Master HashiCorp Vault-Associate Exam with Reliable Practice Questions

Correct : B, D

A web application that uses Vault's transit secrets engine to encrypt data in-transit can benefit from the following security features:

Even if the attacker was able to access the raw data, they would only have encrypted bits (TLS in transit). This means that the attacker would need to obtain the encryption key from Vault in order to decrypt the data, which is protected by Vault's authentication and authorization mechanisms. The transit secrets engine does not store the data sent to it, so the attacker cannot access the data from Vault either.

The keys can be rotated and min_decryption_version moved forward to ensure this data cannot be decrypted. This means that the web application can periodically change the encryption key used to encrypt the data, and set a minimum decryption version for the key, which prevents older versions of the key from being used to decrypt the data. This way, even if the attacker somehow obtained an old version of the key, they would not be able to decrypt the data that was encrypted with a newer version of the key.

The other statements are not true, because:

You cannot rotate the encryption key so that the attacker won't be able to decrypt the data. Rotating the key alone does not prevent the attacker from decrypting the data, as they may still have access to the old version of the key that was used to encrypt the data. You need to also move the min_decryption_version forward to invalidate the old version of the key.

The Vault administrator would not need to seal the Vault server immediately. Sealing the Vault server would make it inaccessible to both the attacker and the legitimate users, and would require unsealing it with the unseal keys or the recovery keys. Sealing the Vault server is a last resort option in case of a severe compromise or emergency, and is not necessary in this scenario, as the attacker does not have access to the encryption key or the data in Vault.Reference:Transit - Secrets Engines | Vault | HashiCorp Developer,Encryption as a service: transit secrets engine | Vault | HashiCorp Developer

Correct : B

The statement is false. The Vault encryption key is not stored in Vault's backend storage, but rather in Vault's memory. The Vault encryption key is the key that is used to encrypt and decrypt the data that is stored in Vault's backend storage, such as secrets, tokens, policies, etc. The Vault encryption key is derived from the master key, which is generated when Vault is initialized. The master key is split into unseal keys using Shamir's secret sharing algorithm, and the unseal keys are distributed to trusted operators. To start Vault, a quorum of unseal keys is required to reconstruct the master key and derive the encryption key. The encryption key is then kept in memory and used to protect the data in Vault's backend storage. The encryption key is never written to disk or exposed via the API.Reference:Seal/Unseal | Vault | HashiCorp Developer,Key Rotation | Vault | HashiCorp Developer

Correct : A, C, D

Secrets engines are components that store, generate, or encrypt data in Vault. They are enabled at a specific path in Vault and have their own API and configuration. Some of the statements that describe the secrets engines in Vault are:

Some secrets engines simply store and read data, such as the key/value secrets engine, which acts like an encrypted Redis or Memcached.Other secrets engines perform more complex operations, such as generating dynamic credentials, encrypting data, issuing certificates, etc1.

You can build your own custom secrets engine by using the plugin system, which allows you to write and run your own secrets engine as a separate process that communicates with Vault over gRPC.You can also use the SDK to create your own secrets engine in Go and compile it into Vault2.

Each secrets engine is isolated to its path, which means that the secrets engine cannot access or interact with other secrets engines or data outside its path. The path where the secrets engine is enabled can be customized and can have multiple segments.For example, you can enable the AWS secrets engine at aws/ or aws/prod/ or aws/dev/3.

The statements that are not true about the secrets engines in Vault are:

You can disable an existing secrets engine by using the vault secrets disable command or the sys/mounts API endpoint.When a secrets engine is disabled, all of its secrets are revoked and all of its data is deleted from the storage backend4.

A secrets engine can be enabled at multiple paths, with a few exceptions, such as the system and identity secrets engines. Each secrets engine enabled at a different path is independent and isolated from others.For example, you can enable the KV secrets engine at kv/ and secret/ and they will not share any data3.

Correct : D

Response wrapping is a feature that allows Vault to take the response it would have sent to a client and instead insert it into the cubbyhole of a single-use token, returning that token instead. The client can then unwrap the token and retrieve the original response. Response wrapping has several benefits, such as providing cover, malfeasance detection, and lifetime limitation for the secret data. One of the benefits is to ensure that only a single party can ever unwrap the token and see what's inside, as the token can be used only once and cannot be unwrapped by anyone else, even the root user or the creator of the token.This provides a way to securely distribute secrets to the intended recipients and detect any tampering or interception along the way5.

The other options are not benefits of response wrapping:

Log every use of a secret: Response wrapping does not log every use of a secret, as the secret is not directly exposed to the client or the network.However, Vault does log the creation and deletion of the response-wrapping token, and the client can use the audit device to log the unwrapping operation6.

Load balance secret generation across a Vault cluster: Response wrapping does not load balance secret generation across a Vault cluster, as the secret is generated by the Vault server that receives the request and the response-wrapping token is bound to that server.However, Vault does support high availability and replication modes that can distribute the load and improve the performance of the cluster7.

Provide error recovery to a secret so it is not corrupted in transit: Response wrapping does not provide error recovery to a secret so it is not corrupted in transit, as the secret is encrypted and stored in the cubbyhole of the token and cannot be modified or corrupted by anyone. However, if the token is lost or expired, the secret cannot be recovered either, so the client should have a backup or retry mechanism to handle such cases.

Correct : B

The Vault secret engine that can be used to build your own internal certificate authority is the PKI secret engine. The PKI secret engine generates dynamic X.509 certificates on-demand, without requiring manual processes of generating private keys and CSRs, submitting to a CA, and waiting for verification and signing. The PKI secret engine can act as a root CA or an intermediate CA, and can issue certificates for various purposes, such as TLS, code signing, email encryption, etc. The PKI secret engine can also manage the certificate lifecycle, such as rotation, revocation, renewal, and CRL generation. The PKI secret engine can also integrate with external CAs, such as Venafi or Entrust, to delegate the certificate issuance and management.Reference:PKI - Secrets Engines | Vault | HashiCorp Developer,Build Your Own Certificate Authority (CA) | Vault - HashiCorp Learn