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  • MeshOPA (beta) - OPA Policy Integration
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  • MeshOPA policy plugin
  • TargetRef support matrix
  • Configuration
    • Inline
    • With secrets
  • Configuration
  • Configuring the authorization filter
  • Support for external API management servers
  • Example
  • All policy options
You are browsing documentation for an outdated version. See the latest documentation here.

MeshOPA (beta) - OPA Policy Integration

This feature is released as beta and should not be depended upon in a production environment.

Warning: This policy uses the new policy matching algorithm and is in a beta state. It should not be mixed with the OPA Policy.

MeshOPA policy plugin

Kong Mesh integrates the Open Policy Agent (OPA) to provide access control for your services.

The agent is included in the data plane proxy sidecar, instead of the more common deployment as a separate sidecar.

When the MeshOPA policy is applied, the control plane configures the following:

  • The embedded policy agent, with the specified policy
  • Envoy, to use External Authorization that points to the embedded policy agent

TargetRef support matrix

TargetRef type top level to from
Mesh ✅ ❌ ❌
MeshSubset ✅ ❌ ❌
MeshService ✅ ❌ ❌
MeshServiceSubset ✅ ❌ ❌
MeshGatewayRoute ❌ ❌ ❌

To learn more about the information in this table, see the matching docs.

Configuration

To apply a policy with MeshOPA, you must do the following:

  • Specify the group of data plane proxies to apply the policy to with the targetRef property.
  • Provide a policy with the appendPolicies property. Policies are defined in the Rego language.
  • Optionally provide custom configuration for the policy agent.

    Note: You cannot currently apply multiple OPA policies. This limitation will be addressed in the future.

You must also specify the HTTP protocol in your mesh configuration:

Kubernetes
Universal

Add the HTTP protocol annotation to the Kubernetes Service configuration, with appProtocol field.

Example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: web
  namespace: kong-mesh-example
spec:
  selector:
    app: web
  ports:
  - port: 8080
    appProtocol: http

Add the HTTP protocol tag to the Dataplane configuration.

Example:

type: Dataplane
mesh: default
name: web
networking:
  address: 192.168.0.1
  inbound:
  - port: 80
    servicePort: 8080
    tags:
      kuma.io/service: web
      kuma.io/protocol: http # required for OPA support

For more information, see the Kong Mesh documentation about protocol support.

Inline

Kubernetes
Universal
apiVersion: kuma.io/v1alpha1
kind: MeshOPA
metadata:
  name: mopa-1
  namespace: kong-mesh-system
  labels:
    kuma.io/mesh: default # optional, defaults to `default` if unset
spec:
  targetRef:
    kind: Mesh
  default:
    agentConfig: # optional
      inlineString: | # one of: inlineString, secret
        decision_logs:
          console: true
    appendPolicies:
      - inlineString: | # one of: inlineString, secret
          package envoy.authz

          import input.attributes.request.http as http_request

          default allow = false

          token = {"valid": valid, "payload": payload} {
              [_, encoded] := split(http_request.headers.authorization, " ")
              [valid, _, payload] := io.jwt.decode_verify(encoded, {"secret": "secret"})
          }

          allow {
              is_token_valid
              action_allowed
          }

          is_token_valid {
            token.valid
            now := time.now_ns() / 1000000000
            token.payload.nbf <= now
            now < token.payload.exp
          }

          action_allowed {
            http_request.method == "GET"
            token.payload.role == "admin"
          }
type: MeshOPA
mesh: default
name: mopa-1
spec:
  targetRef:
    kind: Mesh
  default:
    agentConfig: # optional
      inlineString: | # one of: inlineString, secret
        decision_logs:
          console: true
    appendPolicies: # optional
      - inlineString: | # one of: inlineString, secret
          package envoy.authz

          import input.attributes.request.http as http_request

          default allow = false

          token = {"valid": valid, "payload": payload} {
              [_, encoded] := split(http_request.headers.authorization, " ")
              [valid, _, payload] := io.jwt.decode_verify(encoded, {"secret": "secret"})
          }

          allow {
              is_token_valid
              action_allowed
          }

          is_token_valid {
            token.valid
            now := time.now_ns() / 1000000000
            token.payload.nbf <= now
            now < token.payload.exp
          }

          action_allowed {
            http_request.method == "GET"
            token.payload.role == "admin"
          }

With secrets

Encoding the policy in a Secret provides some security for policies that contain sensitive data.

Kubernetes
Universal
  1. Define a Secret with a policy that’s Base64-encoded:

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: mopa-policy
      namespace: kong-mesh-system
      labels:
        kuma.io/mesh: default
    data:
      value: 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
    type: system.kuma.io/secret
    
  2. Pass the Secret to MeshOPA:

    apiVersion: kuma.io/v1alpha1
    kind: MeshOPA
    metadata:
      name: mopa-1
      namespace: kong-mesh-system
      labels:
        kuma.io/mesh: default
    spec:
      targetRef:
        kind: Mesh
      default:
        appendPolicies:
          - secret: mopa-policy
    
  1. Define a Secret with a policy that’s Base64-encoded:

    type: Secret
    name: sample-secret
    mesh: default
    data: 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
    
  2. Pass the Secret to MeshOPA:

    type: MeshOPA
    mesh: default
    name: mopa-1
    spec:
      targetRef:
        kind: Mesh
      default:
        appendPolicies:
          - secret: mopa-policy
    

Configuration

Kong Mesh defines a default configuration for OPA, but you can adjust the configuration to meet your environment’s requirements.

The following environment variables are available:

Variable Type What it configures Default value {:width=25%:}
KMESH_OPA_ADDR string Address OPA API server listens on localhost:8181
KMESH_OPA_CONFIG_PATH string Path to file of initial config N/A
KMESH_OPA_DIAGNOSTIC_ADDR string Address of OPA diagnostics server 0.0.0.0:8282
KMESH_OPA_ENABLED bool Whether kuma-dp starts embedded OPA true
KMESH_OPA_EXT_AUTHZ_ADDR string Address of Envoy External AuthZ service localhost:9191
KMESH_OPA_CONFIG_OVERRIDES strings Overrides for OPA configuration, in addition to config file(*) [plugins.envoy_ext_authz_grpc. query=data.envoy.authz.allow]
kumactl
Helm
Pod
Universal

When you deploy the Mesh control plane, edit the kong-mesh-control-plane-config ConfigMap:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: kong-mesh-control-plane-config
  namespace: kong-mesh-system
data:
  config.yaml: |
    runtime:
      kubernetes:
        injector:
          sidecarContainer:
            envVars:
              KMESH_OPA_ENABLED: "false"
              KMESH_OPA_ADDR: ":8888"
              KMESH_OPA_CONFIG_OVERRIDES: "config1:x,config2:y"

Override the Helm value in values.yaml

kuma:
  controlPlane:
    config: |
      runtime:
        kubernetes:
          injector:
            sidecarContainer:
              envVars:
                KMESH_OPA_ENABLED: "false"
                KMESH_OPA_ADDR: ":8888"
                KMESH_OPA_CONFIG_OVERRIDES: "config1:x,config2:y"

Override the config for individual data plane proxies by placing the appropriate annotations on the Pod:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example-app
  namespace: kuma-example
spec:
  ...
  template:
    metadata:
      ...
      annotations:
        # indicate to Kong Mesh that this Pod doesn't need a sidecar
        kuma.io/sidecar-env-vars: "KMESH_OPA_ENABLED=false;KMESH_OPA_ADDR=:8888;KMESH_OPA_CONFIG_OVERRIDES=config1:x,config2:y"

The run command on the data plane proxy accepts the following equivalent parameters if you prefer not to set environment variables:

--opa-addr
--opa-config-path
--opa-diagnostic-addr
--opa-enabled                    
--opa-ext-authz-addr
--opa-set strings

Configuring the authorization filter

You can configure the external authorization filter by adjusting the authConfig section.

Kubernetes
Universal
apiVersion: kuma.io/v1alpha1
kind: MeshOPA
metadata:
  name: mopa-1
  namespace: kong-mesh-system
  labels:
    kuma.io/mesh: default # optional, defaults to `default` if unset
spec:
  targetRef:
    kind: Mesh
  default:
    authConfig: # optional
      statusOnError: 413 # optional: defaults to 403.
      onAgentFailure: allow # optional: one of 'allow' or 'deny', defaults to 'deny' defines the behavior when communication with the agent fails or the policy execution fails.
      requestBody: # optional
          maxSize: 1024 # the max number of bytes to send to the agent, if we exceed this, the request to the agent will have: `x-envoy-auth-partial-body: true`.
          sendRawBody: true # use when the body is not plaintext. The agent request will have `raw_body` instead of `body`
...
type: MeshOPA
mesh: default
name: mopa-1
spec:
  targetRef:
    kind: Mesh
  default:
    authConfig: # optional
      statusOnError: 413 # optional: defaults to 403. http statusCode to use when the connection to the agent failed.
      onAgentFailure: allow # optional: one of 'allow' or 'deny', defaults to 'deny'. defines the behavior when communication with the agent fails or the policy execution fails.
      requestBody: # optional
        maxSize: 1024 # the maximum number of bytes to send to the agent, if we exceed this, the request to the agent will have: `x-envoy-auth-partial-body: true`.
        sendRawBody: true # use when the body is not plaintext. The agent request will have `raw_body` instead of `body`
...

By default, the body will not be sent to the agent. To send it, set authConfig.requestBody.maxSize to the maximum size of your body. If the request body is larger than this parameter, it will be truncated and the header x-envoy-auth-partial-body will be set to true.

Support for external API management servers

The agentConfig field lets you define a custom configuration that points to an external management server:

Kubernetes
Universal
apiVersion: kuma.io/v1alpha1
kind: MeshOPA
metadata:
  name: mopa-1
  namespace: kong-mesh-system
  labels:
    kuma.io/mesh: default
spec:
  targetRef:
    kind: Mesh
  default:
    agentConfig:
      inlineString: |
        services:
          acmecorp:
            url: https://example.com/control-plane-api/v1
            credentials:
              bearer:
                token: "bGFza2RqZmxha3NkamZsa2Fqc2Rsa2ZqYWtsc2RqZmtramRmYWxkc2tm"

        discovery:
          name: example
          resource: /configuration/example/discovery
type: MeshOPA
mesh: default
name: mopa-1
spec:
  targetRef:
    kind: Mesh
  default:
    agentConfig:
      inlineString: | # one of: inlineString, secret
        services:
          acmecorp:
            url: https://example.com/control-plane-api/v1
            credentials:
              bearer:
                token: "bGFza2RqZmxha3NkamZsa2Fqc2Rsa2ZqYWtsc2RqZmtramRmYWxkc2tm"
        discovery:
          name: example
          resource: /configuration/example/discovery

Example

The following example shows how to deploy and test a sample MeshOPA policy on Kubernetes, using the kuma-demo application.

  1. Deploy the example application:

    kubectl apply -f https://bit.ly/demokuma
    
  2. Make a request from the frontend to the backend:

    kubectl exec -i -t $(kubectl get pod -l "app=kuma-demo-frontend" -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}' -n kuma-demo) -n kuma-demo -c kuma-fe -- curl backend:3001 -v
    

    The output looks like:

    Defaulting container name to kuma-fe.
    Use 'kubectl describe pod/kuma-demo-app-6787b4f7f5-m428c -n kuma-demo' to see all of the containers in this pod.
    *   Trying 10.111.108.218:3001...
    * TCP_NODELAY set
    * Connected to backend (10.111.108.218) port 3001 (#0)
    > GET / HTTP/1.1
    > Host: backend:3001
    > User-Agent: curl/7.67.0
    > Accept: */*
    >
    * Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
    < HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    < x-powered-by: Express
    < cache-control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, private
    < access-control-allow-origin: *
    < access-control-allow-methods: PUT, GET, POST, DELETE, OPTIONS
    < access-control-allow-headers: *
    < host: backend:3001
    < user-agent: curl/7.67.0
    < accept: */*
    < x-forwarded-proto: http
    < x-request-id: 1717af9c-2587-43b9-897f-f8061bba5ad4
    < content-length: 90
    < content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
    < date: Tue, 16 Mar 2021 15:33:18 GMT
    < x-envoy-upstream-service-time: 1521
    < server: envoy
    <
    * Connection #0 to host backend left intact
    Hello World! Marketplace with sales and reviews made with <3 by the OCTO team at Kong Inc.
    
  3. Apply a MeshOPA policy that requires a valid JWT token:

    echo "
    apiVersion: kuma.io/v1alpha1
    kind: MeshOPA
    metadata:
      namespace: kong-mesh-system
      name: mopa-1
      labels:
        kuma.io/mesh: default
    spec:
      targetRef:
        kind: Mesh
      default:
        appendPolicies:
          - inlineString: |
              package envoy.authz
              import input.attributes.request.http as http_request
    
              default allow = false
    
              token = {\"valid\": valid, \"payload\": payload} {
                  [_, encoded] := split(http_request.headers.authorization, \" \")
                  [valid, _, payload] := io.jwt.decode_verify(encoded, {\"secret\": \"secret\"})
              }
    
              allow {
                  is_token_valid
                  action_allowed
              }
    
              is_token_valid {
                token.valid
                now := time.now_ns() / 1000000000
                token.payload.nbf <= now
                now < token.payload.exp
              }
    
              action_allowed {
                http_request.method == \"GET\"
                token.payload.role == \"admin\"
              }
    " | kubectl apply -f -
    
  4. Make an invalid request from the frontend to the backend:

    kubectl exec -i -t $(kubectl get pod -l "app=kuma-demo-frontend" -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}' -n kuma-demo) -n kuma-demo -c kuma-fe -- curl backend:3001 -v
    

    The output looks like:

    Defaulting container name to kuma-fe.
    Use 'kubectl describe pod/kuma-demo-app-6787b4f7f5-bwvnb -n kuma-demo' to see all of the containers in this pod.
    *   Trying 10.105.146.164:3001...
    * TCP_NODELAY set
    * Connected to backend (10.105.146.164) port 3001 (#0)
    > GET / HTTP/1.1
    > Host: backend:3001
    > User-Agent: curl/7.67.0
    > Accept: */*
    >
    * Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
    < HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
    < date: Tue, 09 Mar 2021 16:50:40 GMT
    < server: envoy
    < x-envoy-upstream-service-time: 2
    < content-length: 0
    <
    * Connection #0 to host backend left intact
    

    Note the HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden message. The application doesn’t allow a request without a valid token.

    The policy can take up to 30 seconds to propagate, so if this request succeeds the first time, wait and then try again.

  5. Make a valid request from the frontend to the backend.

    Export the token into an environment variable:

    export ADMIN_TOKEN="eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJyb2xlIjoiYWRtaW4iLCJzdWIiOiJZbTlpIiwibmJmIjoxNTE0ODUxMTM5LCJleHAiOjI1MjQ2MDgwMDB9.H0-42LYzoWyQ_4MXAcED30u6lA5JE087eECV2nxDfXo"
    

    Make the request:

    kubectl exec -i -t $(kubectl get pod -l "app=kuma-demo-frontend" -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}' -n kuma-demo) -n kuma-demo -c kuma-fe -- curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $ADMIN_TOKEN" backend:3001
    

    The output looks like:

    Defaulting container name to kuma-fe.
    Use 'kubectl describe pod/kuma-demo-app-6787b4f7f5-m428c -n kuma-demo' to see all of the containers in this pod.
    *   Trying 10.111.108.218:3001...
    * TCP_NODELAY set
    * Connected to backend (10.111.108.218) port 3001 (#0)
    > GET / HTTP/1.1
    > Host: backend:3001
    > User-Agent: curl/7.67.0
    > Accept: */*
    >
    * Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
    < HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    < x-powered-by: Express
    < cache-control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, private
    < access-control-allow-origin: *
    < access-control-allow-methods: PUT, GET, POST, DELETE, OPTIONS
    < access-control-allow-headers: *
    < host: backend:3001
    < user-agent: curl/7.67.0
    < accept: */*
    < x-forwarded-proto: http
    < x-request-id: 8fd7b398-1ba2-4c2e-b229-5159d04d782e
    < content-length: 90
    < content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
    < date: Tue, 16 Mar 2021 17:26:00 GMT
    < x-envoy-upstream-service-time: 261
    < server: envoy
    <
    * Connection #0 to host backend left intact
    Hello World! Marketplace with sales and reviews made with <3 by the OCTO team at Kong Inc.
    

    The request is valid again because the token is signed with the secret private key, its payload includes the admin role, and it is not expired.

All policy options

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