[HBASE-7544] Transparent table/CF encryption

• Type: New Feature
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Fix Version/s: 0.98.0
• Component/s: HFile, io
• Hadoop Flags: Reviewed
• Release Note: This change introduces a transparent encryption feature for protecting HFile and WAL data at rest. For detailed information including configuration examples see the Security section of the HBase manual.
• Assignee: Andrew Kyle Purtell
• Reporter: Andrew Kyle Purtell
• Created: 11/Jan/13 20:33
• Updated: 22/Aug/16 05:48
• Resolved: 26/Nov/13 04:25

Description

Introduce transparent encryption of HBase on disk data.

Depends on a separate contribution of an encryption codec framework to Hadoop core and an AES-NI (native code) codec. This is work done in the context of MAPREDUCE-4491 but I'd gather there will be additional JIRAs for common and HDFS parts of it.

Requirements:

• Transparent encryption at the CF or table level
• Protect against all data leakage from files at rest
• Two-tier key architecture for consistency with best practices for this feature in the RDBMS world
• Built-in key management
• Flexible and non-intrusive key rotation
• Mechanisms not exposed to or modifiable by users
• Hardware security module integration (via Java KeyStore)
• HBCK support for transparently encrypted files (+ plugin architecture for HBCK)

Additional goals:

• Shell support for administrative functions
• Avoid performance impact for the null crypto codec case
• Play nicely with other changes underway: in HFile, block coding, etc.

We're aiming for rough parity with Oracle's transparent tablespace encryption feature, described in http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/owp-security-advanced-security-11gr-133411.pdf as

“Transparent Data Encryption uses a 2-tier key architecture for flexible and non-intrusive key rotation and least operational and performance impact: Each application table with at least one encrypted column has its own table key, which is applied to all encrypted columns in that table. Equally, each encrypted tablespace has its own tablespace key. Table keys are stored in the data dictionary of the database, while tablespace keys are stored in the header of the tablespace and additionally, the header of each underlying OS file that makes up the tablespace. Each of these keys is encrypted with the TDE master encryption key, which is stored outside of the database in an external security module: either the Oracle Wallet (a PKCS#12 formatted file that is encrypted using a passphrase supplied either by the designated security administrator or DBA during setup), or a Hardware Security Module (HSM) device for higher assurance […]”

Further design details forthcoming in a design document and patch as soon as we have all of the clearances in place.

Issue Links

• is related to: HBASE-9578 Client side cell encryption
• is related to: HBASE-16463 Improve transparent table/CF encryption with Commons Crypto
• relates to: HBASE-10077 Per family WAL encryption
• relates to: HBASE-10095 Selective WALEdit encryption
• relates to: HBASE-10062 Reconsider storing plaintext length in the encrypted block header
• relates to: HBASE-10063 Consider lighter weight generation of IVs for WAL entries
• relates to: HBASE-10065 Stronger validation of key unwrapping
• relates to: HBASE-10031 Add a section on the transparent CF encryption feature to the manual
• relates to: HBASE-10388 Add export control notice in README
• relates to: HBASE-10613 Discuss WAL device tiering in the Security section of the online manual
• requires: HBASE-8496 Implement tags and the internals of how a tag should look like