community.crypto.openssl_privatekey_pipe – Generate OpenSSL private keys without disk access

Note

This plugin is part of the community.crypto collection (version 1.6.1).

To install it use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.crypto.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.crypto.openssl_privatekey_pipe.

New in version 1.3.0: of community.crypto

Synopsis

  • Keys are generated in PEM format.

  • Make sure to not write the result of this module into logs or to the console, as it contains private key data! Use the no_log task option to be sure.

  • Note that this module is implemented as an action plugin and will always be executed on the controller.

  • One can generate RSA, DSA, ECC or EdDSA private keys.

  • Please note that the module regenerates private keys if they don’t match the module’s options. In particular, if you provide another passphrase (or specify none), change the keysize, etc., the private key will be regenerated. If you are concerned that this could overwrite your private key, consider using the backup option.

  • The module can use the cryptography Python library, or the pyOpenSSL Python library. By default, it tries to detect which one is available. This can be overridden with the select_crypto_backend option. Please note that the PyOpenSSL backend was deprecated in Ansible 2.9 and will be removed in community.crypto 2.0.0.

  • This allows to read and write keys to vaults without having to write intermediate versions to disk.

  • This module allows one to (re)generate OpenSSL private keys without disk access.

Note

This module has a corresponding action plugin.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • Either cryptography >= 1.2.3 (older versions might work as well)

  • Or pyOpenSSL

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
cipher
string
The cipher to encrypt the private key. (Valid values can be found by running `openssl list -cipher-algorithms` or `openssl list-cipher-algorithms`, depending on your OpenSSL version.)
When using the cryptography backend, use auto.
content
string
The current private key data.
Needed for idempotency. If not provided, the module will always return a change, and all idempotence-related options are ignored.
content_base64
boolean
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Set to true if the content is base64 encoded.
curve
string
    Choices:
  • secp224r1
  • secp256k1
  • secp256r1
  • secp384r1
  • secp521r1
  • secp192r1
  • brainpoolP256r1
  • brainpoolP384r1
  • brainpoolP512r1
  • sect163k1
  • sect163r2
  • sect233k1
  • sect233r1
  • sect283k1
  • sect283r1
  • sect409k1
  • sect409r1
  • sect571k1
  • sect571r1
Note that not all curves are supported by all versions of cryptography.
For maximal interoperability, secp384r1 or secp256r1 should be used.
We use the curve names as defined in the IANA registry for TLS.
Please note that all curves except secp224r1, secp256k1, secp256r1, secp384r1 and secp521r1 are discouraged for new private keys.
format
string
    Choices:
  • pkcs1
  • pkcs8
  • raw
  • auto
  • auto_ignore ←
Determines which format the private key is written in. By default, PKCS1 (traditional OpenSSL format) is used for all keys which support it. Please note that not every key can be exported in any format.
The value auto selects a fromat based on the key format. The value auto_ignore does the same, but for existing private key files, it will not force a regenerate when its format is not the automatically selected one for generation.
Note that if the format for an existing private key mismatches, the key is regenerated by default. To change this behavior, use the format_mismatch option.
The format option is only supported by the cryptography backend. The pyopenssl backend will fail if a value different from auto_ignore is used.
format_mismatch
string
    Choices:
  • regenerate ←
  • convert
Determines behavior of the module if the format of a private key does not match the expected format, but all other parameters are as expected.
If set to regenerate (default), generates a new private key.
If set to convert, the key will be converted to the new format instead.
Only supported by the cryptography backend.
passphrase
string
The passphrase for the private key.
regenerate
string
    Choices:
  • never
  • fail
  • partial_idempotence
  • full_idempotence ←
  • always
Allows to configure in which situations the module is allowed to regenerate private keys. The module will always generate a new key if the destination file does not exist.
By default, the key will be regenerated when it doesn't match the module's options, except when the key cannot be read or the passphrase does not match. Please note that this changed for Ansible 2.10. For Ansible 2.9, the behavior was as if full_idempotence is specified.
If set to never, the module will fail if the key cannot be read or the passphrase isn't matching, and will never regenerate an existing key.
If set to fail, the module will fail if the key does not correspond to the module's options.
If set to partial_idempotence, the key will be regenerated if it does not conform to the module's options. The key is not regenerated if it cannot be read (broken file), the key is protected by an unknown passphrase, or when they key is not protected by a passphrase, but a passphrase is specified.
If set to full_idempotence, the key will be regenerated if it does not conform to the module's options. This is also the case if the key cannot be read (broken file), the key is protected by an unknown passphrase, or when they key is not protected by a passphrase, but a passphrase is specified. Make sure you have a backup when using this option!
If set to always, the module will always regenerate the key. This is equivalent to setting force to yes.
Note that if format_mismatch is set to convert and everything matches except the format, the key will always be converted, except if regenerate is set to always.
return_current_key
boolean
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Set to true to return the current private key when the module did not generate a new one.
Note that in case of check mode, when this option is not set to true, the module always returns the current key (if it was provided) and Ansible will replace it by VALUE_SPECIFIED_IN_NO_LOG_PARAMETER.
select_crypto_backend
string
    Choices:
  • auto ←
  • cryptography
  • pyopenssl
Determines which crypto backend to use.
The default choice is auto, which tries to use cryptography if available, and falls back to pyopenssl.
If set to pyopenssl, will try to use the pyOpenSSL library.
If set to cryptography, will try to use the cryptography library.
Please note that the pyopenssl backend has been deprecated in Ansible 2.9, and will be removed in community.crypto 2.0.0. From that point on, only the cryptography backend will be available.
size
integer
Default:
4096
Size (in bits) of the TLS/SSL key to generate.
type
string
    Choices:
  • DSA
  • ECC
  • Ed25519
  • Ed448
  • RSA ←
  • X25519
  • X448
The algorithm used to generate the TLS/SSL private key.
Note that ECC, X25519, X448, Ed25519 and Ed448 require the cryptography backend. X25519 needs cryptography 2.5 or newer, while X448, Ed25519 and Ed448 require cryptography 2.6 or newer. For ECC, the minimal cryptography version required depends on the curve option.

See Also

See also

community.crypto.openssl_privatekey

The official documentation on the community.crypto.openssl_privatekey module.

community.crypto.openssl_privatekey_info

The official documentation on the community.crypto.openssl_privatekey_info module.

community.crypto.x509_certificate

The official documentation on the community.crypto.x509_certificate module.

community.crypto.x509_certificate_pipe

The official documentation on the community.crypto.x509_certificate_pipe module.

community.crypto.openssl_csr

The official documentation on the community.crypto.openssl_csr module.

community.crypto.openssl_csr_pipe

The official documentation on the community.crypto.openssl_csr_pipe module.

community.crypto.openssl_dhparam

The official documentation on the community.crypto.openssl_dhparam module.

community.crypto.openssl_pkcs12

The official documentation on the community.crypto.openssl_pkcs12 module.

community.crypto.openssl_publickey

The official documentation on the community.crypto.openssl_publickey module.

Examples

- name: Generate an OpenSSL private key with the default values (4096 bits, RSA)
  community.crypto.openssl_privatekey_pipe:
    path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
  register: output
  no_log: true  # make sure that private key data is not accidentally revealed in logs!
- name: Show generated key
  debug:
    msg: "{{ output.privatekey }}"
  # DO NOT OUTPUT KEY MATERIAL TO CONSOLE OR LOGS IN PRODUCTION!

- block:
    - name: Update sops-encrypted key with the community.sops collection
      community.crypto.openssl_privatekey_pipe:
        content: "{{ lookup('community.sops.sops', 'private_key.pem.sops') }}"
        size: 2048
      register: output
      no_log: true  # make sure that private key data is not accidentally revealed in logs!

    - name: Update encrypted key when openssl_privatekey_pipe reported a change
      community.sops.encrypt_sops:
        path: private_key.pem.sops
        content_text: "{{ output.privatekey }}"
      when: output is changed
  always:
    - name: Make sure that output (which contains the private key) is overwritten
      set_fact:
        output: ''

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key Returned Description
curve
string
changed or success, and type is ECC
Elliptic curve used to generate the TLS/SSL private key.

Sample:
secp256r1
fingerprint
dictionary
changed or success
The fingerprint of the public key. Fingerprint will be generated for each hashlib.algorithms available.
The PyOpenSSL backend requires PyOpenSSL >= 16.0 for meaningful output.

Sample:
{'md5': '84:75:71:72:8d:04:b5:6c:4d:37:6d:66:83:f5:4c:29', 'sha1': '51:cc:7c:68:5d:eb:41:43:88:7e:1a:ae:c7:f8:24:72:ee:71:f6:10', 'sha224': 'b1:19:a6:6c:14:ac:33:1d:ed:18:50:d3:06:5c:b2:32:91:f1:f1:52:8c:cb:d5:75:e9:f5:9b:46', 'sha256': '41:ab:c7:cb:d5:5f:30:60:46:99:ac:d4:00:70:cf:a1:76:4f:24:5d:10:24:57:5d:51:6e:09:97:df:2f:de:c7', 'sha384': '85:39:50:4e:de:d9:19:33:40:70:ae:10:ab:59:24:19:51:c3:a2:e4:0b:1c:b1:6e:dd:b3:0c:d9:9e:6a:46:af:da:18:f8:ef:ae:2e:c0:9a:75:2c:9b:b3:0f:3a:5f:3d', 'sha512': 'fd:ed:5e:39:48:5f:9f:fe:7f:25:06:3f:79:08:cd:ee:a5:e7:b3:3d:13:82:87:1f:84:e1:f5:c7:28:77:53:94:86:56:38:69:f0:d9:35:22:01:1e:a6:60:...:0f:9b'}
privatekey
string
changed, or return_current_key is true
The generated private key's content.
Please note that if the result is not changed, the current private key will only be returned if the return_current_key option is set to true.
Will be Base64-encoded if the key is in raw format.

size
integer
changed or success
Size (in bits) of the TLS/SSL private key.

Sample:
4096
type
string
changed or success
Algorithm used to generate the TLS/SSL private key.

Sample:
RSA


Authors

  • Yanis Guenane (@Spredzy)

  • Felix Fontein (@felixfontein)