--- stage: Create group: Source Code info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments --- # FIPS compliance FIPS is short for "Federal Information Processing Standard", a document which defines certain security practices for a "cryptographic module" (CM). It aims to ensure a certain security floor is met by vendors selling products to U.S. Federal institutions. WARNING: You can build a FIPS-compliant instance of GitLab, but [not all features are included](#unsupported-features-in-fips-mode). A FIPS-compliant instance must be configured following the [FIPS install instructions](#install-gitlab-with-fips-compliance) exactly. There are two current FIPS standards: [140-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIPS_140-2) and [140-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIPS_140-3). At GitLab we usually mean FIPS 140-2. ## Current status GitLab is actively working towards FIPS compliance. Progress on this initiative can be tracked with this [FIPS compliance Epic](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/6452). ## FIPS compliance at GitLab To be compliant, all components (GitLab itself, Gitaly, etc) must be compliant, along with the communication between those components, and any storage used by them. Where functionality cannot be brought into compliance, it must be disabled when FIPS mode is enabled. ### Leveraged Cryptographic modules | Cryptographic module name | CMVP number | Instance type | Software component used | |----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------|-------------------------| | Ubuntu 20.04 AWS Kernel Crypto API Cryptographic Module | [4132](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/4132) | EC2 | Linux kernel | | Ubuntu 20.04 OpenSSL Cryptographic Module | [3966](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/3966) | EC2 | Gitaly, Rails (Puma/Sidekiq) | | Ubuntu 20.04 Libgcrypt Cryptographic Module | [3902](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/3902) | EC2 instances | `gpg`, `sshd` | | Amazon Linux 2 Kernel Crypto API Cryptographic Module | [3709](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/3709) | EKS nodes | Linux kernel | | Amazon Linux 2 OpenSSL Cryptographic Module | [3553](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/3553) | EKS nodes | NGINX | | RedHat Enterprise Linux 8 OpenSSL Cryptographic Module | [4271](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/4271) | EKS nodes | UBI containers: Workhorse, Pages, Container Registry, Rails (Puma/Sidekiq), Security Analyzers | | RedHat Enterprise Linux 8 Libgcrypt Cryptographic Module | [3784](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/3784) | EKS nodes | UBI containers: GitLab Shell, `gpg` | ### Supported Operating Systems The supported hybrid platforms are: - Omnibus GitLab: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS - Cloud Native GitLab: Amazon Linux 2 (EKS) ### Unsupported features in FIPS mode Some GitLab features may not work when FIPS mode is enabled. The following features are known to not work in FIPS mode. However, there may be additional features not listed here that also do not work properly in FIPS mode: - [Container Scanning](../user/application_security/container_scanning/index.md) support for scanning images in repositories that require authentication. - [Code Quality](../ci/testing/code_quality.md) does not support operating in FIPS-compliant mode. - [Dependency scanning](../user/application_security/dependency_scanning/index.md) support for Gradle. - [Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)](../user/application_security/dast/index.md) does not support operating in FIPS-compliant mode. - [License compliance](../user/compliance/license_compliance/index.md). - [Solutions for vulnerabilities](../user/application_security/vulnerabilities/index.md#resolve-a-vulnerability) for yarn projects. - [Static Application Security Testing (SAST)](../user/application_security/sast/index.md) supports a reduced set of [analyzers](../user/application_security/sast/index.md#fips-enabled-images) when operating in FIPS-compliant mode. - Advanced Search is currently not included in FIPS mode. It must not be enabled in order to be FIPS-compliant. - [Gravatar or Libravatar-based profile images](../administration/libravatar.md) are not FIPS-compliant. Additionally, these package repositories are disabled in FIPS mode: - [Conan package repository](../user/packages/conan_repository/index.md). - [Debian package repository](../user/packages/debian_repository/index.md). ## FIPS validation at GitLab Unlike FIPS compliance, FIPS validation is a formal declaration of compliance by an accredited auditor. The requirements needed to pass the audit are the same as for FIPS compliance. A list of FIPS-validated modules can be found at the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) [cryptographic module validation program](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/validated-modules). ## Install GitLab with FIPS compliance This guide is specifically for public users or GitLab team members with a requirement to run a production instance of GitLab that is FIPS compliant. This guide outlines a hybrid deployment using elements from both Omnibus and our Cloud Native GitLab installations. ### Prerequisites - Amazon Web Services account. Our first target environment is running on AWS, and uses other FIPS Compliant AWS resources. - Ability to run Ubuntu 20.04 machines for GitLab. Our first target environment uses the hybrid architecture. ### Set up a FIPS-enabled cluster You can use the [GitLab Environment Toolkit](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-environment-toolkit) to spin up a FIPS-enabled cluster for development and testing. As mentioned in the prerequisites, these instructions use Amazon Web Services (AWS) because that is the first target environment. #### Set up your environment To get started, your AWS account must subscribe to a FIPS-enabled Amazon Machine Image (AMI) in the [AWS Marketplace console](https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/launch-ec2-marketplace-subscription/). This example assumes that the `Ubuntu Pro 20.04 FIPS LTS` AMI by `Canonical Group Limited` has been added your account. This operating system is used for virtual machines running in Amazon EC2. #### Omnibus The simplest way to get a FIPS-enabled GitLab cluster is to use an Omnibus reference architecture. See the [GET Quick Start Guide](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-environment-toolkit/-/blob/main/docs/environment_quick_start_guide.md) for more details. The following instructions build on the Quick Start and are also necessary for [Cloud Native Hybrid](#cloud-native-hybrid) installations. ##### Terraform: Use a FIPS AMI 1. Follow the guide to set up Terraform and Ansible. 1. After [step 2b](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-environment-toolkit/-/blob/main/docs/environment_quick_start_guide.md#2b-setup-config), create a `data.tf` in your environment (for example, `gitlab-environment-toolkit/terraform/environments/gitlab-10k/inventory/data.tf`): ```tf data "aws_ami" "ubuntu_20_04_fips" { count = 1 most_recent = true filter { name = "name" values = ["ubuntu-pro-fips-server/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-focal-20.04-amd64-pro-fips-server-*"] } filter { name = "virtualization-type" values = ["hvm"] } owners = ["aws-marketplace"] } ``` 1. Add the custom `ami_id` to use this AMI in `environment.tf`. For example, in `gitlab-environment-toolkit/terraform/environments/gitlab-10k/inventory/environment.tf`: ```tf module "gitlab_ref_arch_aws" { source = "../../modules/gitlab_ref_arch_aws" prefix = var.prefix ami_id = data.aws_ami.ubuntu_20_04_fips[0].id ... ``` NOTE: GET does not allow the AMI to change on EC2 instances after it has been deployed via `terraform apply`. Since an AMI change would tear down an instance, this would result in data loss: not only would disks be destroyed, but also GitLab secrets would be lost. There is a [Terraform lifecycle rule](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-environment-toolkit/blob/2aaeaff8ac8067f23cd7b6bb5bf131061649089d/terraform/modules/gitlab_aws_instance/main.tf#L40) to ignore AMI changes. ##### Ansible: Specify the FIPS Omnibus builds The standard Omnibus GitLab releases build their own OpenSSL library, which is not FIPS-validated. However, we have nightly builds that create Omnibus packages that link against the operating system's OpenSSL library. To use this package, update the `gitlab_edition` and `gitlab_repo_script_url` fields in the Ansible `vars.yml`. For example, you might modify `gitlab-environment-toolkit/ansible/environments/gitlab-10k/inventory/vars.yml` in this way: ```yaml all: vars: ... gitlab_repo_script_url: "https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/gitlab-fips/script.deb.sh" gitlab_edition: "gitlab-fips" ``` #### Cloud Native Hybrid A Cloud Native Hybrid install uses both Omnibus and Cloud Native GitLab (CNG) images. The previous instructions cover the Omnibus part, but two additional steps are needed to enable FIPS in CNG: 1. Use a custom Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) AMI. 1. Use GitLab containers built with RedHat's Universal Base Image (UBI). ##### Build a custom EKS AMI Because Amazon does not yet publish a FIPS-enabled AMI, you have to build one yourself with Packer. Amazon publishes the following Git repositories with information about custom EKS AMIs: - [Amazon EKS AMI Build Specification](https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-eks-ami) - [Sample EKS custom AMIs](https://github.com/aws-samples/amazon-eks-custom-amis/) This [GitHub pull request](https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-eks-ami/pull/898) makes it possible to create an Amazon Linux 2 EKS AMI with FIPS enabled for Kubernetes v1.21. To build an image: 1. [Install Packer](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/packer/get-started-install-cli). 1. Run the following: ```shell git clone https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-eks-ami cd amazon-eks-ami git fetch origin pull/898/head:fips-ami git checkout fips-ami AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1 make 1.21-fips # Be sure to set the region accordingly ``` If you are using a different version of Kubernetes, adjust the `make` command and `Makefile` accordingly. When the AMI build is done, a new AMI should be created with a message such as the following: ```plaintext ==> Builds finished. The artifacts of successful builds are: --> amazon-ebs: AMIs were created: us-west-2: ami-0a25e760cd00b027e ``` In this example, the AMI ID is `ami-0a25e760cd00b027e`, but your value may be different. Building a RHEL-based system with FIPS enabled should be possible, but there is [an outstanding issue preventing the Packer build from completing](https://github.com/aws-samples/amazon-eks-custom-amis/issues/51). ##### Terraform: Use a custom EKS AMI Now you can set the custom EKS AMI. 1. In `environment.tf`, add `eks_ami_id = var.eks_ami_id` so you can pass this variable to the AWS reference architecture module. For example, in `gitlab-environment-toolkit/terraform/environments/gitlab-10k/inventory/environment.tf`: ```tf module "gitlab_ref_arch_aws" { source = "../../modules/gitlab_ref_arch_aws" prefix = var.prefix ami_id = data.aws_ami.ubuntu_20_04_fips[0].id eks_ami_id = var.eks_ami_id .... ``` 1. In `variables.tf`, define a `eks_ami_id` with the AMI ID in the previous step: ```tf variable "eks_ami_id" { default = "ami-0a25e760cd00b027e" } ``` ##### Ansible: Use UBI images CNG uses a Helm Chart to manage which container images to deploy. By default, GET deploys the latest released versions that use Debian-based containers. To switch to UBI-based containers, edit the Ansible `vars.yml` to use custom Charts variables: ```yaml all: vars: ... gitlab_charts_custom_config_file: '/path/to/gitlab-environment-toolkit/ansible/environments/gitlab-10k/inventory/charts.yml' ``` Now create `charts.yml` in the location specified above and specify tags with a `-fips` suffix. For example: ```yaml global: image: pullPolicy: Always certificates: image: tag: master-fips kubectl: image: tag: master-fips gitlab: gitaly: image: tag: master-fips gitlab-exporter: image: tag: master-fips gitlab-shell: image: tag: main-fips # The default branch is main, not master gitlab-mailroom: image: tag: master-fips gitlab-pages: image: tag: master-fips migrations: image: tag: master-fips sidekiq: image: tag: master-fips toolbox: image: tag: master-fips webservice: image: tag: master-fips workhorse: tag: master-fips nginx-ingress: controller: image: repository: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cloud-native/charts/gitlab-ingress-nginx/controller tag: v1.2.1-fips pullPolicy: Always digest: sha256:c4222b7ab3836b9be2a7649cff4b2e6ead34286dfdf3a7b04eb34fdd3abb0334 ``` The above example shows a FIPS-enabled [`nginx-ingress`](https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx) image. See our [Charts documentation on FIPS](https://docs.gitlab.com/charts/advanced/fips/index.html) for more details. You can also use release tags, but the versioning is tricky because each component may use its own versioning scheme. For example, for GitLab v15.2: ```yaml global: certificates: image: tag: 20211220-r0-fips kubectl: image: tag: 1.18.20-fips gitlab: gitaly: image: tag: v15.2.0-fips gitlab-exporter: image: tag: 11.17.1-fips gitlab-shell: image: tag: v14.9.0-fips gitlab-mailroom: image: tag: v15.2.0-fips gitlab-pages: image: tag: v1.61.0-fips migrations: image: tag: v15.2.0-fips sidekiq: image: tag: v15.2.0-fips toolbox: image: tag: v15.2.0-fips webservice: image: tag: v15.2.0-fips workhorse: tag: v15.2.0-fips ``` ## FIPS Performance Benchmarking The Quality Engineering Enablement team assists these efforts by checking if FIPS-enabled environments perform well compared to non-FIPS environments. Testing shows an impact in some places, such as Gitaly SSL, but it's not large enough to impact customers. You can find more information on FIPS performance benchmarking in the following issue: - [Benchmark performance of FIPS reference architecture](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/364051#note_1010450415) ## Setting up a FIPS-enabled development environment The simplest approach is to set up a virtual machine running [Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8](https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/security_hardening/using-the-system-wide-cryptographic-policies_security-hardening#switching-the-system-to-fips-mode_using-the-system-wide-cryptographic-policies). Red Hat provide free licenses to developers, and permit the CD image to be downloaded from the [Red Hat developer's portal](https://developers.redhat.com). Registration is required. After the virtual machine is set up, you can follow the [GDK](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-development-kit) installation instructions, including the [advanced instructions for RHEL](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-development-kit/-/blob/main/doc/advanced.md#red-hat-enterprise-linux). Note that `asdf` is not used for dependency management because it's essential to use the RedHat-provided Go compiler and other system dependencies. ### Enable FIPS mode After GDK and its dependencies are installed, run this command (as root) and restart the virtual machine: ```shell fips-mode-setup --enable ``` You can check whether it's taken effect by running: ```shell fips-mode-setup --check ``` In this environment, OpenSSL refuses to perform cryptographic operations forbidden by the FIPS standards. This enables you to reproduce FIPS-related bugs, and validate fixes. You should be able to open a web browser inside the virtual machine and log in to the GitLab instance. You can disable FIPS mode again by running this command, then restarting the virtual machine: ```shell fips-mode-setup --disable ``` #### Detect FIPS enablement in code You can query `Gitlab::FIPS` in Ruby code to determine if the instance is FIPS-enabled: ```ruby def default_min_key_size(name) if Gitlab::FIPS.enabled? Gitlab::SSHPublicKey.supported_sizes(name).select(&:positive?).min || -1 else 0 end end ``` ## Nightly Omnibus FIPS builds The Distribution team has created [nightly FIPS Omnibus builds](https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/nightly-fips-builds). These GitLab builds are compiled to use the system OpenSSL instead of the Omnibus-embedded version of OpenSSL. See [the section on how FIPS builds are created](#how-fips-builds-are-created). ## Runner See the [documentation on installing a FIPS-compliant GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/#fips-compliant-gitlab-runner). ## Verify FIPS The following sections describe ways you can verify if FIPS is enabled. ### Kernel ```shell $ cat /proc/sys/crypto/fips_enabled 1 ``` ### Ruby (Omnibus images) ```ruby $ /opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/irb irb(main):001:0> require 'openssl'; OpenSSL.fips_mode => true ``` ### Ruby (CNG images) ```ruby $ irb irb(main):001:0> require 'openssl'; OpenSSL.fips_mode => true ``` ### Go Google maintains a [`dev.boringcrypto` branch](https://github.com/golang/go/tree/dev.boringcrypto) in the Golang compiler that makes it possible to statically link BoringSSL, a FIPS-validated module forked from OpenSSL. However, BoringSSL is not intended for public use. We use [`golang-fips`](https://github.com/golang-fips/go), [a fork of the `dev.boringcrypto` branch](https://github.com/golang/go/blob/2fb6bf8a4a51f92f98c2ae127eff2b7ac392c08f/README.boringcrypto.md) to build Go programs that [dynamically link OpenSSL via `dlopen`](https://github.com/golang-fips/go/blob/go1.18.1-1-openssl-fips/src/crypto/internal/boring/boring.go#L47-L65). This has several advantages: - Using a FIPS-validated, system OpenSSL is straightforward. - This is the source code used by [Red Hat's go-toolset package](https://gitlab.com/redhat/centos-stream/rpms/golang#sources). - Unlike [go-toolset](https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2019/06/24/go-and-fips-140-2-on-red-hat-enterprise-linux#), this fork appears to keep up with the latest Go releases. However, [cgo](https://pkg.go.dev/cmd/cgo) must be enabled via `CGO_ENABLED=1` for this to work. There is a performance hit when calling into C code. Projects that are compiled with `golang-fips` on Linux x86 automatically get built the crypto routines that use OpenSSL. While the `boringcrypto` build tag is automatically present, no extra build tags are actually needed. There are [specific build tags](https://github.com/golang-fips/go/blob/go1.18.1-1-openssl-fips/src/crypto/internal/boring/boring.go#L6) that disable these crypto hooks. We can [check whether a given binary is using OpenSSL](https://go.googlesource.com/go/+/dev.boringcrypto/misc/boring/#caveat) via `go tool nm` and look for symbols named `Cfunc__goboringcrypto`. For example: ```plaintext $ go tool nm nginx-ingress-controller | grep Cfunc__goboringcrypto | tail 2a0b650 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA384_Final 2a0b658 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA384_Init 2a0b660 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA384_Update 2a0b668 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA512_Final 2a0b670 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA512_Init 2a0b678 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA512_Update 2a0b680 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_internal_ECDSA_sign 2a0b688 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_internal_ECDSA_verify 2a0b690 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_internal_ERR_error_string_n 2a0b698 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_internal_ERR_get_error ``` In addition, LabKit contains routines to [check whether FIPS is enabled](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/labkit/-/tree/master/fips). ## How FIPS builds are created Many GitLab projects (for example: Gitaly, GitLab Pages) have standardized on using `FIPS_MODE=1 make` to build FIPS binaries locally. ### Omnibus The Omnibus FIPS builds are triggered with the `USE_SYSTEM_SSL` environment variable set to `true`. When this environment variable is set, the Omnibus recipes dependencies such as `curl`, NGINX, and libgit2 will link against the system OpenSSL. OpenSSL will NOT be included in the Omnibus build. The Omnibus builds are created using container images [that use the `golang-fips` compiler](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-omnibus-builder/-/blob/master/docker/snippets/go_fips). For example, [this job](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-omnibus-builder/-/jobs/2363742108) created the `registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-omnibus-builder/centos_8_fips:3.3.1` image used to build packages for RHEL 8. #### Add a new FIPS build for another Linux distribution First, you need to make sure there is an Omnibus builder image for the desired Linux distribution. The images used to build Omnibus packages are created with [Omnibus Builder images](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-omnibus-builder). Review [this merge request](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-omnibus-builder/-/merge_requests/218). A new image can be added by: 1. Adding CI jobs with the `_fips` suffix (for example: `ubuntu_18.04_fips`). 1. Making sure the `Dockerfile` uses `Snippets.new(fips: fips).populate` instead of `Snippets.new.populate`. After this image has been tagged, add a new [CI job to Omnibus GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/-/blob/911fbaccc08398dfc4779be003ea18014b3e30e9/gitlab-ci-config/dev-gitlab-org.yml#L594-602). ### Cloud Native GitLab (CNG) The Cloud Native GitLab CI pipeline generates images using several base images: - Debian - [Red Hat's Universal Base Image (UBI)](https://developers.redhat.com/products/rhel/ubi) UBI images ship with the same OpenSSL package as those used by RHEL. This makes it possible to build FIPS-compliant binaries without needing RHEL. Note that RHEL 8.2 ships a [FIPS-validated OpenSSL](https://access.redhat.com/articles/2918071), but 8.5 is in review for FIPS validation. [This merge request](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/CNG/-/merge_requests/981) introduces a FIPS pipeline for CNG images. Images tagged for FIPS have the `-fips` suffix. For example, the `webservice` container has the following tags: - `master` - `master-ubi8` - `master-fips` ### Testing merge requests with a FIPS pipeline Merge requests that can trigger Package and QA, can trigger a FIPS package and a Reference Architecture test pipeline. The base image used for the trigger is Ubuntu 20.04 FIPS: 1. Trigger `e2e:package-and-test` job, if not already triggered. 1. On the `gitlab-omnibus-mirror` child pipeline, manually trigger `Trigger:package:fips`. 1. When the package job is complete, manually trigger the `RAT:FIPS` job.