism) that mediates between the helm chart and the sensitive data storage. The placeholder acts as a reference pointer that connects the simplified helm chart structure to the secure external storage without exposing the sensitive data in the chart itself. This intermediary approach manages the complexity by providing a clean interface while handling the secure storage backend.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for managing operation of a deployment are disclosed. The operation may be managed by reducing a likelihood of sensitive data in a helm chart from being compromised. The likelihood may be reduced by extracting the sensitive data from the helm chart and storing the sensitive data in a secure vault. A helm chart prototype may be generated after extraction of the sensitive data from a helm chart. To perform computer implemented services, upon receiving a request, the sensitive data from the secure vault may be added to the helm chart prototype to generate a complete helm chart. Configuration settings and the sensitive data in the complete helm chart may be used to perform computer implemented services.