Akeyless Web Access Bastion provides Secure Remote Access to any web application with session recording, including proxy service acting as an entry point to your internal web applications, where only after successful authentication users will get access, either via an isolated remote browser or directly to your target server based on your secret configuration.

Working with isolated browsers provides a complete zero-knowledge where users do not have any knowledge about the access credentials.

This guide provides guidance for the deployment of the Akeyless-Web-Access-Bastion on Docker using Docker Compose

Prerequisites

Docker Compose installed.
Web Access Bastion - docker-compose.yml file.
Minimum 1 vCPU available with 2GB RAM for the WebWorker and 1 vCPU available with 1GB RAM for the WebDispatcher.

Network

When using an Embedded browser session behind a load balancer such as ELB, the session can be closed due to an idle connection timeout, it's advised to increase it to a reasonably high value or even unlimited.

e.g, when running on AWS with ELB: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticloadbalancing/latest/classic/config-idle-timeout.html?icmpid=docs_elb_console

Storage

To be able to download files to your local machine, the Docker engine requires mounted volumes.
e.g, when running on AWS with EKS: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/efs-csi.html

For security reasons, please limit the volume mount permissions to 0650.

🚧
Note:
To enable Secure Remote Access features, you will have to get an access key to Akeyless's private repository. Please contact your Account Manager for more details.

Configuration

Download the Docker Compose file using this link: https://github.com/akeylesslabs/helm-charts/blob/main/docker-compose/akeyless-zero-trust-web-access/docker-compose.yml

To work with a specific Gateway, set the environment variable that points to your Gateway URL on port 8080. Alternatively, you can work with Akeyless public Gateway endpoint instead. To support HTTP connections, set the DISABLE_SECURE_COOKIE variable with true otherwise, only HTTPS connection will be supported, and set your policy for internal authentication using ALLOW_INTERNAL_AUTH. In the following example, internal authentication is blocked:

services:
  dispatcher:
    image: "akeyless/zero-trust-web-dispatcher"
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
      - "19414:19414"
    volumes:
      - $PWD/shared:/etc/shared
    environment:
      - CLUSTER_NAME=compose-ztwa
      - SERVICE_DNS=worker
      - AKEYLESS_GW_URL=https://rest.akeyless.io
      - ALLOW_INTERNAL_AUTH=false
      - DISABLE_SECURE_COOKIE=true
      - WEB_PROXY_TYPE=http
      - AKEYLESS_URL=https://vault.akeyless.io

The Web Access Bastion should be set with a privileged AccessID with Read and list permissions, to fetch the relevant secret on behalf of your users, set the PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID variable with the relevant AccessID as described in the Authentication section of this page.

Users then can have only list permissions on their secrets. Upon successful authentication against your IDP, the bastion will fetch the requested secret from Akeyless and will inject them directly for your users transparently.

To control who will be the relevant users that will be allowed to request access from the Akeyless Bastion, set the ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS variable with a list of AccessIDs comma separated that will be authorized to request access.

services:
  dispatcher:
    image: "akeyless/zero-trust-web-dispatcher"
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
      - "19414:19414"
    volumes:
      - $PWD/shared:/etc/shared
    environment:
      - CLUSTER_NAME=compose-ztwa
      - SERVICE_DNS=worker
      - AKEYLESS_GW_URL=https://rest.akeyless.io
      - PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID=<accessID>
      - ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS=[AccessID1,AccessID2]
      - ALLOW_INTERNAL_AUTH=false
      - DISABLE_SECURE_COOKIE=true
      - WEB_PROXY_TYPE=http

Authentication

The following Authentication Methods are supported:

API Key Authentication

To set your Bastion default authentication based on API Key, set the PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID and the matching PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_KEY as environment variables with a list of ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS that will be authorized to request access:

services:
  dispatcher:
    image: "akeyless/zero-trust-web-dispatcher"
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
      - "19414:19414"
    volumes:
      - $PWD/shared:/etc/shared
    environment:
      - CLUSTER_NAME=compose-ztwa
      - SERVICE_DNS=worker
      - AKEYLESS_GW_URL=https://rest.akeyless.io
      - PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID=<AccessID>
      - PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_KEY=<AccessKey>
      - ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS=[AccessIds]
      - ALLOW_INTERNAL_AUTH=false
      - DISABLE_SECURE_COOKIE=true
      - WEB_PROXY_TYPE=http

CSP IAM Authentication

While running your Docker inside your cloud environment, you can use AWS IAM, GCP, or Azure Active Directory, using machine-to-machine authentication between Akeyless and your Cloud Service Provider with a list of allowed AccessIDs that will be authorized to request access.

AWS IAM

AWS IAM can be used in the following approach:

Instance IAM Role

While working with an IAM Role associated with the instance himself, you can provide your AWS IAM Access ID as your PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID, with a list of ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS that will be authorized to request access:

services:
  dispatcher:
    image: "akeyless/zero-trust-web-dispatcher"
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
      - "19414:19414"
    volumes:
      - $PWD/shared:/etc/shared
    environment:
      - CLUSTER_NAME=compose-ztwa
      - SERVICE_DNS=worker
      - AKEYLESS_GW_URL=https://rest.akeyless.io
      - PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID=<AWS_IAM_AccessID>
      - ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS=[AccessIds]
      - ALLOW_INTERNAL_AUTH=false
      - DISABLE_SECURE_COOKIE=true
      - WEB_PROXY_TYPE=http

Azure Active Directory

Azure AD authentication is provided with OpenID Connect. OpenID Connect is an identity layer built on top of the OAuth 2.0 protocol. Akeyless treats Azure as a trusted third party and verifies entities based on a JWT signed by the Azure Active Directory for the configured tenant.

Set your Azure Active Directory Access ID as your PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID with a list of ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS that will be authorized to request access:

services:
  dispatcher:
    image: "akeyless/zero-trust-web-dispatcher"
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
      - "19414:19414"
    volumes:
      - $PWD/shared:/etc/shared
    environment:
      - CLUSTER_NAME=compose-ztwa
      - SERVICE_DNS=worker
      - AKEYLESS_GW_URL=https://rest.akeyless.io
      - PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID=<Azure_AD_AccessID>
      - ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS=[AccessIds]
      - ALLOW_INTERNAL_AUTH=false
      - DISABLE_SECURE_COOKIE=true
      - WEB_PROXY_TYPE=http

GCP GCE

Deploying Akeyless Bastion over Docker using the authentication between your Bastion and Akeyless SaaS using our GCP Authentication method can be done using the GCP.
Set your GCP GCE Access ID as your PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID and at least one another Access ID in the ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS list.

services:
  dispatcher:
    image: "akeyless/zero-trust-web-dispatcher"
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
      - "19414:19414"
    volumes:
      - $PWD/shared:/etc/shared
    environment:
      - CLUSTER_NAME=compose-ztwa
      - SERVICE_DNS=worker
      - AKEYLESS_GW_URL=https://rest.akeyless.io
      - PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID=<GCP_GCE_AccessID>
      - ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS=AccessIds]
      - ALLOW_INTERNAL_AUTH=false
      - DISABLE_SECURE_COOKIE=true
      - WEB_PROXY_TYPE=http

Redirect to Bastion URLs

To ensure only validated redirects are accepted, you can harden your bastion using the ALLOWED_BASTION_URLS variable with a list of URLs that will be considered valid for redirection from the Akeyless Zero Trust Portal back to the relevant web-dispatcher-bastion:

services:
  dispatcher:
    image: "akeyless/zero-trust-web-dispatcher"
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
      - "19414:19414"
    volumes:
      - $PWD/shared:/etc/shared
    environment:
      - CLUSTER_NAME=compose-ztwa
      - SERVICE_DNS=worker
      - AKEYLESS_GW_URL=https://rest.akeyless.io
      - PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID=<AccessID>
      - ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS=[AccessIds]
      - ALLOW_INTERNAL_AUTH=false
      - DISABLE_SECURE_COOKIE=true
      - ALLOWED_BASTION_URLS=[https://Web-Access-Bastion-URL]
      - LOG_FORWARDING=
      - WEB_PROXY_TYPE=http

Advanced Configuration

Cluster Name

Each Bastion is uniquely identified by combining the Privilege Access ID Authentication Method and the Cluster Name.

It means that changing the Privilege Access ID or the Cluster Name of your Bastion instance will create an entirely new Bastion instance.

It is recommended to set a meaningful Cluster Name for your Bastion cluster from the very beginning. By default, your cluster name is compose-ztwa.

To do that, you can set the clusterName="meaningful-cluster-name" field as part of the Bastion Docker Compose yaml file.

services:
  dispatcher:
    environment:
      - CLUSTER_NAME=compose-ztwa

Proxy

To configure your proxy settings, you can set several parameters, including proxy settings for HTTP traffic, HTTPS traffic, and Ignore Hosts, using the no_proxy field, to prevent local traffic from going through your proxy server. You can set both services dispatcher and worker accordingly.

services:
  dispatcher:
    environment:
      - CLUSTER_NAME=compose-ztwa
      - http_proxy=
      - https_proxy=
      - no_proxy=
  worker:
    environment:
      - http_proxy=
      - https_proxy=
      - no_proxy=

Log Forwarding

To enable log forwarding to an existing log management system, please find a list of available target systems and configurations on this page. Set the LOG_FORWARDING variable inside the Docker Compose deployment file as follow:

services:
  dispatcher:
    image: "akeyless/zero-trust-web-dispatcher"
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
      - "19414:19414"
    volumes:
      - $PWD/shared:/etc/shared
    environment:
      - CLUSTER_NAME=compose-ztwa
      - SERVICE_DNS=worker
      - AKEYLESS_GW_URL=https://rest.akeyless.io
      - PRIVILEGED_ACCESS_ID=<AccessID>
      - ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS=[AccessIds]
      - ALLOW_INTERNAL_AUTH=false
      - DISABLE_SECURE_COOKIE=true
      - ALLOWED_BASTION_URLS=https://Web-Access-Bastion-URL
      - WEB_PROXY_TYPE=http
      - LOG_FORWARDING='enable="true"\n target_log_type="logz_io"\n target_logz_io_token=""\n target_logz_io_protocol="tcp" \n'

WebWorker

This section enables global settings of the internal dedicated remote browsers your users will use. You can customize the settings to provide a more flexible experience for your users.

Default policies sections aimed to provide the most secure work mode. By default, all URLs are blocked hence users will not be able to navigate inside the remote browser to different sites. If needed, set the relevant URLs in the Exceptions list.

cat <<EOT > policies.json
{
  "policies": {
    "BlockAboutConfig": true,
    "BlockAboutAddons": true,
    "BlockAboutProfiles": true,
    "BlockAboutSupport": true,
    "DisableDeveloperTools": true,
    "DisableFirefoxAccounts": true,
    "DisablePasswordReveal": true,
    "DisablePrivateBrowsing": true,
    "DisableProfileImport": true,
    "DisableSafeMode": true,
    "OfferToSaveLogins": false,
    "OfferToSaveLoginsDefault": false,
    "PasswordManagerEnabled": false,
    "Proxy": {
      "Mode": "system",
      "Locked": true
    },
    "Preferences": {},
    "Certificates": {
#      "Install": ["/etc/ssl/certs/yourOrgRootCA.crt"]
    },
    "WebsiteFilter": {
      "Block": [
        "<all_urls>"
      ],
      "Exceptions": [
        "https://*.akeyless.io/*"
      ]
    }
  }
}
EOT

🚧
Notice:
The policies.json must be provided for the isolated web browsing to work.

Notice: If your organization uses private certificate authorities (CAs) to issue certificates for your internal web apps, and you either wish to access those websites through the web-access-bastion, or if your AKEYLESS_GW_URL is pointing to a Gateway that uses such a certificate, you must configure the WebWorkers as follows:

Mount your organization's Root CA certificate to the containers (in the docker-compose.yml, under services.worker.volumes)
In the policies.json above, uncomment the Certificates.Install line and set it to the relevant certificates' paths inside the container

DLP

To work with Data Leak Protection tools, you can explicitly set the target settings of your DLP server, as well as with dedicated audit logs forwarding.

worker:
    image: "akeyless/zero-trust-web-worker"
    security_opt:
      - seccomp=unconfined
    shm_size: '2gb'
    volumes:
      - $PWD/policies.json:/usr/lib/firefox/distribution/policies.json:ro
      - $PWD/shared:/etc/shared
    environment:
      - INTERNAL_DISPATCHER_IP=10.5.0.2
      - DISPLAY_WIDTH=2560
      - DISPLAY_HEIGHT=1200
      - DLP_CONF=
      - LOG_FORWARDING=

Install

Run the following command to apply your settings as part of the Docker Compose command:

docker-compose up -d --scale worker=3

Verify that both containers are up and running:

web-worker-deployment
web-dispatcher-deployment

Web Access Bastion on Docker

Prerequisites

🚧
Note:

Configuration

Authentication

API Key Authentication

CSP IAM Authentication

AWS IAM

Azure Active Directory

GCP GCE

Redirect to Bastion URLs

Advanced Configuration

Cluster Name

Proxy

Log Forwarding

WebWorker

🚧
Notice:

DLP

Install

Prerequisites

🚧Note:

Configuration

Authentication

API Key Authentication

CSP IAM Authentication

AWS IAM

Azure Active Directory

GCP GCE

Redirect to Bastion URLs

Advanced Configuration

Cluster Name

Proxy

Log Forwarding

WebWorker

🚧Notice:

DLP

Install

🚧
Note:

🚧
Notice: