PKCS11 Universal Orchestrator Extension

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Overview

This Orchestrator Extension allows for interacting with PKCS11-compatible devices to inventory certificates and enroll new certificates with on-device key generation via a reenrollment job.

The PKCS11 orchestrator extensions connects to a PKCS11 Library for a PKCS11-compatible device such as an HSM. It implements the following capabilities:

1. Inventory - Return all certificates stored on the device accessible by the PIN provided
2. Reenrollment - Perform key generation on the device and create a new certificate with a CSR signed by the generated keys.

Compatibility

This integration is compatible with Keyfactor Universal Orchestrator version 10.4 and later.

Support

The PKCS11 Universal Orchestrator extension If you have a support issue, please open a support ticket by either contacting your Keyfactor representative or via the Keyfactor Support Portal at https://support.keyfactor.com.

To report a problem or suggest a new feature, use the Issues tab. If you want to contribute actual bug fixes or proposed enhancements, use the Pull requests tab.

Requirements & Prerequisites

Before installing the PKCS11 Universal Orchestrator extension, we recommend that you install kfutil. Kfutil is a command-line tool that simplifies the process of creating store types, installing extensions, and instantiating certificate stores in Keyfactor Command.

The PKCS11 device needs to have a corresponding dotnet DLL provided to access it. The configuration of the device and library will be specific to the manufacturer. A PIN will be used to logon to the device. The PIN used should not be the security officer PIN. The User PIN provided should have permissions to Generate keys and perform Signings.

The PKCS11 library for the device should be copied and accessible somewhere in the filesystem relative to the Orchestrator. This location will be referenced in the Store Path in step two of the Extension Configuration. Access permissions may need to be reviewed to ensure the Orchestrator can load the PKCS11 library.

PKCS11 Certificate Store Type

To use the PKCS11 Universal Orchestrator extension, you must create the PKCS11 Certificate Store Type. This only needs to happen once per Keyfactor Command instance.

Supported Operations

Operation	Is Supported
Add	🔲 Unchecked
Remove	🔲 Unchecked
Discovery	🔲 Unchecked
Reenrollment	✅ Checked
Create	🔲 Unchecked

Store Type Creation

Using kfutil:

kfutil is a custom CLI for the Keyfactor Command API and can be used to create certificate store types. For more information on kfutil check out the docs

Click to expand PKCS11 kfutil details

Using online definition from GitHub:

This will reach out to GitHub and pull the latest store-type definition

# PKCS11
kfutil store-types create PKCS11

Offline creation using integration-manifest file:

If required, it is possible to create store types from the integration-manifest.json included in this repo. You would first download the integration-manifest.json and then run the following command in your offline environment.

kfutil store-types create --from-file integration-manifest.json

Manual Creation

Below are instructions on how to create the PKCS11 store type manually in the Keyfactor Command Portal

Click to expand manual PKCS11 details

Create a store type called PKCS11 with the attributes in the tables below:

Basic Tab

Attribute	Value	Description
Name	PKCS11	Display name for the store type (may be customized)
Short Name	PKCS11	Short display name for the store type
Capability	PKCS11	Store type name orchestrator will register with. Check the box to allow entry of value
Supports Add	🔲 Unchecked	Indicates that the Store Type supports Management Add
Supports Remove	🔲 Unchecked	Indicates that the Store Type supports Management Remove
Supports Discovery	🔲 Unchecked	Indicates that the Store Type supports Discovery
Supports Reenrollment	✅ Checked	Indicates that the Store Type supports Reenrollment
Supports Create	🔲 Unchecked	Indicates that the Store Type supports store creation
Needs Server	🔲 Unchecked	Determines if a target server name is required when creating store
Blueprint Allowed	🔲 Unchecked	Determines if store type may be included in an Orchestrator blueprint
Uses PowerShell	🔲 Unchecked	Determines if underlying implementation is PowerShell
Requires Store Password	✅ Checked	Enables users to optionally specify a store password when defining a Certificate Store.
Supports Entry Password	🔲 Unchecked	Determines if an individual entry within a store can have a password.

The Basic tab should look like this:

Advanced Tab

Attribute	Value	Description
Supports Custom Alias	Required	Determines if an individual entry within a store can have a custom Alias.
Private Key Handling	Optional	This determines if Keyfactor can send the private key associated with a certificate to the store. Required because IIS certificates without private keys would be invalid.
PFX Password Style	Default	'Default' - PFX password is randomly generated, 'Custom' - PFX password may be specified when the enrollment job is created (Requires the Allow Custom Password application setting to be enabled.)

The Advanced tab should look like this:

For Keyfactor Command versions 24.4 and later, a Certificate Format dropdown is available with PFX and PEM options. Ensure that PFX is selected, as this determines the format of new and renewed certificates sent to the Orchestrator during a Management job. Currently, all Keyfactor-supported Orchestrator extensions support only PFX.

Custom Fields Tab

Custom fields operate at the certificate store level and are used to control how the orchestrator connects to the remote target server containing the certificate store to be managed. The following custom fields should be added to the store type:

Name	Display Name	Description	Type	Default Value/Options	Required

The Custom Fields tab should look like this:

Entry Parameters Tab

Name	Display Name	Description	Type	Default Value	Entry has a private key	Adding an entry	Removing an entry	Reenrolling an entry
label	Label (Alias)	Name for the key pair which will also serve as the certificate's alias in Keyfactor	String		🔲 Unchecked	🔲 Unchecked	🔲 Unchecked	✅ Checked

The Entry Parameters tab should look like this:

Installation

1. Download the latest PKCS11 Universal Orchestrator extension from GitHub.

   Navigate to the PKCS11 Universal Orchestrator extension GitHub version page. Refer to the compatibility matrix below to determine whether the net6.0 or net8.0 asset should be downloaded. Then, click the corresponding asset to download the zip archive.

   Universal Orchestrator Version	Latest .NET version installed on the Universal Orchestrator server	rollForward condition in Orchestrator.runtimeconfig.json	pkcs11-orchestrator .NET version to download
   Older than 11.0.0			net6.0
   Between 11.0.0 and 11.5.1 (inclusive)	net6.0		net6.0
   Between 11.0.0 and 11.5.1 (inclusive)	net8.0	Disable	net6.0
   Between 11.0.0 and 11.5.1 (inclusive)	net8.0	LatestMajor	net8.0
   11.6 and newer	net8.0		net8.0

   Unzip the archive containing extension assemblies to a known location.

   Note If you don't see an asset with a corresponding .NET version, you should always assume that it was compiled for net6.0.

2. Locate the Universal Orchestrator extensions directory.

   • Default on Windows - C:\Program Files\Keyfactor\Keyfactor Orchestrator\extensions
   • Default on Linux - /opt/keyfactor/orchestrator/extensions

3. Create a new directory for the PKCS11 Universal Orchestrator extension inside the extensions directory.

   Create a new directory called pkcs11-orchestrator.

   The directory name does not need to match any names used elsewhere; it just has to be unique within the extensions directory.

4. Copy the contents of the downloaded and unzipped assemblies from step 2 to the pkcs11-orchestrator directory.

5. Restart the Universal Orchestrator service.

   Refer to Starting/Restarting the Universal Orchestrator service.

6. (optional) PAM Integration

   The PKCS11 Universal Orchestrator extension is compatible with all supported Keyfactor PAM extensions to resolve PAM-eligible secrets. PAM extensions running on Universal Orchestrators enable secure retrieval of secrets from a connected PAM provider.

   To configure a PAM provider, reference the Keyfactor Integration Catalog to select an extension and follow the associated instructions to install it on the Universal Orchestrator (remote).

The above installation steps can be supplemented by the official Command documentation.

Defining Certificate Stores

Store Creation

Manually with the Command UI

Click to expand details

1. Navigate to the Certificate Stores page in Keyfactor Command.

   Log into Keyfactor Command, toggle the Locations dropdown, and click Certificate Stores.

2. Add a Certificate Store.

   Click the Add button to add a new Certificate Store. Use the table below to populate the Attributes in the Add form.

   Attribute	Description
   Category	Select "PKCS11" or the customized certificate store name from the previous step.
   Container	Optional container to associate certificate store with.
   Client Machine	Not used. Enter any non-empty value
   Store Path	The absolute path to the PKCS11 library DLL
   Store Password	The PIN to access the device
   Orchestrator	Select an approved orchestrator capable of managing PKCS11 certificates. Specifically, one with the PKCS11 capability.

Using kfutil CLI

Click to expand details

1. Generate a CSV template for the PKCS11 certificate store

   kfutil stores import generate-template --store-type-name PKCS11 --outpath PKCS11.csv

2. Populate the generated CSV file

   Open the CSV file, and reference the table below to populate parameters for each Attribute.

   Attribute	Description
   Category	Select "PKCS11" or the customized certificate store name from the previous step.
   Container	Optional container to associate certificate store with.
   Client Machine	Not used. Enter any non-empty value
   Store Path	The absolute path to the PKCS11 library DLL
   Store Password	The PIN to access the device
   Orchestrator	Select an approved orchestrator capable of managing PKCS11 certificates. Specifically, one with the PKCS11 capability.

3. Import the CSV file to create the certificate stores

   kfutil stores import csv --store-type-name PKCS11 --file PKCS11.csv

PAM Provider Eligible Fields

Attributes eligible for retrieval by a PAM Provider on the Universal Orchestrator

If a PAM provider was installed on the Universal Orchestrator in the Installation section, the following parameters can be configured for retrieval on the Universal Orchestrator.

Attribute	Description
StorePassword	The PIN to access the device

Please refer to the Universal Orchestrator (remote) usage section (PAM providers on the Keyfactor Integration Catalog) for your selected PAM provider for instructions on how to load attributes orchestrator-side.

Any secret can be rendered by a PAM provider installed on the Keyfactor Command server. The above parameters are specific to attributes that can be fetched by an installed PAM provider running on the Universal Orchestrator server itself.

The content in this section can be supplemented by the official Command documentation.

License

Apache License 2.0, see LICENSE.

Related Integrations

See all Keyfactor Universal Orchestrator extensions.