Kubernetes

How to use Infisical to inject secrets into Kubernetes clusters.

The Infisical Secrets Operator is a Kubernetes controller that retrieves secrets from Infisical and stores them in a designated cluster. It uses an InfisicalSecret resource to specify authentication and storage methods. The operator continuously updates secrets and can also reload dependent deployments automatically.

Install Operator

The operator can be install via Helm or kubectl

Helm (recommended)

Install the latest Infisical Helm repository

helm repo add infisical-helm-charts 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/infisical/helm-charts/helm/charts/' 
  
helm repo update

Install the Helm chart

For production deployments, it is highly recommended to set the chart version and the application version during installs and upgrades. This will prevent the operator from being accidentally updated to the latest version and introduce unintended breaking changes.

View application versions here and chart versions here

helm install --generate-name infisical-helm-charts/secrets-operator --version=<PLACE-CHART-VERSION-HERE> --set controllerManager.manager.image.tag=<PLACE-APP-VERSION-HERE>

# Example installing app version v0.2.0 and chart version 0.1.4
helm install --generate-name infisical-helm-charts/secrets-operator --version=0.1.4 --set controllerManager.manager.image.tag=v0.2.0

Kubectl

For production deployments, it is highly recommended to set the version of the Kubernetes operator manually instead of pointing to the latest version. Doing so will help you avoid accidental updates to the newest release which may introduce unintended breaking changes. View all application versions here.

The command below will install the most recent version of the Kubernetes operator. However, to set the version manually, download the manifest and set the image tag version of infisical/kubernetes-operator according to your desired version.

Once you apply the manifest, the operator will be installed in infisical-operator-system namespace.

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Infisical/infisical/main/k8-operator/kubectl-install/install-secrets-operator.yaml

Sync Infisical Secrets to your cluster

Once you have installed the operator to your cluster, you’ll need to create a InfisicalSecret custom resource definition (CRD).

example-infisical-secret-crd.yaml

apiVersion: secrets.infisical.com/v1alpha1
kind: InfisicalSecret
metadata:
    name: infisicalsecret-sample
    labels:
        label-to-be-passed-to-managed-secret: sample-value
    annotations:
        example.com/annotation-to-be-passed-to-managed-secret: "sample-value"
spec:
    hostAPI: https://app.infisical.com/api
    resyncInterval: 10
    authentication:
        # Make sure to only have 1 authentication method defined, serviceToken/universalAuth.
        # If you have multiple authentication methods defined, it may cause issues.
        universalAuth:
            secretsScope:
                projectSlug: <project-slug>
                envSlug: <env-slug> # "dev", "staging", "prod", etc..
                secretsPath: "<secrets-path>" # Root is "/"
            credentialsRef:
                secretName: universal-auth-credentials
                secretNamespace: default

        serviceToken:
            serviceTokenSecretReference:
                secretName: service-token
                secretNamespace: default
            secretsScope:
                envSlug: <env-slug>
                secretsPath: <secrets-path> # Root is "/"

    managedSecretReference:
        secretName: managed-secret
        secretNamespace: default
        creationPolicy: "Orphan" ## Owner | Orphan (default)
        # secretType: kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson

InfisicalSecret CRD properties

hostAPI

If you are fetching secrets from a self hosted instance of Infisical set the value of hostAPI to https://your-self-hosted-instace.com/api

When hostAPI is not defined the operator fetches secrets from Infisical Cloud.

Advanced use case

If you have installed your Infisical instance within the same cluster as the Infisical operator, you can optionally access the Infisical backend’s service directly without having to route through the public internet. To achieve this, use the following address for the hostAPI field:

http://<backend-svc-name>.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local:4000/api

Make sure to replace <backend-svc-name> and <namespace> with the appropriate values for your backend service and namespace.

resyncInterval

This property defines the time in seconds between each secret re-sync from Infisical. Shorter time between re-syncs will require higher rate limits only available on paid plans. Default re-sync interval is every 1 minute.

authentication

This block defines the method that will be used to authenticate with Infisical so that secrets can be fetched

authentication.universalAuth

The universal machine identity authentication method is used to authenticate with Infisical. The client ID and client secret needs to be stored in a Kubernetes secret. This block defines the reference to the name and namespace of secret that stores these credentials.

1. Create a machine identity

   You need to create a machine identity, and give it access to the project(s) you want to interact with. You can read more about machine identities here.

2. Create Kubernetes secret containing machine identity credentials

   Once you have created your machine identity and added it to your project(s), you will need to create a Kubernetes secret containing the identity credentials. To quickly create a Kubernetes secret containing the identity credentials, you can run the command below.

   Make sure you replace <your-identity-client-id> with the identity client ID and <your-identity-client-secret> with the identity client secret.

     kubectl create secret generic universal-auth-credentials --from-literal=clientId="<your-identity-client-id>" --from-literal=clientSecret="<your-identity-client-secret>"
   
3. Add reference for the Kubernetes secret containing the identity credentials

   Once the secret is created, add the secretName and secretNamespace of the secret that was just created under authentication.universalAuth.credentialsRef field in the InfisicalSecret resource.

Make sure to also populate the secretsScope field with the project slug projectSlug, environment slug envSlug, and secrets path secretsPath that you want to fetch secrets from. Please see the example below.

Example

apiVersion: secrets.infisical.com/v1alpha1
kind: InfisicalSecret
metadata:
  name: infisicalsecret-sample-crd
spec:
  authentication:
      universalAuth:
          secretsScope:
              projectSlug: <project-slug> # <-- project slug
              envSlug: <env-slug> # "dev", "staging", "prod", etc..
              secretsPath: "<secrets-path>" # Root is "/"
          credentialsRef:
              secretName: universal-auth-credentials # <-- name of the Kubernetes secret that stores our machine identity credentials
              secretNamespace: default # <-- namespace of the Kubernetes secret that stores our machine identity credentials
  ...

authentication.serviceToken

The service token required to authenticate with Infisical needs to be stored in a Kubernetes secret. This block defines the reference to the name and namespace of secret that stores this service token. Follow the instructions below to create and store the service token in a Kubernetes secrets and reference it in your CRD.

1. Generate service token

You can generate a service token for an Infisical project by heading over to the Infisical dashboard then to Project Settings.

2. Create Kubernetes secret containing service token

Once you have generated the service token, you will need to create a Kubernetes secret containing the service token you generated. To quickly create a Kubernetes secret containing the generated service token, you can run the command below. Make sure you replace <your-service-token-here> with your service token.

kubectl create secret generic service-token --from-literal=infisicalToken="<your-service-token-here>"

3. Add reference for the Kubernetes secret containing service token

Once the secret is created, add the name and namespace of the secret that was just created under authentication.serviceToken.serviceTokenSecretReference field in the InfisicalSecret resource.

Make sure to also populate the secretsScope field with the, environment slug envSlug, and secrets path secretsPath that you want to fetch secrets from. Please see the example below.

Example

apiVersion: secrets.infisical.com/v1alpha1
kind: InfisicalSecret
metadata:
  name: infisicalsecret-sample-crd
spec:
  authentication:
    serviceToken: 
      serviceTokenSecretReference:
        secretName: service-token # <-- name of the Kubernetes secret that stores our service token
        secretNamespace: option # <-- namespace of the Kubernetes secret that stores our service token
      secretsScope:
        envSlug: <env-slug> # "dev", "staging", "prod", etc..
        secretsPath: <secrets-path> # Root is "/"
  ...

managedSecretReference

The managedSecretReference field is used to define the target location for storing secrets retrieved from an Infisical project. This field requires specifying both the name and namespace of the Kubernetes secret that will hold these secrets. The Infisical operator will automatically create the Kubernetes secret with the specified name/namespace and keep it continuously updated.

Note: The managed secret be should be created in the same namespace as the deployment that will use it.

managedSecretReference.secretName

The name of the managed Kubernetes secret to be created

managedSecretReference.secretNamespace

The namespace of the managed Kubernetes secret to be created.

managedSecretReference.secretType

Override the default Opaque type for managed secrets with this field. Useful for creating kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson secrets.

managedSecretReference.creationPolicy

Creation polices allow you to control whether or not owner references should be added to the managed Kubernetes secret that is generated by the Infisical operator. This is useful for tools such as ArgoCD, where every resource requires an owner reference; otherwise, it will be pruned automatically.

Available options

• Orphan (default)
• Owner

When creation policy is set to Owner, the InfisicalSecret CRD must be in the same namespace as where the managed kubernetes secret.

Propagating labels & annotations

The operator will transfer all labels & annotations present on the InfisicalSecret CRD to the managed Kubernetes secret to be created. Thus, if a specific label is required on the resulting secret, it can be applied as demonstrated in the following example:

Example propagation

apiVersion: secrets.infisical.com/v1alpha1
kind: InfisicalSecret
metadata:
  name: infisicalsecret-sample
  labels:
    label-to-be-passed-to-managed-secret: sample-value
  annotations:
    example.com/annotation-to-be-passed-to-managed-secret: "sample-value"
spec:
  ..
  authentication:
    ...
  managedSecretReference:
    ...

This would result in the following managed secret to be created:

apiVersion: v1
data:
 ...
kind: Secret
metadata:
  annotations:
    example.com/annotation-to-be-passed-to-managed-secret: sample-value
    secrets.infisical.com/version: W/"3f1-ZyOSsrCLGSkAhhCkY2USPu2ivRw"
  labels:
    label-to-be-passed-to-managed-secret: sample-value
  name: managed-token
  namespace: default
type: Opaque

Apply the Infisical CRD to your cluster

Once you have configured the Infisical CRD with the required fields, you can apply it to your cluster. After applying, you should notice that the managed secret has been created in the desired namespace your specified.

kubectl apply -f example-infisical-secret-crd.yaml

Verify managed secret creation

To verify that the operator has successfully created the managed secret, you can check the secrets in the namespace that was specified.

# Verify managed secret is created
kubectl get secrets -n <namespace of managed secret>

The Infisical secrets will be synced and stored into the managed secret every 1 minutes.

Using managed secret in your deployment

Incorporating the managed secret created by the operator into your deployment can be achieved through several methods. Here, we will highlight three of the most common ways to utilize it. Learn more about Kubernetes secrets here

envFrom

This will take all the secrets from your managed secret and expose them to your container

  envFrom:
    - secretRef:
        name: managed-secret # managed secret name

Example usage in a deployment

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: nginx-deployment
labels:
  app: nginx
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
  matchLabels:
    app: nginx
template:
  metadata:
    labels:
      app: nginx
  spec:
    containers:
    - name: nginx
      image: nginx:1.14.2
      envFrom:
      - secretRef:
          name: managed-secret # <- name of managed secret
      ports:
      - containerPort: 80

env

This will allow you to select individual secrets by key name from your managed secret and expose them to your container

env:
  - name: SECRET_NAME # The environment variable's name which is made available in the container
    valueFrom:
      secretKeyRef:
        name: managed-secret # managed secret name
        key: SOME_SECRET_KEY # The name of the key which  exists in the managed secret

Example usage in a deployment

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: nginx-deployment
labels:
  app: nginx
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
  matchLabels:
    app: nginx
template:
  metadata:
    labels:
      app: nginx
  spec:
    containers:
    - name: nginx
      image: nginx:1.14.2
      env:
        - name: STRIPE_API_SECRET 
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: managed-secret # <- name of managed secret
              key: STRIPE_API_SECRET
      ports:
      - containerPort: 80

volumes

This will allow you to create a volume on your container which comprises of files holding the secrets in your managed kubernetes secret

volumes:
  - name: secrets-volume-name # The name of the volume under which secrets will be stored
    secret:
      secretName: managed-secret # managed secret name

You can then mount this volume to the container’s filesystem so that your deployment can access the files containing the managed secrets

volumeMounts:
  - name: secrets-volume-name
    mountPath: /etc/secrets
    readOnly: true

Example usage in a deployment

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx-deployment
  labels:
    app: nginx
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nginx
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nginx
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: nginx
        image: nginx:1.14.2
        volumeMounts:
        - name: secrets-volume-name
          mountPath: /etc/secrets
          readOnly: true
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
      volumes:
      - name: secrets-volume-name
        secret:
          secretName: managed-secret # <- managed secrets

Auto redeployment

Deployments using managed secrets don’t reload automatically on updates, so they may use outdated secrets unless manually redeployed. To address this, we added functionality to automatically redeploy your deployment when its managed secret updates.

Enabling auto redeploy

To enable auto redeployment you simply have to add the following annotation to the deployment that consumes a managed secret

secrets.infisical.com/auto-reload: "true"

Deployment example with auto redeploy enabled

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx-deployment
  labels:
    app: nginx
  annotations: 
    secrets.infisical.com/auto-reload: "true" # <- redeployment annotation
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nginx
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nginx
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: nginx
        image: nginx:1.14.2
        envFrom:
        - secretRef:
            name: managed-secret
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80

Global configuration

To configure global settings that will apply to all instances of InfisicalSecret, you can define these configurations in a Kubernetes ConfigMap. For example, you can configure all InfisicalSecret instances to fetch secrets from a single backend API without specifying the hostAPI parameter for each instance.

Available global properties

Property	Description	Default value
hostAPI	If hostAPI in InfisicalSecret instance is left empty, this value will be used	https://app.infisical.com/api

Applying global configurations

All global configurations must reside in a Kubernetes ConfigMap named infisical-config in the namespace infisical-operator-system. To apply global configuration to the operator, copy the following yaml into infisical-config.yaml file.

infisical-config.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: infisical-operator-system
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: infisical-config
  namespace: infisical-operator-system
data:
  hostAPI: https://example.com/api # <-- global hostAPI

Then apply this change via kubectl by running the following

kubectl apply -f infisical-config.yaml 

Troubleshoot operator

If the operator is unable to fetch secrets from the API, it will not affect the managed Kubernetes secret. It will continue attempting to reconnect to the API indefinitely. The InfisicalSecret resource uses the status.conditions field to report its current state and any errors encountered.

$ kubectl get infisicalSecrets
NAME                     AGE
infisicalsecret-sample   12s

$ kubectl describe infisicalSecret infisicalsecret-sample
...
Spec:
...
Status:
  Conditions:
    Last Transition Time:  2022-12-18T04:29:09Z
    Message:               Infisical controller has located the Infisical token in provided Kubernetes secret
    Reason:                OK
    Status:                True
    Type:                  secrets.infisical.com/LoadedInfisicalToken
    Last Transition Time:  2022-12-18T04:29:10Z
    Message:               Failed to update secret because: 400 Bad Request
    Reason:                Error
    Status:                False
    Type:                  secrets.infisical.com/ReadyToSyncSecrets
Events:                    <none>

Uninstall Operator

The managed secret created by the operator will not be deleted when the operator is uninstalled.

Helm

Install Infisical Helm repository

helm uninstall <release name>

Kubectl

kubectl delete -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Infisical/infisical/main/k8-operator/kubectl-install/install-secrets-operator.yaml

Useful Articles

• Managing secrets in OpenShift with Infisical