How to set up SSSD with LDAP and Kerberos
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With SSSD we can create a setup that is very similar to Active Directory in terms of the technologies used: using LDAP for users and groups, and Kerberos for authentication.
Prerequisites and assumptions
For this setup, we will need:
- An existing OpenLDAP server using the RFC2307 schema for users and groups. SSL support is recommended, but not strictly necessary because authentication in this setup is being done via Kerberos, and not LDAP.
- A Kerberos server. It doesn’t have to be using the OpenLDAP backend.
- A client host where we will install and configure SSSD.
Install necessary software
On the client host, install the following packages:
sudo apt install sssd-ldap sssd-krb5 ldap-utils krb5-user
You may be asked about the default Kerberos realm. For this guide, we are using EXAMPLE.COM.
At this point, you should already be able to obtain tickets from your Kerberos server, assuming DNS records point at it:
$ kinit ubuntu
Password for ubuntu@EXAMPLE.COM:
ubuntu@ldap-krb-client:~$ klist
Ticket cache: FILE:/tmp/krb5cc_1000
Default principal: ubuntu@EXAMPLE.COM
Valid starting Expires Service principal
04/17/20 19:51:06 04/18/20 05:51:06 krbtgt/EXAMPLE.COM@EXAMPLE.COM
renew until 04/18/20 19:51:05
But we want to be able to login as an LDAP user, authenticated via Kerberos. Let’s continue with the configuration.
Configure SSSD
Create the /etc/sssd/sssd.conf configuration file, with permissions 0600 and ownership root:root, and add the following content:
[sssd]
config_file_version = 2
domains = example.com
[domain/example.com]
id_provider = ldap
ldap_uri = ldap://ldap01.example.com
ldap_search_base = dc=example,dc=com
auth_provider = krb5
krb5_server = kdc01.example.com,kdc02.example.com
krb5_kpasswd = kdc01.example.com
krb5_realm = EXAMPLE.COM
cache_credentials = True
This example uses two KDCs, which made it necessary to also specify the krb5_kpasswd server because the second KDC is a replica and is not running the admin server.
Start the sssd service:
sudo systemctl start sssd.service
Automatic home directory creation
To enable automatic home directory creation, run the following command:
sudo pam-auth-update --enable mkhomedir
Final verification
In this example, the LDAP server has the following user and group entry we are going to use for testing:
dn: uid=john,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
uid: john
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
objectClass: posixAccount
cn: John Smith
sn: Smith
givenName: John
mail: john@example.com
uidNumber: 10001
gidNumber: 10001
loginShell: /bin/bash
homeDirectory: /home/john
dn: cn=john,ou=Group,dc=example,dc=com
cn: john
objectClass: posixGroup
gidNumber: 10001
memberUid: john
dn: cn=Engineering,ou=Group,dc=example,dc=com
cn: Engineering
objectClass: posixGroup
gidNumber: 10100
memberUid: john
Note how the user john has no userPassword attribute.
The user john should be known to the system:
ubuntu@ldap-client:~$ getent passwd john
john:*:10001:10001:John Smith:/home/john:/bin/bash
ubuntu@ldap-client:~$ id john
uid=10001(john) gid=10001(john) groups=10001(john),10100(Engineering)
Let’s try a login as this user:
ubuntu@ldap-krb-client:~$ sudo login
ldap-krb-client login: john
Password:
Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.4.0-24-generic x86_64)
(...)
Creating directory '/home/john'.
john@ldap-krb-client:~$ klist
Ticket cache: FILE:/tmp/krb5cc_10001_BOrxWr
Default principal: john@EXAMPLE.COM
Valid starting Expires Service principal
04/17/20 20:29:50 04/18/20 06:29:50 krbtgt/EXAMPLE.COM@EXAMPLE.COM
renew until 04/18/20 20:29:50
john@ldap-krb-client:~$
We logged in using the Kerberos password, and user/group information from the LDAP server.
SSSD and KDC spoofing
When using SSSD to manage Kerberos logins on a Linux host, there is an attack scenario you should be aware of: KDC spoofing.
The objective of the attacker is to login on a workstation that is using Kerberos authentication. Let’s say they know john is a valid user on that machine.
The attacker first deploys a rogue Key Distribution Center (KDC) server in the network, and creates the john principal there with a password of the attacker’s choosing. What they must do now is have their rogue KDC respond to the login request from the workstation, before (or instead of) the real KDC. If the workstation isn’t authenticating the KDC, it will accept the reply from the rogue server and let john in.
There is a configuration parameter that can be set to protect the workstation from this type of attack. It will have SSSD authenticate the KDC, and block the login if the KDC cannot be verified. This option is called krb5_validate, and it’s false by default.
To enable it, edit /etc/sssd/sssd.conf and add this line to the domain section:
[sssd]
config_file_version = 2
domains = example.com
[domain/example.com]
id_provider = ldap
...
krb5_validate = True
The second step is to create a host principal on the KDC for this workstation. This is how the KDC’s authenticity is verified. It’s like a “machine account”, with a shared secret that the attacker cannot control and replicate in the rogue KDC. The host principal has the format host/<fqdn>@REALM.
After the host principal is created, its keytab needs to be stored on the workstation. This two step process can be easily done on the workstation itself via kadmin (not kadmin.local) to contact the KDC remotely:
$ sudo kadmin -p ubuntu/admin
kadmin: addprinc -randkey host/ldap-krb-client.example.com@EXAMPLE.COM
WARNING: no policy specified for host/ldap-krb-client.example.com@EXAMPLE.COM; defaulting to no policy
Principal "host/ldap-krb-client.example.com@EXAMPLE.COM" created.
kadmin: ktadd -k /etc/krb5.keytab host/ldap-krb-client.example.com
Entry for principal host/ldap-krb-client.example.com with kvno 6, encryption type aes256-cts-hmac-sha1-96 added to keytab WRFILE:/etc/krb5.keytab.
Entry for principal host/ldap-krb-client.example.com with kvno 6, encryption type aes128-cts-hmac-sha1-96 added to keytab WRFILE:/etc/krb5.keytab.
Then exit the tool and make sure the permissions on the keytab file are tight:
sudo chmod 0600 /etc/krb5.keytab
sudo chown root:root /etc/krb5.keytab
You can also do it on the KDC itself using kadmin.local, but you will have to store the keytab temporarily in another file and securely copy it over to the workstation.
Once these steps are complete, you can restart SSSD on the workstation and perform the login. If the rogue KDC notices the attempt and replies, it will fail the host verification. With debugging we can see this happening on the workstation:
==> /var/log/sssd/krb5_child.log <==
(Mon Apr 20 19:43:58 2020) [[sssd[krb5_child[2102]]]] [validate_tgt] (0x0020): TGT failed verification using key for [host/ldap-krb-client.example.com@EXAMPLE.COM].
(Mon Apr 20 19:43:58 2020) [[sssd[krb5_child[2102]]]] [get_and_save_tgt] (0x0020): 1741: [-1765328377][Server host/ldap-krb-client.example.com@EXAMPLE.COM not found in Kerberos database]
And the login is denied. If the real KDC picks it up, however, the host verification succeeds:
==> /var/log/sssd/krb5_child.log <==
(Mon Apr 20 19:46:22 2020) [[sssd[krb5_child[2268]]]] [validate_tgt] (0x0400): TGT verified using key for [host/ldap-krb-client.example.com@EXAMPLE.COM].
And the login is accepted.