Use Sigstore for keyless signing and verification
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The Sigstore project provides a CLI called Cosign which can be used for keyless signing of container images built with GitLab CI/CD. Keyless signing has many advantages, including eliminating the need to manage, safeguard, and rotate a private key. Cosign requests a short-lived key pair to use for signing, records it on a certificate transparency log, and then discards it. The key is generated through a token obtained from the GitLab server using the OIDC identity of the user who ran the pipeline. This token includes unique claims that certify the token was generated by a CI/CD pipeline. To learn more, see Cosign documentation on keyless signatures.
For details on the mapping between GitLab OIDC claims and Fulcio certificate extensions, see the GitLab column of Mapping OIDC token claims to Fulcio OIDs.
Requirements:
- You must be using GitLab.com.
- Your project's CI/CD configuration must be located in the project.
Sign or verify container images and build artifacts by using Cosign
You can use Cosign to sign and verify container images and build artifacts.
Requirements:
- You must use a version of Cosign that is
>= 2.0.1
.
Limitations
- The
id_tokens
portion of the CI/CD config file must be located in the project that is being built and signed. AutoDevOps, CI files included from another repository, and child pipelines are not supported. Work to remove this limitation is being tracked in issue 411317.
Best practices:
- Build and sign an image/artifact in the same job to prevent it from being tampered with before it is signed.
- When signing container images, sign the digest (which is immutable) instead of the tag.
GitLab ID tokens can be used by Cosign for
keyless signing. The token must have
sigstore
set as the aud
claim. The token can be used by Cosign automatically when it is set in the
SIGSTORE_ID_TOKEN
environment variable.
To learn more about how to install Cosign, see Cosign Installation documentation.
Signing
Container images
The Cosign.gitlab-ci.yml
template can be used to build and sign a container image in GitLab CI. The signature is automatically stored in the same
container repository as the image.
include:
- template: Cosign.gitlab-ci.yml
To learn more about signing containers, see Cosign Signing Containers documentation.
Build artifacts
The example below demonstrates how to sign a build artifact in GitLab CI. You should save the cosign.bundle
file
produced by cosign sign-blob
, which is used for signature verification.
To learn more about signing artifacts, see Cosign Signing Blobs documentation.
build_and_sign_artifact:
stage: build
image: alpine:latest
variables:
COSIGN_YES: "true"
id_tokens:
SIGSTORE_ID_TOKEN:
aud: sigstore
before_script:
- apk add --update cosign
script:
- echo "This is a build artifact" > artifact.txt
- cosign sign-blob artifact.txt --bundle cosign.bundle
artifacts:
paths:
- artifact.txt
- cosign.bundle
Verification
Command-line arguments
Name | Value |
---|---|
--certificate-identity |
The SAN of the signing certificate issued by Fulcio. Can be constructed with the following information from the project where the image/artifact was signed: GitLab instance URL + project path + // + CI config path + @ + ref path. |
--certificate-oidc-issuer |
The GitLab instance URL where the image/artifact was signed. For example, https://gitlab.com . |
--bundle |
The bundle file produced by cosign sign-blob . Only used for verifying build artifacts. |
To learn more about verifying signed images/artifacts, see Cosign Verifying documentation.
Container images
The example below demonstrates how to verify a signed container image in GitLab CI. The command-line arguments are described above.
verify_image:
image: alpine:3.18
stage: verify
before_script:
- apk add --update cosign docker
- docker login -u "$CI_REGISTRY_USER" -p "$CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD" $CI_REGISTRY
script:
- cosign verify "$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA" --certificate-identity "https://gitlab.com/my-group/my-project//path/to/.gitlab-ci.yml@refs/heads/main" --certificate-oidc-issuer "https://gitlab.com"
Build artifacts
The example below demonstrates how to verify a signed build artifact in GitLab CI. Verifying an artifact requires both
the artifact itself and the cosign.bundle
file produced by cosign sign-blob
. The command-line arguments are
described above.
verify_artifact:
stage: verify
image: alpine:latest
before_script:
- apk add --update cosign
script:
- cosign verify-blob artifact.txt --bundle cosign.bundle --certificate-identity "https://gitlab.com/my-group/my-project//path/to/.gitlab-ci.yml@refs/heads/main" --certificate-oidc-issuer "https://gitlab.com"
Use Sigstore and npm to generate keyless provenance
You can use Sigstore and npm, together with GitLab CI/CD, to digitally sign build artifacts without the overhead of key management.
About npm provenance
npm CLI allows package maintainers to provide users with provenance attestations. Using npm CLI provenance generation allows users to trust and verify that the package they are downloading and using is from you and the build system that built it.
For more information on how to publish npm packages, see GitLab npm package registry.
Sigstore
Sigstore is a set of tools that package managers and security experts can use to secure their software supply chains against attacks. Bringing together free-to-use open source technologies like Fulcio, Cosign, and Rekor, it handles digital signing, verification, and checks for provenance needed to make it safer to distribute and use open source software.
Related topics:
Generating provenance in GitLab CI/CD
Now that Sigstore supports GitLab OIDC as described above, you can use npm provenance together with GitLab CI/CD and Sigstore to generate and sign provenance for your npm packages in a GitLab CI/CD pipeline.
Prerequisites
- Set your GitLab ID token
aud
tosigstore
. - Add the
--provenance
flag to have npm publish.
Example content to be added to .gitlab-ci.yml
file:
image: node:latest
build:
id_tokens:
SIGSTORE_ID_TOKEN:
aud: sigstore
script:
- npm publish --provenance --access public
The npm GitLab template provides this functionality as well, the example is in the templates documentation.
Verifying npm provenance
npm CLI also provides functionality for end users to verify the provenance of packages.
npm audit signatures
audited 1 package in 0s
1 package has a verified registry signature
Inspecting the provenance metadata
The Rekor transparency log stores certificates and attestations for every package that is published with provenance. For example, here is the entry for the below example.
An example provenance document generated by npm:
_type: https://in-toto.io/Statement/v0.1
subject:
- name: pkg:npm/%40strongjz/strongcoin@0.0.13
digest:
sha512: >-
924a134a0fd4fe6a7c87b4687bf0ac898b9153218ce9ad75798cc27ab2cddbeff77541f3847049bd5e3dfd74cea0a83754e7686852f34b185c3621d3932bc3c8
predicateType: https://slsa.dev/provenance/v0.2
predicate:
buildType: https://github.com/npm/CLI/gitlab/v0alpha1
builder:
id: https://gitlab.com/strongjz/npm-provenance-example/-/runners/12270835
invocation:
configSource:
uri: git+https://gitlab.com/strongjz/npm-provenance-example
digest:
sha1: 6e02e901e936bfac3d4691984dff8c505410cbc3
entryPoint: deploy
parameters:
CI: 'true'
CI_API_GRAPHQL_URL: https://gitlab.com/api/graphql
CI_API_V4_URL: https://gitlab.com/api/v4
CI_COMMIT_BEFORE_SHA: 7d3e913e5375f68700e0c34aa90b0be7843edf6c
CI_COMMIT_BRANCH: main
CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME: main
CI_COMMIT_REF_PROTECTED: 'true'
CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG: main
CI_COMMIT_SHA: 6e02e901e936bfac3d4691984dff8c505410cbc3
CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA: 6e02e901
CI_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP: '2023-05-19T10:17:12-04:00'
CI_COMMIT_TITLE: trying to publish to gitlab reg
CI_CONFIG_PATH: .gitlab-ci.yml
CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH: main
CI_DEPENDENCY_PROXY_DIRECT_GROUP_IMAGE_PREFIX: gitlab.com:443/strongjz/dependency_proxy/containers
CI_DEPENDENCY_PROXY_GROUP_IMAGE_PREFIX: gitlab.com:443/strongjz/dependency_proxy/containers
CI_DEPENDENCY_PROXY_SERVER: gitlab.com:443
CI_DEPENDENCY_PROXY_USER: gitlab-ci-token
CI_JOB_ID: '4316132595'
CI_JOB_NAME: deploy
CI_JOB_NAME_SLUG: deploy
CI_JOB_STAGE: deploy
CI_JOB_STARTED_AT: '2023-05-19T14:17:23Z'
CI_JOB_URL: https://gitlab.com/strongjz/npm-provenance-example/-/jobs/4316132595
CI_NODE_TOTAL: '1'
CI_PAGES_DOMAIN: gitlab.io
CI_PAGES_URL: https://strongjz.gitlab.io/npm-provenance-example
CI_PIPELINE_CREATED_AT: '2023-05-19T14:17:21Z'
CI_PIPELINE_ID: '872773336'
CI_PIPELINE_IID: '40'
CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE: push
CI_PIPELINE_URL: https://gitlab.com/strongjz/npm-provenance-example/-/pipelines/872773336
CI_PROJECT_CLASSIFICATION_LABEL: ''
CI_PROJECT_DESCRIPTION: ''
CI_PROJECT_ID: '45821955'
CI_PROJECT_NAME: npm-provenance-example
CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE: strongjz
CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE_ID: '36018'
CI_PROJECT_PATH: strongjz/npm-provenance-example
CI_PROJECT_PATH_SLUG: strongjz-npm-provenance-example
CI_PROJECT_REPOSITORY_LANGUAGES: javascript,dockerfile
CI_PROJECT_ROOT_NAMESPACE: strongjz
CI_PROJECT_TITLE: npm-provenance-example
CI_PROJECT_URL: https://gitlab.com/strongjz/npm-provenance-example
CI_PROJECT_VISIBILITY: public
CI_REGISTRY: registry.gitlab.com
CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE: registry.gitlab.com/strongjz/npm-provenance-example
CI_REGISTRY_USER: gitlab-ci-token
CI_RUNNER_DESCRIPTION: 3-blue.shared.runners-manager.gitlab.com/default
CI_RUNNER_ID: '12270835'
CI_RUNNER_TAGS: >-
["gce", "east-c", "linux", "ruby", "mysql", "postgres", "mongo",
"git-annex", "shared", "docker", "saas-linux-small-amd64"]
CI_SERVER_HOST: gitlab.com
CI_SERVER_NAME: GitLab
CI_SERVER_PORT: '443'
CI_SERVER_PROTOCOL: https
CI_SERVER_REVISION: 9d4873fd3c5
CI_SERVER_SHELL_SSH_HOST: gitlab.com
CI_SERVER_SHELL_SSH_PORT: '22'
CI_SERVER_URL: https://gitlab.com
CI_SERVER_VERSION: 16.1.0-pre
CI_SERVER_VERSION_MAJOR: '16'
CI_SERVER_VERSION_MINOR: '1'
CI_SERVER_VERSION_PATCH: '0'
CI_TEMPLATE_REGISTRY_HOST: registry.gitlab.com
GITLAB_CI: 'true'
GITLAB_FEATURES: >-
elastic_search,ldap_group_sync,multiple_ldap_servers,seat_link,usage_quotas,zoekt_code_search,repository_size_limit,admin_audit_log,auditor_user,custom_file_templates,custom_project_templates,db_load_balancing,default_branch_protection_restriction_in_groups,extended_audit_events,external_authorization_service_api_management,geo,instance_level_scim,ldap_group_sync_filter,object_storage,pages_size_limit,project_aliases,password_complexity,enterprise_templates,git_abuse_rate_limit,required_ci_templates,runner_maintenance_note,runner_performance_insights,runner_upgrade_management,runner_jobs_statistics
GITLAB_USER_ID: '31705'
GITLAB_USER_LOGIN: strongjz
environment:
name: 3-blue.shared.runners-manager.gitlab.com/default
architecture: linux/amd64
server: https://gitlab.com
project: strongjz/npm-provenance-example
job:
id: '4316132595'
pipeline:
id: '872773336'
ref: .gitlab-ci.yml
metadata:
buildInvocationId: https://gitlab.com/strongjz/npm-provenance-example/-/jobs/4316132595
completeness:
parameters: true
environment: true
materials: false
reproducible: false
materials:
- uri: git+https://gitlab.com/strongjz/npm-provenance-example
digest:
sha1: 6e02e901e936bfac3d4691984dff8c505410cbc3