crow!

A simple, secure self-destructing message service, using HashiCorp Vault product as a backend.

Read more about the reasoning behind this project in the relevant blog post.

Now using Let's Encrypt for simple and free SSL certs!

Deployment

Testing it locally

You can just run docker-compose up --build: it will build the Docker image and then run it alongside a standalone Vault server.

By default, the docker-compose.yml is configured to run the webapp on port 8082 in cleartext HTTP (so you can access it on http://localhost:8082).

Optionally, you can modify the docker-compose.yml and tweak the options (enable HTTPS, disable HTTP or enable redirection to HTTPS, etc.). See Configuration options.

Production Deployment

We recommend deploying the project via Docker and a container orchestration tool:

• Build the Docker image using the provided Dockerfile
• Host it in a Docker registry (Docker Hub, AWS ECR, etc.)
• Deploy the image (alongside with a standalone Vault server) using a container orchestration tool (Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, AWS ECS, etc.)

You can read the configuration examples below.

Security notice!

Whatever deployment method you choose, you should always run this behind SSL/TLS, otherwise secrets will be sent unencrypted!

Depending on your infrastructure/deployment, you can have TLS termination either inside the container (see Configuration examples - TLS), or before e.g. at a load balancer/reverse proxy in front of the service. It is interesting to have TLS termination before the container so you don't have to manage the certificate/key there, but make sure the network between your TLS termination point and your container is secure.

Configuration options

• VAULT_ADDR: address of the Vault server used for storing the temporary secrets.
• VAULT_TOKEN: Vault token used to authenticate to the Vault server.
• VAULT_TLS_INSECURE_SKIP_VERIFY: Enable to skip TLS verification (default: false).
• CROW_HTTP_BINDING_ADDRESS: HTTP binding address (e.g. :80).
• CROW_HTTPS_BINDING_ADDRESS: HTTPS binding address (e.g. :443).
• CROW_HTTPS_REDIRECT_ENABLED: whether to enable HTTPS redirection or not (e.g. true).
• CROW_TLS_AUTO_DOMAIN: domain to use for "Auto" TLS, i.e. automatic generation of certificate with Let's Encrypt. See Configuration examples - TLS - Auto TLS.
• CROW_TLS_CERT_FILEPATH: certificate filepath to use for "manual" TLS.
• CROW_TLS_CERT_KEY_FILEPATH: certificate key filepath to use for "manual" TLS.
• CROW_VAULT_PREFIX: vault prefix for secrets (default cubbyhole/)

Configuration example

Here is an example of a functional docker-compose.yml file

version: '3.2'

services:
  vault:
    image: vault:latest
    container_name: vault
    environment:
      VAULT_DEV_ROOT_TOKEN_ID: root
    cap_add:
      - IPC_LOCK
    expose:
      - 8200

  crow:
    build: ./
    image: pando85/crow:latest
    container_name: crow
    environment:
      VAULT_ADDR: http://vault:8200
      VAULT_TOKEN: root
      CROW_HTTP_BINDING_ADDRESS: ":80"
      CROW_HTTPS_BINDING_ADDRESS: ":443"
      CROW_HTTPS_REDIRECT_ENABLED: "true"
      CROW_TLS_AUTO_DOMAIN: secrets.example.com
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    depends_on:
      - vault

Configuration types

Plain HTTP

VAULT_ADDR=http://vault:8200
VAULT_TOKEN=root

CROW_HTTP_BINDING_ADDRESS=:80

TLS

Auto TLS

VAULT_ADDR=http://vault:8200
VAULT_TOKEN=root

CROW_HTTPS_BINDING_ADDRESS=:443
CROW_TLS_AUTO_DOMAIN=secrets.example.com

Auto TLS with HTTP > HTTPS redirection

VAULT_ADDR=http://vault:8200
VAULT_TOKEN=root

CROW_HTTP_BINDING_ADDRESS=:80
CROW_HTTPS_BINDING_ADDRESS=:443
CROW_HTTPS_REDIRECT_ENABLED=true
CROW_TLS_AUTO_DOMAIN=secrets.example.com

Manual TLS

VAULT_ADDR=http://vault:8200
VAULT_TOKEN=root

CROW_HTTPS_BINDING_ADDRESS=:443
CROW_TLS_CERT_FILEPATH=/mnt/ssl/cert_secrets.example.com.pem
CROW_TLS_CERT_KEY_FILEPATH=/mnt/ssl/key_secrets.example.com.pem

Screenshot

Contributing

Pull requests are very welcome!

Credits

Original repository: https://github.com/algolia/sup3rS3cretMes5age