---
layout: docs
page_title: Kubernetes - Auth Methods
description: |-
  The Kubernetes auth method allows automated authentication of Kubernetes
  Service Accounts.
---

# Kubernetes auth method

@include 'x509-sha1-deprecation.mdx'

The `kubernetes` auth method can be used to authenticate with Vault using a
Kubernetes Service Account Token. This method of authentication makes it easy to
introduce a Vault token into a Kubernetes Pod.

You can also use a Kubernetes Service Account Token to [log in via JWT auth][k8s-jwt-auth].
See the section on [How to work with short-lived Kubernetes tokens][short-lived-tokens]
for a summary of why you might want to use JWT auth instead and how it compares to
Kubernetes auth.

-> **Note:** If you are upgrading to Kubernetes v1.21+, ensure the config option
`disable_iss_validation` is set to true. Assuming the default mount path, you
can check with `vault read -field disable_iss_validation auth/kubernetes/config`.
See [Kubernetes 1.21](#kubernetes-1-21) below for more details.

## Authentication

### Via the CLI

The default path is `/kubernetes`. If this auth method was enabled at a
different path, specify `-path=/my-path` in the CLI.

```shell-session
$ vault write auth/kubernetes/login role=demo jwt=...
```

### Via the API

The default endpoint is `auth/kubernetes/login`. If this auth method was enabled
at a different path, use that value instead of `kubernetes`.

```shell-session
$ curl \
    --request POST \
    --data '{"jwt": "<your service account jwt>", "role": "demo"}' \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/kubernetes/login
```

The response will contain a token at `auth.client_token`:

```json
{
  "auth": {
    "client_token": "38fe9691-e623-7238-f618-c94d4e7bc674",
    "accessor": "78e87a38-84ed-2692-538f-ca8b9f400ab3",
    "policies": ["default"],
    "metadata": {
      "role": "demo",
      "service_account_name": "myapp",
      "service_account_namespace": "default",
      "service_account_secret_name": "myapp-token-pd21c",
      "service_account_uid": "aa9aa8ff-98d0-11e7-9bb7-0800276d99bf"
    },
    "lease_duration": 2764800,
    "renewable": true
  }
}
```

## Configuration

Auth methods must be configured in advance before users or machines can
authenticate. These steps are usually completed by an operator or configuration
management tool.

1. Enable the Kubernetes auth method:

  ```shell-session
  $ vault auth enable kubernetes
  ```

1. Use the `/config` endpoint to configure Vault to talk to Kubernetes. Use
  `kubectl cluster-info` to validate the Kubernetes host address and TCP port.
  For the list of available configuration options, please see the
  [API documentation](/vault/api-docs/auth/kubernetes).

  ```shell-session
  $ vault write auth/kubernetes/config \
      token_reviewer_jwt="<your reviewer service account JWT>" \
      kubernetes_host=https://192.168.99.100:<your TCP port or blank for 443> \
      kubernetes_ca_cert=@ca.crt
  ```

  !> **Note:** The pattern Vault uses to authenticate Pods depends on sharing
  the JWT token over the network. Given the [security model of
  Vault](/vault/docs/internals/security), this is allowable because Vault is
  part of the trusted compute base. In general, Kubernetes applications should
  **not** share this JWT with other applications, as it allows API calls to be
  made on behalf of the Pod and can result in unintended access being granted
  to 3rd parties.

1. Create a named role:

  ```shell-session
  $ vault write auth/kubernetes/role/demo \
      bound_service_account_names=myapp \
      bound_service_account_namespaces=default \
      policies=default \
      ttl=1h
  ```

  This role authorizes the "myapp" service account in the default
  namespace and it gives it the default policy.

  For the complete list of configuration options, please see the [API
  documentation](/vault/api-docs/auth/kubernetes).

## Kubernetes 1.21

Starting in version [1.21][k8s-1.21-changelog], the Kubernetes
`BoundServiceAccountTokenVolume` feature defaults to enabled. This changes the
JWT token mounted into containers by default in two ways that are important for
Kubernetes auth:

* It has an expiry time and is bound to the lifetime of the pod and service account.
* The value of the JWT's `"iss"` claim depends on the cluster's configuration.

The changes to token lifetime are important when configuring the
[`token_reviewer_jwt`](/vault/api-docs/auth/kubernetes#token_reviewer_jwt) option.
If a short-lived token is used,
Kubernetes will revoke it as soon as the pod or service account are deleted, or
if the expiry time passes, and Vault will no longer be able to use the
`TokenReview` API. See [How to work with short-lived Kubernetes tokens][short-lived-tokens]
below for details on handling this change.

In response to the issuer changes, Kubernetes auth has been updated in Vault
1.9.0 to not validate the issuer by default. The Kubernetes API does the same
validation when reviewing tokens, so enabling issuer validation on the Vault
side is duplicated work. Without disabling Vault's issuer validation, it is not
possible for a single Kubernetes auth configuration to work for default mounted
pod tokens with both Kubernetes 1.20 and 1.21. Note that auth mounts created
before Vault 1.9 will maintain the old default, and you will need to explicitly
set `disable_iss_validation=true` before upgrading Kubernetes to 1.21. See
[Discovering the service account `issuer`](#discovering-the-service-account-issuer)
below for guidance if you wish to enable issuer validation in Vault.

[k8s-1.21-changelog]: https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/CHANGELOG/CHANGELOG-1.21.md#api-change-2
[short-lived-tokens]: #how-to-work-with-short-lived-kubernetes-tokens

### How to work with short-lived kubernetes tokens

There are a few different ways to configure auth for Kubernetes pods when
default mounted pod tokens are short-lived, each with their own tradeoffs. This
table summarizes the options, each of which is explained in more detail below.

| Option                               | All tokens are short-lived | Can revoke tokens early | Other considerations |
| ------------------------------------ | -------------------------- | ----------------------- | -------------------- |
| Use local token as reviewer JWT      | Yes                        | Yes                     | Requires Vault (1.9.3+) to be deployed on the Kubernetes cluster |
| Use client JWT as reviewer JWT       | Yes                        | Yes                     | Operational overhead |
| Use long-lived token as reviewer JWT | No                         | Yes                     |                      |
| Use JWT auth instead                 | Yes                        | No                      |                      |

-> **Note:** By default, Kubernetes currently extends the lifetime of admission
injected service account tokens to a year to help smooth the transition to
short-lived tokens. If you would like to disable this, set
[--service-account-extend-token-expiration=false][k8s-extended-tokens] for
`kube-apiserver` or specify your own `serviceAccountToken` volume mount. See
[here](/vault/docs/auth/jwt/oidc-providers/kubernetes#specify-ttl-and-audience) for an example.

[k8s-extended-tokens]: https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/command-line-tools-reference/kube-apiserver/#options

#### Use local service account token as the reviewer JWT

When running Vault in a Kubernetes pod the recommended option is to use the pod's local
service account token. Vault will periodically re-read the file to support
short-lived tokens. To use the local token and CA certificate, omit
`token_reviewer_jwt` and `kubernetes_ca_cert` when configuring the auth method.
Vault will attempt to load them from `token` and `ca.crt` respectively inside
the default mount folder `/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/`.

```shell-session
$ vault write auth/kubernetes/config \
    kubernetes_host=https://$KUBERNETES_SERVICE_HOST:$KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT
```

!> **Note:** Requires Vault 1.9.3+. In earlier versions the service account
token and CA certificate is read once and stored in Vault storage.
When the service account token expires or is revoked, Vault will no longer be
able to use the `TokenReview` API and client authentication will fail.

<Tip title="You can use the trust store for CA certificates">
  If you leave `kubernetes_ca_cert` unset and set `disable_local_ca_jwt` to
  `true`, Vault uses the system's trust store for TLS certificate
  verification.
</Tip>

#### Use the Vault client's JWT as the reviewer JWT

When configuring Kubernetes auth, you can omit the `token_reviewer_jwt`, and Vault
will use the Vault client's JWT as its own auth token when communicating with
the Kubernetes `TokenReview` API. If Vault is running in Kubernetes, you also need
to set `disable_local_ca_jwt=true`.

This means Vault does not store any JWTs and allows you to use short-lived tokens
everywhere but adds some operational overhead to maintain the cluster role
bindings on the set of service accounts you want to be able to authenticate with
Vault. Each client of Vault would need the `system:auth-delegator` ClusterRole:

```shell-session
$ kubectl create clusterrolebinding vault-client-auth-delegator \
    --clusterrole=system:auth-delegator \
    --group=group1 \
    --serviceaccount=default:svcaccount1 \
    ...
```

#### Continue using long-lived tokens

You can create a long-lived secret using the instructions [here][k8s-create-secret]
and use that as the `token_reviewer_jwt`. In this example, the `vault` service
account would need the `system:auth-delegator` ClusterRole:

```shell-session
$ kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: vault-k8s-auth-secret
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/service-account.name: vault
type: kubernetes.io/service-account-token
EOF
```

Using this maintains previous workflows but does not benefit from the improved
security posture of short-lived tokens.

[k8s-create-secret]: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/configure-service-account/#manually-create-a-service-account-api-token

#### Use JWT auth

Kubernetes auth is specialized to use Kubernetes' `TokenReview` API. However, the
JWT tokens Kubernetes generates can also be verified using Kubernetes as an OIDC
provider. The JWT auth method documentation has [instructions][k8s-jwt-auth] for
setting up JWT auth with Kubernetes as the OIDC provider.

[k8s-jwt-auth]: /vault/docs/auth/jwt/oidc-providers/kubernetes

This solution allows you to use short-lived tokens for all clients and removes
the need for a reviewer JWT. However, the client tokens cannot be revoked before
their TTL expires, so it is recommended to keep the TTL short with that
limitation in mind.

### Discovering the service account `issuer`

-> **Note:** From Vault 1.9.0, `disable_iss_validation` and `issuer` are deprecated
and the default for `disable_iss_validation` has changed to `true` for new
Kubernetes auth mounts. The following section only applies if you have set
`disable_iss_validation=false` or created your mount before 1.9 with the default
value, but `disable_iss_validation=true` is the new recommended value for all
versions of Vault.

Kubernetes 1.21+ clusters may require setting the service account
[`issuer`](/vault/api-docs/auth/kubernetes#issuer) to the same value as
`kube-apiserver`'s `--service-account-issuer` flag. This is because the service
account JWTs for these clusters may have an issuer specific to the cluster
itself, instead of the old default of `kubernetes/serviceaccount`. If you are
unable to check this value directly, you can run the following and look for the
`"iss"` field to find the required value:

```shell-session
$ echo '{"apiVersion": "authentication.k8s.io/v1", "kind": "TokenRequest"}' \
  | kubectl create -f- --raw /api/v1/namespaces/default/serviceaccounts/default/token \
  | jq -r '.status.token' \
  | cut -d . -f2 \
  | base64 -d
```

Most clusters will also have that information available at the
`.well-known/openid-configuration` endpoint:

```shell-session
$ kubectl get --raw /.well-known/openid-configuration | jq -r .issuer
```

This value is then used when configuring Kubernetes auth, e.g.:

```shell-session
$ vault write auth/kubernetes/config \
    kubernetes_host="https://$KUBERNETES_SERVICE_HOST:$KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT" \
    issuer="\"test-aks-cluster-dns-d6cbb78e.hcp.uksouth.azmk8s.io\""
```

## Configuring kubernetes

This auth method accesses the [Kubernetes TokenReview API][k8s-tokenreview] to
validate the provided JWT is still valid. Kubernetes should be running with
`--service-account-lookup`. This is defaulted to true from Kubernetes 1.7.
Otherwise deleted tokens in Kubernetes will not be properly revoked and
will be able to authenticate to this auth method.

Service Accounts used in this auth method will need to have access to the
TokenReview API. If Kubernetes is configured to use RBAC roles, the Service
Account should be granted permissions to access this API. The following
example ClusterRoleBinding could be used to grant these permissions:

```yaml
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: role-tokenreview-binding
  namespace: default
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: system:auth-delegator
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: vault-auth
    namespace: default
```

## API

The Kubernetes Auth Plugin has a full HTTP API. Please see the
[API docs](/vault/api-docs/auth/kubernetes) for more details.

[k8s-tokenreview]: https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubernetes-api/authentication-resources/token-review-v1/

## Workflows

Refer to the following workflow examples for Kubernetes auth method usage:

### Working with templated policies

Set `use_annotations_as_alias_metadata=true` in your Kubernetes auth
configuration to use Kubernetes Service Account annotations for
[Vault alias](/vault/docs/concepts/identity#entities-and-aliases) metadata.

When `use_annotations_as_alias_metadata` is true, you can use the
`identity.entity.aliases.<mount accessor>.metadata.<metadata key>` template
parameter when you create [templated policies](/vault/docs/concepts/policies#templated-policies).

To use annotations as alias metadata, you must give Vault permission to read
service accounts from the Kubernetes API.

#### Scenario Introduction

Assume you have the following policy requirement:

Applications can perform read operations on their allocated key/value secret path:
`(env-kv/data/<env>)`

#### Annotate Kubernetes Service Accounts with their dedicated secret paths

```yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: app
  namespace: demo
  annotations:
    vault.hashicorp.com/alias-metadata-env: demo/app
```

When the application, `app`, logs in with JWT for the service account, Vault
renders the alias metadata as `env : demo/app`.

#### Create a templated ACL policy

The `env-tmpl` policy lets applications read their secrets defined in KV v2
secret engine. Use the mount accessor value
(`auth_kubernetes_bcecb1e1`) from the [`sys/auth`](/vault/api-docs/system/auth) endpoint or the [`vault auth list`](/vault/docs/commands/auth/list) command.

```shell-session
$ tee env-tmpl.hcl <<EOF
path "env-kv/data/{{identity.entity.aliases.auth_kubernetes_bcecb1e1.metadata.env}}" {
  capabilities = [ "read" ]
}
EOF
$ vault policy write env-tmpl env-tmpl.hcl
```

#### Create a Kubernetes role with the templated ACL policy

The Kubernetes role lets users login as the `env-reader` role to read from the
secret path described in the `env-tmpl` policy.

```shell-session
$ vault write auth/kubernetes/role/env-reader \
    bound_service_account_names=app \
    bound_service_account_namespaces=demo \
    policies=default,env-tmpl \
    ttl=1h
```

## Code example

The following example demonstrates the Kubernetes auth method to authenticate
with Vault.

<CodeTabs>

<CodeBlockConfig>

```go
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"os"

	vault "github.com/hashicorp/vault/api"
	auth "github.com/hashicorp/vault/api/auth/kubernetes"
)

// Fetches a key-value secret (kv-v2) after authenticating to Vault with a Kubernetes service account.
// For a more in-depth setup explanation, please see the relevant readme in the hashicorp/vault-examples repo.
func getSecretWithKubernetesAuth() (string, error) {
	// If set, the VAULT_ADDR environment variable will be the address that
	// your pod uses to communicate with Vault.
	config := vault.DefaultConfig() // modify for more granular configuration

	client, err := vault.NewClient(config)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("unable to initialize Vault client: %w", err)
	}

	// The service-account token will be read from the path where the token's
	// Kubernetes Secret is mounted. By default, Kubernetes will mount it to
	// /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token, but an administrator
	// may have configured it to be mounted elsewhere.
	// In that case, we'll use the option WithServiceAccountTokenPath to look
	// for the token there.
	k8sAuth, err := auth.NewKubernetesAuth(
		"dev-role-k8s",
		auth.WithServiceAccountTokenPath("path/to/service-account-token"),
	)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("unable to initialize Kubernetes auth method: %w", err)
	}

	authInfo, err := client.Auth().Login(context.TODO(), k8sAuth)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("unable to log in with Kubernetes auth: %w", err)
	}
	if authInfo == nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("no auth info was returned after login")
	}

	// get secret from Vault, from the default mount path for KV v2 in dev mode, "secret"
	secret, err := client.KVv2("secret").Get(context.Background(), "creds")
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("unable to read secret: %w", err)
	}

	// data map can contain more than one key-value pair,
	// in this case we're just grabbing one of them
	value, ok := secret.Data["password"].(string)
	if !ok {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("value type assertion failed: %T %#v", secret.Data["password"], secret.Data["password"])
	}

	return value, nil
}
```
</CodeBlockConfig>

<CodeBlockConfig>

```cs
using System;
using System.IO;
using VaultSharp;
using VaultSharp.V1.AuthMethods;
using VaultSharp.V1.AuthMethods.Kubernetes;
using VaultSharp.V1.Commons;

namespace Examples
{
    public class KubernetesAuthExample
    {
        const string DefaultTokenPath = "path/to/service-account-token";

        // Fetches a key-value secret (kv-v2) after authenticating to Vault with a Kubernetes service account.
        // For a more in-depth setup explanation, please see the relevant readme in the hashicorp/vault-examples repo.
        public string GetSecretWithK8s()
        {
            var vaultAddr = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("VAULT_ADDR");
            if(String.IsNullOrEmpty(vaultAddr))
            {
                throw new System.ArgumentNullException("Vault Address");
            }

            var roleName = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("VAULT_ROLE");
            if(String.IsNullOrEmpty(roleName))
            {
                throw new System.ArgumentNullException("Vault Role Name");
            }

            // Get the path to service account token or fall back on default path
            string pathToToken = String.IsNullOrEmpty(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SA_TOKEN_PATH")) ? DefaultTokenPath : Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SA_TOKEN_PATH");
            string jwt = File.ReadAllText(pathToToken);

            IAuthMethodInfo authMethod = new KubernetesAuthMethodInfo(roleName, jwt);
            var vaultClientSettings = new VaultClientSettings(vaultAddr, authMethod);

            IVaultClient vaultClient = new VaultClient(vaultClientSettings);

            // We can retrieve the secret after creating our VaultClient object
            Secret<SecretData> kv2Secret = null;
            kv2Secret = vaultClient.V1.Secrets.KeyValue.V2.ReadSecretAsync(path: "/creds").Result;

            var password = kv2Secret.Data.Data["password"];

            return password.ToString();
        }
    }
}
```
</CodeBlockConfig>

</CodeTabs>
