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Encrypting Passwords with Cipher Tool

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Last updated: Nov 28, 2016 by Former user (Deleted)
4 min read

The instructions on this page explain how plain text passwords in configuration files can be encrypted using the secure vault implementation that is built into WSO2 products. Note that you can customize the default secure vault configurations in the product by implementing a new secret repository, call back handler etc.

The default keystore that is shipped with your WSO2 product (i.e. wso2carbon.jks) is assumed to be the keystore used for encrypting plain text passwords. If you have changed the default keystore in your product, the carbon.xml file (stored in the <PRODUCT_HOME>/repository/conf directory) should be updated with the new keystore information as explained here.

See the following topics:

Encrypting the passwords

Follow the steps given below.

  1. Open the cipher-text.properties and cipher-tool.properties files from the <PRODUCT_HOME>/repository/conf/security/ directory.

  2. Now, you must update the cipher-text.properties file and the cipher-tool.properties files with information on the configuration files and the passwords that you want to encrypt. By default, these two files are already configured with the most common passwords that should be encrypted as follows:

     Default cipher-tool.properties
    # Important: This cipher-tool.properties file should be sync with carbon/core/distribution/carbon-home/repository/conf/cipher-tool.properties. This is added here as it goes with wso2 cipher tool.
# This properties file contains all the aliases to be used in carbon components. If any property need to be secured, you need to add alias name and the value. This value is described as follows.
# The value goes as, the file name//xpath to the property value to be secured,true if xml elements start with capital letter. Please check existing property values below. 
Carbon.Security.KeyStore.Password=carbon.xml//Server/Security/KeyStore/Password,true
Carbon.Security.KeyStore.KeyPassword=carbon.xml//Server/Security/KeyStore/KeyPassword,true
Carbon.Security.TrustStore.Password=carbon.xml//Server/Security/TrustStore/Password,true
UserManager.AdminUser.Password=user-mgt.xml//UserManager/Realm/Configuration/AdminUser/Password,true
Datasources.WSO2_CARBON_DB.Configuration.Password=master-datasources.xml//datasources-configuration/datasources/datasource[name='WSO2_CARBON_DB']/definition[@type='RDBMS']/configuration/password,false
#Server.Service.Connector.keystorePass=catalina-server.xml//Server/Service/Connector[@keystorePass],false
#Datasource.WSO2AM_DB.configuration.password=master-datasources.xml//datasources-configuration/datasources/datasource[name='WSO2AM_DB']/definition[@type='RDBMS']/configuration/password,false
#Datasource.WSO2AM_STATS_DB.configuration.password=master-datasources.xml//datasources-configuration/datasources/datasource[name='WSO2AM_STATS_DB']/definition[@type='RDBMS']/configuration/password,false
#UserStoreManager.Property.ConnectionPassword=user-mgt.xml//UserManager/Realm/UserStoreManager/Property[@name='ConnectionPassword'],true
#UserStoreManager.Property.password=user-mgt.xml//UserManager/Realm/UserStoreManager/Property[@name='password'],true
#AuthManager.Password=api-manager.xml//APIManager/AuthManager/Password,true
#APIGateway.Password=api-manager.xml//APIManager/APIGateway/Environments/Environment/Password,true
#APIUsageTracking.BAMPassword=api-manager.xml//APIManager/APIUsageTracking/BAMPassword,true
#APIUsageTracking.JDBCPassword=api-manager.xml//APIManager/APIUsageTracking/JDBCPassword,true
#APIKeyManager.Password=api-manager.xml//APIManager/APIKeyManager/Password,true
#Database.Password=api-manager.xml//APIManager/Database/Password,true
#Security.UserTrustedRPStore.Password=identity.xml//Server/Security/UserTrustedRPStore/Password
#Security.UserTrustedRPStore.KeyPassword=identity.xml//Server/Security/UserTrustedRPStore/KeyPassword
#Identity.System.StorePass=identity.xml//Server/Identity/System/StorePass
#MultifactorAuthentication.XMPPSettings.XMPPConfig.XMPPPassword=identity.xml//MultifactorAuthentication/XMPPSettings/XMPPConfig/XMPPPassword
#BPELEPR.Password=securedinvoke.epr//EndpointReference/Metadata/transport/authorization-password,false
#Axis2.Https.Listener.TrustStore.Password=axis2.xml//axisconfig/transportReceiver[@name='https']/parameter[@name='truststore']/TrustStore/Password,false
#Axis2.Https.Listener.KeyStore.Password=axis2.xml//axisconfig/transportReceiver[@name='https']/parameter[@name='keystore']/KeyStore/Password,false
#Axis2.Https.Listener.KeyStore.KeyPassword=axis2.xml//axisconfig/transportReceiver[@name='https']/parameter[@name='keystore']/KeyStore/KeyPassword,false
#Axis2.Https.Sender.TrustStore.Password=axis2.xml//axisconfig/transportSender[@name='https']/parameter[@name='truststore']/TrustStore/Password,false
#Axis2.Https.Sender.KeyStore.Password=axis2.xml//axisconfig/transportSender[@name='https']/parameter[@name='keystore']/KeyStore/Password,false
#Axis2.Https.Sender.KeyStore.KeyPassword=axis2.xml//axisconfig/transportSender[@name='https']/parameter[@name='keystore']/KeyStore/KeyPassword,false
#Axis2.Mailto.Parameter.Password=axis2.xml//axisconfig/transportSender[@name='mailto']/parameter[@name='mail.smtp.password'],false
#eventBrokerConfig.eventBroker.deliveryManager.remoteMessageBroker.password=event-broker.xml//eventBrokerConfig/eventBroker/deliveryManager/remoteMessageBroker/password,false
#Service.LoggingConfig.ArchivedPassword=logging-config.xml//loggingConfig/archivedPassword,false
#Service.LoggingConfig.Password=logging-config.xml//loggingConfig/password,false
#Summarizer.LoggingConfig.Password=summarizer-config.xml//loggingConfig/password,false
#Summarizer.LoggingConfig.BamPassword=summarizer-config.xml//loggingConfig/bamPassword,false
#Summarizer.LoggingConfig.PublisherPassword=summarizer-config.xml//loggingConfig/publisherPassword,false
     Default cipher-text.properties
    # This is the default file based secret repository, used by Secret Manager of synapse secure vault
# By default, This file contains the secret alias names Vs the plain text passwords enclosed with '[]' brackets
# In Production environments, It is recommend to replace those plain text password by the encrypted values. CipherTool can be used for it.
Carbon.Security.KeyStore.Password=[wso2carbon]
Carbon.Security.KeyStore.KeyPassword=[wso2carbon]
Carbon.Security.TrustStore.Password=[wso2carbon]
UserManager.AdminUser.Password=[admin]
Datasources.WSO2_CARBON_DB.Configuration.Password=[wso2carbon]
#Server.Service.Connector.keystorePass=[wso2carbon]
#datasource.WSO2AM_DB.configuration.password=[wso2carbon]
#UserStoreManager.Property.ConnectionPassword=[admin]
#UserStoreManager.Property.password=[admin]
#AuthManager.Password=[admin]
#APIGateway.Password=[admin]
#APIUsageTracking.BAMPassword=[admin]
#APIUsageTracking.JDBCPassword=[wso2carbon]
#APIKeyManager.Password=[admin]
#Database.Password=[wso2carbon]
#Security.UserTrustedRPStore.Password=[wso2carbon]
#Security.UserTrustedRPStore.KeyPassword=[wso2carbon]
#Identity.System.StorePass=[wso2carbon]
#MultifactorAuthentication.XMPPSettings.XMPPConfig.XMPPPassword=[wso2carbon]
#BPELEPR.Password=[admin]
#Axis2.Https.Listener.TrustStore.Password=[wso2carbon]
#Axis2.Https.Listener.KeyStore.Password=[wso2carbon]
#Axis2.Https.Listener.KeyStore.KeyPassword=[wso2carbon]
#Axis2.Https.Sender.TrustStore.Password=[wso2carbon]
#Axis2.Https.Sender.KeyStore.Password=[wso2carbon]
#Axis2.Https.Sender.KeyStore.KeyPassword=[wso2carbon]
#Axis2.Mailto.Parameter.Password=[wso2carbon]
#eventBrokerConfig.eventBroker.deliveryManager.remoteMessageBroker.password=[admin]
#Log4j.Appender.LOGEVENT.Password=[admin]
#Service.LoggingConfig.ArchivedPassword=[admin]
#Service.LoggingConfig.Password=[admin]
#Summarizer.LoggingConfig.Password=[admin]
#Summarizer.LoggingConfig.BamPassword=[admin]
#Summarizer.LoggingConfig.PublisherPassword=[admin]

    If there are other passwords from configuration files that you want to encrypt, you can add the details to these files. For example, in WSO2 Storage Server, you will want to configure the "root" password in the rss-config.xml file. 

    • Add the following to the cipher-tool.properties file:

      #rss-config.xml passwords
#RSSConfiguration.DEFAULT.WSO2RSS1.Password=rss-config.xml//RSSConfiguration/Environments/Environment[Name='DEFAULT']/RSSInstances/RSSInstance[Name='WSO2RSS1']/DataSourceConfiguration/Definition/Password,true

    • Add the following to the cipher-text.properties file:

      #rss-config.xml passwords
#RSSConfiguration.DEFAULT.WSO2RSS1.Password=[root]

  3. Open a command prompt and go to the <PRODUCT_HOME>/bin directory, where the ciphertool.sh script is stored.

    Run the ciphertool.sh script using the command prompt as shown below.

    ./ciphertool.sh -Dconfigure

    The Cipher Tool reads the alias values and their corresponding plain text passwords from the cipher-text.properties file. Shown below is an example of an alias and the corresponding plain text password (in square brackets):

    UserManager.AdminUser.Password=[admin]

    If a password is not specified in the cipher-text.properties file for an alias, the user needs to provide it through the command-line.  Check whether the alias is a known password alias in Carbon configurations. If the tool modifies the configuration element and file, you must replace the configuration element with the alias name. Define a Secret Callback in the configuration file and add proper name spaces for defining the Secure Vault.

  4. When the above command is executed, the following message is prompted:  "[Please Enter Primary KeyStore Password of Carbon Server : ]". Enter the keystore password (which is "wso2carbon" for the default keystore). If the script execution completed successfully, you will see the following message: "Secret Configurations are written to the property file successfully".

  5. Now, to verify the password encryption: 
    • Open the cipher-text.properties file and see that the plain text passwords are replaced by a cipher value.

    • Open the relevant configuration files (e.g., rss-config.xml file) and see that the passwords are encrypted. 

    • Open the secret-conf.properties file stored in the <PRODUCT_HOME>/repository/conf/security/ folder and see that the default configurations are changed.

If you have encrypted passwords as explained above, note that these passwords have to be decrypted again for the server to be usable. That is, the passwords have to be resolved by a system administrator during server startup. See the related topics for more information.

Changing encrypted passwords

To change any password which we have encrypted already, follow the below steps:

  1. Be sure to shut down the server.

  2. Open a command prompt and go to the <PRODUCT_HOME>/bin directory, where we have stored the ciphertool.sh script.

  3. Execute the following command:

    ./ciphertool.sh -Dchange

  4. It will prompt for the primary keystore password. Enter the keystore password (which is "wso2carbon" for the default keystore).

  5. The alias values of all the passwords that you encrypted will now be shown in a numbered list. 

  6. The system will then prompt you to select the alias of the password which you want to change. Enter the list number of the password alias.

  7. The system will then prompt you (twice) to enter the new password. Enter your new password.

  8. The password should now be changed and encrypted.

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