Configure TLS on kafka

We can configure kafka which is deployed as part of the hybrid runtime setup to use TLS for all producers.

Steps:

1. Create openssl-san.cnf file with the content below. This file configures the SAN for the certificates we will create in the next step.

[ req ]
distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name
req_extensions = v3_req
prompt = no

[ req_distinguished_name ]
CN = kafka-broker

[ v3_req ]
basicConstraints = CA:FALSE
keyUsage = digitalSignature, keyEncipherment
extendedKeyUsage = serverAuth
subjectAltName = @alt_names

[ alt_names ]
DNS.1 = akto-mini-runtime-mini-runtime.default.svc.cluster.local

1. Create certificates stores and certificate authority. The script below will create ca-cert.pem, server.keystore.jks and server.truststore.jks.

#!/bin/bash

# Create the CA key
openssl genrsa -out ca-key.pem 4096

# Create the CA cert
openssl req -x509 -new -key ca-key.pem -out ca-cert.pem -days 365 \
  -subj "/CN=MyKafkaCA"

keytool -genkeypair -alias kafka-server \
  -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 \
  -keystore server.keystore.jks \
  -storetype PKCS12 \
  -dname "CN=kafka-broker" \
  -validity 365 \
  -storepass password -keypass password

keytool -certreq -alias kafka-server \
  -keystore server.keystore.jks \
  -file kafka-server.csr \
  -storepass password

openssl x509 -req \
  -in kafka-server.csr \
  -CA ca-cert.pem -CAkey ca-key.pem -CAcreateserial \
  -out kafka-server-signed.crt \
  -days 365 \
  -extensions v3_req \
  -extfile openssl-san.cnf

# Import CA
keytool -keystore server.keystore.jks \
  -alias CARoot \
  -import -file ca-cert.pem \
  -storepass password -noprompt

# Import signed cert
keytool -keystore server.keystore.jks \
  -alias kafka-server \
  -import -file kafka-server-signed.crt \
  -storepass password

keytool -keystore server.truststore.jks \
  -alias CARoot \
  -import -file ca-cert.pem \
  -storepass password -noprompt

1. Crete secret in kubernetes cluster to store these certificates.

kubectl create secret generic kafka-certs \
  --from-file=server.keystore.jks \
  --from-file=server.truststore.jks \
  --from-file=ca-cert.pem

1. Install the helm chart for hybrid-saas and add the following attribute at the end of the helm install command. This will configure kafka to use TLS on port 9093.

--set mini_runtime.kafka1.useTls=true

1. Configure producers to use TLS.

   1. Traffic connectors which are generally deployed as daemonsets need to be configured to use TLS to send data to the kafka broker. Here is the updated configuration for the kubernetes connector. Here, we've mounted the ca-cert.pem file on the file system for the daemonset.

   apiVersion: apps/v1
   kind: DaemonSet
   metadata:
     name: akto-k8s
     namespace: {NAMESPACE}
     labels:
       app: akto-collector
   spec:
     selector:
       matchLabels:
         app: akto-collector
     template:
       metadata:
         labels:
           app: akto-collector
       spec:
         hostNetwork: true
         dnsPolicy: ClusterFirstWithHostNet
         containers:
         - name: mirror-api-logging
           image: aktosecurity/mirror-api-logging:k8s_agent
           env: 
             - name: AKTO_TRAFFIC_BATCH_TIME_SECS
               value: "10"
             - name: AKTO_TRAFFIC_BATCH_SIZE
               value: "100"
             - name: AKTO_INFRA_MIRRORING_MODE
               value: "gcp"
             - name: AKTO_KAFKA_BROKER_MAL
               value: "<AKTO_NLB_IP>:9093"
             - name: AKTO_MONGO_CONN
               value: "mongodb://0.0.0.0:27017"
           # additional configuration
             - name: USE_TLS
               value: "true"
             - name: TLS_CA_CERT_PATH
               value: "/app/certs/ca-cert.pem"
           volumeMounts:
             - name: kafka-certs
               mountPath: /app/certs
         volumes:
           - name: kafka-certs
             secret:
               secretName: kafka-certs

   1. Similar configuration can also be added to the eBPF traffic connector.

Note:

1. You can disable hostname verification as well by adding INSECURE_SKIP_VERIFY environment variable in the traffic connector and setting its value as true.

2. You might need to change the value of DNS.1 based on your deployment in step 4. In that case, recreate the certificates after deploying the helm chart and use them.

3. To customize the helm chart you may take reference from helm-charts.

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