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tiCrypt Secure VM networking

Secure virtual machines in tiCrypt run in almost complete isolation from each-other and the environment. The main motivation for this isolation is providing a high degree of security.

Setup​

In this blog we will refer to a number of tiCrypt components that participate in the activities described here. They are:

  • ticrypt-connect runs the application on user's device
  • ticrypt-frontend runs in the browser on user's device and is served by ticrypt-connect
  • ticrypt-backend is the set of tiCrypt services running on the Backend server
  • ticrypt-rest is the entry point in ticrypt-backend and uses REST protocol.
  • ticrypt-proxy mediates communication between components by replicating traffic between two other connections.
  • ticrypt-allowedlist mediates access to external licensing servers
  • ticrypt-vmc controls the secure VM and is responsible for all VM related security mechanisms

Overview​

The VM security is provided through the following mechanisms:

  1. Reverse mechanism to talk to tiCrypt frontend using ticrypt-proxy component
  2. The only opened ports for a VM are port 22 for traffic tunneling from tiCrypt Connect
  3. Special mechanism to reach port 22 of VMs but no general mechanism to reach any other port from tiCrypt-backend
  4. Strictly controlled outgoing traffic through ticrypt-allowedlist component

We take each mechanism in turn end provide details on how it works.

ticrypt-proxy mediated VM communication​

Due to the fact that all ports are blocked except 22 and that ticrypt-vmc (VM controller) control this port for port forwarding, there is no mechanism to directly contact a secure VM using direct access. Instead, a mechanism fully controlled by the ticrytp-vmc is employed. The mechanism relies on ticrypt-proxy (component of ticrytp-backend) to mediate communication with the user in the following manner:

  1. The ticrypt-vmc creates a web-socket connection with ticrypt-proxy at all times.
  2. When a user wants to connect to a VM, the ticrypt-frotnend creates a web-socket to match the existing VM one in ticrypt-proxy. All traffic between the two matching web-sockets is replicaed by ticrypt-proxy. Imediately ticrypt-vmc creates a new web-socket for future communication.
  3. The first message sent by both the ticrypt-frontend and ticrypt-vmc are digital signature proofs of identity and Diffie-Helman secret key negotiation.
  4. If the digital signature fails or if the user is not authorized (as determined by ticrypt-vmc) the connection is immediately closed. Similarly, if the VM validation fails, ticrypt-frontend will close the connection
  5. All subsequent messages (in both directions) are encrypted using hte negotiated key. Except the setup messages, all traffic is hidden from ticrypt-proxy and any other part of the infrastructure.
  6. All commands, terminal info, keys, etc are send through this encrypted channel.
info

The only message sent in the clear to the ticrypt-vmc contains both authentication (digital signature) and key negotiation. Any other message or functionality is immediately rejected.

info

The communication does not rely on listening on regular ports and can only be mediated by ticrypt-proxy.

info

The public key of the VM owner cannot change after learned by the ticrypt-vmc thus hijacking the communication requires a compromise of user's private key.

tip

Most of the VM functionality only requires this communication method and can only be performed using this mechanism. The only exception is application port tunneling.

Application port tunneling​

In order to allow reach application deployment in VMs, a generic mechanism that tunnels TCP traffic on specific ports from the VM to user's device is provided. The mechanism is highly controlled (as explained below) but, in principle, can make any network application access possible.

note

The application tunneling is similar to the SSH tunneling mechanism used for reverse port forwarding but uses TLS

The communication pathway relies on an number of independent segments, all of which can prevent the mechanism from functioning. All traffic on these segments is proxied/forwarded and overall is secured with TLS encryption and authenticated with digital signature (not passwords). At no point any intermediate component can intercept the communication without breaking TLS.

note

Access to VMs is limited to port 22, not SSH as a service. ticrypt-connect mediates port forwarding of any desired port using the mechanisim described with ticrypt-vmc listening on port 22. Specifically, port 3389 for RDP can be forwarded. Usually, multiple such ports are forwarded to allow richer functionality.

Communication setup​

Initiating the forwarding tunnel setup requires the following steps:

  1. The ticrytp-frontend using authenticated session, tells ticrypt-rest (entry point of ticrypt-backend) to create the pathway to a specific VM
  2. The request is validated and ticrypt-proxy is informed of the operation
  3. The ticrypt-proxy sets up a listening endpoint on one of the designated ports (usually 6000-6100). The endpoint is strictly set up and only allows access from the IP address used to make the request.
  4. The ticrypt-frontend is informed of the allocated port.
  5. ticrypt-frontend asks ticrypt-connect to generate a TLS certificate for authentication and connection encryption.
  6. ticrypt-frontend tells ticrypt-vmc to accept the application forwarding and provides the authentication TLS certificate
  7. ticrypt-vmc replies with a list of ports that need to be tunneled
  8. ticrypt-frontend tells ticrypt-connect to start the connection and use the previous certificate.
  9. ticrypt-vmc, upon connection creation, checks that the digital signature is correct and initiates the TLS mediated tunneling.
  10. The traffic to/from local port on user device is tunneled and re-created within the VM to allow application access
tip

A special case is provided for SFTP over port 2022 if the feature is enabled in ticrypt-vmc. It can be used to move large amount of data from user's device to the VM.

Communication pathway​

The communication pathway for port tunneling is:

  1. The ticrypt-connect accesses the allocated port controlled by ticrypt-proxy. The connection is pinned to the IP address the setup request comes from.
  2. ticrypt-proxy forwards the request to the VM Host endpoint (explained below)
  3. The VM Host endpoint forwards the traffic to port 22 of the correct VM
  4. ticrypt-vmc listens on port 22 and runs the TLS protocol with port tunneling.
tip

Port 22 is specifically selected to ensure no SSH server is deployed instead to allow normal access to the VM. The traffic on 22 is the TLS protocol with ticrypt-vmc control and not SSH protocol.

Secure VM isolation​

In order to ensure VM security, only port 22 is opened inbound. Furthermore, all outbound traffic is limited to ticrytp-rest traffic unless an exception is provided by ticrypt-allowedlist (next section)

The specific mechanisms deployed for VM isolation are:

  1. All traffic to ports other than 22 is blocked internally by the VM thus isolating any other access. Note that application access is provided by the port tunneling above.
  2. All traffic to the VM ip on ports other than 22 is blocked using firewall rules on the VM host.
  3. External traffic to VMs is not routed by the VM host (with the exception of port 22)
  4. Traffic from VMs to outside is blocked unless ticrypt-allowedlist mechanism is used
info

The specific mechanism to allow access on port 22 but no other traffic is to block any traffic routing but provide a forwarding mechanism from a range on the VM host to port 22 of the IP ranges dedicated to the secure VMs. There is simply no way from a server outside the specific VM host to access any other VM port.

tip

The outbound traffic from secure VMs is blocked since it can be used to exfiltrate data thus resulting in data breaches.

Licensing server access​

In order to use most commercial software, access to external licensing servers needs to be provided. Most of the time, the licensing servers reside within the organization, but occasionally, the servers are external. Recognizing this, tiCrypt provides a strictly controlled mechanism to allow access to licensing servers.

The ticrypt-allowlist component mediates setting up the mechanism that allows access to licensing servers. It does so by manipulating:

  1. Firewall and port forwarding rules on the server running ticrypt-backend
  2. DNS replies to requests that VMs make

The mechanism is strict and very specific. Unless a mapping is provided using ipsets and firewall rules, any outgoing traffic from VMs is blocked.

The ticrypt-allowlist component works in conjunction with ticrypt-frontend to provide a convenient way to enable/disable access. This mechanism requires SuperAdmin access.