Securing the environment and restricting access to clusters is of critical importance for any deployment that stores sensitive data. This guide provides information and security best practices to help you protect Infinispan caches against network intrusion and unauthorized access.

1. Infinispan Security

Infinispan provides security for components as well as data across different layers:

  • Within the core library to provide role-based access control (RBAC) to CacheManagers, Cache instances, and stored data.

  • Over remote protocols to authenticate client requests and encrypt network traffic.

  • Across nodes in clusters to authenticate new cluster members and encrypt the cluster transport.

The Infinispan core library uses standard Java security libraries such as JAAS, JSSE, JCA, JCE, and SASL to ease integration and improve compatibility with custom applications and container environments. For this reason, the Infinispan core library provides only interfaces and a set of basic implementations.

Infinispan servers support a wide range of security standards and mechanisms to readily integrate with enterprise-level security frameworks.

2. Security authorization with role-based access control

Role-based access control (RBAC) capabilities use different permissions levels to restrict user interactions with Infinispan.

For information on creating users and configuring authorization specific to remote or embedded caches, see:

2.1. Infinispan user roles and permissions

Infinispan includes several roles that provide users with permissions to access caches and Infinispan resources.

Role Permissions Description

admin

ALL

Superuser with all permissions including control of the Cache Manager lifecycle.

deployer

ALL_READ, ALL_WRITE, LISTEN, EXEC, MONITOR, CREATE

Can create and delete Infinispan resources in addition to application permissions.

application

ALL_READ, ALL_WRITE, LISTEN, EXEC, MONITOR

Has read and write access to Infinispan resources in addition to observer permissions. Can also listen to events and execute server tasks and scripts.

observer

ALL_READ, MONITOR

Has read access to Infinispan resources in addition to monitor permissions.

monitor

MONITOR

Can view statistics via JMX and the metrics endpoint.
Additional resources

2.1.1. Permissions

User roles are sets of permissions with different access levels.

Table 1. Cache Manager permissions

Permission

Function

Description

CONFIGURATION

defineConfiguration

Defines new cache configurations.

LISTEN

addListener

Registers listeners against a Cache Manager.

LIFECYCLE

stop

Stops the Cache Manager.

CREATE

createCache, removeCache

Create and remove container resources such as caches, counters, schemas, and scripts.

MONITOR

getStats

Allows access to JMX statistics and the metrics endpoint.

ALL

-

Includes all Cache Manager permissions.
Table 2. Cache permissions

Permission

Function

Description

READ

get, contains

Retrieves entries from a cache.

WRITE

put, putIfAbsent, replace, remove, evict

Writes, replaces, removes, evicts data in a cache.

EXEC

distexec, streams

Allows code execution against a cache.

LISTEN

addListener

Registers listeners against a cache.

BULK_READ

keySet, values, entrySet, query

Executes bulk retrieve operations.

BULK_WRITE

clear, putAll

Executes bulk write operations.

LIFECYCLE

start, stop

Starts and stops a cache.

ADMIN

getVersion, addInterceptor*, removeInterceptor, getInterceptorChain, getEvictionManager, getComponentRegistry, getDistributionManager, getAuthorizationManager, evict, getRpcManager, getCacheConfiguration, getCacheManager, getInvocationContextContainer, setAvailability, getDataContainer, getStats, getXAResource

Allows access to underlying components and internal structures.

MONITOR

getStats

Allows access to JMX statistics and the metrics endpoint.

ALL

-

Includes all cache permissions.

ALL_READ

-

Combines the READ and BULK_READ permissions.

ALL_WRITE

-

Combines the WRITE and BULK_WRITE permissions.
Additional resources

2.1.2. Role and permission mappers

Infinispan implements users as a collection of principals. Principals represent either an individual user identity, such as a username, or a group to which the users belong. Internally, these are implemented with the javax.security.auth.Subject class.

To enable authorization, the principals must be mapped to role names, which are then expanded into a set of permissions.

Infinispan includes the PrincipalRoleMapper API for associating security principals to roles, and the RolePermissionMapper API for associating roles with specific permissions.

Infinispan provides the following role and permission mapper implementations:

Cluster role mapper

Stores principal to role mappings in the cluster registry.

Cluster permission mapper

Stores role to permission mappings in the cluster registry. Allows you to dynamically modify user roles and permissions.

Identity role mapper

Uses the principal name as the role name. The type or format of the principal name depends on the source. For example, in an LDAP directory the principal name could be a Distinguished Name (DN).

Common name role mapper

Uses the Common Name (CN) as the role name. You can use this role mapper with an LDAP directory or with client certificates that contain Distinguished Names (DN); for example cn=managers,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com maps to the managers role.

By default, principal-to-role mapping is only applied to principals which represent groups. It is possible to configure Infinispan to also perform the mapping for user principals by setting the authorization.group-only-mapping configuration attribute to false.
Mapping users to roles and permissions in Infinispan

Consider the following user retrieved from an LDAP server, as a collection of DNs:

CN=myapplication,OU=applications,DC=mycompany
CN=dataprocessors,OU=groups,DC=mycompany
CN=finance,OU=groups,DC=mycompany

Using the Common name role mapper, the user would be mapped to the following roles:

dataprocessors
finance

Infinispan has the following role definitions:

dataprocessors: ALL_WRITE ALL_READ
finance: LISTEN

The user would have the following permissions:

ALL_WRITE ALL_READ LISTEN
Additional resources

2.1.3. Configuring role mappers

Infinispan enables the cluster role mapper and cluster permission mapper by default. To use a different implementation for role mapping, you must configure the role mappers.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan configuration for editing.

  2. Declare the role mapper as part of the security authorization in the Cache Manager configuration.

  3. Save the changes to your configuration.

With embedded caches you can programmatically configure role and permission mappers with the principalRoleMapper() and rolePermissionMapper() methods.

Role mapper configuration
XML
<cache-container>
  <security>
    <authorization>
      <common-name-role-mapper />
    </authorization>
  </security>
</cache-container>
JSON
{
  "infinispan" : {
    "cache-container" : {
      "security" : {
        "authorization" : {
          "common-name-role-mapper": {}
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
infinispan:
  cacheContainer:
    security:
      authorization:
        commonNameRoleMapper: ~
Additional resources

2.1.4. Configuring the cluster role and permission mappers

The cluster role mapper maintains a dynamic mapping between principals and roles. The cluster permission mapper maintains a dynamic set of role definitions. In both cases, the mappings are stored in the cluster registry and can be manipulated at runtime using either the CLI or the REST API.

Prerequisites

  • Have ADMIN permissions for Infinispan.

  • Start the Infinispan CLI.

  • Connect to a running Infinispan cluster.

Creating new roles

Create new roles and set the permissions.

Procedure

  • Create roles with the user roles create command, for example:

    user roles create --permissions=ALL_READ,ALL_WRITE simple
Verification

List roles that you grant to users with the user roles ls command.

user roles ls
["observer","application","admin","monitor","simple","deployer"]

Describe roles with the user roles describe command.

user roles describe simple
{
  "name" : "simple",
  "permissions" : [ "ALL_READ","ALL_WRITE" ]
}
Granting roles to users

Assign roles to users and grant them permissions to perform cache operations and interact with Infinispan resources.

Grant roles to groups instead of users if you want to assign the same role to multiple users and centrally maintain their permissions.
Prerequisites

  • Have ADMIN permissions for Infinispan.

  • Create Infinispan users.

Procedure

  1. Create a CLI connection to Infinispan.

  2. Assign roles to users with the user roles grant command, for example:

    user roles grant --roles=deployer katie
Verification

List roles that you grant to users with the user roles ls command.

user roles ls katie
["deployer"]
Cluster role mapper name rewriters

By default, the mapping is performed using a strict string equivalence between principal names and roles. It is possible to configure the cluster role mapper to apply transformation to the principal name before performing a lookup.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan configuration for editing.

  2. Specify a name rewriter for the cluster role mapper as part of the security authorization in the Cache Manager configuration.

  3. Save the changes to your configuration.

Principal names may have different forms, depending on the security realm type:

  • Properties and Token realms may return simple strings

  • Trust and LDAP realms may return X.500-style distinguished names

  • Kerberos realms may return user@domain-style names

Names can be normalized to a common form using one of the following transformers:

Case Principal Transformer
XML
<cache-container>
   <security>
      <authorization>
         <cluster-role-mapper>
            <name-rewriter>
               <case-principal-transformer uppercase="false"/>
            </name-rewriter>
         </cluster-role-mapper>
      </authorization>
   </security>
</cache-container>
JSON
{
  "cache-container": {
    "security": {
      "authorization": {
        "cluster-role-mapper": {
          "name-rewriter": {
            "case-principal-transformer": {}
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
cacheContainer:
  security:
    authorization:
      clusterRoleMapper:
        nameRewriter:
          casePrincipalTransformer:
            uppercase: false
Regex Principal Transformer
XML
<cache-container>
   <security>
      <authorization>
         <cluster-role-mapper>
            <name-rewriter>
               <regex-principal-transformer pattern="cn=([^,]+),.*" replacement="$1"/>
            </name-rewriter>
         </cluster-role-mapper>
      </authorization>
   </security>
</cache-container>
JSON
{
  "cache-container": {
    "security": {
      "authorization": {
        "cluster-role-mapper": {
          "name-rewriter": {
            "regex-principal-transformer": {
              "pattern": "cn=([^,]+),.*",
              "replacement": "$1"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
cacheContainer:
  security:
    authorization:
      clusterRoleMapper:
        nameRewriter:
          regexPrincipalTransformer:
            pattern: "cn=([^,]+),.*"
            replacement: "$1"
Additional resources

2.2. Configuring caches with security authorization

Add security authorization to caches to enforce role-based access control (RBAC). This requires Infinispan users to have a role with a sufficient level of permission to perform cache operations.

Prerequisites

  • Create Infinispan users and either grant them with roles or assign them to groups.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan configuration for editing.

  2. Add a security section to the configuration.

  3. Specify roles that users must have to perform cache operations with the authorization element.

    You can implicitly add all roles defined in the Cache Manager or explicitly define a subset of roles.

  4. Save the changes to your configuration.

Implicit role configuration

The following configuration implicitly adds every role defined in the Cache Manager:

XML
<distributed-cache>
  <security>
    <authorization/>
  </security>
</distributed-cache>
JSON
{
  "distributed-cache": {
    "security": {
      "authorization": {
        "enabled": true
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
distributedCache:
  security:
    authorization:
      enabled: true

Explicit role configuration

The following configuration explicitly adds a subset of roles defined in the Cache Manager. In this case Infinispan denies cache operations for any users that do not have one of the configured roles.

XML
<distributed-cache>
  <security>
    <authorization roles="admin supervisor"/>
  </security>
</distributed-cache>
JSON
{
  "distributed-cache": {
    "security": {
      "authorization": {
        "enabled": true,
        "roles": ["admin","supervisor"]
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
distributedCache:
  security:
    authorization:
      enabled: true
      roles: ["admin","supervisor"]

3. Security realms

Security realms integrate Infinispan Server deployments with the network protocols and infrastructure in your environment that control access and verify user identities.

3.1. Creating security realms

Add security realms to Infinispan Server configuration to control access to deployments. You can add one or more security realm to your configuration.

When you add security realms to your configuration, Infinispan Server automatically enables the matching authentication mechanisms for the Hot Rod and REST endpoints.
Prerequisites

  • Add socket bindings to your Infinispan Server configuration as required.

  • Create keystores, or have a PEM file, to configure the security realm with TLS/SSL encryption.

    Infinispan Server can also generate keystores at startup.

  • Provision the resources or services that the security realm configuration relies on.
    For example, if you add a token realm, you need to provision OAuth services.

This procedure demonstrates how to configure multiple property realms. Before you begin, you need to create properties files that add users and assign permissions with the Command Line Interface (CLI). Use the user create commands as follows:

user create <username> -p <changeme> -g <role> \
     --users-file=application-users.properties \
     --groups-file=application-groups.properties

user create <username> -p <changeme> -g <role> \
     --users-file=management-users.properties \
     --groups-file=management-groups.properties

Run user create --help for examples and more information.

Adding credentials to a properties realm with the CLI creates the user only on the server instance to which you are connected. You must manually synchronize credentials in a properties realm to each node in the cluster.
Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  2. Use the security-realms element in the security configuration to contain create multiple security realms.

  3. Add a security realm with the security-realm element and give it a unique name with the name attribute.

    To follow the example, create one security realm named application-realm and another named management-realm.

  4. Provide the TLS/SSL identify for Infinispan Server with the server-identities element and configure a keystore as required.

  5. Specify the type of security realm by adding one the following elements or fields:

    • properties-realm

    • ldap-realm

    • token-realm

    • truststore-realm

  6. Specify properties for the type of security realm you are configuring as appropriate.

    To follow the example, specify the *.properties files you created with the CLI using the path attribute on the user-properties and group-properties elements or fields.

  7. If you add multiple different types of security realm to your configuration, include the distributed-realm element or field so that Infinispan Server uses the realms in combination with each other.

  8. Configure Infinispan Server endpoints to use the security realm with the with the security-realm attribute.

  9. Save the changes to your configuration.

Multiple property realms

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="application-realm">
        <properties-realm groups-attribute="Roles">
          <user-properties path="application-users.properties"/>
          <group-properties path="application-groups.properties"/>
        </properties-realm>
      </security-realm>
      <security-realm name="management-realm">
        <properties-realm groups-attribute="Roles">
          <user-properties path="management-users.properties"/>
          <group-properties path="management-groups.properties"/>
        </properties-realm>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "management-realm",
        "properties-realm": {
          "groups-attribute": "Roles",
          "user-properties": {
            "digest-realm-name": "management-realm",
            "path": "management-users.properties"
          },
          "group-properties": {
            "path": "management-groups.properties"
          }
        }
      }, {
        "name": "application-realm",
        "properties-realm": {
          "groups-attribute": "Roles",
          "user-properties": {
            "digest-realm-name": "application-realm",
            "path": "application-users.properties"
          },
          "group-properties": {
            "path": "application-groups.properties"
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "management-realm"
        propertiesRealm:
          groupsAttribute: "Roles"
          userProperties:
            digestRealmName: "management-realm"
            path: "management-users.properties"
          groupProperties:
            path: "management-groups.properties"
      - name: "application-realm"
        propertiesRealm:
          groupsAttribute: "Roles"
          userProperties:
            digestRealmName: "application-realm"
            path: "application-users.properties"
          groupProperties:
            path: "application-groups.properties"

3.2. Setting up Kerberos identities

Add Kerberos identities to a security realm in your Infinispan Server configuration to use keytab files that contain service principal names and encrypted keys, derived from Kerberos passwords.

Prerequisites

  • Have Kerberos service account principals.

keytab files can contain both user and service account principals. However, Infinispan Server uses service account principals only which means it can provide identity to clients and allow clients to authenticate with Kerberos servers.

In most cases, you create unique principals for the Hot Rod and REST endpoints. For example, if you have a "datagrid" server in the "INFINISPAN.ORG" domain you should create the following service principals:

  • hotrod/datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG identifies the Hot Rod service.

  • HTTP/datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG identifies the REST service.

Procedure

  1. Create keytab files for the Hot Rod and REST services.

    Linux
    ktutil
ktutil:  addent -password -p datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG -k 1 -e aes256-cts
Password for datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG: [enter your password]
ktutil:  wkt http.keytab
ktutil:  quit
    Microsoft Windows
    ktpass -princ HTTP/datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG -pass * -mapuser INFINISPAN\USER_NAME
ktab -k http.keytab -a HTTP/datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG

  2. Copy the keytab files to the server/conf directory of your Infinispan Server installation.

  3. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  4. Add a server-identities definition to the Infinispan server security realm.

  5. Specify the location of keytab files that provide service principals to Hot Rod and REST connectors.

  6. Name the Kerberos service principals.

  7. Save the changes to your configuration.

Kerberos identity configuration

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="kerberos-realm">
        <server-identities>
          <!-- Specifies a keytab file that provides a Kerberos identity. -->
          <!-- Names the Kerberos service principal for the Hot Rod endpoint. -->
          <!-- The required="true" attribute specifies that the keytab file must be present when the server starts. -->
          <kerberos keytab-path="hotrod.keytab"
                    principal="hotrod/datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG"
                    required="true"/>
          <!-- Specifies a keytab file and names the Kerberos service principal for the REST endpoint. -->
          <kerberos keytab-path="http.keytab"
                    principal="HTTP/localhost@INFINISPAN.ORG"
                    required="true"/>
        </server-identities>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
  <endpoints>
    <endpoint socket-binding="default"
              security-realm="kerberos-realm">
     <hotrod-connector>
        <authentication>
           <sasl server-name="datagrid"
                 server-principal="hotrod/datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG"/>
        </authentication>
     </hotrod-connector>
     <rest-connector>
       <authentication server-principal="HTTP/localhost@INFINISPAN.ORG"/>
     </rest-connector>
   </endpoint>
  </endpoints>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "kerberos-realm",
        "server-identities": [{
          "kerberos": {
            "principal": "hotrod/datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG",
            "keytab-path": "hotrod.keytab",
            "required": true
          },
          "kerberos": {
            "principal": "HTTP/localhost@INFINISPAN.ORG",
            "keytab-path": "http.keytab",
            "required": true
          }
        }]
      }]
    },
    "endpoints": {
      "endpoint": {
        "socket-binding": "default",
        "security-realm": "kerberos-realm",
        "hotrod-connector": {
          "authentication": {
            "security-realm": "kerberos-realm",
            "sasl": {
              "server-name": "datagrid",
              "server-principal": "hotrod/datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG"
            }
          }
        },
        "rest-connector": {
          "authentication": {
            "server-principal": "HTTP/localhost@INFINISPAN.ORG"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "kerberos-realm"
        serverIdentities:
          - kerberos:
              principal: "hotrod/datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG"
              keytabPath: "hotrod.keytab"
              required: "true"
          - kerberos:
              principal: "HTTP/localhost@INFINISPAN.ORG"
              keytabPath: "http.keytab"
              required: "true"
  endpoints:
    endpoint:
      socketBinding: "default"
      securityRealm: "kerberos-realm"
      hotrodConnector:
        authentication:
          sasl:
            serverName: "datagrid"
            serverPrincipal: "hotrod/datagrid@INFINISPAN.ORG"
      restConnector:
        authentication:
          securityRealm: "kerberos-realm"
          serverPrincipal" : "HTTP/localhost@INFINISPAN.ORG"

3.3. Property realms

Property realms use property files to define users and groups.

  • users.properties contains Infinispan user credentials. Passwords can be pre-digested with the DIGEST-MD5 and DIGEST authentication mechanisms.

  • groups.properties associates users with roles and permissions.

users.properties
myuser=a_password
user2=another_password
groups.properties
myuser=supervisor,reader,writer
user2=supervisor

Property realm configuration

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="default">
        <!-- groups-attribute configures the "groups.properties" file to contain security authorization roles. -->
        <properties-realm groups-attribute="Roles">
          <user-properties path="users.properties"
                           relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"
                           plain-text="true"/>
          <group-properties path="groups.properties"
                            relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"/>
        </properties-realm>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "default",
        "properties-realm": {
          "groups-attribute": "Roles",
          "user-properties": {
            "digest-realm-name": "default",
            "path": "users.properties",
            "relative-to": "infinispan.server.config.path",
            "plain-text": true
          },
          "group-properties": {
            "path": "groups.properties",
            "relative-to": "infinispan.server.config.path"
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "default"
        propertiesRealm:
          # groupsAttribute configures the "groups.properties" file
          # to contain security authorization roles.
          groupsAttribute: "Roles"
          userProperties:
            digestRealmName: "default"
            path: "users.properties"
            relative-to: 'infinispan.server.config.path'
            plainText: "true"
          groupProperties:
            path: "groups.properties"
            relative-to: 'infinispan.server.config.path'

3.3.1. Property realm file structure

User properties files are structured as follows:

users.properties structure
#$REALM_NAME=default$
#$ALGORITHM=encrypted$
#Wed Jul 31 08:32:08 CEST 2024
admin=algorithm-1\:hash-1;algorithm-2\:hash-2;...

The first three lines are special comments that define the name of the realm ($REALM_NAME), whether the passwords are stored in clear or encrypted format ($ALGORITHM) and the timestamp of the last update.

User credentials are stored in traditional key/value format: the key corresponds to the username and the value corresponds to the password. Encrypted passwords are represented as semi-colon-separated algorithm/hash pairs, with the hash encoded in Base64.

Credentials are encrypted using the realm name. Changing a realm’s name requires re-encrypting all the passwords. Use the Infinispan CLI to enter the correct security realm name to the file.

3.4. LDAP realms

LDAP realms connect to LDAP servers, such as OpenLDAP, Red Hat Directory Server, Apache Directory Server, or Microsoft Active Directory, to authenticate users and obtain membership information.

LDAP servers can have different entry layouts, depending on the type of server and deployment. It is beyond the scope of this document to provide examples for all possible configurations.

3.4.1. LDAP connection properties

Specify the LDAP connection properties in the LDAP realm configuration.

The following properties are required:

url

Specifies the URL of the LDAP server. The URL should be in format ldap://hostname:port or ldaps://hostname:port for secure connections using TLS.
principal

Specifies a distinguished name (DN) of a valid user in the LDAp server. The DN uniquely identifies the user within the LDAP directory structure.
credential

Corresponds to the password associated with the principal mentioned above.

The principal for LDAP connections must have necessary privileges to perform LDAP queries and access specific attributes.

Enabling connection-pooling significantly improves the performance of authentication to LDAP servers. The connection pooling mechanism is provided by the JDK. For more information see Connection Pooling Configuration and Java Tutorials: Pooling.

3.4.2. LDAP realm user authentication methods

Configure the user authentication method in the LDAP realm.

The LDAP realm can authenticate users in two ways:

Hashed password comparison

by comparing the hashed password stored in a user’s password attribute (usually userPassword)
Direct verification

by authenticating against the LDAP server using the supplied credentials

Direct verification is the only approach that works with Active Directory, because access to the password attribute is forbidden.

You cannot use endpoint authentication mechanisms that performs hashing with the direct-verification attribute, since this method requires having the password in clear text. As a result you must use the BASIC authentication mechanism with the REST endpoint and PLAIN with the Hot Rod endpoint to integrate with Active Directory Server. A more secure alternative is to use Kerberos, which allows the SPNEGO, GSSAPI, and GS2-KRB5 authentication mechanisms.

The LDAP realm searches the directory to find the entry which corresponds to the authenticated user. The rdn-identifier attribute specifies an LDAP attribute that finds the user entry based on a provided identifier, which is typically a username; for example, the uid or sAMAccountName attribute. Add search-recursive="true" to the configuration to search the directory recursively. By default, the search for the user entry uses the (rdn_identifier={0}) filter. You can specify a different filter using the filter-name attribute.

3.4.3. Mapping user entries to their associated groups

In the LDAP realm configuration, specify the attribute-mapping element to retrieve and associate all groups that a user is a member of.

The membership information is stored typically in two ways:

  • Under group entries that usually have class groupOfNames or groupOfUniqueNames in the member attribute. This is the default behavior in most LDAP installations, except for Active Directory. In this case, you can use an attribute filter. This filter searches for entries that match the supplied filter, which locates groups with a member attribute equal to the user’s DN. The filter then extracts the group entry’s CN as specified by from, and adds it to the user’s Roles.

  • In the user entry in the memberOf attribute. This is typically the case for Active Directory. In this case you should use an attribute reference such as the following:

    <attribute-reference reference="memberOf" from="cn" to="Roles" />

    This reference gets all memberOf attributes from the user’s entry, extracts the CN as specified by from, and adds them to the user’s groups (Roles is the internal name used to map the groups).

3.4.4. LDAP realm configuration reference

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="ldap-realm">
        <!-- Specifies connection properties. -->
        <ldap-realm url="ldap://my-ldap-server:10389"
                    principal="uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
                    credential="strongPassword"
                    connection-timeout="3000"
                    read-timeout="30000"
                    connection-pooling="true"
                    referral-mode="ignore"
                    page-size="30"
                    direct-verification="true">
          <!-- Defines how principals are mapped to LDAP entries. -->
          <identity-mapping rdn-identifier="uid"
                            search-dn="ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
                            search-recursive="false">
            <!-- Retrieves all the groups of which the user is a member. -->
            <attribute-mapping>
              <attribute from="cn" to="Roles"
                         filter="(&amp;(objectClass=groupOfNames)(member={1}))"
                         filter-dn="ou=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org"/>
            </attribute-mapping>
          </identity-mapping>
        </ldap-realm>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "ldap-realm",
        "ldap-realm": {
          "url": "ldap://my-ldap-server:10389",
          "principal": "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org",
          "credential": "strongPassword",
          "connection-timeout": "3000",
          "read-timeout": "30000",
          "connection-pooling": "true",
          "referral-mode": "ignore",
          "page-size": "30",
          "direct-verification": "true",
          "identity-mapping": {
            "rdn-identifier": "uid",
            "search-dn": "ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org",
            "search-recursive": "false",
            "attribute-mapping": [{
              "from": "cn",
              "to": "Roles",
              "filter": "(&(objectClass=groupOfNames)(member={1}))",
              "filter-dn": "ou=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
            }]
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: ldap-realm
        ldapRealm:
          url: 'ldap://my-ldap-server:10389'
          principal: 'uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org'
          credential: strongPassword
          connectionTimeout: '3000'
          readTimeout: '30000'
          connectionPooling: true
          referralMode: ignore
          pageSize: '30'
          directVerification: true
          identityMapping:
            rdnIdentifier: uid
            searchDn: 'ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org'
            searchRecursive: false
            attributeMapping:
              - filter: '(&(objectClass=groupOfNames)(member={1}))'
                filterDn: 'ou=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org'
                from: cn
                to: Roles
LDAP realm principal rewriting

Principals obtained by SASL authentication mechanisms such as GSSAPI, GS2-KRB5 and Negotiate usually include the domain name, for example myuser@INFINISPAN.ORG. Before using these principals in LDAP queries, it is necessary to transform them to ensure their compatibility. This process is called rewriting.

Infinispan includes the following transformers:

case-principal-transformer

rewrites the principal to either all uppercase or all lowercase. For example MyUser would be rewritten as MYUSER in uppercase mode and myuser in lowercase mode.
common-name-principal-transformer

rewrites principals in the LDAP Distinguished Name format (as defined by RFC 4514). It extracts the first attribute of type CN (commonName). For example, DN=CN=myuser,OU=myorg,DC=mydomain would be rewritten as myuser.
regex-principal-transformer

rewrites principals using a regular expression with capturing groups, allowing, for example, for extractions of any substring.
LDAP principal rewriting configuration reference
Case principal transformer
XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="ldap-realm">
        <ldap-realm url="ldap://${org.infinispan.test.host.address}:10389"
                    principal="uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
                    credential="strongPassword">
          <name-rewriter>
            <!-- Defines a rewriter that transforms usernames to lowercase -->
            <case-principal-transformer uppercase="false"/>
          </name-rewriter>
          <!-- further configuration omitted -->
        </ldap-realm>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "ldap-realm",
        "ldap-realm": {
          "principal": "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org",
          "url": "ldap://${org.infinispan.test.host.address}:10389",
          "credential": "strongPassword",
          "name-rewriter": {
            "case-principal-transformer": {
              "uppercase": false
            }
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "ldap-realm"
        ldapRealm:
          principal: "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
          url: "ldap://${org.infinispan.test.host.address}:10389"
          credential: "strongPassword"
          nameRewriter:
            casePrincipalTransformer:
              uppercase: false
          # further configuration omitted
Common name principal transformer
XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="ldap-realm">
        <ldap-realm url="ldap://${org.infinispan.test.host.address}:10389"
                    principal="uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
                    credential="strongPassword">
          <name-rewriter>
            <!-- Defines a rewriter that obtains the first CN from a DN -->
            <common-name-principal-transformer />
          </name-rewriter>
          <!-- further configuration omitted -->
        </ldap-realm>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "ldap-realm",
        "ldap-realm": {
          "principal": "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org",
          "url": "ldap://${org.infinispan.test.host.address}:10389",
          "credential": "strongPassword",
          "name-rewriter": {
            "common-name-principal-transformer": {}
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "ldap-realm"
        ldapRealm:
          principal: "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
          url: "ldap://${org.infinispan.test.host.address}:10389"
          credential: "strongPassword"
          nameRewriter:
            commonNamePrincipalTransformer: ~
          # further configuration omitted
Regex principal transformer
XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="ldap-realm">
        <ldap-realm url="ldap://${org.infinispan.test.host.address}:10389"
                    principal="uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
                    credential="strongPassword">
          <name-rewriter>
            <!-- Defines a rewriter that extracts the username from the principal using a regular expression. -->
            <regex-principal-transformer pattern="(.*)@INFINISPAN\.ORG"
                                         replacement="$1"/>
          </name-rewriter>
          <!-- further configuration omitted -->
        </ldap-realm>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "ldap-realm",
        "ldap-realm": {
          "principal": "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org",
          "url": "ldap://${org.infinispan.test.host.address}:10389",
          "credential": "strongPassword",
          "name-rewriter": {
            "regex-principal-transformer": {
              "pattern": "(.*)@INFINISPAN\\.ORG",
              "replacement": "$1"
            }
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "ldap-realm"
        ldapRealm:
          principal: "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
          url: "ldap://${org.infinispan.test.host.address}:10389"
          credential: "strongPassword"
          nameRewriter:
            regexPrincipalTransformer:
              pattern: (.*)@INFINISPAN\.ORG
              replacement: "$1"
          # further configuration omitted
LDAP user and group mapping process with Infinispan

This example illustrates the process of loading and internally mapping LDAP users and groups to Infinispan subjects. The following is a LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format) file, which describes multiple LDAP entries:

LDIF
# Users

dn: uid=root,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: uidObject
objectclass: person
uid: root
cn: root
sn: root
userPassword: strongPassword

# Groups

dn: cn=admin,ou=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupOfNames
cn: admin
description: the Infinispan admin group
member: uid=root,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org

dn: cn=monitor,ou=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupOfNames
cn: monitor
description: the Infinispan monitor group
member: uid=root,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org

The root user is a member of the admin and monitor groups.

When a request to authenticate the user root with the password strongPassword is made on one of the endpoints, the following operations are performed:

  • The username is optionally rewritten using the chosen principal transformer.

  • The realm searches within the ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org tree for an entry whose uid attribute is equal to root and finds the entry with DN uid=root,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org, which becomes the user principal.

  • The realm searches within the u=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org tree for entries of objectClass=groupOfNames that include uid=root,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org in the member attribute. In this case it finds two entries: cn=admin,ou=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org and cn=monitor,ou=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org. From these entries, it extracts the cn attributes which become the group principals.

The resulting subject will therefore look like:

  • NamePrincipal: uid=root,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org

  • RolePrincipal: admin

  • RolePrincipal: monitor

At this point, the global authorization mappers are applied on the above subject to convert the principals into roles. The roles are then expanded into a set of permissions, which are validated against the requested cache and operation.

3.5. Token realms

Token realms use external services to validate tokens and require providers that are compatible with RFC-7662 (OAuth2 Token Introspection), such as KeyCloak.

Token realm configuration

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="token-realm">
        <!-- Specifies the URL of the authentication server. -->
        <token-realm name="token"
                     auth-server-url="https://oauth-server/auth/">
          <!-- Specifies the URL of the token introspection endpoint. -->
          <oauth2-introspection introspection-url="https://oauth-server/auth/realms/infinispan/protocol/openid-connect/token/introspect"
                                client-id="infinispan-server"
                                client-secret="1fdca4ec-c416-47e0-867a-3d471af7050f"/>
        </token-realm>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "token-realm",
        "token-realm": {
          "auth-server-url": "https://oauth-server/auth/",
          "oauth2-introspection": {
            "client-id": "infinispan-server",
            "client-secret": "1fdca4ec-c416-47e0-867a-3d471af7050f",
            "introspection-url": "https://oauth-server/auth/realms/infinispan/protocol/openid-connect/token/introspect"
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: token-realm
        tokenRealm:
          authServerUrl: 'https://oauth-server/auth/'
          oauth2Introspection:
            clientId: infinispan-server
            clientSecret: '1fdca4ec-c416-47e0-867a-3d471af7050f'
            introspectionUrl: 'https://oauth-server/auth/realms/infinispan/protocol/openid-connect/token/introspect'

3.6. Trust store realms

Trust store realms use certificates, or certificates chains, that verify Infinispan Server and client identities when they negotiate connections.

Keystores

Contain server certificates that provide a Infinispan Server identity to clients. If you configure a keystore with server certificates, Infinispan Server encrypts traffic using industry standard SSL/TLS protocols.

Trust stores

Contain client certificates, or certificate chains, that clients present to Infinispan Server. Client trust stores are optional and allow Infinispan Server to perform client certificate authentication.

Client certificate authentication

You must add the require-ssl-client-auth="true" attribute to the endpoint configuration if you want Infinispan Server to validate or authenticate client certificates.

Trust store realm configuration

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="trust-store-realm">
        <server-identities>
          <ssl>
            <!-- Provides an SSL/TLS identity with a keystore that contains server certificates. -->
            <keystore path="server.p12"
                      relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"
                      keystore-password="secret"
                      alias="server"/>
            <!-- Configures a trust store that contains client certificates or part of a certificate chain. -->
            <truststore path="trust.p12"
                        relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"
                        password="secret"/>
          </ssl>
        </server-identities>
        <!-- Authenticates client certificates against the trust store. If you configure this, the trust store must contain the public certificates for all clients. -->
        <truststore-realm/>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "trust-store-realm",
        "server-identities": {
          "ssl": {
            "keystore": {
              "path": "server.p12",
              "relative-to": "infinispan.server.config.path",
              "keystore-password": "secret",
              "alias": "server"
            },
            "truststore": {
              "path": "trust.p12",
              "relative-to": "infinispan.server.config.path",
              "password": "secret"
            }
          }
        },
        "truststore-realm": {}
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "trust-store-realm"
        serverIdentities:
          ssl:
            keystore:
              path: "server.p12"
              relative-to: "infinispan.server.config.path"
              keystore-password: "secret"
              alias: "server"
            truststore:
              path: "trust.p12"
              relative-to: "infinispan.server.config.path"
              password: "secret"
        truststoreRealm: ~

3.7. Distributed security realms

Distributed realms combine multiple different types of security realms. When users attempt to access the Hot Rod or REST endpoints, Infinispan Server uses each security realm in turn until it finds one that can perform the authentication.

Distributed realm configuration

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="distributed-realm">
        <ldap-realm url="ldap://my-ldap-server:10389"
                    principal="uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
                    credential="strongPassword">
          <identity-mapping rdn-identifier="uid"
                            search-dn="ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
                            search-recursive="false">
            <attribute-mapping>
              <attribute from="cn" to="Roles"
                         filter="(&amp;(objectClass=groupOfNames)(member={1}))"
                         filter-dn="ou=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org"/>
            </attribute-mapping>
          </identity-mapping>
        </ldap-realm>
        <properties-realm groups-attribute="Roles">
          <user-properties path="users.properties"
                           relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"/>
          <group-properties path="groups.properties"
                            relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"/>
        </properties-realm>
        <distributed-realm/>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "distributed-realm",
        "ldap-realm": {
          "principal": "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org",
          "url": "ldap://my-ldap-server:10389",
          "credential": "strongPassword",
          "identity-mapping": {
            "rdn-identifier": "uid",
            "search-dn": "ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org",
            "search-recursive": false,
            "attribute-mapping": {
              "attribute": {
                "filter": "(&(objectClass=groupOfNames)(member={1}))",
                "filter-dn": "ou=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org",
                "from": "cn",
                "to": "Roles"
              }
            }
          }
        },
        "properties-realm": {
          "groups-attribute": "Roles",
          "user-properties": {
            "digest-realm-name": "distributed-realm",
            "path": "users.properties"
          },
          "group-properties": {
            "path": "groups.properties"
          }
        },
        "distributed-realm": {}
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "distributed-realm"
        ldapRealm:
          principal: "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
          url: "ldap://my-ldap-server:10389"
          credential: "strongPassword"
          identityMapping:
            rdnIdentifier: "uid"
            searchDn: "ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
            searchRecursive: "false"
            attributeMapping:
              attribute:
                filter: "(&(objectClass=groupOfNames)(member={1}))"
                filterDn: "ou=Roles,dc=infinispan,dc=org"
                from: "cn"
                to: "Roles"
        propertiesRealm:
          groupsAttribute: "Roles"
          userProperties:
            digestRealmName: "distributed-realm"
            path: "users.properties"
          groupProperties:
            path: "groups.properties"
        distributedRealm: ~

3.8. Aggregate security realms

Aggregate realms combine multiple realms: the first one for the authentication steps and the others for loading the identity for the authorization steps. For example, this can be used to authenticate users via a client certificate, and retrieve identity from a properties or LDAP realm.

Aggregate realm configuration

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
   <security>
      <security-realms>
         <security-realm name="default" default-realm="aggregate">
            <server-identities>
               <ssl>
                  <keystore path="server.pfx" password="secret" alias="server"/>
                  <truststore path="trust.pfx" password="secret"/>
               </ssl>
            </server-identities>
            <properties-realm name="properties" groups-attribute="Roles">
               <user-properties path="users.properties" relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"/>
               <group-properties path="groups.properties" relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"/>
            </properties-realm>
            <truststore-realm name="trust"/>
            <aggregate-realm authentication-realm="trust" authorization-realms="properties">
               <name-rewriter>
                  <common-name-principal-transformer/>
               </name-rewriter>
            </aggregate-realm>
         </security-realm>
      </security-realms>
   </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [
        {
          "name": "aggregate-realm",
          "default-realm": "aggregate",
          "server-identities": {
            "ssl": {
              "keystore": {
                "path": "server.p12",
                "relative-to": "infinispan.server.config.path",
                "keystore-password": "secret",
                "alias": "server"
              },
              "truststore": {
                "path": "trust.p12",
                "relative-to": "infinispan.server.config.path",
                "password": "secret"
              }
            }
          },
          "properties-realm": {
            "name": "properties",
            "groups-attribute": "Roles",
            "user-properties": {
              "digest-realm-name": "distributed-realm",
              "path": "users.properties"
            },
            "group-properties": {
              "path": "groups.properties"
            }
          },
          "truststore-realm": {
            "name": "trust"
          },
          "aggregate-realm": {
            "authentication-realm": "trust",
            "authorization-realms": ["properties"],
            "name-rewriter": {
              "common-name-principal-transformer": {}
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "aggregate-realm"
        defaultRealm: "aggregate"
        serverIdentities:
          ssl:
            keystore:
              path: "server.p12"
              relative-to: "infinispan.server.config.path"
              keystore-password: "secret"
              alias: "server"
            truststore:
              path: "trust.p12"
              relative-to: "infinispan.server.config.path"
              password: "secret"
        truststoreRealm:
          name: "trust"
        propertiesRealm:
          name: "properties"
          groupsAttribute: "Roles"
          userProperties:
            digestRealmName: "distributed-realm"
            path: "users.properties"
          groupProperties:
            path: "groups.properties"
        aggregateRealm:
          authenticationRealm: "trust"
          authorizationRealms:
            - "properties"
          nameRewriter:
            common-name-principal-transformer: ~

3.8.1. Name rewriters

Principal names may have different forms, depending on the security realm type:

  • Properties and Token realms may return simple strings

  • Trust and LDAP realms may return X.500-style distinguished names

  • Kerberos realms may return user@domain-style names

Names must be normalized to a common form when using the aggregate realm using one of the following transformers.

Case Principal Transformer

The case-principal-transformer transforms a name to all uppercase or all lowercase letters.

XML
<aggregate-realm authentication-realm="trust" authorization-realms="properties">
   <name-rewriter>
      <case-principal-transformer uppercase="false"/>
   </name-rewriter>
</aggregate-realm>
JSON
{
  "aggregate-realm": {
    "authentication-realm": "trust",
    "authorization-realms": [
      "properties"
    ],
    "name-rewriter": {
      "case-principal-transformer": {
        "uppercase": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
aggregateRealm:
  authenticationRealm: "trust"
  authorizationRealms:
    - "properties"
  nameRewriter:
    casePrincipalTransformer:
      uppercase: false
Common Name Principal Transformer

The common-name-principal-transformer extracts the first CN element from a DN used by LDAP or Certificates. For example, given a principal in the form CN=app1,CN=serviceA,OU=applications,DC=infinispan,DC=org, the following configuration will extract app1 as the principal.

XML
<aggregate-realm authentication-realm="trust" authorization-realms="properties">
   <name-rewriter>
      <common-name-principal-transformer/>
   </name-rewriter>
</aggregate-realm>
JSON
{
  "aggregate-realm": {
    "authentication-realm": "trust",
    "authorization-realms": [
      "properties"
    ],
    "name-rewriter": {
      "common-name-principal-transformer": {}
    }
  }
}
YAML
aggregateRealm:
  authenticationRealm: "trust"
  authorizationRealms:
    - "properties"
  nameRewriter:
    commonNamePrincipalTransformer: ~
Regex Principal Transformer

The regex-principal-transformer can perform find and replace using a regular expression. The example shows how to extract the local-part from a user@domain.com identifier.

XML
<aggregate-realm authentication-realm="trust" authorization-realms="properties">
   <name-rewriter>
      <regex-principal-transformer pattern="([^@]+)@.*" replacement="$1" replace-all="false"/>
   </name-rewriter>
</aggregate-realm>
JSON
{
  "aggregate-realm": {
    "authentication-realm": "trust",
    "authorization-realms": [
      "properties"
    ],
    "name-rewriter": {
      "regex-principal-transformer": {
        "pattern" : "([^@]+)@.*",
        "replacement": "$1",
        "replace-all": false
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
aggregateRealm:
  authenticationRealm: "trust"
  authorizationRealms:
    - "properties"
  nameRewriter:
    regexPrincipalTransformer:
      pattern: "([^@]+)@.*"
      replacement: "$1"
      replaceAll: false

3.9. Security realm caching

Security realms implement caching to avoid having to repeatedly retrieve data which usually changes very infrequently. By default

Realm caching realm configuration

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
    <security>
        <security-realms>
            <security-realm name="default" cache-max-size="1024" cache-lifespan="120000">
            </security-realm>
        </security-realms>
    </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "default",
        "cache-max-size": 1024,
        "cache-lifespan": 120000
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "default"
        cache-max-size: 1024
        cache-lifespan: 120000

3.9.1. Flushing realm caches

Use the CLI to flush security realm caches across the whole cluster.

[node-1@mycluster//containers/default]> server aclcache flush

4. Endpoint authentication mechanisms

Infinispan Server can use custom SASL and HTTP authentication mechanisms for Hot Rod and REST endpoints.

4.1. Infinispan Server authentication

Authentication restricts user access to endpoints as well as the Infinispan Console and Command Line Interface (CLI).

Infinispan Server includes a "default" security realm that enforces user authentication. Default authentication uses a property realm with user credentials stored in the server/conf/users.properties file. Infinispan Server also enables security authorization by default so you must assign users with permissions stored in the server/conf/groups.properties file.

Use the user create command with the Command Line Interface (CLI) to add users and assign permissions. Run user create --help for examples and more information.

4.2. Configuring Infinispan Server authentication mechanisms

You can explicitly configure Hot Rod and REST endpoints to use specific authentication mechanisms. Configuring authentication mechanisms is required only if you need to explicitly override the default mechanisms for a security realm.

Each endpoint section in your configuration must include hotrod-connector and rest-connector elements or fields. For example, if you explicitly declare a hotrod-connector you must also declare a rest-connector even if it does not configure an authentication mechanism.
Prerequisites

  • Add security realms to your Infinispan Server configuration as required.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  2. Add an endpoint element or field and specify the security realm that it uses with the security-realm attribute.

  3. Add a hotrod-connector element or field to configure the Hot Rod endpoint.

    1. Add an authentication element or field.

    2. Specify SASL authentication mechanisms for the Hot Rod endpoint to use with the sasl mechanisms attribute.

    3. If applicable, specify SASL quality of protection settings with the qop attribute.

    4. Specify the Infinispan Server identity with the server-name attribute if necessary.

  4. Add a rest-connector element or field to configure the REST endpoint.

    1. Add an authentication element or field.

    2. Specify HTTP authentication mechanisms for the REST endpoint to use with the mechanisms attribute.

  5. Save the changes to your configuration.

Authentication mechanism configuration

The following configuration specifies SASL mechanisms for the Hot Rod endpoint to use for authentication:

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <endpoints>
    <endpoint socket-binding="default"
              security-realm="my-realm">
      <hotrod-connector>
        <authentication>
           <sasl mechanisms="SCRAM-SHA-512 SCRAM-SHA-384 SCRAM-SHA-256
                             SCRAM-SHA-1 DIGEST-SHA-512 DIGEST-SHA-384
                             DIGEST-SHA-256 DIGEST-SHA DIGEST-MD5 PLAIN"
                 server-name="infinispan"
                 qop="auth"/>
        </authentication>
      </hotrod-connector>
      <rest-connector>
        <authentication mechanisms="DIGEST BASIC"/>
      </rest-connector>
    </endpoint>
  </endpoints>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "endpoints": {
      "endpoint": {
        "socket-binding": "default",
        "security-realm": "my-realm",
        "hotrod-connector": {
          "authentication": {
            "security-realm": "default",
            "sasl": {
              "server-name": "infinispan",
              "mechanisms": ["SCRAM-SHA-512", "SCRAM-SHA-384", "SCRAM-SHA-256", "SCRAM-SHA-1", "DIGEST-SHA-512", "DIGEST-SHA-384", "DIGEST-SHA-256", "DIGEST-SHA", "DIGEST-MD5", "PLAIN"],
              "qop": ["auth"]
            }
          }
        },
        "rest-connector": {
          "authentication": {
            "mechanisms": ["DIGEST", "BASIC"],
            "security-realm": "default"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  endpoints:
    endpoint:
      socketBinding: "default"
      securityRealm: "my-realm"
      hotrodConnector:
        authentication:
          securityRealm: "default"
          sasl:
            serverName: "infinispan"
            mechanisms:
              - "SCRAM-SHA-512"
              - "SCRAM-SHA-384"
              - "SCRAM-SHA-256"
              - "SCRAM-SHA-1"
              - "DIGEST-SHA-512"
              - "DIGEST-SHA-384"
              - "DIGEST-SHA-256"
              - "DIGEST-SHA"
              - "DIGEST-MD5"
              - "PLAIN"
            qop:
              - "auth"
      restConnector:
        authentication:
          mechanisms:
            - "DIGEST"
            - "BASIC"
          securityRealm: "default"

4.2.1. Disabling authentication

In local development environments or on isolated networks you can configure Infinispan to allow unauthenticated client requests. When you disable user authentication you should also disable authorization in your Infinispan security configuration.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  2. Remove the security-realm attribute from the endpoints element or field.

  3. Remove any authorization elements from the security configuration for the cache-container and each cache configuration.

  4. Save the changes to your configuration.

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <endpoints socket-binding="default"/>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "endpoints": {
      "endpoint": {
        "socket-binding": "default"
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  endpoints:
    endpoint:
      socketBinding: "default"

4.3. Infinispan Server authentication mechanisms

Infinispan Server automatically configures endpoints with authentication mechanisms that match your security realm configuration. For example, if you add a Kerberos security realm then Infinispan Server enables the GSSAPI and GS2-KRB5 authentication mechanisms for the Hot Rod endpoint.

Currently, you cannot use the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) protocol with the DIGEST or SCRAM authentication mechanisms, because these mechanisms require access to specific hashed passwords.
Hot Rod endpoints

Infinispan Server enables the following SASL authentication mechanisms for Hot Rod endpoints when your configuration includes the corresponding security realm:

Security realm SASL authentication mechanism

Property realms and LDAP realms

SCRAM, DIGEST

Token realms

OAUTHBEARER

Trust realms

EXTERNAL

Kerberos identities

GSSAPI, GS2-KRB5

SSL/TLS identities

PLAIN
REST endpoints

Infinispan Server enables the following HTTP authentication mechanisms for REST endpoints when your configuration includes the corresponding security realm:

Security realm HTTP authentication mechanism

Property realms and LDAP realms

DIGEST

Token realms

BEARER_TOKEN

Trust realms

CLIENT_CERT

Kerberos identities

SPNEGO

SSL/TLS identities

BASIC
Memcached endpoints

Infinispan Server enables the following SASL authentication mechanisms for Memcached binary protocol endpoints when your configuration includes the corresponding security realm:

Security realm SASL authentication mechanism

Property realms and LDAP realms

SCRAM, DIGEST

Token realms

OAUTHBEARER

Trust realms

EXTERNAL

Kerberos identities

GSSAPI, GS2-KRB5

SSL/TLS identities

PLAIN

Infinispan Server enables authentication on Memcached text protocol endpoints only with security realms which support password-based authentication:

Security realm Memcached text authentication

Property realms and LDAP realms

Yes

Token realms

No

Trust realms

No

Kerberos identities

No

SSL/TLS identities

No
RESP endpoints

Infinispan Server enables authentication on RESP endpoints only with security realms which support password-based authentication:

Security realm RESP authentication

Property realms and LDAP realms

Yes

Token realms

No

Trust realms

No

Kerberos identities

No

SSL/TLS identities

No

4.3.1. SASL authentication mechanisms

Infinispan Server supports the following SASL authentications mechanisms with Hot Rod and Memcached binary protocol endpoints:

Authentication mechanism Description Security realm type Related details

PLAIN

Uses credentials in plain-text format. You should use PLAIN authentication with encrypted connections only.

Property realms and LDAP realms

Similar to the BASIC HTTP mechanism.

DIGEST-*

Uses hashing algorithms and nonce values. Hot Rod connectors support DIGEST-MD5, DIGEST-SHA, DIGEST-SHA-256, DIGEST-SHA-384, and DIGEST-SHA-512 hashing algorithms, in order of strength.

Property realms and LDAP realms

Similar to the Digest HTTP mechanism.

SCRAM-*

Uses salt values in addition to hashing algorithms and nonce values. Hot Rod connectors support SCRAM-SHA, SCRAM-SHA-256, SCRAM-SHA-384, and SCRAM-SHA-512 hashing algorithms, in order of strength.

Property realms and LDAP realms

Similar to the Digest HTTP mechanism.

GSSAPI

Uses Kerberos tickets and requires a Kerberos Domain Controller. You must add a corresponding kerberos server identity in the realm configuration. In most cases, you also specify an ldap-realm to provide user membership information.

Kerberos realms

Similar to the SPNEGO HTTP mechanism.

GS2-KRB5

Uses Kerberos tickets and requires a Kerberos Domain Controller. You must add a corresponding kerberos server identity in the realm configuration. In most cases, you also specify an ldap-realm to provide user membership information.

Kerberos realms

Similar to the SPNEGO HTTP mechanism.

EXTERNAL

Uses client certificates.

Trust store realms

Similar to the CLIENT_CERT HTTP mechanism.

OAUTHBEARER

Uses OAuth tokens and requires a token-realm configuration.

Token realms

Similar to the BEARER_TOKEN HTTP mechanism.

4.3.2. SASL quality of protection (QoP)

If SASL mechanisms support integrity and privacy protection (QoP) settings, you can add them to your Hot Rod and Memcached endpoint configuration with the qop attribute.

QoP setting Description

auth

Authentication only.

auth-int

Authentication with integrity protection.

auth-conf

Authentication with integrity and privacy protection.

4.3.3. SASL policies

SASL policies provide fine-grain control over Hot Rod and Memcached authentication mechanisms.

Infinispan cache authorization restricts access to caches based on roles and permissions. Configure cache authorization and then set <no-anonymous value=false /> to allow anonymous login and delegate access logic to cache authorization.
Policy Description Default value

forward-secrecy

Use only SASL mechanisms that support forward secrecy between sessions. This means that breaking into one session does not automatically provide information for breaking into future sessions.

false

pass-credentials

Use only SASL mechanisms that require client credentials.

false

no-plain-text

Do not use SASL mechanisms that are susceptible to simple plain passive attacks.

false

no-active

Do not use SASL mechanisms that are susceptible to active, non-dictionary, attacks.

false

no-dictionary

Do not use SASL mechanisms that are susceptible to passive dictionary attacks.

false

no-anonymous

Do not use SASL mechanisms that accept anonymous logins.

true
SASL policy configuration

In the following configuration the Hot Rod endpoint uses the GSSAPI mechanism for authentication because it is the only mechanism that complies with all SASL policies:

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <endpoints>
    <endpoint socket-binding="default"
              security-realm="default">
      <hotrod-connector>
        <authentication>
          <sasl mechanisms="PLAIN DIGEST-MD5 GSSAPI EXTERNAL"
                server-name="infinispan"
                qop="auth"
                policy="no-active no-plain-text"/>
        </authentication>
      </hotrod-connector>
      <rest-connector/>
    </endpoint>
  </endpoints>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "endpoints" : {
      "endpoint" : {
        "socket-binding" : "default",
        "security-realm" : "default",
        "hotrod-connector" : {
          "authentication" : {
            "sasl" : {
              "server-name" : "infinispan",
              "mechanisms" : [ "PLAIN","DIGEST-MD5","GSSAPI","EXTERNAL" ],
              "qop" : [ "auth" ],
              "policy" : [ "no-active","no-plain-text" ]
            }
          }
        },
        "rest-connector" : ""
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  endpoints:
    endpoint:
      socketBinding: "default"
      securityRealm: "default"
      hotrodConnector:
        authentication:
          sasl:
            serverName: "infinispan"
            mechanisms:
              - "PLAIN"
              - "DIGEST-MD5"
              - "GSSAPI"
              - "EXTERNAL"
            qop:
              - "auth"
            policy:
              - "no-active"
              - "no-plain-text"
      restConnector: ~

4.3.4. HTTP authentication mechanisms

Infinispan Server supports the following HTTP authentication mechanisms with REST endpoints:

Authentication mechanism Description Security realm type Related details

BASIC

Uses credentials in plain-text format. You should use BASIC authentication with encrypted connections only.

Property realms and LDAP realms

Corresponds to the Basic HTTP authentication scheme and is similar to the PLAIN SASL mechanism.

DIGEST

Uses hashing algorithms and nonce values. REST connectors support SHA-512, SHA-256 and MD5 hashing algorithms.

Property realms and LDAP realms

Corresponds to the Digest HTTP authentication scheme and is similar to DIGEST-* SASL mechanisms.

SPNEGO

Uses Kerberos tickets and requires a Kerberos Domain Controller. You must add a corresponding kerberos server identity in the realm configuration. In most cases, you also specify an ldap-realm to provide user membership information.

Kerberos realms

Corresponds to the Negotiate HTTP authentication scheme and is similar to the GSSAPI and GS2-KRB5 SASL mechanisms.

BEARER_TOKEN

Uses OAuth tokens and requires a token-realm configuration.

Token realms

Corresponds to the Bearer HTTP authentication scheme and is similar to OAUTHBEARER SASL mechanism.

CLIENT_CERT

Uses client certificates.

Trust store realms

Similar to the EXTERNAL SASL mechanism.

5. Configuring TLS/SSL encryption

You can secure Infinispan Server connections using SSL/TLS encryption by configuring a keystore that contains public and private keys for Infinispan. You can also configure client certificate authentication if you require mutual TLS.

5.1. Configuring Infinispan Server keystores

Add keystores to Infinispan Server and configure it to present SSL/TLS certificates that verify its identity to clients. If a security realm contains TLS/SSL identities, it encrypts any connections to Infinispan Server endpoints that use that security realm.

Prerequisites

  • Create a keystore that contains certificates, or certificate chains, for Infinispan Server.

Infinispan Server supports the following keystore formats: JKS, JCEKS, PKCS12/PFX and PEM. BKS, BCFKS, and UBER are also supported if the Bouncy Castle library is present.

Certificates should include the subjectAltName extension of type dNSName and/or iPAddress so that clients can correctly perform hostname validation, according to the rules defined by the RFC 2818 specification. The server will issue a warning if it is started with a certificate which does not include such an extension.

In production environments, server certificates should be signed by a trusted Certificate Authority, either Root or Intermediate CA.

You can use PEM files as keystores if they contain both of the following:

  • A private key in PKCS#1 or PKCS#8 format.

  • One or more certificates.

You should also configure PEM file keystores with an empty password (password="").
Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  2. Add the keystore that contains SSL/TLS identities for Infinispan Server to the $ISPN_HOME/server/conf directory.

  3. Add a server-identities definition to the Infinispan Server security realm.

  4. Specify the keystore file name with the path attribute.

  5. Provide the keystore password and certificate alias with the keystore-password and alias attributes.

  6. Save the changes to your configuration.

Next steps

Configure clients with a trust store so they can verify SSL/TLS identities for Infinispan Server.

Keystore configuration

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="default">
        <server-identities>
          <ssl>
            <!-- Adds a keystore that contains server certificates that provide SSL/TLS identities to clients. -->
            <keystore path="server.p12"
                      relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"
                      password="secret"
                      alias="my-server"/>
          </ssl>
        </server-identities>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "default",
        "server-identities": {
          "ssl": {
            "keystore": {
              "alias": "my-server",
              "path": "server.p12",
              "password": "secret"
            }
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "default"
        serverIdentities:
          ssl:
            keystore:
              alias: "my-server"
              path: "server.p12"
              password: "secret"

5.1.1. SSL/TLS Certificate rotation

SSL/TLS certificates have an expiration date, after which they are no longer valid. The process of renewing a certificate is also known as "rotation". Infinispan monitors the keystore files for changes and automatically reloads them without requiring a server or client restart.

To ensure seamless operations during certificate rotation, use certificates signed by a Certificate Authority (CA) and configure both server and client trust stores with the CA certificate. Using self-signed certificates will cause temporary handshake failures until all clients and servers have been updated.
Additional resources

5.1.2. Generating Infinispan Server keystores

Configure Infinispan Server to automatically generate keystores at startup.

Automatically generated keystores:

  • Should not be used in production environments.

  • Are generated whenever necessary; for example, while obtaining the first connection from a client.

  • Contain certificates that you can use directly in Hot Rod clients.
Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  2. Include the generate-self-signed-certificate-host attribute for the keystore element in the server configuration.

  3. Specify a hostname for the server certificate as the value.

  4. Save the changes to your configuration.

Generated keystore configuration
XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="generated-keystore">
        <server-identities>
          <ssl>
            <!-- Generates a keystore that includes a self-signed certificate with the specified hostname. -->
            <keystore path="server.p12"
                      relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"
                      password="secret"
                      alias="server"
                      generate-self-signed-certificate-host="localhost"/>
          </ssl>
        </server-identities>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "generated-keystore",
        "server-identities": {
          "ssl": {
            "keystore": {
              "alias": "server",
              "generate-self-signed-certificate-host": "localhost",
              "path": "server.p12",
              "password": "secret"
            }
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "generated-keystore"
        serverIdentities:
          ssl:
            keystore:
              alias: "server"
              generateSelfSignedCertificateHost: "localhost"
              path: "server.p12"
              password: "secret"

5.1.3. Configuring TLS versions and cipher suites

When using SSL/TLS encryption to secure your deployment, you can configure Infinispan Server to use specific versions of the TLS protocol as well as specific cipher suites within the protocol.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  2. Add the engine element to the SSL configuration for Infinispan Server.

  3. Configure Infinispan to use one or more TLS versions with the enabled-protocols attribute.

    Infinispan Server supports TLS version 1.2 and 1.3 by default. If appropriate you can set TLSv1.3 only to restrict the security protocol for client connections. Infinispan does not recommend enabling TLSv1.1 because it is an older protocol with limited support and provides weak security. You should never enable any version of TLS older than 1.1.

    If you modify the SSL engine configuration for Infinispan Server you must explicitly configure TLS versions with the enabled-protocols attribute. Omitting the enabled-protocols attribute allows any TLS version.

    <engine enabled-protocols="TLSv1.3 TLSv1.2" />

  4. Configure Infinispan to use one or more cipher suites with the enabled-ciphersuites attribute (for TLSv1.2 and below) and the enabled-ciphersuites-tls13 attribute (for TLSv1.3).

    You must ensure that you set a cipher suite that supports any protocol features you plan to use; for example HTTP/2 ALPN.

  5. Save the changes to your configuration.

SSL engine configuration
XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="default">
        <server-identities>
          <ssl>
            <keystore path="server.p12"
                      relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"
                      password="secret"
                      alias="server"/>
            <!-- Configures Infinispan Server to use specific TLS versions and cipher suites. -->
            <engine enabled-protocols="TLSv1.3 TLSv1.2"
                    enabled-ciphersuites="TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256"
                    enabled-ciphersuites-tls13="TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256:TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256"/>
          </ssl>
        </server-identities>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "default",
        "server-identities": {
          "ssl": {
            "keystore": {
              "alias": "server",
              "path": "server.p12",
              "password": "secret"
            },
            "engine": {
              "enabled-protocols": ["TLSv1.3"],
              "enabled-ciphersuites": "TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256",
              "enabled-ciphersuites-tls13": "TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256:TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256"
            }
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "default"
        serverIdentities:
          ssl:
            keystore:
              alias: "server"
              path: "server.p12"
              password: "secret"
            engine:
              enabledProtocols:
                - "TLSv1.3"
              enabledCiphersuites: "TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384,TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256"
              enabledCiphersuitesTls13: "TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384"

5.2. Configuring Infinispan Server on a system with FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography

FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) are standards and guidelines for US federal computer systems. Although FIPS are developed for use by the US federal government, many in the private sector voluntarily use these standards.

FIPS 140-2 defines security requirements for cryptographic modules. You can configure your Infinispan Server to use encryption ciphers that adhere to the FIPS 140-2 specification by using alternative JDK security providers.

Additional resources

5.2.1. Configuring the PKCS11 cryptographic provider

You can configure the PKCS11 cryptographic provider by specifying the PKCS11 keystore with the SunPKCS11-NSS-FIPS provider.

Prerequisites

  • Configure your system for FIPS mode. You can check if your system has FIPS Mode enabled by issuing the fips-mode-setup --check command in your Infinispan command-line Interface (CLI)

  • Initialize the system-wide NSS database by using the certutil tool.

  • Install the JDK with the java.security file configured to enable the SunPKCS11 provider. This provider points to the NSS database and the SSL provider.

  • Install a certificate in the NSS database.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  2. Add a server-identities definition to the Infinispan Server security realm.

  3. Specify the PKCS11 keystore with the SunPKCS11-NSS-FIPS provider.

  4. Save the changes to your configuration.

Keystore configuration
XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
   <security>
      <security-realms>
         <security-realm name="default">
            <server-identities>
               <ssl>
                  <!-- Adds a keystore that reads certificates from the NSS database. -->
                  <keystore provider="SunPKCS11-NSS-FIPS" type="PKCS11"/>
               </ssl>
            </server-identities>
         </security-realm>
      </security-realms>
   </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "default",
        "server-identities": {
          "ssl": {
            "keystore": {
              "provider": "SunPKCS11-NSS-FIPS",
              "type": "PKCS11"
            }
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "default"
        serverIdentities:
          ssl:
            keystore:
              provider: "SunPKCS11-NSS-FIPS"
              type: "PKCS11"

5.2.2. Configuring the Bouncy Castle FIPS cryptographic provider

You can configure the Bouncy Castle FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) cryptographic provider in your Infinispan server’s configuration.

Prerequisites

  • Configure your system for FIPS mode. You can check if your system has FIPS Mode enabled by issuing the fips-mode-setup --check command in your Infinispan command-line Interface (CLI).

  • Create a keystore in BCFKS format that contains a certificate.

Procedure

  1. Download the Bouncy Castle FIPS JAR file, and add the file to the server/lib directory of your Infinispan Server installation.

  2. To install Bouncy Castle, issue the install command:

    [disconnected]> install org.bouncycastle:bc-fips:1.0.2.3

  3. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  4. Add a server-identities definition to the Infinispan Server security realm.

  5. Specify the BCFKS keystore with the BCFIPS provider.

  6. Save the changes to your configuration.

Keystore configuration
XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
   <security>
      <security-realms>
         <security-realm name="default">
            <server-identities>
               <ssl>
                  <!-- Adds a keystore that reads certificates from the BCFKS keystore. -->
                  <keystore path="server.bcfks" password="secret" alias="server" provider="BCFIPS" type="BCFKS"/>
               </ssl>
            </server-identities>
         </security-realm>
      </security-realms>
   </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "default",
        "server-identities": {
          "ssl": {
            "keystore": {
              "path": "server.bcfks",
              "password": "secret",
              "alias": "server",
              "provider": "BCFIPS",
              "type": "BCFKS"
            }
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "default"
        serverIdentities:
          ssl:
            keystore:
              path: "server.bcfks"
              password: "secret"
              alias: "server"
              provider: "BCFIPS"
              type: "BCFKS"

5.3. Configuring client certificate authentication

Configure Infinispan Server to use mutual TLS to secure client connections.

You can configure Infinispan to verify client identities from certificates in a trust store in two ways:

  • Require a trust store that contains only the signing certificate, which is typically a Certificate Authority (CA). Any client that presents a certificate signed by the CA can connect to Infinispan.

  • Require a trust store that contains all client certificates in addition to the signing certificate. Only clients that present a signed certificate that is present in the trust store can connect to Infinispan.

Alternatively to providing trust stores you can use shared system certificates.
Prerequisites

  • Create a client trust store that contains either the CA certificate or all public certificates.

  • Create a keystore for Infinispan Server and configure an SSL/TLS identity.

PEM files can be used as trust stores provided they contain one or more certificates. These trust stores should be configured with an empty password: password="".
Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  2. Add the require-ssl-client-auth="true" parameter to your endpoints configuration.

  3. Add the client trust store to the $ISPN_HOME/server/conf directory.

  4. Specify the path and password attributes for the truststore element in the Infinispan Server security realm configuration.

  5. Add the <truststore-realm/> element to the security realm if you want Infinispan Server to authenticate each client certificate.

  6. Save the changes to your configuration.

Next steps

  • Set up authorization with client certificates in the Infinispan Server configuration if you control access with security roles and permissions.

  • Configure clients to negotiate SSL/TLS connections with Infinispan Server.

Client certificate authentication configuration

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="trust-store-realm">
        <server-identities>
          <ssl>
            <!-- Provides an SSL/TLS identity with a keystore that
                 contains server certificates. -->
            <keystore path="server.p12"
                      relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"
                      keystore-password="secret"
                      alias="server"/>
            <!-- Configures a trust store that contains client certificates
                 or part of a certificate chain. -->
            <truststore path="trust.p12"
                        relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"
                        password="secret"/>
          </ssl>
        </server-identities>
        <!-- Authenticates client certificates against the trust store. If you configure this, the trust store must contain the public certificates for all clients. -->
        <truststore-realm/>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
  <endpoints>
    <endpoint socket-binding="default"
              security-realm="trust-store-realm"
              require-ssl-client-auth="true">
      <hotrod-connector>
        <authentication>
          <sasl mechanisms="EXTERNAL"
                server-name="infinispan"
                qop="auth"/>
        </authentication>
      </hotrod-connector>
      <rest-connector>
        <authentication mechanisms="CLIENT_CERT"/>
      </rest-connector>
    </endpoint>
  </endpoints>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "trust-store-realm",
        "server-identities": {
          "ssl": {
            "keystore": {
              "path": "server.p12",
              "relative-to": "infinispan.server.config.path",
              "keystore-password": "secret",
              "alias": "server"
            },
            "truststore": {
              "path": "trust.p12",
              "relative-to": "infinispan.server.config.path",
              "password": "secret"
            }
          }
        },
        "truststore-realm": {}
      }]
    },
    "endpoints": [{
      "socket-binding": "default",
      "security-realm": "trust-store-realm",
      "require-ssl-client-auth": "true",
      "connectors": {
        "hotrod": {
          "hotrod-connector": {
            "authentication": {
              "sasl": {
                "mechanisms": "EXTERNAL",
                "server-name": "infinispan",
                "qop": "auth"
              }
            }
          },
          "rest": {
            "rest-connector": {
              "authentication": {
                "mechanisms": "CLIENT_CERT"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }]
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    securityRealms:
      - name: "trust-store-realm"
        serverIdentities:
          ssl:
            keystore:
              path: "server.p12"
              relative-to: "infinispan.server.config.path"
              keystore-password: "secret"
              alias: "server"
            truststore:
              path: "trust.p12"
              relative-to: "infinispan.server.config.path"
              password: "secret"
        truststoreRealm: ~
  endpoints:
    socketBinding: "default"
    securityRealm: "trust-store-realm"
    requireSslClientAuth: "true"
    connectors:
      - hotrod:
          hotrodConnector:
            authentication:
              sasl:
                mechanisms: "EXTERNAL"
                serverName: "infinispan"
                qop: "auth"
      - rest:
          restConnector:
            authentication:
              mechanisms: "CLIENT_CERT"
Additional resources

5.4. Configuring authorization with client certificates

Enabling client certificate authentication means you do not need to specify Infinispan user credentials in client configuration, which means you must associate roles with the Common Name (CN) field in the client certificate(s).

Prerequisites

  • Provide clients with a Java keystore that contains either their public certificates or part of the certificate chain, typically a public CA certificate.

  • Configure Infinispan Server to perform client certificate authentication.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  2. Enable the common-name-role-mapper in the security authorization configuration.

  3. Assign the Common Name (CN) from the client certificate a role with the appropriate permissions.

  4. Save the changes to your configuration.

Infinispan creates the identity of the client by extracting the certificate principal. Any other Subject Alternative Names (SANs) which may be present in the certificate are currently ignored. For this reason, the authorization.group-only-mapping attribute below must be set to false.

Client certificate authorization configuration

XML
<infinispan>
  <cache-container name="certificate-authentication" statistics="true">
    <security>
      <authorization group-only-mapping="false">
        <!-- Declare a role mapper that associates the common name (CN) field in client certificate trust stores with authorization roles. -->
        <common-name-role-mapper/>
        <!-- In this example, if a client certificate contains `CN=Client1` then clients with matching certificates get ALL permissions. -->
        <role name="Client1" permissions="ALL"/>
      </authorization>
    </security>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>
JSON
{
  "infinispan": {
    "cache-container": {
      "name": "certificate-authentication",
      "security": {
        "authorization": {
          "group-only-mapping": false,
          "common-name-role-mapper": null,
          "roles": {
            "Client1": {
              "role": {
                "permissions": "ALL"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
infinispan:
  cacheContainer:
    name: "certificate-authentication"
    security:
      authorization:
        groupOnlyMapping: false
        commonNameRoleMapper: ~
        roles:
          Client1:
            role:
              permissions:
                - "ALL"

6. Storing Infinispan Server credentials in keystores

External services require credentials to authenticate with Infinispan Server. To protect sensitive text strings such as passwords, add them to a credential keystore rather than directly in Infinispan Server configuration files.

You can then configure Infinispan Server to decrypt passwords for establishing connections with services such as databases or LDAP directories.

Plain-text passwords in $ISPN_HOME/server/conf are unencrypted. Any user account with read access to the host filesystem can view plain-text passwords.

While credential keystores are password-protected store encrypted passwords, any user account with write access to the host filesystem can tamper with the keystore itself.

To completely secure Infinispan Server credentials, you should grant read-write access only to user accounts that can configure and run Infinispan Server.

6.1. Setting up credential keystores

Create keystores that encrypt credential for Infinispan Server access.

A credential keystore contains at least one alias that is associated with an encrypted password. After you create a keystore, you specify the alias in a connection configuration such as a database connection pool. Infinispan Server then decrypts the password for that alias from the keystore when the service attempts authentication.

You can create as many credential keystores with as many aliases as required.

As a security best practice, keystores should be readable only by the user who runs the process for Infinispan Server.
Procedure

  1. Open a terminal in $ISPN_HOME.

  2. Create a keystore and add credentials to it with the credentials command.

    By default, keystores are of type PKCS12. Run help credentials for details on changing keystore defaults.

    The following example shows how to create a keystore that contains an alias of "dbpassword" for the password "changeme". When you create a keystore you also specify a password to access the keystore with the -p argument.

    Linux
    bin/cli.sh credentials add dbpassword -c changeme -p "secret1234!"
    Microsoft Windows
    bin\cli.bat credentials add dbpassword -c changeme -p "secret1234!"

  3. Check that the alias is added to the keystore.

    bin/cli.sh credentials ls -p "secret1234!"
dbpassword

  4. Open your Infinispan Server configuration for editing.

  5. Configure Infinispan to use the credential keystore.

    1. Add a credential-stores section to the security configuration.

    2. Specify the name and location of the credential keystore.

    3. Specify the password to access the credential keystore with the clear-text-credential configuration.

      Instead of adding a clear-text password for the credential keystore to your Infinispan Server configuration you can use an external command or masked password for additional security.

      You can also use a password in one credential store as the master password for another credential store.

  6. Reference the credential keystore in configuration that Infinispan Server uses to connect with an external system such as a datasource or LDAP server.

    1. Add a credential-reference section.

    2. Specify the name of the credential keystore with the store attribute.

    3. Specify the password alias with the alias attribute.

      Attributes in the credential-reference configuration are optional.

      • store is required only if you have multiple keystores.

      • alias is required only if the keystore contains multiple password aliases.

  7. Save the changes to your configuration.

6.2. Securing passwords for credential keystores

Infinispan Server requires a password to access credential keystores. You can add that password to Infinispan Server configuration in clear text or, as an added layer of security, you can use an external command for the password or you can mask the password.

Prerequisites

  • Set up a credential keystore for Infinispan Server.

Procedure

Do one of the following:

  • Use the credentials mask command to obscure the password, for example:

    bin/cli.sh credentials mask -i 100 -s pepper99 "secret1234!"

    Masked passwords use Password Based Encryption (PBE) and must be in the following format in your Infinispan Server configuration: <MASKED_VALUE;SALT;ITERATION>.

  • Use an external command that provides the password as standard output.

    An external command can be any executable, such as a shell script or binary, that uses java.lang.Runtime#exec(java.lang.String).
    If the command requires parameters, provide them as a space-separated list of strings.

6.3. Credential keystore configuration

You can add credential keystores to Infinispan Server configuration and use clear-text passwords, masked passwords, or external commands that supply passwords.

Credential keystore with a clear text password

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <credential-stores>
      <credential-store name="credentials" path="credentials.pfx">
        <clear-text-credential clear-text="secret1234!"/>
      </credential-store>
    </credential-stores>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "credential-stores": [{
        "name": "credentials",
        "path": "credentials.pfx",
        "clear-text-credential": {
          "clear-text": "secret1234!"
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    credentialStores:
      - name: credentials
        path: credentials.pfx
        clearTextCredential:
          clearText: "secret1234!"

Credential keystore with a masked password

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <credential-stores>
      <credential-store name="credentials"
                        path="credentials.pfx">
        <masked-credential masked="1oTMDZ5JQj6DVepJviXMnX;pepper99;100"/>
      </credential-store>
    </credential-stores>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "credential-stores": [{
        "name": "credentials",
        "path": "credentials.pfx",
        "masked-credential": {
          "masked": "1oTMDZ5JQj6DVepJviXMnX;pepper99;100"
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    credentialStores:
      - name: credentials
        path: credentials.pfx
        maskedCredential:
          masked: "1oTMDZ5JQj6DVepJviXMnX;pepper99;100"

External command passwords

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <credential-stores>
      <credential-store name="credentials"
                        path="credentials.pfx">
        <command-credential command="/path/to/executable.sh arg1 arg2"/>
      </credential-store>
    </credential-stores>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "credential-stores": [{
        "name": "credentials",
        "path": "credentials.pfx",
        "command-credential": {
          "command": "/path/to/executable.sh arg1 arg2"
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    credentialStores:
      - name: credentials
        path: credentials.pfx
        commandCredential:
          command: "/path/to/executable.sh arg1 arg2"

6.4. Credential keystore references

After you add credential keystores to Infinispan Server you can reference them in connection configurations.

Datasource connections

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <credential-stores>
      <credential-store name="credentials"
                        path="credentials.pfx">
        <clear-text-credential clear-text="secret1234!"/>
      </credential-store>
    </credential-stores>
  </security>
  <data-sources>
    <data-source name="postgres"
                 jndi-name="jdbc/postgres">
      <!-- Specifies the database username in the connection factory. -->
      <connection-factory driver="org.postgresql.Driver"
                          username="dbuser"
                          url="${org.infinispan.server.test.postgres.jdbcUrl}">
        <!-- Specifies the credential keystore that contains an encrypted password and the alias for it. -->
        <credential-reference store="credentials"
                              alias="dbpassword"/>
      </connection-factory>
      <connection-pool max-size="10"
                       min-size="1"
                       background-validation="1000"
                       idle-removal="1"
                       initial-size="1"
                       leak-detection="10000"/>
    </data-source>
  </data-sources>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "credential-stores": [{
        "name": "credentials",
        "path": "credentials.pfx",
        "clear-text-credential": {
          "clear-text": "secret1234!"
        }
      }],
      "data-sources": [{
        "name": "postgres",
        "jndi-name": "jdbc/postgres",
        "connection-factory": {
          "driver": "org.postgresql.Driver",
          "username": "dbuser",
          "url": "${org.infinispan.server.test.postgres.jdbcUrl}",
          "credential-reference": {
            "store": "credentials",
            "alias": "dbpassword"
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    credentialStores:
      - name: credentials
        path: credentials.pfx
        clearTextCredential:
          clearText: "secret1234!"
  dataSources:
    - name: postgres
      jndiName: jdbc/postgres
      connectionFactory:
        driver: org.postgresql.Driver
        username: dbuser
        url: '${org.infinispan.server.test.postgres.jdbcUrl}'
        credentialReference:
          store: credentials
          alias: dbpassword

LDAP connections

XML
<server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <credential-stores>
      <credential-store name="credentials"
                        path="credentials.pfx">
        <clear-text-credential clear-text="secret1234!"/>
      </credential-store>
    </credential-stores>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="default">
        <!-- Specifies the LDAP principal in the connection factory. -->
        <ldap-realm name="ldap"
                    url="ldap://my-ldap-server:10389"
                    principal="uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org">
          <!-- Specifies the credential keystore that contains an encrypted password and the alias for it. -->
          <credential-reference store="credentials"
                                alias="ldappassword"/>
        </ldap-realm>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>
JSON
{
  "server": {
    "security": {
      "credential-stores": [{
        "name": "credentials",
        "path": "credentials.pfx",
        "clear-text-credential": {
          "clear-text": "secret1234!"
        }
      }],
      "security-realms": [{
        "name": "default",
        "ldap-realm": {
          "name": "ldap",
          "url": "ldap://my-ldap-server:10389",
          "principal": "uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org",
          "credential-reference": {
            "store": "credentials",
            "alias": "ldappassword"
          }
        }
      }]
    }
  }
}
YAML
server:
  security:
    credentialStores:
      - name: credentials
        path: credentials.pfx
        clearTextCredential:
          clearText: "secret1234!"
    securityRealms:
      - name: "default"
        ldapRealm:
          name: ldap
          url: 'ldap://my-ldap-server:10389'
          principal: 'uid=admin,ou=People,dc=infinispan,dc=org'
          credentialReference:
            store: credentials
            alias: ldappassword

7. Encrypting cluster transport

Secure cluster transport so that nodes communicate with encrypted messages. You can also configure Infinispan clusters to perform certificate authentication so that only nodes with valid identities can join.

7.1. Securing cluster transport with TLS identities

Add SSL/TLS identities to a Infinispan Server security realm and use them to secure cluster transport. Nodes in the Infinispan Server cluster then exchange SSL/TLS certificates to encrypt JGroups messages, including RELAY messages if you configure cross-site replication.

Prerequisites

  • Install a Infinispan Server cluster.

Procedure

  1. Create a TLS keystore that contains a single certificate to identify Infinispan Server.

    You can also use a PEM file if it contains a private key in PKCS#1 or PKCS#8 format, a certificate, and has an empty password: password="".

    If the certificate in the keystore is not signed by a public certificate authority (CA) then you must also create a trust store that contains either the signing certificate or the public key.

  2. Add the keystore to the $ISPN_HOME/server/conf directory.

  3. Add the keystore to a new security realm in your Infinispan Server configuration.

    You should create dedicated keystores and security realms so that Infinispan Server endpoints do not use the same security realm as cluster transport.

    		 
    <server xmlns="urn:infinispan:server:15.0">
  <security>
    <security-realms>
      <security-realm name="cluster-transport">
        <server-identities>
          <ssl>
            <!-- Adds a keystore that contains a certificate that provides SSL/TLS identity to encrypt cluster transport. -->
            <keystore path="server.pfx"
                      relative-to="infinispan.server.config.path"
                      password="secret"
                      alias="server"/>
          </ssl>
        </server-identities>
      </security-realm>
    </security-realms>
  </security>
</server>

  4. Configure cluster transport to use the security realm by specifying the name of the security realm with the server:security-realm attribute.

    <infinispan>
  <cache-container>
    <transport server:security-realm="cluster-transport"/>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>
Verification

When you start Infinispan Server, the following log message indicates that the cluster is using the security realm for cluster transport:

[org.infinispan.SERVER] ISPN080060: SSL Transport using realm <security_realm_name>

7.2. JGroups encryption protocols

To secure cluster traffic, you can configure Infinispan nodes to encrypt JGroups message payloads with secret keys.

Infinispan nodes can obtain secret keys from either:

  • The coordinator node (asymmetric encryption).

  • A shared keystore (symmetric encryption).

Retrieving secret keys from coordinator nodes

You configure asymmetric encryption by adding the ASYM_ENCRYPT protocol to a JGroups stack in your Infinispan configuration. This allows Infinispan clusters to generate and distribute secret keys.

When using asymmetric encryption, you should also provide keystores so that nodes can perform certificate authentication and securely exchange secret keys. This protects your cluster from man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks.

Asymmetric encryption secures cluster traffic as follows:

  1. The first node in the Infinispan cluster, the coordinator node, generates a secret key.

  2. A joining node performs certificate authentication with the coordinator to mutually verify identity.

  3. The joining node requests the secret key from the coordinator node. That request includes the public key for the joining node.

  4. The coordinator node encrypts the secret key with the public key and returns it to the joining node.

  5. The joining node decrypts and installs the secret key.

  6. The node joins the cluster, encrypting and decrypting messages with the secret key.

Retrieving secret keys from shared keystores

You configure symmetric encryption by adding the SYM_ENCRYPT protocol to a JGroups stack in your Infinispan configuration. This allows Infinispan clusters to obtain secret keys from keystores that you provide.

  1. Nodes install the secret key from a keystore on the Infinispan classpath at startup.

  2. Node join clusters, encrypting and decrypting messages with the secret key.

Comparison of asymmetric and symmetric encryption

ASYM_ENCRYPT with certificate authentication provides an additional layer of encryption in comparison with SYM_ENCRYPT. You provide keystores that encrypt the requests to coordinator nodes for the secret key. Infinispan automatically generates that secret key and handles cluster traffic, while letting you specify when to generate secret keys. For example, you can configure clusters to generate new secret keys when nodes leave. This ensures that nodes cannot bypass certificate authentication and join with old keys.

SYM_ENCRYPT, on the other hand, is faster than ASYM_ENCRYPT because nodes do not need to exchange keys with the cluster coordinator. A potential drawback to SYM_ENCRYPT is that there is no configuration to automatically generate new secret keys when cluster membership changes. Users are responsible for generating and distributing the secret keys that nodes use to encrypt cluster traffic.

7.3. Securing cluster transport with asymmetric encryption

Configure Infinispan clusters to generate and distribute secret keys that encrypt JGroups messages.

Procedure

  1. Create a keystore with certificate chains that enables Infinispan to verify node identity.

  2. Place the keystore on the classpath for each node in the cluster.

    For Infinispan Server, you put the keystore in the $ISPN_HOME directory.

  3. Add the SSL_KEY_EXCHANGE and ASYM_ENCRYPT protocols to a JGroups stack in your Infinispan configuration, as in the following example:

    <infinispan>
  <jgroups>
    <!-- Creates a secure JGroups stack named "encrypt-tcp" that extends the default TCP stack. -->
    <stack name="encrypt-tcp" extends="tcp">
      <!-- Adds a keystore that nodes use to perform certificate authentication. -->
      <!-- Uses the stack.combine and stack.position attributes to insert SSL_KEY_EXCHANGE into the default TCP stack after VERIFY_SUSPECT2. -->
      <SSL_KEY_EXCHANGE keystore_name="mykeystore.jks"
                        keystore_password="changeit"
                        stack.combine="INSERT_AFTER"
                        stack.position="VERIFY_SUSPECT2"/>
      <!-- Configures ASYM_ENCRYPT -->
      <!-- Uses the stack.combine and stack.position attributes to insert ASYM_ENCRYPT into the default TCP stack before pbcast.NAKACK2. -->
      <!-- The use_external_key_exchange = "true" attribute configures nodes to use the `SSL_KEY_EXCHANGE` protocol for certificate authentication. -->
      <ASYM_ENCRYPT asym_keylength="2048"
                    asym_algorithm="RSA"
                    change_key_on_coord_leave = "false"
                    change_key_on_leave = "false"
                    use_external_key_exchange = "true"
                    stack.combine="INSERT_BEFORE"
                    stack.position="pbcast.NAKACK2"/>
    </stack>
  </jgroups>
  <cache-container name="default" statistics="true">
    <!-- Configures the cluster to use the JGroups stack. -->
    <transport cluster="${infinispan.cluster.name}"
               stack="encrypt-tcp"
               node-name="${infinispan.node.name:}"/>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>
Verification

When you start your Infinispan cluster, the following log message indicates that the cluster is using the secure JGroups stack:

[org.infinispan.CLUSTER] ISPN000078: Starting JGroups channel cluster with stack <encrypted_stack_name>

Infinispan nodes can join the cluster only if they use ASYM_ENCRYPT and can obtain the secret key from the coordinator node. Otherwise the following message is written to Infinispan logs:

[org.jgroups.protocols.ASYM_ENCRYPT] <hostname>: received message without encrypt header from <hostname>; dropping it
Additional resources

7.4. Securing cluster transport with symmetric encryption

Configure Infinispan clusters to encrypt JGroups messages with secret keys from keystores that you provide.

Procedure

  1. Create a keystore that contains a secret key.

  2. Place the keystore on the classpath for each node in the cluster.

    For Infinispan Server, you put the keystore in the $ISPN_HOME directory.

  3. Add the SYM_ENCRYPT protocol to a JGroups stack in your Infinispan configuration.

<infinispan>
  <jgroups>
    <!-- Creates a secure JGroups stack named "encrypt-tcp" that extends the default TCP stack. -->
    <stack name="encrypt-tcp" extends="tcp">
      <!-- Adds a keystore from which nodes obtain secret keys. -->
      <!-- Uses the stack.combine and stack.position attributes to insert SYM_ENCRYPT into the default TCP stack after VERIFY_SUSPECT2. -->
      <SYM_ENCRYPT keystore_name="myKeystore.p12"
                   keystore_type="PKCS12"
                   store_password="changeit"
                   key_password="changeit"
                   alias="myKey"
                   stack.combine="INSERT_AFTER"
                   stack.position="VERIFY_SUSPECT2"/>
    </stack>
  </jgroups>
  <cache-container name="default" statistics="true">
    <!-- Configures the cluster to use the JGroups stack. -->
    <transport cluster="${infinispan.cluster.name}"
               stack="encrypt-tcp"
               node-name="${infinispan.node.name:}"/>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>
Verification

When you start your Infinispan cluster, the following log message indicates that the cluster is using the secure JGroups stack:

[org.infinispan.CLUSTER] ISPN000078: Starting JGroups channel cluster with stack <encrypted_stack_name>

Infinispan nodes can join the cluster only if they use SYM_ENCRYPT and can obtain the secret key from the shared keystore. Otherwise the following message is written to Infinispan logs:

[org.jgroups.protocols.SYM_ENCRYPT] <hostname>: received message without encrypt header from <hostname>; dropping it
Additional resources

8. Infinispan ports and protocols

As Infinispan distributes data across your network and can establish connections for external client requests, you should be aware of the ports and protocols that Infinispan uses to handle network traffic.

If run Infinispan as a remote server then you might need to allow remote clients through your firewall. Likewise, you should adjust ports that Infinispan nodes use for cluster communication to prevent conflicts or network issues.

8.1. Infinispan Server ports and protocols

Infinispan Server provides network endpoints that allow client access with different protocols.

Port Protocol Description

11222

TCP

Hot Rod and REST

11221

TCP

Memcached (disabled by default)

Single port

Infinispan Server exposes multiple protocols through a single TCP port, 11222. Handling multiple protocols with a single port simplifies configuration and reduces management complexity when deploying Infinispan clusters. Using a single port also enhances security by minimizing the attack surface on the network.

Infinispan Server handles HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, and Hot Rod protocol requests from clients via the single port in different ways.

HTTP/1.1 upgrade headers

Client requests can include the HTTP/1.1 upgrade header field to initiate HTTP/1.1 connections with Infinispan Server. Client applications can then send the Upgrade: protocol header field, where protocol is a server endpoint.

Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation (ALPN)/Transport Layer Security (TLS)

Client requests include Server Name Indication (SNI) mappings for Infinispan Server endpoints to negotiate protocols over a TLS connection.

Automatic Hot Rod detection

Client requests that include Hot Rod headers automatically route to Hot Rod endpoints.

8.1.1. Configuring network firewalls for Infinispan traffic

Adjust firewall rules to allow traffic between Infinispan Server and client applications.

Procedure

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) workstations, for example, you can allow traffic to port 11222 with firewalld as follows:

# firewall-cmd --add-port=11222/tcp --permanent
success
# firewall-cmd --list-ports | grep 11222
11222/tcp

To configure firewall rules that apply across a network, you can use the nftables utility.

8.2. TCP and UDP ports for cluster traffic

Infinispan uses the following ports for cluster transport messages:

Default Port Protocol Description

7800

TCP/UDP

JGroups cluster bind port

46655

UDP

JGroups multicast

57800

TCP

Failure detection is provided by FD_SOCK2.

Cross-site replication

Infinispan uses the following ports for the JGroups RELAY2 protocol:

7900

For Infinispan clusters running on Kubernetes.

7801

For other deployments.