content/en/docs/tasks/security/authorization/authz-custom/index.md
This task shows you how to set up an Istio authorization policy using a new value for the action field, CUSTOM,
to delegate the access control to an external authorization system. This can be used to integrate with OPA authorization,
oauth2-proxy, your own custom external authorization server and more.
Before you begin this task, do the following:
Read the Istio authorization concepts.
Follow the Istio installation guide to install Istio.
Deploy test workloads:
This task uses two workloads, httpbin and curl, both deployed in namespace foo.
Both workloads run with an Envoy proxy sidecar. Deploy the foo namespace
and workloads with the following command:
{{< text bash >}} $ kubectl create ns foo $ kubectl label ns foo istio-injection=enabled $ kubectl apply -f @samples/httpbin/httpbin.yaml@ -n foo $ kubectl apply -f @samples/curl/curl.yaml@ -n foo {{< /text >}}
Verify that curl can access httpbin with the following command:
{{< text bash >}} $ kubectl exec "$(kubectl get pod -l app=curl -n foo -o jsonpath={.items..metadata.name})" -c curl -n foo -- curl http://httpbin.foo:8000/ip -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" 200 {{< /text >}}
{{< warning >}} If you don’t see the expected output as you follow the task, retry after a few seconds. Caching and propagation overhead can cause some delay. {{< /warning >}}
First, you need to deploy the external authorizer. For this, you will simply deploy the sample external authorizer in a standalone pod in the mesh.
Run the following command to deploy the sample external authorizer:
{{< text bash >}} $ kubectl apply -n foo -f {{< github_file >}}/samples/extauthz/ext-authz.yaml service/ext-authz created deployment.apps/ext-authz created {{< /text >}}
Verify the sample external authorizer is up and running:
{{< text bash >}} $ kubectl logs "$(kubectl get pod -l app=ext-authz -n foo -o jsonpath={.items..metadata.name})" -n foo -c ext-authz 2021/01/07 22:55:47 Starting HTTP server at [::]:8000 2021/01/07 22:55:47 Starting gRPC server at [::]:9000 {{< /text >}}
Alternatively, you can also deploy the external authorizer as a separate container in the same pod of the application that needs the external authorization or even deploy it outside of the mesh. In either case, you will also need to create a service entry resource to register the service to the mesh and make sure it is accessible to the proxy.
The following is an example service entry for an external authorizer deployed in a separate container in the same pod of the application that needs the external authorization.
{{< text yaml >}} apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1 kind: ServiceEntry metadata: name: external-authz-grpc-local spec: hosts:
In order to use the CUSTOM action in the authorization policy, you must define the external authorizer that is allowed to be
used in the mesh. This is currently defined in the extension provider
in the mesh config.
Currently, the only supported extension provider type is the Envoy ext_authz provider.
The external authorizer must implement the corresponding Envoy ext_authz check API.
In this task, you will use a [sample external authorizer]({{< github_tree >}}/samples/extauthz) which
allows requests with the header x-ext-authz: allow.
Edit the mesh config with the following command:
{{< text bash >}} $ kubectl edit configmap istio -n istio-system {{< /text >}}
In the editor, add the extension provider definitions shown below:
The following content defines two external providers sample-ext-authz-grpc and sample-ext-authz-http using the
same service ext-authz.foo.svc.cluster.local. The service implements both the HTTP and gRPC check API as defined by
the Envoy ext_authz filter. You will deploy the service in the following step.
{{< text yaml >}} data: mesh: |- # Add the following content to define the external authorizers. extensionProviders: - name: "sample-ext-authz-grpc" envoyExtAuthzGrpc: service: "ext-authz.foo.svc.cluster.local" port: "9000" - name: "sample-ext-authz-http" envoyExtAuthzHttp: service: "ext-authz.foo.svc.cluster.local" port: "8000" includeRequestHeadersInCheck: ["x-ext-authz"] {{< /text >}}
Alternatively, you can modify the extension provider to control the behavior of the ext_authz filter for things like
what headers to send to the external authorizer, what headers to send to the application backend, the status to return
on error and more.
For example, the following defines an extension provider that can be used with the oauth2-proxy:
{{< text yaml >}} data: mesh: |- extensionProviders: - name: "oauth2-proxy" envoyExtAuthzHttp: service: "oauth2-proxy.foo.svc.cluster.local" port: "4180" # The default port used by oauth2-proxy. includeRequestHeadersInCheck: ["authorization", "cookie"] # headers sent to the oauth2-proxy in the check request. headersToUpstreamOnAllow: ["authorization", "path", "x-auth-request-user", "x-auth-request-email", "x-auth-request-access-token"] # headers sent to backend application when request is allowed. headersToDownstreamOnAllow: ["set-cookie"] # headers sent back to the client when request is allowed. headersToDownstreamOnDeny: ["content-type", "set-cookie"] # headers sent back to the client when request is denied. {{< /text >}}
The external authorizer is now ready to be used by the authorization policy.
Enable the external authorization with the following command:
The following command applies an authorization policy with the CUSTOM action value for the httpbin workload. The policy enables the external authorization for
requests to path /headers using the external authorizer defined by sample-ext-authz-grpc.
{{< text bash >}} $ kubectl apply -n foo -f - <<EOF apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1 kind: AuthorizationPolicy metadata: name: ext-authz spec: selector: matchLabels: app: httpbin action: CUSTOM provider: # The provider name must match the extension provider defined in the mesh config. # You can also replace this with sample-ext-authz-http to test the other external authorizer definition. name: sample-ext-authz-grpc rules:
At runtime, requests to path /headers of the httpbin workload will be paused by the ext_authz filter, and a
check request will be sent to the external authorizer to decide whether the request should be allowed or denied.
Verify a request to path /headers with header x-ext-authz: deny is denied by the sample ext_authz server:
{{< text bash >}}
$ kubectl exec "$(kubectl get pod -l app=curl -n foo -o jsonpath={.items..metadata.name})" -c curl -n foo -- curl "http://httpbin.foo:8000/headers" -H "x-ext-authz: deny" -s
denied by ext_authz for not found header x-ext-authz: allow in the request
{{< /text >}}
Verify a request to path /headers with header x-ext-authz: allow is allowed by the sample ext_authz server:
{{< text bash >}} $ kubectl exec "$(kubectl get pod -l app=curl -n foo -o jsonpath={.items..metadata.name})" -c curl -n foo -- curl "http://httpbin.foo:8000/headers" -H "x-ext-authz: allow" -s | jq '.headers' ... "X-Ext-Authz-Check-Result": [ "allowed" ], ... {{< /text >}}
Verify a request to path /ip is allowed and does not trigger the external authorization:
{{< text bash >}} $ kubectl exec "$(kubectl get pod -l app=curl -n foo -o jsonpath={.items..metadata.name})" -c curl -n foo -- curl "http://httpbin.foo:8000/ip" -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" 200 {{< /text >}}
Check the log of the sample ext_authz server to confirm it was called twice (for the two requests). The first one was allowed and the second one was denied:
{{< text bash >}} $ kubectl logs "$(kubectl get pod -l app=ext-authz -n foo -o jsonpath={.items..metadata.name})" -n foo -c ext-authz 2021/01/07 22:55:47 Starting HTTP server at [::]:8000 2021/01/07 22:55:47 Starting gRPC server at [::]:9000 2021/01/08 03:25:00 [gRPCv3][denied]: httpbin.foo:8000/headers, attributes: source:{address:{socket_address:{address:"10.44.0.22" port_value:52088}} principal:"spiffe://cluster.local/ns/foo/sa/curl"} destination:{address:{socket_address:{address:"10.44.3.30" port_value:80}} principal:"spiffe://cluster.local/ns/foo/sa/httpbin"} request:{time:{seconds:1610076306 nanos:473835000} http:{id:"13869142855783664817" method:"GET" headers:{key:":authority" value:"httpbin.foo:8000"} headers:{key:":method" value:"GET"} headers:{key:":path" value:"/headers"} headers:{key:"accept" value:"/"} headers:{key:"content-length" value:"0"} headers:{key:"user-agent" value:"curl/7.74.0-DEV"} headers:{key:"x-b3-sampled" value:"1"} headers:{key:"x-b3-spanid" value:"377ba0cdc2334270"} headers:{key:"x-b3-traceid" value:"635187cb20d92f62377ba0cdc2334270"} headers:{key:"x-envoy-attempt-count" value:"1"} headers:{key:"x-ext-authz" value:"deny"} headers:{key:"x-forwarded-client-cert" value:"By=spiffe://cluster.local/ns/foo/sa/httpbin;Hash=dd14782fa2f439724d271dbed846ef843ff40d3932b615da650d028db655fc8d;Subject="";URI=spiffe://cluster.local/ns/foo/sa/curl"} headers:{key:"x-forwarded-proto" value:"http"} headers:{key:"x-request-id" value:"9609691a-4e9b-9545-ac71-3889bc2dffb0"} path:"/headers" host:"httpbin.foo:8000" protocol:"HTTP/1.1"}} metadata_context:{} 2021/01/08 03:25:06 [gRPCv3][allowed]: httpbin.foo:8000/headers, attributes: source:{address:{socket_address:{address:"10.44.0.22" port_value:52184}} principal:"spiffe://cluster.local/ns/foo/sa/curl"} destination:{address:{socket_address:{address:"10.44.3.30" port_value:80}} principal:"spiffe://cluster.local/ns/foo/sa/httpbin"} request:{time:{seconds:1610076300 nanos:925912000} http:{id:"17995949296433813435" method:"GET" headers:{key:":authority" value:"httpbin.foo:8000"} headers:{key:":method" value:"GET"} headers:{key:":path" value:"/headers"} headers:{key:"accept" value:"/"} headers:{key:"content-length" value:"0"} headers:{key:"user-agent" value:"curl/7.74.0-DEV"} headers:{key:"x-b3-sampled" value:"1"} headers:{key:"x-b3-spanid" value:"a66b5470e922fa80"} headers:{key:"x-b3-traceid" value:"300c2f2b90a618c8a66b5470e922fa80"} headers:{key:"x-envoy-attempt-count" value:"1"} headers:{key:"x-ext-authz" value:"allow"} headers:{key:"x-forwarded-client-cert" value:"By=spiffe://cluster.local/ns/foo/sa/httpbin;Hash=dd14782fa2f439724d271dbed846ef843ff40d3932b615da650d028db655fc8d;Subject="";URI=spiffe://cluster.local/ns/foo/sa/curl"} headers:{key:"x-forwarded-proto" value:"http"} headers:{key:"x-request-id" value:"2b62daf1-00b9-97d9-91b8-ba6194ef58a4"} path:"/headers" host:"httpbin.foo:8000" protocol:"HTTP/1.1"}} metadata_context:{} {{< /text >}}
You can also tell from the log that mTLS is enabled for the connection between the ext-authz filter and the
sample ext-authz server because the source principal is populated with the value spiffe://cluster.local/ns/foo/sa/curl.
You can now apply another authorization policy for the sample ext-authz server to control who is allowed to access it.
Remove the namespace foo from your configuration:
{{< text bash >}} $ kubectl delete namespace foo {{< /text >}}
Remove the extension provider definition from the mesh config.