KV secrets engine - version 1

The kv secrets engine is used to store arbitrary secrets within the configured physical storage for OpenBao.

Writing to a key in the kv backend will replace the old value; sub-fields are not merged together.

Key names must always be strings. If you write non-string values directly via the CLI, they will be converted into strings. However, you can preserve non-string values by writing the key/value pairs to OpenBao from a JSON file or using the HTTP API.

This secrets engine honors the distinction between the create and update capabilities inside ACL policies.

warning

Note: Path and key names are not obfuscated or encrypted; only the values set on keys are. You should not store sensitive information as part of a secret's path.

Setup

To enable a version 1 kv store:

$ bao secrets enable -version=1 kv

Usage

After the secrets engine is configured and a user/machine has an OpenBao token with the proper permission, it can generate credentials. The kv secrets engine allows for writing keys with arbitrary values.

1. Write arbitrary data:

   $ bao kv put kv/my-secret my-value=s3cr3t
   Success! Data written to: kv/my-secret

2. Read arbitrary data:

   $ bao kv get kv/my-secret
   Key                 Value
   ---                 -----
   my-value            s3cr3t

3. List the keys:

   $ bao kv list kv/
   Keys
   ----
   my-secret

4. Delete a key:

   $ bao kv delete kv/my-secret
   Success! Data deleted (if it existed) at: kv/my-secret

You can also use OpenBao's password policy feature to generate arbitrary values.

1. Write a password policy:

   $ bao write sys/policies/password/example policy=-<<EOF
   
     length=20
   
     rule "charset" {
       charset = "abcdefghij0123456789"
       min-chars = 1
     }
   
     rule "charset" {
       charset = "!@#$%^&*STUVWXYZ"
       min-chars = 1
     }
   
   EOF

2. Write data using the example policy:

   $ bao kv put kv/my-generated-secret \
       password=$(bao read -field password sys/policies/password/example/generate)

3. Read the generated data:

   $ bao kv get kv/my-generated-secret
   ====== Data ======
   Key         Value
   ---         -----
   password    ^dajd609Xf8Zhac$dW24

TTLs

Unlike other secrets engines, the KV secrets engine does not enforce TTLs for expiration. Instead, the lease_duration is a hint for how often consumers should check back for a new value.

If provided a key of ttl, the KV secrets engine will utilize this value as the lease duration:

$ bao kv put kv/my-secret ttl=30m my-value=s3cr3t
Success! Data written to: kv/my-secret

Even with a ttl set, the secrets engine never removes data on its own. The ttl key is merely advisory.

When reading a value with a ttl, both the ttl key and the refresh interval will reflect the value:

$ bao kv get kv/my-secret
Key                 Value
---                 -----
my-value            s3cr3t
ttl                 30m

API

The KV secrets engine has a full HTTP API. Please see the KV secrets engine API for more details.