Backend TLS: Gateway to Backend

This task demonstrates how TLS can be achieved between the Gateway and a backend. This task uses a self-signed CA, so it should be used for testing and demonstration purposes only.

Envoy Gateway supports the Gateway-API defined BackendTLSPolicy.

Prerequisites

• OpenSSL to generate TLS assets.

Installation

Follow the steps from the Quickstart task to install Envoy Gateway and the example manifest. Before proceeding, you should be able to query the example backend using HTTP.

Verify the Gateway status:

• kubectl
• egctl (experimental)

kubectl get gateway/eg -o yaml

egctl x status gateway -v

TLS Certificates

Generate the certificates and keys used by the backend to terminate TLS connections from the Gateways.

Create a root certificate and private key to sign certificates:

openssl req -x509 -sha256 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -subj '/O=example Inc./CN=example.com' -keyout ca.key -out ca.crt

Create a certificate and a private key for www.example.com.

First, create an openssl configuration file:

cat > openssl.conf  <<EOF
[req]
req_extensions = v3_req
prompt = no

[v3_req]
keyUsage = keyEncipherment, digitalSignature
extendedKeyUsage = serverAuth
subjectAltName = @alt_names
[alt_names]
DNS.1 = www.example.com
EOF

Then create a certificate using this openssl configuration file:

openssl req -out www.example.com.csr -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout www.example.com.key -subj "/CN=www.example.com/O=example organization"
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -CA ca.crt -CAkey ca.key -set_serial 0 -in www.example.com.csr -out www.example.com.crt -extfile openssl.conf -extensions v3_req

Note that the certificate must contain a DNS SAN for the relevant domain.

Store the cert/key in a Secret:

kubectl create secret tls example-cert --key=www.example.com.key --cert=www.example.com.crt

Store the CA Cert in another Secret:

kubectl create configmap example-ca --from-file=ca.crt

Setup TLS on the backend

Patch the existing quickstart backend to enable TLS. The patch will mount the TLS certificate secret into the backend as volume.

kubectl patch deployment backend --type=json --patch '
  - op: add
    path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts
    value:
    - name: secret-volume
      mountPath: /etc/secret-volume
  - op: add
    path: /spec/template/spec/volumes
    value:
    - name: secret-volume
      secret:
        secretName: example-cert
        items:
        - key: tls.crt
          path: crt
        - key: tls.key
          path: key
  - op: add
    path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/env/-
    value:
      name: TLS_SERVER_CERT
      value: /etc/secret-volume/crt
  - op: add
    path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/env/-
    value:
      name: TLS_SERVER_PRIVKEY
      value: /etc/secret-volume/key
  '

Create a service that exposes port 443 on the backend service.

• Apply from stdin
• Apply from file

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  labels:
    app: backend
    service: backend
  name: tls-backend
  namespace: default
spec:
  selector:
    app: backend
  ports:
  - name: https
    port: 443
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: 8443
EOF

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  labels:
    app: backend
    service: backend
  name: tls-backend
  namespace: default
spec:
  selector:
    app: backend
  ports:
  - name: https
    port: 443
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: 8443

Create a BackendTLSPolicy instructing Envoy Gateway to establish a TLS connection with the backend and validate the backend certificate is issued by a trusted CA and contains an appropriate DNS SAN.

• Apply from stdin
• Apply from file

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1alpha3
kind: BackendTLSPolicy
metadata:
  name: enable-backend-tls
  namespace: default
spec:
  targetRefs:
  - group: ''
    kind: Service
    name: tls-backend
    sectionName: "443"
  validation:
    caCertificateRefs:
    - name: example-ca
      group: ''
      kind: ConfigMap
    hostname: www.example.com
EOF

---
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1alpha3
kind: BackendTLSPolicy
metadata:
  name: enable-backend-tls
  namespace: default
spec:
  targetRefs:
  - group: ''
    kind: Service
    name: tls-backend
    sectionName: "443"
  validation:
    caCertificateRefs:
    - name: example-ca
      group: ''
      kind: ConfigMap
    hostname: www.example.com

Patch the HTTPRoute’s backend reference, so that it refers to the new TLS-enabled service:

kubectl patch HTTPRoute backend --type=json --patch '
  - op: replace
    path: /spec/rules/0/backendRefs/0/port
    value: 443
  - op: replace
    path: /spec/rules/0/backendRefs/0/name
    value: tls-backend
  '

Verify the HTTPRoute status:

kubectl get HTTPRoute backend -o yaml

Testing backend TLS

• With External LoadBalancer Support
• Without LoadBalancer Support

export GATEWAY_HOST=$(kubectl get gateway/eg -o jsonpath='{.status.addresses[0].value}')

curl -v -HHost:www.example.com --resolve "www.example.com:80:${GATEWAY_HOST}" \
http://www.example.com:80/get

< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
[...]
 "tls": {
  "version": "TLSv1.2",
  "serverName": "www.example.com",
  "negotiatedProtocol": "http/1.1",
  "cipherSuite": "TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256"
 }

export ENVOY_SERVICE=$(kubectl get svc -n envoy-gateway-system --selector=gateway.envoyproxy.io/owning-gateway-namespace=default,gateway.envoyproxy.io/owning-gateway-name=eg -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')

kubectl -n envoy-gateway-system port-forward service/${ENVOY_SERVICE} 80:80 &

curl -v -HHost:www.example.com --resolve "www.example.com:80:127.0.0.1" \
http://www.example.com:80/get

< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
[...]
 "tls": {
  "version": "TLSv1.2",
  "serverName": "www.example.com",
  "negotiatedProtocol": "http/1.1",
  "cipherSuite": "TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256"
 }

Customize backend TLS Parameters

In addition to enablement of backend TLS with the Gateway-API BackendTLSPolicy, Envoy Gateway supports customizing TLS parameters. To achieve this, the EnvoyProxy resource can be used to specify TLS parameters. We will customize the TLS version in this example.

First, you need to add ParametersRef in GatewayClass, and refer to EnvoyProxy Config:

• Apply from stdin
• Apply from file

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: GatewayClass
metadata:
  name: eg
spec:
  controllerName: gateway.envoyproxy.io/gatewayclass-controller
  parametersRef:
    group: gateway.envoyproxy.io
    kind: EnvoyProxy
    name: custom-proxy-config
    namespace: envoy-gateway-system
EOF

---
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: GatewayClass
metadata:
  name: eg
spec:
  controllerName: gateway.envoyproxy.io/gatewayclass-controller
  parametersRef:
    group: gateway.envoyproxy.io
    kind: EnvoyProxy
    name: custom-proxy-config
    namespace: envoy-gateway-system

You can customize the EnvoyProxy Backend TLS Parameters via EnvoyProxy Config like:

• Apply from stdin
• Apply from file

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: gateway.envoyproxy.io/v1alpha1
kind: EnvoyProxy
metadata:
  name: custom-proxy-config
  namespace: envoy-gateway-system
spec:
  backendTLS:
    minVersion: "1.3"
EOF

---
apiVersion: gateway.envoyproxy.io/v1alpha1
kind: EnvoyProxy
metadata:
  name: custom-proxy-config
  namespace: envoy-gateway-system
spec:
  backendTLS:
    MinVersion: "1.3"

Testing TLS Parameters

Query the TLS-enabled backend through Envoy proxy:

curl -v -HHost:www.example.com --resolve "www.example.com:80:127.0.0.1" \
http://www.example.com:80/get

Inspect the output and see that the response contains the details of the TLS handshake between Envoy and the backend. The TLS version is now TLS1.3, as configured in the EnvoyProxy resource. The TLS cipher is also changed, since TLS1.3 supports different ciphers from TLS1.2.

< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
[...]
 "tls": {
  "version": "TLSv1.3",
  "serverName": "www.example.com",
  "negotiatedProtocol": "http/1.1",
  "cipherSuite": "TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256"
 }