Re: Internal key management system

From: Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: Masahiko Sawada <masahiko(dot)sawada(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com>
Cc: Fabien COELHO <coelho(at)cri(dot)ensmp(dot)fr>, PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>, Sehrope Sarkuni <sehrope(at)jackdb(dot)com>, cary huang <hcary328(at)gmail(dot)com>, "Moon, Insung" <tsukiwamoon(dot)pgsql(at)gmail(dot)com>, Ibrar Ahmed <ibrar(dot)ahmad(at)gmail(dot)com>, Joe Conway <mail(at)joeconway(dot)com>, Bruce Momjian <bruce(dot)momjian(at)enterprisedb(dot)com>
Subject: Re: Internal key management system
Date: 2020-02-06 20:30:02
Message-ID: CA+TgmoYvFQmHGtsrcb-Sv+4B2ZPDzsUW=GySPKAAArzaSf-mYw@mail.gmail.com
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On Mon, Feb 3, 2020 at 10:18 PM Masahiko Sawada
<masahiko(dot)sawada(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> wrote:
> > I'm lost. If pg_{en,de}crypt and pg_kmgr_unwrap are functions, what
> > prevent users to:
> >
> > SELECT pg_kmgr_unwrap('xxxx');
> >
> > so as to recover the key, somehow in contradiction to "allows user to
> > encrypt and decrypt data without knowing the actual key".
>
> I might be missing your point but the above 'xxxx' is the wrapped key
> wrapped by the master key stored in PostgreSQL server. So user doesn't
> need to know the raw secret key to encrypt/decrypt the data. Even if a
> malicious user gets 'xxxx' they cannot know the actual secret key
> without the master key. pg_kmgr_wrap and pg_kmgr_unwrap are functions
> and it's possible for user to know the raw secret key by using
> pg_kmgr_unwrap(). The master key stored in PostgreSQL server never be
> revealed.

I think I have the same confusion as Fabien. Isn't it bad if somebody
just runs pg_kmgr_unwrap() and records the return value? Now they've
stolen your encryption key, it seems.

--
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company

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