Files
certctl/docs
shankar0123 c03d18bb1c auth-bundle-2 Phase 16: docs updates (security.md OIDC + sessions + break-glass + auditor split sections; new migration/oidc-enable.md; CHANGELOG.md v2.1.0 Bundle 2 release notes)
Closes Phase 16 of cowork/auth-bundle-2-prompt.md. Three operator-
facing docs updated, one new migration guide ships, README nav row
added.

Files
=====

docs/operator/security.md (MODIFIED, Last reviewed bumped to 2026-05-10):
* Added 5 new Bundle 2 subsections under '## Authentication
  surface' after the Bundle 1 approval-bypass-closure entry:
  - 'OIDC federation (Bundle 2 Phases 1-7)' — alg allow-list,
    IdP-downgrade defense, iss/aud/azp/at_hash, single-use
    state+nonce, PKCE-S256 mandatory, JWKS rotation handling,
    encrypted client_secret at rest with the v3 blob format
    pinned by an integration test, pointer to oidc-runbooks/
    for per-IdP setup.
  - 'Sessions + back-channel logout (Bundle 2 Phases 4-6)' —
    length-prefixed HMAC cookie wire format, HttpOnly + Secure
    + SameSite cookie hardening, idle/absolute timeouts, CSRF
    defense, signing-key rotation primitive, fail-fatal
    EnsureInitialSigningKey at server boot, OpenID Connect
    Back-Channel Logout 1.0 (NOT RFC 8414).
  - 'OIDC first-admin bootstrap (Bundle 2 Phase 7)' — coexists
    with Bundle 1's env-var-token bootstrap, group-scoped via
    CERTCTL_BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_GROUPS + CERTCTL_BOOTSTRAP_OIDC_PROVIDER_ID,
    one-shot per tenant.
  - 'Break-glass admin (Bundle 2 Phase 7.5)' — default-OFF,
    surface invisibility via 404-not-403, Argon2id with OWASP
    2024 params, lockout state machine, constant-time-via-
    verifyDummy, WARN log at boot, runbook pointer for
    operator drill.
  - 'Migrating an existing deployment to OIDC' — pointer to
    the new migration/oidc-enable.md walkthrough.

docs/migration/oidc-enable.md (NEW, Last reviewed 2026-05-10):
* Step-by-step migration guide for an operator on a Bundle-1-merged
  deployment to enable OIDC SSO. Pre-reqs (CERTCTL_CONFIG_ENCRYPTION_KEY,
  admin actor with auth.oidc.create + auth.oidc.edit, IdP tenant)
  + 7 numbered steps (pin encryption key, complete IdP-side per
  runbook, configure certctl-side OIDCProvider, add group→role
  mappings with fail-closed warning, optional first-admin bootstrap,
  verify with single test user, announce SSO endpoint).
* Rollback section covering the 4-step disable flow + the 409
  Conflict on provider-delete-while-sessions-exist + the
  existing-sessions-keep-working-until-expiry semantics.
* Troubleshooting section pinning 8 most-common failure modes
  (discovery doc fetch fails / IdP downgrade defense rejects /
  no roles assigned / iss mismatch / pre-login expired / state
  mismatch / sessions revoked but user can hit API / JWKS
  rotation breaks login).
* Database row count drift documented so operators know what to
  expect after OIDC is live (10 Bundle 2 tables enumerated).
* Cross-references to oidc-runbooks/ + security.md +
  auth-threat-model.md + auth-benchmarks.md + auth-standards-implemented.md.

CHANGELOG.md (MODIFIED):
* v2.1.0 section title bumped from 'Auth Bundle 1: RBAC primitive'
  to 'Auth Bundles 1 + 2: RBAC primitive + OIDC SSO + sessions'.
* Replaced the Bundle 1 closing-bullet ('Bundle 2 starts after
  Bundle 1 lands on master') with 18 new Bundle 2 entries:
  - OIDC + sessions + back-channel logout + break-glass overview.
  - OIDC token validation pinned at three layers (alg allow-list,
    IdP-downgrade defense, OIDC Core §3.1.3.7 re-verification).
  - Length-prefixed HMAC session cookies.
  - CSRF double-submit + hashed-token-on-row.
  - OIDC client_secret AES-256-GCM v3 blob at rest +
    integration-test invariant.
  - OIDC first-admin bootstrap.
  - Default-OFF break-glass admin (Argon2id + lockout +
    constant-time + surface invisibility).
  - GUI: 4 new pages + login-page IdP buttons + sidebar logout.
  - 11 new MCP tools for OIDC + session management.
  - 6 per-IdP runbooks (Keycloak / Authentik / Okta / Auth0 /
    Entra ID / Google Workspace).
  - Threat model extended with 5 new defense subsections + 8 new
    threat-catalogue subsections.
  - Performance baselines documented (4 benchmarks; 3 measured
    + 1 operator-runs).
  - Standards-and-RFC implementation table (13 RFCs + 14 CWEs;
    NOT a compliance-mapping doc).
  - Coverage gates held at floor 90 across all 4 Bundle 2
    packages (anti-Bundle-1-mistake invariant).
  - Multi-tenant query CI guard (ratchet baseline 32).
  - Phase 10 Keycloak testcontainers integration test + optional
    Okta smoke test.
  - OpenAPI cookieAuth security scheme + 13 new endpoints + 4
    break-glass endpoints.
  - Bundle-1-only compat regression CI guard +
    Bundle-1-to-2-upgrade regression CI guard.
* Final paragraph updated to point at oidc-enable.md alongside
  api-keys-to-rbac.md as the two migration walkthroughs.

docs/README.md (MODIFIED):
* Added the new oidc-enable.md migration row under '## Migration'
  alongside the existing api-keys-to-rbac.md entry, with a
  one-line description flagging it as the Bundle 2 OIDC
  onboarding walkthrough.

Verification
============

* Last-reviewed on security.md + oidc-enable.md: 2026-05-10.
* Internal-link sweep on oidc-enable.md: 0 broken (every relative
  link resolves via shell-loop verification).
* Internal-link sweep on docs/README.md: 0 broken (all .md
  references resolve).
* No Go-side impact, make verify gate unchanged.

Bundle 2 documentation deliverables now complete: security.md +
auth-threat-model.md + oidc-runbooks/ + auth-benchmarks.md +
auth-standards-implemented.md + api-keys-to-rbac.md + oidc-enable.md
+ CHANGELOG.md v2.1.0. The full Bundle 2 surface is operator-
discoverable from docs/README.md root nav.
2026-05-10 17:07:27 +00:00
..

certctl Documentation

Last reviewed: 2026-05-05

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 (Phase 9 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 Auth Bundle 1 + 2 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 primitive (Bundle 1), bootstrap
RBAC operator reference Roles, permissions, scopes, scope-down + bootstrap flow (Bundle 1)
Auth threat model API-key compromise, role-grant abuse, bootstrap-token leak, audit-mutation, compliance mapping (Bundle 1)
OIDC / SSO runbooks Per-IdP setup guides — Keycloak, Authentik, Okta, Auth0, Entra ID, Google Workspace (Bundle 2)
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 + Phase 9 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 (Bundle 2 Phase 14)
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

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.mdAUDIT YOUR API KEYS post-upgrade
Enable OIDC SSO on a Bundle-1-merged deployment migration/oidc-enable.md — step-by-step Bundle 2 OIDC onboarding

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

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: ConceptsQuickstartExamples. About 90 minutes end to end.

Production operator: ArchitectureSecurity postureControl plane TLSDisaster recovery runbook. About 4 hours end to end.

PKI engineer: ACME serverSCEP serverEST serverIntermediate CA hierarchy. About 6 hours end to end.

Contributor: ArchitectureTesting strategyTest environmentCI pipeline. About 3 hours end to end.