Secret Management Audits for Workload Credential Upgrades
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current secret management infrastructures do not integrate well with all compute platforms, particularly those that do not generate their own workload instance authenticators, leading to inefficiencies and security posture awareness issues.
Innovation Solution
A secret management infrastructure federates with cloud compute platforms to store, issue, manage, and revoke secrets, verifying workload instances through token validation and label matching, and supports credential upgrades via an audit system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If secret management infrastructure integrates with cloud compute platforms to verify workload instances through token validation and label matching, then security posture awareness is enhanced and unauthorized access is prevented, but device complexity and integration requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the secret management infrastructure into distinct functional modules: token validation component, label matching component, credential issuance component, and audit system. Each module handles a specific aspect of the authentication and authorization process, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive security verification
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary secret management infrastructure that sits between the cloud compute platform and the secrets, acting as a mediator that validates tokens, checks label matches, and controls credential issuance. This intermediary layer simplifies integration by providing a standardized interface while enhancing security through multiple verification steps
2Measurement precision
If the secret management infrastructure validates tokens and verifies label matches with the control plane, then access control precision is improved, but processing time and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-validating tokens and pre-verify label matches against the control plane before issuing credentials. This preliminary verification ensures that only authenticated and authorized workload instances can obtain credentials, improving access control precision while the streamlined process minimizes time loss
3Reliability
If workload instances must pass audits to upgrade credentials and access higher-level secrets, then security reliability is improved, but productivity and operational efficiency decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic credential upgrade system where workload instances can transition from basic credentials to upgraded credentials by passing audits. The system dynamically adjusts access levels based on audit results, allowing authorized workloads to efficiently obtain higher-level credentials when needed while maintaining security through mandatory audit verification
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the credential parameter state based on audit outcomes. Workload instances start with basic credentials, and upon successful audit, their credential parameters are upgraded to allow access to higher-level secrets. This parameter change mechanism maintains security reliability while enabling efficient operational escalation when required
Data Source
AI summary
A secret management infrastructure federates with a cloud compute platform to store, issue, track and revoke secrets issued to workload instances. A workload instance can be provisioned with a token and can present that token to the secret management infrastructure (SMI) in exchange for a credential. In addition to validating the token itself, the SMI can verify whether the workload instance is entitled to receive the credential based on label match. The label is typically workload operator defined and corresponds to one or more attributes that the workload instance must possess, particularly physical, hardware, or software attributes. Preferably the secret management infrastructure verifies that the workload instance matches the label (that is, it has the necessary attributes) from the control plane of the cloud compute platform, or other source independent of the workload instance.