Aker SSH Gateway

What is Aker?

Aker is a security tool that helps you configure your own Linux ssh jump/bastion host. Named after an Egyptian mythology deity who guarded the borders, Aker would act as choke point through which all your sysadmins and support staff access Linux production servers. Aker SSH gateway includes a lot of security features that would help you manage and administer thousands of Linux servers at ease. For a detailed look check our Wiki

Motivation

I couldn't find an open source tool similar to CryptoAuditor and fudo, such tools are beneficial if you're seeking becoming PCI-DSS or HIPAA compliant for example, regardless of security standards compliance access to the server should be controlled and organized in a way convenient to both traditional and cloud workloads.

Current Featuers

• Supports FreeIPA 4.2 , 4.3 and 4.4 (Optional)
• Extensible, Write Your Own Module
• Session Playback
• Extract Session Commands
• SIEM-Ready json Session Logs
• Elasticsearch Integration

Roadmap

• Phase 0

  • Integration with an identity provider (FreeIPA)
  • Extendable Modular structure, plugin your own module
  • Integration with config management tools
  • Parsable audit logs (json, shipped to Elasticsearch)
  • Highly available setup
  • Session playback

• Phase 1

  • Admin WebUI
  • Live session monitoring
  • Cloud support (AWS,OpenStack etc..) or On-premises deployments
  • Command filtering (Prevent destructive commands like rm -rf)
  • Encrypt sessions logs stored on disk.

• Phase 2

  • Support for graphical protocols (RDP, VNC, X11) monitoring
  • User productivity dashboard

See it in action

Requirements

Software:

• Linux (Tested on CentOS, Fedora and ubuntu)
• Python (Tested on 2.7)
• (Optional) FreeIPA, Tested on FreeIPA 4.2 & 4.3
• redis

Python Modules:

• configparser
• urwid
• paramiko
• wcwidth
• pyte
• redis

Installation

• Automated :

  • Use this ansible playbook

• Manually:

• Aker can be setup on a FreeIPA client or indepentantly using json config file.

  • Common Steps (FreeIPA or Json):

    • Clone the repo

     git clone https://github.com/aker-gateway/Aker.git /usr/bin/aker/
    

    • Install dependencies (adapt for Ubuntu)

       yum -y install epel-release 
       yum -y install python2-paramiko python-configparser python-redis python-urwid python2-wcwidth redis
      

    • Set files executable perms

      chmod 755 /usr/bin/aker/aker.py
      chmod 755 /usr/bin/aker/akerctl.py
      

    • Setup logdir and perms

      mkdir /var/log/aker
      chmod 777 /var/log/aker
      touch /var/log/aker/aker.log
      chmod 777 /var/log/aker/aker.log
      

    • Enforce aker on all users but root, edit sshd_config

      Match Group *,!root
      ForceCommand /usr/bin/aker/aker.py
      

    • Restart ssh

    • Restart redis

  • Choosing FreeIPA:

    • Assumptions:

      • Aker server already enrolled to FreeIPA domain

    • Create /etc/aker and copy /usr/bin/aker/aker.ini in it and edit it like below :

      ```
      [General]
      log_level = INFO
      ssh_port = 22
      
      # Identity Provider to determine the list of available hosts
      # options shipped are IPA, Json. Default is IPA
      idp = IPA
      hosts_file = /etc/aker/hosts.json
      
      # FreeIPA hostgroup name contatining Aker gateways
      # to be excluded from hosts presented to user
      gateway_group = gateways
      ```
      

  • Choosing Json:

    • Create /etc/aker and copy /usr/bin/aker/aker.ini in it and edit it like below :

      ```
      [General]
      log_level = INFO
      ssh_port = 22
      
      # Identity Provider to determine the list of available hosts
      # options shipped are IPA, Json. Default is IPA
      idp = Json
      hosts_file = /etc/aker/hosts.json
      
      # FreeIPA hostgroup name contatining Aker gateways
      # to be excluded from hosts presented to user
      gateway_group = gateways
      ```
      

      • Edit /etc/aker/hosts.json to add users and hosts, a sample hosts.json file is provided .

Contributing

Currently I work on the code in my free time, any assistance is highly appreciated. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests.