path: root/nixos/modules/security/acme/doc.xml

<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
         xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
         xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
         version="5.0"
         xml:id="module-security-acme">
 <title>SSL/TLS Certificates with ACME</title>
 <para>
  NixOS supports automatic domain validation &amp; certificate retrieval and
  renewal using the ACME protocol. Any provider can be used, but by default
  NixOS uses Let's Encrypt. The alternative ACME client
  <link xlink:href="https://go-acme.github.io/lego/">lego</link> is used under
  the hood.
 </para>
 <para>
  Automatic cert validation and configuration for Apache and Nginx virtual
  hosts is included in NixOS, however if you would like to generate a wildcard
  cert or you are not using a web server you will have to configure DNS
  based validation.
 </para>
 <section xml:id="module-security-acme-prerequisites">
  <title>Prerequisites</title>

  <para>
   To use the ACME module, you must accept the provider's terms of service
   by setting <literal><xref linkend="opt-security.acme.acceptTerms" /></literal>
   to <literal>true</literal>. The Let's Encrypt ToS can be found
   <link xlink:href="https://letsencrypt.org/repository/">here</link>.
  </para>

  <para>
   You must also set an email address to be used when creating accounts with
   Let's Encrypt. You can set this for all certs with
   <literal><xref linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults.email" /></literal>
   and/or on a per-cert basis with
   <literal><xref linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.email" /></literal>.
   This address is only used for registration and renewal reminders,
   and cannot be used to administer the certificates in any way.
  </para>

  <para>
   Alternatively, you can use a different ACME server by changing the
   <literal><xref linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults.server" /></literal> option
   to a provider of your choosing, or just change the server for one cert with
   <literal><xref linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.server" /></literal>.
  </para>

  <para>
   You will need an HTTP server or DNS server for verification. For HTTP,
   the server must have a webroot defined that can serve
   <filename>.well-known/acme-challenge</filename>. This directory must be
   writeable by the user that will run the ACME client. For DNS, you must
   set up credentials with your provider/server for use with lego.
  </para>
 </section>
 <section xml:id="module-security-acme-nginx">
  <title>Using ACME certificates in Nginx</title>

  <para>
   NixOS supports fetching ACME certificates for you by setting
   <literal><link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.enableACME">enableACME</link>
   = true;</literal> in a virtualHost config. We first create self-signed
   placeholder certificates in place of the real ACME certs. The placeholder
   certs are overwritten when the ACME certs arrive. For
   <literal>foo.example.com</literal> the config would look like this:
  </para>

<programlisting>
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.acceptTerms" /> = true;
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults.email" /> = "admin+acme@example.com";
services.nginx = {
  <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.enable">enable</link> = true;
  <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts">virtualHosts</link> = {
    "foo.example.com" = {
      <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.forceSSL">forceSSL</link> = true;
      <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.enableACME">enableACME</link> = true;
      # All serverAliases will be added as <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.extraDomainNames">extra domain names</link> on the certificate.
      <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.serverAliases">serverAliases</link> = [ "bar.example.com" ];
      locations."/" = {
        <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.locations._name_.root">root</link> = "/var/www";
      };
    };

    # We can also add a different vhost and reuse the same certificate
    # but we have to append extraDomainNames manually.
    <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.extraDomainNames">security.acme.certs."foo.example.com".extraDomainNames</link> = [ "baz.example.com" ];
    "baz.example.com" = {
      <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.forceSSL">forceSSL</link> = true;
      <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.useACMEHost">useACMEHost</link> = "foo.example.com";
      locations."/" = {
        <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.locations._name_.root">root</link> = "/var/www";
      };
    };
  };
}
</programlisting>
 </section>
 <section xml:id="module-security-acme-httpd">
  <title>Using ACME certificates in Apache/httpd</title>

  <para>
   Using ACME certificates with Apache virtual hosts is identical
   to using them with Nginx. The attribute names are all the same, just replace
   "nginx" with "httpd" where appropriate.
  </para>
 </section>
 <section xml:id="module-security-acme-configuring">
  <title>Manual configuration of HTTP-01 validation</title>

  <para>
   First off you will need to set up a virtual host to serve the challenges.
   This example uses a vhost called <literal>certs.example.com</literal>, with
   the intent that you will generate certs for all your vhosts and redirect
   everyone to HTTPS.
  </para>

<programlisting>
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.acceptTerms" /> = true;
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults.email" /> = "admin+acme@example.com";

# /var/lib/acme/.challenges must be writable by the ACME user
# and readable by the Nginx user. The easiest way to achieve
# this is to add the Nginx user to the ACME group.
<link linkend="opt-users.users._name_.extraGroups">users.users.nginx.extraGroups</link> = [ "acme" ];

services.nginx = {
  <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.enable">enable</link> = true;
  <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts">virtualHosts</link> = {
    "acmechallenge.example.com" = {
      # Catchall vhost, will redirect users to HTTPS for all vhosts
      <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.serverAliases">serverAliases</link> = [ "*.example.com" ];
      locations."/.well-known/acme-challenge" = {
        <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.locations._name_.root">root</link> = "/var/lib/acme/.challenges";
      };
      locations."/" = {
        <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.locations._name_.return">return</link> = "301 https://$host$request_uri";
      };
    };
  };
}
# Alternative config for Apache
<link linkend="opt-users.users._name_.extraGroups">users.users.wwwrun.extraGroups</link> = [ "acme" ];
services.httpd = {
  <link linkend="opt-services.httpd.enable">enable = true;</link>
  <link linkend="opt-services.httpd.virtualHosts">virtualHosts</link> = {
    "acmechallenge.example.com" = {
      # Catchall vhost, will redirect users to HTTPS for all vhosts
      <link linkend="opt-services.httpd.virtualHosts._name_.serverAliases">serverAliases</link> = [ "*.example.com" ];
      # /var/lib/acme/.challenges must be writable by the ACME user and readable by the Apache user.
      # By default, this is the case.
      <link linkend="opt-services.httpd.virtualHosts._name_.documentRoot">documentRoot</link> = "/var/lib/acme/.challenges";
      <link linkend="opt-services.httpd.virtualHosts._name_.extraConfig">extraConfig</link> = ''
        RewriteEngine On
        RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
        RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/\.well-known/acme-challenge [NC]
        RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301]
      '';
    };
  };
}
</programlisting>

  <para>
   Now you need to configure ACME to generate a certificate.
  </para>

<programlisting>
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.certs"/>."foo.example.com" = {
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.webroot">webroot</link> = "/var/lib/acme/.challenges";
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.email">email</link> = "foo@example.com";
  # Ensure that the web server you use can read the generated certs
  # Take a look at the <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.group">group</link> option for the web server you choose.
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.group">group</link> = "nginx";
  # Since we have a wildcard vhost to handle port 80,
  # we can generate certs for anything!
  # Just make sure your DNS resolves them.
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.extraDomainNames">extraDomainNames</link> = [ "mail.example.com" ];
};
</programlisting>

  <para>
   The private key <filename>key.pem</filename> and certificate
   <filename>fullchain.pem</filename> will be put into
   <filename>/var/lib/acme/foo.example.com</filename>.
  </para>

  <para>
   Refer to <xref linkend="ch-options" /> for all available configuration
   options for the <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs">security.acme</link>
   module.
  </para>
 </section>
 <section xml:id="module-security-acme-config-dns">
  <title>Configuring ACME for DNS validation</title>

  <para>
   This is useful if you want to generate a wildcard certificate, since
   ACME servers will only hand out wildcard certs over DNS validation.
   There are a number of supported DNS providers and servers you can utilise,
   see the <link xlink:href="https://go-acme.github.io/lego/dns/">lego docs</link>
   for provider/server specific configuration values. For the sake of these
   docs, we will provide a fully self-hosted example using bind.
  </para>

<programlisting>
services.bind = {
  <link linkend="opt-services.bind.enable">enable</link> = true;
  <link linkend="opt-services.bind.extraConfig">extraConfig</link> = ''
    include "/var/lib/secrets/dnskeys.conf";
  '';
  <link linkend="opt-services.bind.zones">zones</link> = [
    rec {
      name = "example.com";
      file = "/var/db/bind/${name}";
      master = true;
      extraConfig = "allow-update { key rfc2136key.example.com.; };";
    }
  ];
}

# Now we can configure ACME
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.acceptTerms" /> = true;
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults.email" /> = "admin+acme@example.com";
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.certs" />."example.com" = {
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.domain">domain</link> = "*.example.com";
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.dnsProvider">dnsProvider</link> = "rfc2136";
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.credentialsFile">credentialsFile</link> = "/var/lib/secrets/certs.secret";
  # We don't need to wait for propagation since this is a local DNS server
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.dnsPropagationCheck">dnsPropagationCheck</link> = false;
};
</programlisting>

  <para>
   The <filename>dnskeys.conf</filename> and <filename>certs.secret</filename>
   must be kept secure and thus you should not keep their contents in your
   Nix config. Instead, generate them one time with a systemd service:
  </para>

<programlisting>
systemd.services.dns-rfc2136-conf = {
  requiredBy = ["acme-example.com.service", "bind.service"];
  before = ["acme-example.com.service", "bind.service"];
  unitConfig = {
    ConditionPathExists = "!/var/lib/secrets/dnskeys.conf";
  };
  serviceConfig = {
    Type = "oneshot";
    UMask = 0077;
  };
  path = [ pkgs.bind ];
  script = ''
    mkdir -p /var/lib/secrets
    tsig-keygen rfc2136key.example.com &gt; /var/lib/secrets/dnskeys.conf
    chown named:root /var/lib/secrets/dnskeys.conf
    chmod 400 /var/lib/secrets/dnskeys.conf

    # Copy the secret value from the dnskeys.conf, and put it in
    # RFC2136_TSIG_SECRET below

    cat &gt; /var/lib/secrets/certs.secret &lt;&lt; EOF
    RFC2136_NAMESERVER='127.0.0.1:53'
    RFC2136_TSIG_ALGORITHM='hmac-sha256.'
    RFC2136_TSIG_KEY='rfc2136key.example.com'
    RFC2136_TSIG_SECRET='your secret key'
    EOF
    chmod 400 /var/lib/secrets/certs.secret
  '';
};
</programlisting>

  <para>
   Now you're all set to generate certs! You should monitor the first invocation
   by running <literal>systemctl start acme-example.com.service &amp;
   journalctl -fu acme-example.com.service</literal> and watching its log output.
  </para>
 </section>

 <section xml:id="module-security-acme-config-dns-with-vhosts">
  <title>Using DNS validation with web server virtual hosts</title>

  <para>
   It is possible to use DNS-01 validation with all certificates,
   including those automatically configured via the Nginx/Apache
   <literal><link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.enableACME">enableACME</link></literal>
   option. This configuration pattern is fully
   supported and part of the module's test suite for Nginx + Apache.
  </para>

  <para>
   You must follow the guide above on configuring DNS-01 validation
   first, however instead of setting the options for one certificate
   (e.g. <xref linkend="opt-security.acme.certs._name_.dnsProvider" />)
   you will set them as defaults
   (e.g. <xref linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults.dnsProvider" />).
  </para>

<programlisting>
# Configure ACME appropriately
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.acceptTerms" /> = true;
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults.email" /> = "admin+acme@example.com";
<xref linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults" /> = {
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults.dnsProvider">dnsProvider</link> = "rfc2136";
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults.credentialsFile">credentialsFile</link> = "/var/lib/secrets/certs.secret";
  # We don't need to wait for propagation since this is a local DNS server
  <link linkend="opt-security.acme.defaults.dnsPropagationCheck">dnsPropagationCheck</link> = false;
};

# For each virtual host you would like to use DNS-01 validation with,
# set acmeRoot = null
services.nginx = {
  <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.enable">enable</link> = true;
  <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts">virtualHosts</link> = {
    "foo.example.com" = {
      <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.enableACME">enableACME</link> = true;
      <link linkend="opt-services.nginx.virtualHosts._name_.acmeRoot">acmeRoot</link> = null;
    };
  };
}
</programlisting>

  <para>
   And that's it! Next time your configuration is rebuilt, or when
   you add a new virtualHost, it will be DNS-01 validated.
  </para>
 </section>

 <section xml:id="module-security-acme-root-owned">
  <title>Using ACME with services demanding root owned certificates</title>

  <para>
   Some services refuse to start if the configured certificate files
   are not owned by root. PostgreSQL and OpenSMTPD are examples of these.
   There is no way to change the user the ACME module uses (it will always be
   <literal>acme</literal>), however you can use systemd's
   <literal>LoadCredential</literal> feature to resolve this elegantly.
   Below is an example configuration for OpenSMTPD, but this pattern
   can be applied to any service.
  </para>

<programlisting>
# Configure ACME however you like (DNS or HTTP validation), adding
# the following configuration for the relevant certificate.
# Note: You cannot use `systemctl reload` here as that would mean
# the LoadCredential configuration below would be skipped and
# the service would continue to use old certificates.
security.acme.certs."mail.example.com".postRun = ''
  systemctl restart opensmtpd
'';

# Now you must augment OpenSMTPD's systemd service to load
# the certificate files.
<link linkend="opt-systemd.services._name_.requires">systemd.services.opensmtpd.requires</link> = ["acme-finished-mail.example.com.target"];
<link linkend="opt-systemd.services._name_.serviceConfig">systemd.services.opensmtpd.serviceConfig.LoadCredential</link> = let
  certDir = config.security.acme.certs."mail.example.com".directory;
in [
  "cert.pem:${certDir}/cert.pem"
  "key.pem:${certDir}/key.pem"
];

# Finally, configure OpenSMTPD to use these certs.
services.opensmtpd = let
  credsDir = "/run/credentials/opensmtpd.service";
in {
  enable = true;
  setSendmail = false;
  serverConfiguration = ''
    pki mail.example.com cert "${credsDir}/cert.pem"
    pki mail.example.com key "${credsDir}/key.pem"
    listen on localhost tls pki mail.example.com
    action act1 relay host smtp://127.0.0.1:10027
    match for local action act1
  '';
};
</programlisting>
 </section>

 <section xml:id="module-security-acme-regenerate">
  <title>Regenerating certificates</title>

  <para>
   Should you need to regenerate a particular certificate in a hurry, such
   as when a vulnerability is found in Let's Encrypt, there is now a convenient
   mechanism for doing so. Running
   <literal>systemctl clean --what=state acme-example.com.service</literal>
   will remove all certificate files and the account data for the given domain,
   allowing you to then <literal>systemctl start acme-example.com.service</literal>
   to generate fresh ones.
  </para>
 </section>
 <section xml:id="module-security-acme-fix-jws">
  <title>Fixing JWS Verification error</title>

  <para>
   It is possible that your account credentials file may become corrupt and need
   to be regenerated. In this scenario lego will produce the error <literal>JWS verification error</literal>.
   The solution is to simply delete the associated accounts file and
   re-run the affected service(s).
  </para>

<programlisting>
# Find the accounts folder for the certificate
systemctl cat acme-example.com.service | grep -Po 'accounts/[^:]*'
export accountdir="$(!!)"
# Move this folder to some place else
mv /var/lib/acme/.lego/$accountdir{,.bak}
# Recreate the folder using systemd-tmpfiles
systemd-tmpfiles --create
# Get a new account and reissue certificates
# Note: Do this for all certs that share the same account email address
systemctl start acme-example.com.service
</programlisting>

 </section>
</chapter>