Using an HSM with Corda Enterprise

By default, the private keys that belong to the node CA, legal identity and TLS are stored in key store files in the node’s certificates directory. Users may wish to instead store this key in a hardware security module (HSM) or similar.

See the Hardware Security Modules (HSM) for supported HSMs and their features.

The cryptographic operations that are performed by the HSM are key generation and signing. The private key material is stored in the HSM if the node is configured to use an HSM. The public keys are stored in the HSM (if configured for the node) and the respective key stores, which is the node key store (nodekeystore.jks) for the node CA key (nodeca) and legal identity (identity-private-key). The certificate chain is stored in the key store with a dummy private key as the Java API does not allow to create an entry for a certificate chain without a private key. The certificate chain is not stored in the HSM.

Operations involving the private keys (for example, signature generation) will be delegated by the node to the HSMs, while operations involving the public keys (for example, signature verification) will be performed by the node.

A Corda node, including a notary node, must have its node CA and legal identity keys in the same key store or HSM. Splitting these keys across a combination of different key stores and HSMs is not supported. TLS keys can be configured either in the same key store/HSM, as node legal identity, or separately.

Configuration

As mentioned in the description of the configuration file (Node configuration), the node.conf has three relevant fields:

• cryptoServiceName
• cryptoServiceConf
• Optional: cryptoServiceTimeout

If you do not add the cryptoServiceTimeout parameter, it defaults to 10000 milliseconds. You can increase it to mitigate the time-out error.

Available configuration options for HSM usage are given below with information about storage and purpose of the keys:

Utimaco

Corda Enterprise nodes can be configured to store their legal identity keys in Utimaco’s SecurityServer Se Gen2 running firmware version 4.21.1.

In the node.conf, the cryptoServiceName needs to be set to “UTIMACO”, and cryptoServiceConf should contain the path to the configuration for Utimaco, as shown below.

cryptoServiceName : "UTIMACO"
cryptoServiceConf : "utimaco.conf"

The configuration file for Utimaco has the fields described below. The entries are similar to the ones described in the documentation for the CryptoServer JCE provider, and you should refer to this documentation for more details. We cannot link to the documentation here, but you should have received a copy which contains the file JCE-Documentation.html.

• host: address of the device or simulator.

• port: port of the device or simulator.

• connectionTimeout: (optional) timeout when establishing connection to the device, in milliseconds. The default is 30000.

• keepSessionAlive: (optional) boolean, false by default. If set to false the connection to the device will terminate after 15 minutes. The node will attempt to automatically re-establish the connection.

• keyGroup: The key group to be used when generating keys.

• keySpecifier: The key specifier to be used when reading keys. The default is “*”.

• keyOverride: (optional) boolean, the default is false.

• keyExport: (optional) boolean, the default is false.

• keyGenMechanism: the key generation mechanism to be used when generating keys.

• authThreshold: (optional) integer, 1 by default.

• username: the username.

• password: the login password, or, if logging in with a key file, the password for the key file.

• keyFile: (optional) key file for file-based log in.

Example configuration file:

host: "127.0.0.1"
port: 3001
connectionTimeout: 60000
keepSessionAlive: true
keyGroup: "*"
keySpecifier: 2
keyOverride: true
keyExport: false
keyGenMechanism: 4
authThreshold: 1
username: user
password: "my-password"

In addition to the configuration, the node needs to access binaries provided by Utimaco. The CryptoServerJCE.jar for release 4.21.1, which can be obtained from Utimaco, needs to be placed in the node’s drivers folder.

Gemalto Luna

Corda Enterprise nodes can be configured to store their legal identity keys in Gemalto Luna HSMs running firmware version 7.0.3.

In the node.conf, the cryptoServiceName must set to “GEMALTO_LUNA”, and cryptoServiceConf should contain the path to a configuration file, the content of which is explained further down.

cryptoServiceName : "GEMALTO_LUNA"
cryptoServiceConf : "gemalto.conf"

The configuration file for Gemalto Luna has two fields. The keyStore field needs to specify a slot or partition. The password field contains the password associated with the slot or partition.

• keyStore: specify the slot or partition.

• password: the password associated with the slot or partition.

Example configuration file:

keyStore: "tokenlabel:my-partition"
password: "my-password"

In addition to the configuration, the Gemalto’s JCA provider (version 7.3) LunaProvider.jar needs to be placed in the node’s drivers folder if the node’s keys are being stored on HSM.

Futurex

Corda Enterprise nodes can be configured to store their legal identity keys in Futurex Vectera Plus HSMs running firmware version 6.1.5.8.

In the node.conf, the cryptoServiceName needs to be set to “FUTUREX”, and cryptoServiceConf should contain the path to a configuration file, the content of which is explained further down.

cryptoServiceName : "FUTUREX"
cryptoServiceConf : "futurex.conf"

The configuration file for Futurex has one field, credentials that contains the password (PIN) required to authenticate with the HSM.

Example configuration file:

credentials: "password"

When starting Corda the environment variables FXPKCS11_CFG and FXPKCS11_MODULE need to be set as detailed in Futurex’s documentation. Corda must be running with the system property java.library.path pointing to the directory that contains the FutureX binaries (for example, libfxjp11.so for Linux). Additionally, The JAR containing the Futurex JCA provider (version 3.1) must be put on the class path, or copied to the node’s drivers directory. The following versions should be used for the required Futurex libraries: 3.1 for the PKCS#11 library and 1.17 for the Futurex JCA library.

Azure Key Vault

There are two methods of authentication when using an Azure Key Vault:

• Authentication using certificates.
• Authentication using Azure Managed Identities.

Authentication using certificates

In the node.conf, the cryptoServiceName needs to be set to “AZURE_KEY_VAULT” and cryptoServiceConf should contain the path to the configuration for Azure Key Vault, as shown below.

cryptoServiceName: "AZURE_KEY_VAULT"
cryptoServiceConf: "az_keyvault.conf"

The configuration file for Azure Key Vault contains the fields listed below. For details refer to the Azure Key Vault documentation.

• path: The path to the key store for login. Note that the .pem file that belongs to your service principal must be created in the pkcs12 format. One way of doing this is by using openssl: openssl pkcs12 -export -in /home/username/tmpdav8oje3.pem -out keyvault_login.p12.

• tenantId: alias of the key used for login.

• password: password to the key store.

• clientId: the client id for the login.

• keyVaultURL: the URL of the key vault.

• protection: If set to “HARDWARE”, ‘hard’ keys will be used, if set to “SOFTWARE”, ‘soft’ keys will be used as described in the Azure Key Vault documentation.

Example configuration file:

path: keyvault_login.p12
password: "<password used in the key vault creation>"
clientId: "<app id from creation of the service principle>"
tenantId: "45ca2399-b7b3-7869-11ee-564aca9b634e"
keyVaultURL: "https://<key vault name>.vault.azure.net/"
protection: "SOFTWARE" # HARDWARE can be specified if using a premium vault

The drivers directory must contain a JAR file built by the gradle script below.

First copy the following text in to a new file called build.gradle anywhere on your file system. Please do not change any of your existing build.gradle files.

plugins {
  id 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow' version '5.1.0'
  id 'java'
}

repositories {
  jcenter()
}

dependencies {
  compile 'com.azure:azure-security-keyvault-keys:4.2.3'
  compile 'com.azure:azure-identity:1.2.0'
}

shadowJar {
  relocate 'io.netty', 'azure.shaded.io.netty'
  relocate 'META-INF/native/libnetty', 'META-INF/native/libazure_shaded_netty'
  relocate 'META-INF/native/netty', 'META-INF/native/azure_shaded_netty'
  archiveName = 'azure-keyvault-with-deps.jar'
}

Then if gradle is on the path run the following command.

gradle shadowJar

or if gradle is not on the path but gradlew is in the current directory then run the following command.

./gradlew shadowJar

This will create a jar called azure-keyvault-with-deps.jar, copy this into the drivers directory.

Authentication using Azure Managed Identities

If any of the parameters required for the certificate are not defined, or set to null, then the Azure Key Vault will use Azure Managed Identities.

The minimum configuration required for authentication using Azure Managed Identities is:

keyVaultURL="https://tck-test-vault.vault.azure.net
protection=SOFTWARE

To set up Azure Managed Identities, see the Microsoft Azure Managed Identities documentation.

Securosys Primus X

Corda Enterprise nodes can be configured to store their legal identity keys in Securosys Primus X HSMs running firmware version 2.7.4.

In the node.conf, the cryptoServiceName needs to be set to “PRIMUS_X”, and cryptoServiceConf should contain the path to a configuration file, the content of which is explained further down.

cryptoServiceName : "PRIMUS_X"
cryptoServiceConf : "primusx.conf"

The configuration file for Securosys Primus X has the following fields:

• host: address of the device

• port: port of the device

• username: the username of the account

• password: the login password of the account

Example configuration file:

host: "some-address.securosys.ch"
port: 2000
username: "my-username"
password: "my-password"

In addition to the configuration, the Securosys’ Primus X JCA provider (version 1.8.2) needs to be placed in the node’s drivers folder.

nCipher nShield

Corda Enterprise nodes can be configured to generate keys in nCipher nShield Connect HSMs running firmware version 12.50.11.

Security World Software has to be installed and configured for use with nCipherKM JCA/JCE Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP), as described in the documentation for nShield.

In the node.conf, the cryptoServiceName needs to be set to “N_SHIELD”, and cryptoServiceConf should contain the path to a configuration file, the content of which is explained further down. The cryptoServiceTimeout needs to be increased to 10000 milliseconds to allow file-based keystore creation during initial node registration.

cryptoServiceName: "N_SHIELD"
cryptoServiceConf: "nshield.conf"
cryptoServiceTimeout: 10000

The configuration file for nShield HSM requires to specify path to keyStore file which is created during node registration and its password.

• keyStore: path to the KeyStore data file, absolute or relative to cryptoServiceConf file path

• password: password for KeyStore

Example configuration file:

keyStore: "certificates/keystore.nshield"
password: "my-password"

In addition to the configuration, the nCipherKM.jar needs to be placed in the node’s drivers folder.

Keys generated in HSM modules are stored in encrypted form (“key blob”) on the hard disk outside HSM, usually on the client side in Security World’s Key Management Data directory. In addition, nCipherKM JCA/JCE CSP creates KeyStore data files which are stored locally and separately from key blobs.

AWS CloudHSM

Corda Enterprise nodes can be configured to generate keys in AWS CloudHSM using AWS CloudHSM Software Library for Java.

In the node.conf, the cryptoServiceName needs to be set to “AWS_CLOUD”, and cryptoServiceConf should contain the path to a configuration file, the content of which is explained further down.

cryptoServiceName : "AWS_CLOUD"
cryptoServiceConf : "aws_cloud.conf"

The configuration file for AWS CloudHSM has the following fields:

Example configuration file:

username:  "my-username"
password:  "my-password"
partition: "hsm-w4b6nnfio7z"

In addition to the configuration, the following steps are required:

1. cloudhsm-3.1.2.jar from AWS CloudHSM Software Library for Java needs to be placed in the node’s drivers folder.
2. Corda must be running with the system property java.library.path pointing to the directory that contains the AWS CloudHSM JCA provider binaries (e.g. libcaviumjca.so for Linux). For example:

java -Djava.library.path=/opt/cloudhsm/lib -jar corda.jar