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shankar0123
a975ccfca0
Closes acquisition-diligence Bundle 6 findings on secret custody, config
encryption, and local artifact hygiene. Source IDs: S6, R4, SEC-M2,
RT-M1, RT-M2, RT-L1.
Surgical closures (artifact-only audit-framed memos stay out of the
public repo per the Bundle 5 lesson):
R4 / RT-L1 — local EC private key artifact
rm cmd/agent/mc-001.key (gitignored, never in git history, leftover
from a 2025-era agent dev run on the operator's workstation).
Added scripts/ci-guards/B6-no-private-keys-in-tree.sh that fails the
build if any TRACKED non-test file contains a PEM private-key block,
so the next attempt to commit similar material gets caught at CI.
Allowlist: *_test.go (hermetic-test PEMs), examples/*.md (sample
walkthroughs), internal/scep/intune/testdata/ (certificates, not
keys).
RT-M1 — landing-page HSM implication
certctl.io/index.html: 'their hardware' / 'your hardware' colloquial
comparisons rephrased to 'their custody' / 'your servers'. The phrase
'Your keys. Your hardware. Your data. Your terms.' becomes 'Your
keys. Your servers. Your data. Your terms.' to remove any inferred
HSM-backed key-storage claim. The technical disclosure now lives in
docs/operator/secret-custody.md (linked below); the landing page no
longer makes a claim it cannot back.
S6 + SEC-M2 + RT-M2 (composite documentation closure)
Added docs/operator/secret-custody.md — public operator reference
enumerating every secret material on the control plane and on
agents:
- Local CA private key (FileDriver, file-on-disk, heap-resident
with the L-014 carve-out documented in
internal/connector/issuer/local/local.go).
- Agent ECDSA P-256 keys (file on agent host, never transmitted).
- OIDC client secret (AES-256-GCM v3, PBKDF2 600k).
- Session signing key (same encryption regime).
- Break-glass credential (Argon2id, never encrypted).
- API-key bearer tokens (SHA-256 hash only; plaintext shown once).
- CSR private keys mid-issuance (agent memory only).
- Issuer-connector backend secrets (encrypted_config column,
fail-closed for source='database', plaintext-by-design for
source='env' with rationale).
The Env-seeded-vs-DB-seeded plaintext policy is explained in plain
text so a buyer review can independently verify the startup guard at
cmd/server/main.go:222-262 makes sense.
Added docs/operator/runbooks/config-encryption-upgrade.md — the
procedural arm: how to force v1/v2 -> v3 re-seal across the
database, plus the passphrase-rotation order. Documents the
AEAD-driven read fallback (v3 -> v2 -> v1) and the fact that
re-sealing happens passively on UPDATE. Open roadmap item: a
certctl admin reseal --all command (tracked in
WORKSPACE-ROADMAP.md).
Both docs wired into docs/README.md Operator + Runbooks tables.
Verification:
rg -n 'CONFIG_ENCRYPTION|encrypt|v1|private key|HSM|PKCS11|mc-001.key|\.key|Local CA' \
internal cmd docs .gitignore README.md # ambient (no NEW leaks)
find . -name '*.key' \
-not -path './.git/*' -not -path './web/node_modules/*' # empty
git ls-files | xargs grep -lE 'BEGIN .* PRIVATE KEY' \
| grep -vE '_test\.go$|^examples/|^internal/scep/intune/testdata/' # empty
bash scripts/ci-guards/B6-no-private-keys-in-tree.sh # PASS
bash scripts/ci-guards/G-3-env-docs-drift.sh # PASS
bash scripts/ci-guards/doc-rot-detector.sh # PASS
Residual roadmap (deliberately deferred):
- signer.PKCS11Driver (HSM-token-backed CA-key custody).
- signer.CloudKMSDriver (AWS/GCP/Azure KMS-backed CA-key custody).
- FIPS 140-3 mode for the whole control plane.
- HSM-backed session signing key.
- Built-in 'certctl admin reseal --all' command.
All five tracked in WORKSPACE-ROADMAP.md, not retracted.
certctl Documentation
Last reviewed: 2026-05-12
The full docs index, organized by audience. Pick the section that matches what you need to do; each link below opens a focused doc rather than a wall of text.
For the elevator pitch and quickstart commands, see the repo README.md at the root. For the marketing site, see certctl.io.
Getting Started
You're new to certctl, just cloned the repo, or want to understand what it does before installing.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Concepts | TLS certificates explained for beginners — CAs, ACME, EST, private keys, the full glossary |
| Quickstart | Five-minute setup with Docker Compose, dashboard tour, API tour |
| Examples | Five turnkey scenarios — ACME+NGINX, wildcard DNS-01, private CA+Traefik, step-ca+HAProxy, multi-issuer |
| Advanced demo | End-to-end certificate lifecycle with technical depth at each step |
| Why certctl | Positioning vs ACME clients, agent-based SaaS, enterprise platforms; when to look elsewhere |
Reference
You're operating certctl in production or building integrations and need authoritative technical detail.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Architecture | System design, data flow, security model, deployment topologies |
| Profiles | CertificateProfile policy object — issuer wiring, EKUs, RequiresApproval gate (with profile-edit closure) |
| API | OpenAPI 3.1 spec, integration patterns, client SDK generation |
| CLI | certctl-cli command reference and CI/CD integration patterns |
| Configuration | CERTCTL_* environment variable reference (scheduler, rate limits, deploy verify, audit, agent) |
| MCP server | Model Context Protocol integration for AI assistants |
| Release verification | Cosign / SLSA / SBOM verification procedure |
| Intermediate CA hierarchy | Multi-level CA tree management — RFC 5280 §3.2/§4.2.1.9/§4.2.1.10 enforcement |
| Auth standards implemented | RFC + CWE evidence for the API-key + RBAC + OIDC + sessions + break-glass surface (NOT a compliance-mapping doc) |
| Deployment model | Atomic write, post-deploy verify, rollback semantics across all targets |
| Vendor matrix | Tested vendor versions per target connector |
Connectors
The connector index is the canonical catalog (interfaces, registry, scanners, plus an inline reference per built-in). Per-connector deep-dive siblings cover operator-grade material — vendor edges, troubleshooting, rotation playbooks, when-to-use vs alternatives.
Issuers (13 deep-dives): ACME · ADCS · AWS ACM Private CA · DigiCert · EJBCA / Keyfactor · Entrust · GlobalSign Atlas HVCA · Google CAS · Local CA · OpenSSL / Custom CA · Sectigo SCM · step-ca / Smallstep · Vault PKI
Targets (15 deep-dives): Apache · AWS Certificate Manager · Azure Key Vault · Caddy · Envoy · F5 BIG-IP · HAProxy · IIS · Java Keystore · Kubernetes Secrets · NGINX · Postfix / Dovecot · SSH (agentless) · Traefik · Windows Certificate Store
Protocols
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| ACME server | Run certctl as an RFC 8555 + RFC 9773 ARI ACME server |
| ACME server threat model | Security posture for the ACME server endpoint |
| SCEP server | RFC 8894 native SCEP server — RA cert config, multi-profile dispatch, must-staple, mTLS sibling route |
| SCEP for Microsoft Intune | Intune-specific deployment guide — NDES replacement playbook |
| EST server | RFC 7030 EST server — 802.1X / Wi-Fi enrollment, IoT bootstrap, channel binding |
| CRL & OCSP | RFC 5280 CRL + RFC 6960 OCSP responder for relying parties |
| Async CA polling | Bounded polling for async-CA issuer connectors |
Operator
You're running certctl in production and need operational guidance.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Security posture | Auth, rate limits, encryption at rest, key rotation, RBAC + OIDC + sessions + break-glass, bootstrap |
| Secret custody | Where private keys live; FileDriver vs HSM/KMS; encryption wire format; env-seeded vs DB-seeded plaintext policy |
| RBAC operator reference | Roles, permissions, scopes, scope-down + day-0 bootstrap |
| Auth threat model | API-key + RBAC + OIDC + sessions + break-glass — token forgery, session hijacking, IdP compromise, role-grant abuse, bootstrap-token leak, audit-mutation |
| OIDC / SSO runbooks | Per-IdP setup guides — Keycloak, Authentik, Okta, Auth0, Entra ID, Google Workspace |
| Control plane TLS | Self-signed bootstrap, operator-supplied Secret, cert-manager Certificate CR |
| Database TLS | PostgreSQL transport encryption |
| Approval workflow | Two-person integrity gate for high-stakes issuance + profile-edit closure |
| Helm deployment | Kubernetes installation via the bundled chart |
| Performance baselines | Operator-runnable benchmarks for regression spot checks |
| Auth benchmarks | Session + OIDC validation p99 targets and measured baselines |
| Legacy clients (TLS 1.2) | Reverse-proxy runbook for embedded EST/SCEP clients on TLS 1.2 |
Runbooks
| Runbook | When |
|---|---|
| Cloud targets | AWS ACM + Azure Key Vault deployment, debugging, rollback |
| Expiry alerts | Per-policy multi-channel routing matrix, severity tiers |
| Disaster recovery | CRL cache, OCSP responder cert, CA private-key rotation, Postgres restore |
| Config-encryption upgrade | Force v1/v2 → v3 re-seal across the database; passphrase rotation procedure |
Migration
You're moving from another cert-management tool to certctl, or running both in parallel.
| From | Doc |
|---|---|
| Certbot | migration/from-certbot.md |
| acme.sh | migration/from-acmesh.md |
| cert-manager (coexistence, not replacement) | migration/cert-manager-coexistence.md |
| Caddy ACME (point Caddy at certctl) | migration/acme-from-caddy.md |
| cert-manager ACME (point cert-manager at certctl) | migration/acme-from-cert-manager.md |
| Traefik ACME (point Traefik at certctl) | migration/acme-from-traefik.md |
| API keys → RBAC (v2.0.x → v2.1.0) | migration/api-keys-to-rbac.md — AUDIT YOUR API KEYS post-upgrade |
| Enable OIDC SSO | migration/oidc-enable.md — step-by-step OIDC onboarding for an existing API-key + RBAC deployment |
Contributor
You're contributing to certctl, running tests locally, or trying to understand the CI pipeline.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Testing strategy | What we test and why; per-PR fast gates vs daily deep-scan |
| Test environment | Local environment with real CAs (Pebble, step-ca, etc.) |
| QA prerequisites | Before running QA: stack boot, demo data baseline, env vars |
| QA test suite | qa_test.go reference for release QA |
| GUI QA checklist | Manual GUI verification pass for release |
| Release sign-off | Release-day checklist — code state, automated gates, manual QA, artefact verification |
| CI pipeline | CI shape, regression guards, adding new checks |
| CI guards | Per-class CI guards (code-shape, contract-parity, build/dep, operational); how to add one |
Archive
Historical docs preserved for reference. Most operators don't need these.
| Doc | Why archived |
|---|---|
| Upgrade to TLS (v2.2) | Pre-v2.2 HTTPS-everywhere upgrade procedure |
| Upgrade past v2 JWT removal | G-1 milestone JWT auth removal procedure |
Reading order by role
First-time operator: Concepts → Quickstart → Examples. About 90 minutes end to end.
Production operator: Architecture → Security posture → Control plane TLS → Disaster recovery runbook. About 4 hours end to end.
PKI engineer: ACME server → SCEP server → EST server → Intermediate CA hierarchy. About 6 hours end to end.
Contributor: Architecture → Testing strategy → Test environment → CI pipeline. About 3 hours end to end.