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    Container Service for Kubernetes:NGINX Ingress controller encryption

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    Container Service for Kubernetes:NGINX Ingress controller encryption

    Last Updated:Jan 21, 2025

    NGINX Ingress controller is an important component used to process external requests and route traffic to services in the Kubernetes cluster. If you require higher security for data transmission, we recommend that you configure encryption for the NGINX Ingress controller. This topic describes the methods for security configuration and verification of NGINX Ingress controller.

    Encryption configuration

    In the NGINX Ingress controller, you can enhance security by configuring the ssl-protocols and ssl-ciphers fields in the ConfigMap.

    Name

    Description

    Implementation field

    Custom TLS protocol version

    Specifies the SSL protocols allowed. By default, TLSv1.2 and TLSv1.3 are used.

    ssl-protocols: "TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3" For more information, see ssl-protocol.

    Custom cipher suite

    Sets the list of ciphers to be enabled. Ciphers must be in the format that can be recognized by the OpenSSL library. NGINX Ingress controller has a default cipher suite configuration that supports multiple TLS clients. To specify more secure cipher suites, you can specify ssl-ciphers in the ConfigMap to overwrite the default value. For more information about how to view the current cipher suite configuration, see View configured cipher suites.

    ssl-ciphers: "ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384" (default cipher list). For more information, see ssl-ciphers.

    Note

    The order of cipher suites is important as it determines which algorithms are preferred. If you do not have any special requirements, We recommend that you keep the default configuration.

    Prerequisites

    Procedure

    You can use the console or kubectl to configure the encryption.

    Use the console

    1. Log on to the ACK console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Clusters.

    2. On the Clusters page, find the cluster that you want to manage and click its name. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Configurations > ConfigMaps.

    3. In the upper part of the ConfigMap page, select kube-system from the Namespace drop-down list. Then, enter nginx-configuration in the Name search box and click the search icon. Find nginx-configuration and click Edit in the Actions column.

    4. On the edit page, click + Add, fill in the name and value as prompted, and click OK.

    Use the kubectl

    Run the following command to update the ConfigMap:

    kubectl edit cm -n kube-system nginx-configuration
    apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: nginx-configuration
  namespace: kube-system
data:
  ssl-protocols: "TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3"  # Only allow TLSv1.2 and TLSv1.3.
  ssl-ciphers: "ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384"  # Default cipher suite list.

    Verify the security of TLS versions and cipher suites

    • Method 1: Download the testssl.sh tool from testssl.sh, and run the following command:

      ./testssl.sh <your site domain name>

      Expected output:

      If non-robust cipher suites or insecure (lower) TLS protocol versions are detected, they will be highlighted in red as a warning.

       Testing protocols via sockets except NPN+ALPN
 SSLv2      not offered (OK)
 SSLv3      not offered (OK)
 TLS 1      not offered
 TLS 1.1    not offered
 TLS 1.2    offered (OK)
 TLS 1.3    offered (OK): final
 NPN/SPDY   not offered
 ALPN/HTTP2 h2, http/1.1 (offered)
 Testing cipher categories
 NULL ciphers (no encryption)                  not offered (OK)
 Anonymous NULL Ciphers (no authentication)    not offered (OK)
 Export ciphers (w/o ADH+NULL)                 not offered (OK)
 LOW: 64 Bit + DES, RC[2,4] (w/o export)       not offered (OK)
 Triple DES Ciphers / IDEA                     not offered
 Obsolete CBC ciphers (AES, ARIA etc.)         not offered
 Strong encryption (AEAD ciphers)              offered (OK)
 Testing robust (perfect) forward secrecy, (P)FS -- omitting Null Authentication/Encryption, 3DES, RC4
 PFS is offered (OK)          TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256 ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305
                              TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
 Elliptic curves offered:     prime256v1 secp384r1 secp521r1 X25519 X448
 Finite field group:          ffdhe2048 ffdhe3072 ffdhe4096 ffdhe6144 ffdhe8192
 Testing server preferences
 Has server cipher order?     yes (OK) -- TLS 1.3 and below
 Negotiated protocol          TLSv1.3
 Negotiated cipher            TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384, 253 bit ECDH (X25519)
 Cipher order
    TLSv1.2:   ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305
    TLSv1.3:   TLS_AES_256-GCM-SHA384 TLS_CHACHA20-POLY1305-SHA256 TLS_AES_128-GCM-SHA256
...

    • Method 2: Enter your site domain name in online website for verification.

    View configured cipher suites

    Run the following command to view the configured cipher suites:

    kubectl -n kube-system exec deploy/nginx-ingress-controller -- nginx -T  |grep ssl_ciphers

    Expected output:

    Defaulted container "nginx-ingress-controller" out of: nginx-ingress-controller, init-sysctl (init)
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
        ssl_ciphers 'ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384';
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

    FAQ

    Does it support ShangMi (SM) algorithms?

    ACK NGINX Ingress controller uses the NGINX Ingress controller provided by the community, which does not support SM algorithms.

    What cipher suite algorithms are supported by NGINX Ingress controller?

    Nginx uses OpenSSL for encryption and decryption. You can run the nginx -V command to view the Nginx and corresponding OpenSSL versions, and run the openssl ciphers command to view the supported cipher suites. Run the kubectl exec -itn kube-system <nginx-ingress-pod-name> bash command to enter the container.

    • Enter the NGINX Ingress controller container and run the nginx -V command:

      nginx-ingress-controller-5c455d7d9f-nr7dd:/etc/nginx$ nginx -V

      Expected output:

      nginx version: nginx/1.21.6
built by gcc 12.2.1 20220924 (Alpine 12.2.1_git20220924-r10)
built with OpenSSL 3.1.3 19 Sep 2023 (running with OpenSSL 3.1.5 30 Jan 2024)
TLS SNI support enabled
configure arguments: --prefix=/usr/local/nginx --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --modules-path=/etc/nginx/modules --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log --error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log --lock-path=/var/lock/nginx.lock --pid-path=/run/nginx.pid --http-client-body-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/body --http-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/fastcgi --http-proxy-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/proxy --http-scgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/scgi --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/uwsgi --with-debug --with-compat --with-pcre-jit --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_realip_module --with-http_auth_request_module --with-http_addition_module --with-http_geoip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_sub_module --with-http_v2_module --with-stream --with-stream_ssl_module --with-stream_realip_module --with-stream_ssl_preread_module --with-threads --with-http_secure_link_module --with-http_gunzip_module --with-file-aio --without-mail_pop3_module --without-mail_smtp_module --without-mail_imap_module --without-http_uwsgi_module --without-http_scgi_module --with-cc-opt='-g -O3 -flto -fPIE -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wno-deprecated-declarations -fno-strict-aliasing -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -DTCP_FASTOPEN=23 -fPIC -I/root/.hunter/_Base/d45d77d/aab92d8/3b7ee27/Install/include -Wno-cast-function-type -m64 -mtune=generic' --with-ld-opt='-flto -fPIE -fPIC -pie -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -L/root/.hunter/_Base/d45d77d/aab92d8/3b7ee27/Install/lib' --user=www-data --group=www-data --add-module=/tmp/build/ngx_devel_kit-0.3.2 --add-module=/tmp/build/set-misc-nginx-module-0.33 --add-module=/tmp/build/headers-more-nginx-module-0.34 --add-module=/tmp/build/ngx_http_substitutions_filter_module-b8a71eacc7f986ba091282ab8b1bbbc6ae1807e0 --add-module=/tmp/build/lua-nginx-module-0.10.25 --add-module=/tmp/build/stream-lua-nginx-module-0.0.13 --add-module=/tmp/build/lua-upstream-nginx-module-8aa93ead98ba2060d4efd594ae33a35d153589bf --add-dynamic-module=/tmp/build/nginx-http-auth-digest-1.0.0 --add-dynamic-module=/tmp/build/nginx-opentracing-0.19.0/opentracing --add-dynamic-module=/tmp/build/ModSecurity-nginx-1.0.3 --add-dynamic-module=/tmp/build/ngx_http_geoip2_module-a26c6beed77e81553686852dceb6c7fdacc5970d --add-dynamic-module=/tmp/build/ngx_brotli

    • Enter the NGINX Ingress controller container and run the openssl ciphers command:

      nginx-ingress-controller-5c455d7d9f-nr7dd:/etc/nginx$ openssl ciphers

      Expected output:

      TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256:TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:DHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:RSA-PSK-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-PSK-AES256-GCM-SHA384:RSA-PSK-CHACHA20-POLY1305:DHE-PSK-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-PSK-CHACHA20-POLY1305:AES256-GCM-SHA384:PSK-AES256-GCM-SHA384:PSK-CHACHA20-POLY1305:RSA-PSK-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-PSK-AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES128-GCM-SHA256:PSK-AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES256-SHA256:AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-PSK-AES256-CBC-SHA384:ECDHE-PSK-AES256-CBC-SHA:SRP-RSA-AES-256-CBC-SHA:SRP-AES-256-CBC-SHA:RSA-PSK-AES256-CBC-SHA384:DHE-PSK-AES256-CBC-SHA384:RSA-PSK-AES256-CBC-SHA:DHE-PSK-AES256-CBC-SHA:AES256-SHA:PSK-AES256-CBC-SHA384:PSK-AES256-CBC-SHA:ECDHE-PSK-AES128-CBC-SHA256:ECDHE-PSK-AES128-CBC-SHA:SRP-RSA-AES-128-CBC-SHA:SRP-AES-128-CBC-SHA:RSA-PSK-AES128-CBC-SHA256:DHE-PSK-AES128-CBC-SHA256:RSA-PSK-AES128-CBC-SHA:DHE-PSK-AES128-CBC-SHA:AES128-SHA:PSK-AES128-CBC-SHA256:PSK-AES128-CBC-SHA

    • Enter the NGINX Ingress controller container and run the openssl ciphers -tls1_2 -v command. The following output shows that only cipher suite with TLS 1.2 is supported.

      nginx-ingress-controller-5c455d7d9f-nr7dd:/etc/nginx$ openssl ciphers -tls1_2 -v

      Expected output:

      TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384         TLSv1.3 Kx=any      Au=any   Enc=AESGCM(256)            Mac=AEAD
TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256   TLSv1.3 Kx=any      Au=any   Enc=CHACHA20/POLY1305(256) Mac=AEAD
TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256         TLSv1.3 Kx=any      Au=any   Enc=AESGCM(128)            Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384  TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=ECDSA Enc=AESGCM(256)            Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384    TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=RSA   Enc=AESGCM(256)            Mac=AEAD
DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384      TLSv1.2 Kx=DH       Au=RSA   Enc=AESGCM(256)            Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305  TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=ECDSA Enc=CHACHA20/POLY1305(256) Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305    TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=RSA   Enc=CHACHA20/POLY1305(256) Mac=AEAD
...

    How to obtain the corresponding OpenSSL name using the IANA/RFC standard name?

    The naming of cipher suites follows two rules: OpenSSL naming is concise, while IANA/RFC naming is more detailed. For example, AES128-SHA in OpenSSL corresponds to TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA in IANA/RFC.

    If you know an IANA cipher suite name and need to obtain its OpenSSL name, you can use the following two methods:

    • Get the corresponding OpenSSL name from the OpenSSL site.

    • Run the openssl ciphers -convert <known IANA cipher suite name> command to get the corresponding conversion name:

      nginx-ingress-controller-5c455d7d9f-nr7dd:/etc/nginx$ openssl ciphers -convert TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
OpenSSL cipher name: ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256