Kubeflow Authentication using OIDC
Istio Envoy Filter
EnvoyFilter provides a mechanism to customize the Envoy configuration generated by Istio Pilot. Use EnvoyFilter to modify values for certain fields, add specific filters, or even add entirely new listeners, clusters, etc.1
Kubeflow will use an Envoy Filter for every incoming request when is used
with oidc-authservice.
Usage of EnvoyFilter is currently not recommended. The preferred method for configuring External
Authentication in Istio is the envoyExtAuthzHttp extension provider2 .
Envoy Filter is set up with oidc-authservice.
Istio envoyExtAuthzHttp
This is Istio's recommended approach for External Authorization2 . It is not limited to the use
of oauth2-proxy3 alone. This method is an industry standard, meeting all of Kubeflow's
current and foreseeable authentication needs.
Kubeflow Pipelines User and M2M Authentication and Authorization
Kubeflow Pipelines component relies on the built-in kubernetes functionalities to authenticate and authorize user requests, specifically the TokenReviews4 and SubjectAccessReview5 .
The best way to describe how it works is to explain with an example. Lets analyze the flow when client calls API to list the KF Pipeline Runs:
-
api-server starts endpoints in:
https://github.com/kubeflow/pipelines/blob/2.0.5/backend/src/apiserver/main.go#L95
Focusing on the pipelines run service:
- Register Run Service:
- proto RPC definition of ListRunsV1
- code definition of ListRunsV1
- ListRunsV1 calls internal method
listRuns listRunscalls internal methodcanAccessRunwhich itself callss.resourceManager.IsAuthorizedResourceManager.IsAuthorizedfirst tries to authenticate over every available authenticator, which are theTokenReviewAuthenticatorandHTTPHeaderAuthenticator- here the user identity is either the user email provided directly in the
kubeflow-useridheader or the user identity obtained from provided token - https://github.com/kubeflow/pipelines/blob/master/backend/src/apiserver/resource/resource_manager.go#L1667
- here the user identity is either the user email provided directly in the
TokenReviewAuthenticator.GetUserIdentitygets the token fromAuthorizationheader and calls the K8s Authauthv1.TokenReviewwith given token which in return providesuserInfo := review.Status.User.GetUserIdentityreturnuserInfo.Usernamewhich at this point is thesystem:serviceaccount:default:default.- Next in
ResourceManager.IsAuthorizeda SubjectAccessReview is created withr.subjectAccessReviewClient.Createwith arguments specifying RBAC verbs provided in code definition ofRunServer.listRuns. If the user (sa) is not authorized, an error is thrown- https://github.com/kubeflow/pipelines/blob/master/backend/src/apiserver/resource/resource_manager.go#L1703
- if the identity was obtained from token (service account), the
rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/default-editorprovides the RBAC permission - if the identity was obtained from header (user), the
rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/user-example-comor similar provides the RBAC permission
-
User calls api to list pipeline runs as unauthorized service account.
- This can be done by running Pod with curl in
defaultnamespace:$ kubectl -n default run -ti --rm curl --image curlimages/curl --command -- sh # v1beta1 ~ $ curl "istio-ingressgateway.istio-system/pipeline/apis/v1beta1/runs?resource_reference_key.type=NAMESPACE&resource_reference_key.id=kubeflow-user-example-com" -H "Authorization: Bearer $(cat /run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token)" {"error":"Failed to list v1beta1 runs: Failed to list runs due to authorization error. Check if you have permission to access namespace kubeflow-user-example-com: Failed to access run . Check if you have access to namespace kubeflow-user-example-com: PermissionDenied: User 'system:serviceaccount:default:default' is not authorized with reason: (request: \u0026ResourceAttributes{Namespace:kubeflow-user-example-com,Verb:list,Group:pipelines.kubeflow.org,Version:v1beta1,Resource:runs,Subresource:,Name:,}): Unauthorized access","code":7,"message":"Failed to list v1beta1 runs: Failed to list runs due to authorization error. Check if you have permission to access namespace kubeflow-user-example-com: Failed to access run . Check if you have access to namespace kubeflow-user-example-com: PermissionDenied: User 'system:serviceaccount:default:default' is not authorized with reason: (request: \u0026ResourceAttributes{Namespace:kubeflow-user-example-com,Verb:list,Group:pipelines.kubeflow.org,Version:v1beta1,Resource:runs,Subresource:,Name:,}): Unauthorized access","details":[{"@type":"type.googleapis.com/google.rpc.Status","code":7,"message":"User 'system:serviceaccount:default:default' is not authorized with reason: (request: \u0026ResourceAttributes{Namespace:kubeflow-user-example-com,Verb:list,Group:pipelines.kubeflow.org,Version:v1beta1,Resource:runs,Subresource:,Name:,})"}]} # v2beta1 ~ $ curl istio-ingressgateway.istio-system/pipeline/apis/v2beta1/runs?namespace=kubeflow-user-example-com -H "Authorization: Bearer $(cat /run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token)" {"error":"Failed to list runs: Failed to list runs due to authorization error. Check if you have permission to access namespace kubeflow-user-example-com: Failed to access run . Check if you have access to namespace kubeflow-user-example-com: PermissionDenied: User 'system:serviceaccount:default:default' is not authorized with reason: (request: \u0026ResourceAttributes{Namespace:kubeflow-user-example-com,Verb:list,Group:pipelines.kubeflow.org,Version:v1beta1,Resource:runs,Subresource:,Name:,}): Unauthorized access","code":7,"message":"Failed to list runs: Failed to list runs due to authorization error. Check if you have permission to access namespace kubeflow-user-example-com: Failed to access run . Check if you have access to namespace kubeflow-user-example-com: PermissionDenied: User 'system:serviceaccount:default:default' is not authorized with reason: (request: \u0026ResourceAttributes{Namespace:kubeflow-user-example-com,Verb:list,Group:pipelines.kubeflow.org,Version:v1beta1,Resource:runs,Subresource:,Name:,}): Unauthorized access","details":[{"@type":"type.googleapis.com/google.rpc.Status","code":7,"message":"User 'system:serviceaccount:default:default' is not authorized with reason: (request: \u0026ResourceAttributes{Namespace:kubeflow-user-example-com,Verb:list,Group:pipelines.kubeflow.org,Version:v1beta1,Resource:runs,Subresource:,Name:,})"}]}
- This can be done by running Pod with curl in
-
User calls api to list pipeline runs as authorized service account.
- This can be done by running Pod with curl in
kubeflow-user-example-comnamespace specifying correct service account:$ kubectl -n kubeflow-user-example-com run -ti --rm curl --image curlimages/curl --command --overrides='{"spec": {"serviceAccountName": "default-editor"}}' -- sh # v1beta1 ~ $ curl "istio-ingressgateway.istio-system/pipeline/apis/v1beta1/runs?resource_reference_key.type=NAMESPACE&resource_reference_key.id=kubeflow-user-example-com" -H "Authorization: Bearer $(cat /run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token)" {} # empty response which is fine because no pipeline runs exist # v2beta1 ~ $ curl istio-ingressgateway.istio-system/pipeline/apis/v2beta1/runs?namespace=kubeflow-user-example-com -H "Authorization: Bearer $(cat /run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token)" {} # empty response which is fine because no pipeline runs exist
- This can be done by running Pod with curl in
Auth analysis diagram for Kubeflow Pipelines
Kubeflow Notebooks User and M2M Authentication and Authorization
The underlying mechanism is the same as in Kubeflow Pipelines.
Similarly, to explain how it works, let's analyze the code step by step, starting from the api route definition for listing notebooks:
- list notebooks api route definition
- https://github.com/kubeflow/kubeflow/blob/v1.8.0/components/crud-web-apps/jupyter/backend/apps/common/routes/get.py#L53
- this calls
crud_backend/api/notebook.py::list_notebooks
crud_backend/api/notebook.py::list_notebookscallsauthz.ensure_authorizedcrud_backend/authz.py::ensure_authorizedcallscrud_backend/authn.py::get_username- https://github.com/kubeflow/kubeflow/blob/v1.8.0/components/crud-web-apps/common/backend/kubeflow/kubeflow/crud_backend/authz.py#L101
- https://github.com/kubeflow/kubeflow/blob/v1.8.0/components/crud-web-apps/common/backend/kubeflow/kubeflow/crud_backend/authn.py#L12
crud_backend/authn.py::get_usernamegets the user id from userid header (email or sa in formatsystem:serviceaccount:kubeflowusernamespace:default-editor)
crud_backend/authz.py::ensure_authorizedcallscrud_backend/authz.py::is_authorized- https://github.com/kubeflow/kubeflow/blob/v1.8.0/components/crud-web-apps/common/backend/kubeflow/kubeflow/crud_backend/authz.py#L46
- this calls
create_subject_access_reviewwhich uses the same mechanism as pipelines withr.subjectAccessReviewClient.Create
KServe Authentication
The analysis of KServe auth capabilities suggests that while it's possible to limit access to only authenticated agents, there might be some improvements required to enable access only to authorized agents.
This is based on the following:
-
KServe Controller Manager patch integrating kube-rbac-proxy6 .
This suggests the kserve might use the same mechanism based on
SubjectAccessReviews. Having a look at the kubeflow/manifests I see it's not enabled. -
Search through the docs and code:
- https://github.com/kserve/kserve/tree/v0.12.0/docs/samples/istio-dex
- https://github.com/kserve/kserve/tree/v0.12.0/docs/samples/gcp-iap
The docs above mention that while it's possible to enable authentication, authorization is more complicated and probably we need to add
AuthorizationPolicy...create an Istio AuthorizationPolicy to grant access to the pods or disable it
Most probably some work is needed to enable authorized access to kserve models.