ArangoDB-SGX

SGX-ready ArangoDB: Multi-Model Database memory-encrypted while in use

packed by enclaive

#intelsgx #confidentialcompute #data-sovereignty #zerotrust
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Demo: ArangoDB Data-in-Use Encryption (read more)

TL;DR

docker pull enclaive/arangodb-sgx
docker-compose up -d

Warning: This quick setup is only intended for development environments. You are encouraged to change the insecure default credentials and check out the available configuration options in the build section for a more secure deployment.

What is ArangoDB and SGX?

ArangoDB is a native multi-model database with flexible data models for documents, graphs, and key-values. Build high performance applications using a convenient SQL-like query language or JavaScript extensions.

Overview of ArangoDB

Intel Security Guard Extension (SGX) delivers advanced hardware and RAM security encryption features, so called enclaves, in order to isolate code and data that are specific to each application. When data and application code run in an enclave additional security, privacy and trust guarantees are given, making the container an ideal choice for (untrusted) cloud environments.

Overview of Intel SGX

Application code executing within an Intel SGX enclave:

• Remains protected even when the BIOS, VMM, OS, and drivers are compromised, implying that an attacker with full execution control over the platform can be kept at bay
• Benefits from memory protections that thwart memory bus snooping, memory tampering and “cold boot” attacks on images retained in RAM
• At no moment in time data, program code and protocol messages are leaked or de-anonymized
• Reduces the trusted computing base of its parent application to the smallest possible footprint

Why use ArangoDB-SGX (instead of "vanilla" ArangoDB) images?

Following benefits come for free with ArangoDB-SGX :

• security: ArangoDB-SGX gives data the safest place a database can give going beyond database encryption ("data at rest")
• black box database: not only is the database encrypted, but also queries to the database remain fully encrypted in the memory ("data in use")
• no static table encryption needed: database running in a confidential container by design encrypts the query, query processing on data, and the database
• no key rotation needed: avoid key management and update complexities known from data-at-rest databases
• untraceability: when combined with TLS, ArangoDB-SGX keeps the user interacting with the database indistinguishable from any other user interaction even
• hardened security against memory dumps, query and user de-anonymization including kernel-space exploits, malicious and accidental privilege insider attacks, UEFI firmware exploits and other "root" attacks using the corruption of the application to infiltrate your network and system
• runs on any hosting environment irrespectivably of geo-location and complies with privacy export regulation, such as Schrem-II
• GDPR/CCPA compliant processing ("data in use") of user data in the cloud as data is anonymized thanks to the enclave

How to deploy ArangoDB-SGX in a zero-trust cloud?

The following cloud infrastractures are SGX-ready out of the box

• Microsoft Azure Confidential Cloud
• OVH Cloud
• Alibaba Cloud

Confidential compute is a fast growing space. Cloud providers continiously add confidential compute capabilities to their portfolio. Please contact us if the infrastracture provider of your preferred choice is missing.

Getting started

Platform requirements

Check for Intel Security Guard Extension (SGX) presence by running the following

grep sgx /proc/cpuinfo

Alternatively have a thorough look at Intel's processor list. (We remark that macbooks with CPUs transitioned to Intel are unlikely supported. If you find a configuration, please contact us know.)

Note that in addition to SGX the hardware module must support FSGSBASE. FSGSBASE is an architecture extension that allows applications to directly write to the FS and GS segment registers. This allows fast switching to different threads in user applications, as well as providing an additional address register for application use. If your kernel version is 5.9 or higher, then the FSGSBASE feature is already supported and you can skip this step.

There are several options to proceed

• If: No SGX-ready hardware
  Azure Confidential Compute cloud offers VMs with SGX support. Prices are fair and have been recently reduced to support the developer community. First-time users get $200 USD free credit. Other cloud provider like OVH or Alibaba cloud have similar offerings.

• Elif: Virtualization
  Ubuntu 21.04 (Kernel 5.11) provides the driver off-the-shelf. Read the release. Go to download page.

• Elif: Kernel 5.9 or higher
  Install the DCAP drivers from the Intel SGX repo

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt -y install dkms
  wget https://download.01.org/intel-sgx/sgx-linux/2.13.3/linux/distro/ubuntu20.04-server/sgx_linux_x64_driver_1.41.bin -O sgx_linux_x64_driver.bin
  chmod +x sgx_linux_x64_driver.bin
  sudo ./sgx_linux_x64_driver.bin
  
  sudo apt -y install clang-10 libssl-dev gdb libsgx-enclave-common libsgx-quote-ex libprotobuf17 libsgx-dcap-ql libsgx-dcap-ql-dev az-dcap-client open-enclave

• Else: Kernel older than version 5.9
  Upgrade to Kernel 5.11 or higher. Follow the instructions here.

Software requirements

Install the docker engine

 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io
 sudo usermod -aG docker $USER    # manage docker as non-root user (obsolete as of docker 19.3) 

Use docker run hello-world to check if you can run docker (without sudo).

Get this image

The recommended way to get the enclaive ArangoDB-SGX Docker Image is to pull the prebuilt image from the Docker Hub Registry.

docker pull enclaive/arangodb-sgx:latest

To use a specific version, you can pull a versioned tag. You can view the list of available versions in the Docker Hub Registry.

docker pull enclaive/arangodb-sgx:[TAG]

Connect to the container

Use arangosh to connect to hostname:8529 or use the web interface on the same address. No authentication is required as this a demo setup. Login as root with an empty password on the web interface.

Build the image

If you wish, you can also build the image yourself.

docker build -t enclaive/arangodb-sgx:latest 'https://github.com/enclaive/enclaive-docker-arangodb-sgx.git#master'

Release Notes

• application currently breaks on restart due to issues with gramine
• also unstable due to memory issues with javascript and fixed sizes for stack and memory
• a useless fork is removed from sources
• unimplemented syscalls splice and utimensat are disabled during compilation

Contributing

Contributions are what make the open source community such an amazing place to learn, inspire, and create. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated. If you have a suggestion that would make this better, please fork the repo and create a pull request. You can also simply open an issue with the tag "enhancement".

1. Fork the Project
2. Create your Feature Branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your Changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the Branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Support

Don't forget to give the project a star! Spread the word on social media! Thanks again!

License

Distributed under the Apache License 2.0 License. See LICENSE for more information.

Contact

enclaive.io - @enclaive_io - [email protected] - https://enclaive.io

Acknowledgments

This project greatly celebrates all contributions from the gramine team. Special shout out to Dmitrii Kuvaiskii from Intel for his support.

• Gramine Project
• Intel SGX
• ArangoDB

Trademarks

This software listing is packaged by enclaive.io. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.