2012 IEEE High Performance Extreme Computing Conference 10 12 September 2012 Scalable Cryptographic Authentication for High Performance Computing This work is sponsored by the Department of the Air Force under Air Force contract FA872105C0002 Opinions interpretations conclusions and reco ID: 705820
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Andrew Prout, William Arcand, David Bestor, Chansup Byun, Bill Bergeron, Matthew Hubbell, Jeremy Kepner, Peter Michaleas, Julie Mullen, Albert Reuther, Antonio Rosa2012 IEEE High Performance Extreme Computing Conference10 - 12 September 2012
Scalable Cryptographic Authentication for High Performance Computing
This work is sponsored by the Department of the Air Force under Air Force contract FA8721-05-C-0002. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the United States Government.Slide2
What is the LLGridThe Problem: External services authenticationThe Solution: Cryptographic authenticationResults
OutlineSlide3
LLGrid is a ~500 user ~2000 processor systemWorld’s only desktop interactive supercomputerDramatically easier to use than any other supercomputerHighest fraction of staff using (20%) supercomputing of any organization on the planet
Foundation of Supercomputing in Massachusetts
LLGrid System Architecture
LAN Switch
Network
Storage
Resource Manager
Configuration
Server
Compute Nodes
Service Nodes
Cluster Switch
To Lincoln LAN
Users
LLANSlide4
All jobs run on LLGrid
LLGrid Usage
1 10 100 1000
Total Job duration (seconds)
1 100 10000 1M
Classic Supercomputing
Interactive
Supercomputing
Processors used by Job
TX-2500 (952 Cores)
TX-X (220 Cores)
TX-3d (540 Cores)
Desktop Computing
CPU-time <20 minutes
Classic Supercomputing
Wall-clock time >3 hours
Interactive Supercomputing
Between desktop and classic supercomputing
Shortens the “time to insight”
Ten development turns/day instead of one turn/week
Desktop ComputingSlide5
What is the LLGridThe Problem: External services authenticationThe Solution: Cryptographic authenticationResults
OutlineSlide6
As the line between a shared supercomputer and a “really powerful personal computer” blurs, users expect to have access to network resources (storage, svn, cvs, etc).
Challenges withInteractive Supercomputing
Challenge: Users expect seamless access to other network resources from the HPC.Slide7
However these commands raise security concerns.They store passwords as plain-text on the HPC central storage.
Password synchronization has made this password very sensitive.
Challenges with
Interactive Supercomputing
Challenge: Ensure seamless access without putting the user’s “one common password” at risk.
“S3cr3t”Slide8
What is the LLGridThe Problem: External services authenticationThe Solution: Cryptographic authenticationResults
OutlineSlide9
Cryptographic authentication of clients using X509 PKI certificates has long been part of the SSL and TLS standards.The root of trust will certify that a specific keypair belongs to a specific user or process.Cryptographic Authentication
User
ServerSlide10
Cryptographic authentication of clients using X509 PKI certificates has long been part of the SSL and TLS standards.The root of trust will certify that a specific keypair belongs to a specific user or process.Cryptographic Authentication
User
Server
Connection RequestSlide11
Cryptographic authentication of clients using X509 PKI certificates has long been part of the SSL and TLS standards.The root of trust will certify that a specific keypair belongs to a specific user or process.Cryptographic Authentication
User
Server
Connection Request
Authentication Request
ASlide12
Cryptographic authentication of clients using X509 PKI certificates has long been part of the SSL and TLS standards.The root of trust will certify that a specific keypair belongs to a specific user or process.Cryptographic Authentication
User
Server
Connection Request
Authentication Request
A
ASlide13
Cryptographic authentication of clients using X509 PKI certificates has long been part of the SSL and TLS standards.The root of trust will certify that a specific keypair belongs to a specific user or process.Cryptographic Authentication
User
Server
Connection Request
Authentication Request
Signed Authentication Response
and copy of PKI certificate
A
ASlide14
Cryptographic authentication of clients using X509 PKI certificates has long been part of the SSL and TLS standards.The root of trust will certify that a specific keypair belongs to a specific user or process.Cryptographic Authentication
User
Server
Connection Request
Authentication Request
Signed Authentication Response
and copy of PKI certificate
A
A
ASlide15
Cryptographic authentication of clients using X509 PKI certificates has long been part of the SSL and TLS standards.The root of trust will certify that a specific keypair belongs to a specific user or process.Cryptographic Authentication
User
Server
Connection Request
Authentication Request
Signed Authentication Response
and copy of PKI certificate
A
A
A
Access Granted: Welcome Andy!Slide16
Cryptographic authentication depends on both the security of the user’s private key and access to it.Storing the private key on central storage is little different than storing a user’s password.
Challenges with
Cryptographic Authentication
Challenge: Where to store the private key?Slide17
Cryptographic authentication depends on both the security of the user’s private key and access to it.Storing the private key on central storage is little different than storing a user’s password.
Challenges with
Cryptographic Authentication
No guarantee the key won’t be lost, copied or left unprotected.Slide18
One traditional solution is to store the key on the client system and forward authentication requests back to the user’s system.
Could be on the client system or in a smart card.
Challenges with
Cryptographic AuthenticationSlide19
Challenges withCryptographic Authentication
Forwarding requests back doesn’t work forsemi-interactive computing or background jobs.
Poof!
One traditional solution is to store the key on the client system and forward authentication requests back to the user’s system.
However this fails if the user disconnects from the HPC.Slide20
Challenges withCryptographic Authentication
Poof!
Connecting smart cards to the HPC is not practical.
Some network-attached key storage devices exist, but their practical benefit in this scenario is questionable.Slide21
Challenges withCryptographic Authentication
Poof!
We implemented a virtual smart card to run on each node.
Allows for keys to be used on any node, connected or disconnected.
Allows for different keys on each node.Slide22
Uses the smart card communication API: PKCS#11.Authenticates users and allows authorized users to perform cryptographic operations.Protects private keys from being copied, even by authorized users of the key.High throughput capability & low latency.Physical smart cards have a latency approximately 800-900ms.
Virtual Smart Card DefinedSlide23
We created the keyd daemon to be the brains of our virtual smartcard.Runs as it’s own user account.The keyd Daemon: A Virtual Smartcard
KeydSlide24
We created the keyd daemon to be the brains of our virtual smartcard.Runs as it’s own user account.Has access to all the keys.
The keyd Daemon: A Virtual Smartcard
KeydSlide25
We created the keyd daemon to be the brains of our virtual smartcard.
Runs as it’s own user account.Has access to all the keys.
We then created a library that conformed to the PKCS#11 standard and could talk to this daemon.
Loaded by applications running as a HPC user.
The keyd Daemon: A Virtual Smartcard
Keyd
PKCS#11Slide26
We created the keyd daemon to be the brains of our virtual smartcard.
Runs as it’s own user account.Has access to all the keys.
We then created a library that conformed to the PKCS#11 standard and could talk to this daemon.
Loaded by applications running as a HPC user.
Connects through a unix socket.
User credentials passed through the socket
Secure, provided you trust your linux kernel.
The keyd Daemon: A Virtual Smartcard
Keyd
PKCS#11Slide27
We created the keyd daemon to be the brains of our virtual smartcard.
Runs as it’s own user account.Has access to all the keys.
We then created a library that conformed to the PKCS#11 standard and could talk to this daemon.
Loaded by applications running as a HPC user.
Connects through a unix socket.
User credentials passed through the socket
Secure, provided you trust your linux kernel.
The SVN client can then load the PKCS#11 library and use the keys to authenticate to the SVN server.
The keyd Daemon: A Virtual Smartcard
Keyd
PKCS#11Slide28
We created the keyd daemon to be the brains of our virtual smartcard.
Runs as it’s own user account.Has access to all the keys.
We then created a library that conformed to the PKCS#11 standard and could talk to this daemon.
Loaded by applications running as a HPC user.
Connects through a unix socket.
User credentials passed through the socket
Secure, provided you trust your linux kernel.
The SVN client can then load the PKCS#11 library and use the keys to authenticate to the SVN server.
Other applications can be enabled in the future.
The keyd Daemon: A Virtual Smartcard
Keyd
PKCS#11Slide29
The SVN server was configured to accept the LLGrid’s root of trust.The SVN client on the LLGrid was configured to load the keyd daemon PKCS#11 library.One configuration entry: ssl-pkcs11-provider=libkeyd_pkcs11
Configuring SVN for TLS Client Auth
SVN User
SVN Server
Connection Request
Authentication Request
Signed Authentication Response
and copy of PKI certificate
A
A
A
Keyd DaemonSlide30
What is the LLGridThe Problem: External services authenticationThe Solution: Cryptographic authenticationResults
OutlineSlide31
Keypair generation and X509 PKI certificate creation is performed during user account creation.LLGrid Adminstrators act as the root of trust.We developed scripts that execute parallel key generation across nodes in the cluster.
X509 PKI Certificate Enrollment
Nodes
Time (seconds)
Keypair & Certificate Generation
Each certificate asserts both the user identity and the node identity to meet the guidelines to be used for either server or client TLS authentication.Slide32
Created a general purpose key storage and certificate management solution for HPC.Keys are not managed by the end-user, ensuring a low risk of compromise requiring revocation.Demonstrated that it can be used to enable single sign-on integration to systems outside of the HPC.
Mitigated security concerns over passwords being stored on the LLGrid central storage.Avoided the issue of periodic password changes impacting batch processing.
ResultsSlide33
Future work will look to use these PKI certificates to secure inter-node web services communication.Certificates are valid for both TLS client or server authentication.Future WorkSlide34
Questions?