Authentication

This document defines how authentication is provided during execution of a TaskRun or a PipelineRun (referred to as Runs in this document).

The build system supports two types of authentication, using Kubernetes' first-class Secret types:

kubernetes.io/basic-auth
kubernetes.io/ssh-auth

Secrets of these types can be made available to the Run by attaching them to the ServiceAccount as which it runs.

Exposing credentials

In their native form, these secrets are unsuitable for consumption by Git and Docker. For Git, they need to be turned into (some form of) .gitconfig. For Docker, they need to be turned into a ~/.docker/config.json file. Also, while each of these supports has multiple credentials for multiple domains, those credentials typically need to be blended into a single canonical keyring.

To solve this, before any PipelineResources are retrieved, all pods execute a credential initialization process that accesses each of its secrets and aggregates them into their respective files in $HOME.

SSH authentication (Git)

Define a Secret containing your SSH private key (in secret.yaml):

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: ssh-key
  annotations:
    tekton.dev/git-0: github.com # Described below
type: kubernetes.io/ssh-auth
data:
  ssh-privatekey: <base64 encoded>
  # This is non-standard, but its use is encouraged to make this more secure.
  known_hosts: <base64 encoded>

tekton.dev/git-0 in the example above specifies which web address these credentials belong to. See Guiding Credential Selection below for more information.

Generate the value of ssh-privatekey by copying the value of (for example) cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa | base64.
Copy the value of cat ~/.ssh/known_hosts | base64 to the known_hosts field.

Next, direct a ServiceAccount to use this Secret (in serviceaccount.yaml):

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: build-bot
secrets:
  - name: ssh-key

Then use that ServiceAccount in your TaskRun (in run.yaml):

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TaskRun
metadata:
  name: build-push-task-run-2
spec:
  serviceAccount: build-bot
  taskRef:
    name: build-push

Or use that ServiceAccount in your PipelineRun (in run.yaml):

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1alpha1
kind: PipelineRun
metadata:
  name: demo-pipeline
  namespace: default
spec:
  serviceAccount: build-bot
  pipelineRef:
    name: demo-pipeline

Execute the Run:

kubectl apply --filename secret.yaml serviceaccount.yaml run.yaml

When the Run executes, before steps execute, a ~/.ssh/config will be generated containing the key configured in the Secret. This key is then used to authenticate when retrieving any PipelineResources.

Basic authentication (Git)

Define a Secret containing the username and password that the Run should use to authenticate to a Git repository (in secret.yaml):
```
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: basic-user-pass
  annotations:
    tekton.dev/git-0: https://github.com # Described below
type: kubernetes.io/basic-auth
stringData:
  username: <username>
  password: <password>
```
tekton.dev/git-0 in the example above specifies which web address these credentials belong to. See Guiding Credential Selection below for more information.

Next, direct a ServiceAccount to use this Secret (in serviceaccount.yaml):

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: build-bot
secrets:
  - name: basic-user-pass

Then use that ServiceAccount in your TaskRun (in run.yaml):

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TaskRun
metadata:
  name: build-push-task-run-2
spec:
  serviceAccount: build-bot
  taskRef:
    name: build-push

Or use that ServiceAccount in your PipelineRun (in run.yaml):

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1alpha1
kind: PipelineRun
metadata:
  name: demo-pipeline
  namespace: default
spec:
  serviceAccount: build-bot
  pipelineRef:
    name: demo-pipeline

Execute the Run:

kubectl apply --filename secret.yaml serviceaccount.yaml run.yaml

When this Run executes, before steps execute, a ~/.gitconfig will be generated containing the credentials configured in the Secret, and these credentials are then used to authenticate when retrieving any PipelineResources.

Basic authentication (Docker)

Define a Secret containing the username and password that the build should use to authenticate to a Docker registry (in secret.yaml):
```
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: basic-user-pass
  annotations:
    tekton.dev/docker-0: https://gcr.io # Described below
type: kubernetes.io/basic-auth
stringData:
  username: <username>
  password: <password>
```
tekton.dev/docker-0 in the example above specifies which web address these credentials belong to. See Guiding Credential Selection below for more information.

Next, direct a ServiceAccount to use this Secret (in serviceaccount.yaml):

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: build-bot
secrets:
  - name: basic-user-pass

Then use that ServiceAccount in your TaskRun (in run.yaml):

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TaskRun
metadata:
  name: build-push-task-run-2
spec:
  serviceAccount: build-bot
  taskRef:
    name: build-push

Or use that ServiceAccount in your PipelineRun (in run.yaml):

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1alpha1
kind: PipelineRun
metadata:
  name: demo-pipeline
  namespace: default
spec:
  serviceAccount: build-bot
  pipelineRef:
    name: demo-pipeline

Execute the Run:

kubectl apply --filename secret.yaml serviceaccount.yaml run.yaml

When the Run executes, before steps execute, a ~/.docker/config.json will be generated containing the credentials configured in the Secret, and these credentials are then used to authenticate when retrieving any PipelineResources.

Kubernetes's Docker registry's secret

Kubernetes defines two types of secrets for Docker registries : the old format kubernetes.io/dockercfg and the new kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson. Tekton supports those secrets in addition to the one described above.

Define a Secret from a Docker client configuration file, as documented in Pull an Image from a Private Registry

kubectl create secret generic regcred \
 --from-file=.dockerconfigjson=<path/to/.docker/config.json> \
 --type=kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson

Instruct a ServiceAccount to use this Secret:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: build-bot
secrets:
  - name: regcred

Use that ServiceAccount in your TaskRun:

apiVersion: tetkon.dev/v1alpha1
kind: TaskRun
metadata:
  name: build-with-basic-auth
spec:
  serviceAccount: build-bot
  steps:
  ...

Execute the build:

kubectl apply --filename secret.yaml --filename serviceaccount.yaml --filename taskrun.yaml

When this TaskRun executes, before the steps are getting executed, a ~/.docker/config.json will be generated containing the credentials configured in the Secret, and these credentials are then used to authenticate with the Docker registry.

If both kubernetes.io/* and tekton flavored basic authentication secret are provided, tekton will merge the credentials from those two ; tekton flavored credentials taking precedence over kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson (or kubernetes.io/dockercfg) ones.

Guiding credential selection

A Run might require many different types of authentication. For instance, a Run might require access to multiple private Git repositories, and access to many private Docker repositories. You can use annotations to guide which secret to use to authenticate to different resources, for example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  annotations:
    tekton.dev/git-0: https://github.com
    tekton.dev/git-1: https://gitlab.com
    tekton.dev/docker-0: https://gcr.io
type: kubernetes.io/basic-auth
stringData:
  username: <cleartext non-encoded>
  password: <cleartext non-encoded>

This describes a "Basic Auth" (username and password) secret that should be used to access Git repos at github.com and gitlab.com, as well as Docker repositories at gcr.io.

Similarly, for SSH:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  annotations:
    tekton.dev/git-0: github.com
type: kubernetes.io/ssh-auth
data:
  ssh-privatekey: <base64 encoded>
  # This is non-standard, but its use is encouraged to make this more secure.
  # Omitting this results in the use of ssh-keyscan (see below).
  known_hosts: <base64 encoded>

This describes an SSH key secret that should be used to access Git repos at github.com only.

Credential annotation keys must begin with tekton.dev/docker- or tekton.dev/git-, and the value describes the URL of the host with which to use the credential.

Implementation details

Docker `basic-auth`

Given URLs, usernames, and passwords of the form: https://url{n}.com, user{n}, and pass{n}, generate the following for Docker:

=== ~/.docker/config.json ===
{
  "auths": {
    "https://url1.com": {
      "auth": "$(echo -n user1:pass1 | base64)",
      "email": "not@val.id",
    },
    "https://url2.com": {
      "auth": "$(echo -n user2:pass2 | base64)",
      "email": "not@val.id",
    },
    ...
  }
}

Docker doesn't support kubernetes.io/ssh-auth, so annotations on these types are ignored.

Git `basic-auth`

Given URLs, usernames, and passwords of the form: https://url{n}.com, user{n}, and pass{n}, generate the following for Git:

=== ~/.gitconfig ===
[credential]
    helper = store
[credential "https://url1.com"]
    username = "user1"
[credential "https://url2.com"]
    username = "user2"
...
=== ~/.git-credentials ===
https://user1:pass1@url1.com
https://user2:pass2@url2.com
...

Git `ssh-auth`

Given hostnames, private keys, and known_hosts of the form: url{n}.com, key{n}, and known_hosts{n}, generate the following for Git:

=== ~/.ssh/id_key1 ===
{contents of key1}
=== ~/.ssh/id_key2 ===
{contents of key2}
...
=== ~/.ssh/config ===
Host url1.com
    HostName url1.com
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_key1
Host url2.com
    HostName url2.com
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_key2
...
=== ~/.ssh/known_hosts ===
{contents of known_hosts1}
{contents of known_hosts2}
...

Note: Because known_hosts is a non-standard extension of kubernetes.io/ssh-auth, when it is not present this will be generated through ssh-keygen url{n}.com instead.

Least privilege

The secrets as outlined here will be stored into $HOME (by convention the volume: /builder/home), and will be available to Source and all Steps.

For sensitive credentials that should not be made available to some steps, do not use the mechanisms outlined here. Instead, the user should declare an explicit Volume from the Secret and manually VolumeMount it into the Step.

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.

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Authentication

Exposing credentials

SSH authentication (Git)

Basic authentication (Git)

Basic authentication (Docker)

Kubernetes's Docker registry's secret

Guiding credential selection

Implementation details

Docker `basic-auth`

Git `basic-auth`

Git `ssh-auth`

Least privilege

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Authentication

Exposing credentials

SSH authentication (Git)

Basic authentication (Git)

Basic authentication (Docker)

Kubernetes's Docker registry's secret

Guiding credential selection

Implementation details

Docker basic-auth

Git basic-auth

Git ssh-auth

Least privilege

Docker `basic-auth`

Git `basic-auth`

Git `ssh-auth`