Resource Access Requests

With Teleport Resource Access Requests, users can request access to specific resources without needing to know anything about the roles or RBAC controls used under the hood. The Access Request API makes it easy to dynamically approve or deny these requests.

Just-in-time Access Requests are a feature of Teleport Enterprise. Teleport Community Edition users can get a preview of how Access Requests work by requesting a role via the Teleport CLI. Full Access Request functionality, including Resource Access Requests and an intuitive and searchable UI are available in Teleport Enterprise.

Prerequisites

A running Teleport cluster. If you want to get started with Teleport, sign up for a free trial.
The Enterprise tctl admin tool and tsh client tool version >= 15.4.22, which you can download from your Teleport account workspace or the Teleport Installation Downloads page.

To check that you can connect to your Teleport cluster, sign in with tsh login, then verify that you can run tctl commands using your current credentials. tctl is supported on macOS and Linux machines. For example:
```
$ tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com --user=email@example.com
$ tctl status
# Cluster  teleport.example.com
# Version  15.4.22
# CA pin   sha256:abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678
```
If you can connect to the cluster and run the tctl status command, you can use your current credentials to run subsequent tctl commands from your workstation. If you host your own Teleport cluster, you can also run tctl commands on the computer that hosts the Teleport Auth Service for full permissions.

Step 1/8. Create the requester role

note

As of version 13.1.2, Teleport comes with built-in reviewer and requester roles that are defined similarly to the ones presented here. If you are looking to quickly try out Access Requests, you can skip to step 3 and use these built-in roles. However, if you are using an earlier version of Teleport or you are looking to get general guidance for creating roles for Access Requests, steps 1 and 2 are still useful.

This role allows the requester to search for resources accessible by the access role (all resources by default) and request access to them.

# requester.yaml
kind: role
version: v5
metadata:
  name: requester
spec:
  allow:
    request:
      search_as_roles:
        - access

$ tctl create requester.yaml

Step 2/8. Create the reviewer role

This role allows the reviewer to approve all requests for the access role.

# reviewer.yaml
kind: role
version: v5
metadata:
  name: reviewer
spec:
  allow:
    review_requests:
      roles:
        - access
      preview_as_roles:
        - access

$ tctl create reviewer.yaml

Step 3/8. Grant the roles to users

Grant the requester and reviewer roles to existing users, or create new users to test this feature. Make sure the requester has a valid login so that they can view and access SSH nodes.

$ tctl users add alice --roles requester --logins alice
$ tctl users add bob --roles reviewer

For the rest of the guide we will assume that the requester role has been granted to a user named alice and the reviewer role has been granted to a user named bob.

Step 4/8. Search for resources

First, log in as alice.

$ tsh login --proxy teleport.example.com --user alice

Notice that tsh ls returns an empty list, because alice does not have access to any resources by default.

$ tsh ls
Node Name Address Labels
--------- ------- ------

Then try searching for all available ssh nodes.

$ tsh request search --kind node
Name                                 Hostname    Labels       Resource ID
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------ ------------------------------------------------------
b1168402-9340-421a-a344-af66a6675738 iot         test=test    /teleport.example.com/node/b1168402-9340-421a-a344-af66a6675738
bbb56211-7b54-4f9e-bee9-b68ea156be5f node        test=test    /teleport.example.com/node/bbb56211-7b54-4f9e-bee9-b68ea156be5f

To request access to these resources, run
> tsh request create --resource /teleport.example.com/node/b1168402-9340-421a-a344-af66a6675738 --resource /teleport.example.com/node/bbb56211-7b54-4f9e-bee9-b68ea156be5f \
    --reason <request reason>

You can search for resources of kind node, kube_cluster, db, app, and windows_desktop. Teleport also supports searching and requesting access to resources within Kubernetes clusters.

List of supported Kubernetes resources

Teleport supports searching and requesting access to the following Kubernetes resources:

Resource Access Requests to Kubernetes Namespaces

Requesting access to a Kubernetes namespace allows you to access all resources in that namespace, including the supported Kubernetes resources listed below. However, it prevents you from access any resources belonging to another namespace.

pod
secret
configmap
namespace
service
serviceaccount
kube_node
persistentvolume
persistentvolumeclaim
deployment
replicaset
statefulset
daemonset
clusterrole
kube_role
clusterrolebinding
rolebinding
cronjob
job
certificatesigningrequest
ingress

Advanced filters and queries are supported. See our filtering reference for more information.

Try narrowing your search to a specific resource you want to access.

$ tsh request search --kind node --search iot
Name                                 Hostname    Labels       Resource ID
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------ ------------------------------------------------------
b1168402-9340-421a-a344-af66a6675738 iot         test=test    /teleport.example.com/node/b1168402-9340-421a-a344-af66a6675738

To request access to these resources, run
> tsh request create --resource /teleport.example.com/node/b1168402-9340-421a-a344-af66a6675738 \
    --reason <request reason>

Step 5/8. Request access to a resource

Copy the command output by tsh request search in the previous step, optionally filling in a request reason.

$ tsh request create --resource /teleport.example.com/node/bbb56211-7b54-4f9e-bee9-b68ea156be5f \
    --reason "responding to incident 123"
Creating request...
Request ID: f406f5d8-3c2a-428f-8547-a1d091a4ddab
Username:   alice
Roles:      access
Resources:  ["/teleport.example.com/node/bbb56211-7b54-4f9e-bee9-b68ea156be5f"]
Reason:     "responding to incident 123"
Reviewers:  [none] (suggested)
Status:     PENDING

hint: use 'tsh login --request-id=<request-id>' to login with an approved request

Waiting for request approval...

The command will automatically wait until the request is approved.

Step 6/8. Approve the Access Request

First, log in as bob.

$ tsh login --proxy teleport.example.com --user bob

Then list, review, and approve the Access Request.

$ tsh request ls
ID                                   User  Roles  Resources                   Created At (UTC)    Status
------------------------------------ ----- ------ --------------------------- ------------------- -------
f406f5d8-3c2a-428f-8547-a1d091a4ddab alice access ["/teleport.example.... [+] 23 Jun 22 18:25 UTC PENDING

[+] Requested resources truncated, use `tsh request show <request-id>` to view the full list

hint: use 'tsh request show <request-id>' for additional details
      use 'tsh login --request-id=<request-id>' to login with an approved request
$ tsh request show f406f5d8-3c2a-428f-8547-a1d091a4ddab
Request ID: f406f5d8-3c2a-428f-8547-a1d091a4ddab
Username:   alice
Roles:      access
Resources:  ["/teleport.example.com/node/bbb56211-7b54-4f9e-bee9-b68ea156be5f"]
Reason:     "responding to incident 123"
Reviewers:  [none] (suggested)
Status:     PENDING

hint: use 'tsh login --request-id=<request-id>' to login with an approved request
$ tsh request review --approve f406f5d8-3c2a-428f-8547-a1d091a4ddab
Successfully submitted review.  Request state: APPROVED

tip

Check out our Access Request Integrations to notify the right people about new Access Requests.

Step 7/8. Access the requested resource

alice's tsh request create command should resolve now that the request has been approved.

$ tsh request create --resource /teleport.example.com/node/bbb56211-7b54-4f9e-bee9-b68ea156be5f \
    --reason "responding to incident 123"
Creating request...
Request ID: f406f5d8-3c2a-428f-8547-a1d091a4ddab
Username:   alice
Roles:      access
Resources:  ["/teleport.example.com/node/bbb56211-7b54-4f9e-bee9-b68ea156be5f"]
Reason:     "responding to incident 123"
Reviewers:  [none] (suggested)
Status:     PENDING

hint: use 'tsh login --request-id=<request-id>' to login with an approved request

Waiting for request approval...

Approval received, getting updated certificates...

> Profile URL:        https://teleport.example.com
  Logged in as:       alice
  Active requests:    f406f5d8-3c2a-428f-8547-a1d091a4ddab
  Cluster:            teleport.example.com
  Roles:              access, requester
  Logins:             alice
  Kubernetes:         disabled
  Allowed Resources:  ["/teleport.example.com/node/bbb56211-7b54-4f9e-bee9-b68ea156be5f"]
  Valid until:        2022-06-23 22:46:22 -0700 PDT [valid for 11h16m0s]
  Extensions:         permit-agent-forwarding, permit-port-forwarding, permit-pty

alice can now view and access the node.

$ tsh ls
Node Name Address   Labels
--------- --------- ---------
iot       [::]:3022 test=test

$ tsh ssh alice@iot
iot:~ alice$

Step 8/8. Resume regular access

While logged in with a Resource Access Request, users will be blocked from access to any other resources. This is necessary because their certificate now contains an elevated role, so it is restricted to only allow access to the resources they were specifically approved for. Use the tsh request drop command to "drop" the request and resume regular access.

$ tsh request drop

Next Steps

Automatically request access for SSH

Once you have configured Resource Access Requests, tsh ssh is able to automatically create a Resource Access Request for you when access is denied, allowing you to skip the tsh request search and tsh request create steps.

$ tsh ssh alice@iot
ERROR: access denied to alice connecting to iot on cluster teleport.example.com

You do not currently have access to alice@iot, attempting to request access.

Enter request reason: please
Creating request...
Request ID: ab43fc70-e893-471b-872e-ae65eb24fd76
Username:   alice
Roles:      access
Resources:  ["/teleport.example.com/node/bbb56211-7b54-4f9e-bee9-b68ea156be5f"]
Reason:     "please"
Reviewers:  [none] (suggested)
Status:     PENDING

hint: use 'tsh login --request-id=<request-id>' to login with an approved request

Waiting for request approval...

Approval received, reason="okay"
Getting updated certificates...

iot:~ alice$

Restrict the resources a user can request access to

In this guide, we showed you how to enable a user to search for resources to request access to. To do so, we assigned the user a Teleport role with the search_as_roles field set to the preset access role.

You can impose further restrictions on the resources a user is allowed to search by assigning search_as_roles to a more limited role. Below, we will show you which permissions you must set to restrict a user's ability to search for different resources.

To restrict access to a particular resource using a role similar to the ones below, edit one of the user's roles so the search_as_roles field includes the role you have created.

For full details on how to use Teleport roles to configure RBAC, see the Teleport Access Controls Reference.

`node`

You can restrict access to searching node resources by assigning values to the node_labels field in the spec.allow or spec.deny fields. The following role allows access to SSH Service instances with the env:staging label.

kind: role
version: v5
metadata:
  name: staging-access
spec:
  allow:
    node_labels:
      env: staging
    logins:
      - "{{internal.logins}}"
  options:
    # Only allows the requester to use this role for 1 hour from time of request.
    max_session_ttl: 1h

`kube_cluster`

You can restrict access to searching kube_cluster resources by assigning values to the kubernetes_labels field in the spec.allow or spec.deny fields.

The following role allows access to Kubernetes clusters with the env:staging label:

kind: role
metadata:
  name: kube-access
version: v7
spec:
  allow:
    kubernetes_labels:
      'env': 'staging'
    kubernetes_resources:
      - kind: '*'
        namespace: '*'
        name: '*'
  deny: {}

Kubernetes resources

You can restrict access to Kubernetes resources by assigning values to the kubernetes_resources field in the spec.allow or spec.deny fields.

The following role allows access to Kubernetes pods with the name nginx in any namespace, and all pods in the dev namespace:

kind: role
metadata:
  name: kube-access
version: v7
spec:
  allow:
    kubernetes_labels:
      '*':'*'
    kubernetes_resources:
      - kind: pod
        namespace: "*"
        name: "nginx*"
      - kind: pod
        namespace: "dev"
        name: "*"
    kubernetes_groups:
      - viewers
  deny: {}

Preventing unintended access to Kubernetes resources

If you are setting up a Teleport role to enable just-in-time access to a specific Kubernetes resources, you should set the role's kubernetes_groups and kubernetes_users to a role that has no access to Kubernetes resource beside the Kubernetes resources that Teleport is able to restrict access for.

This is because, if a user requests access to a Kubernetes pod, and the request is approved, the Teleport Kubernetes Service will use the kubernetes_groups and kubernetes_users fields in the role to add impersonation headers to the user's requests to a Kubernetes API server. Under these conditions, Teleport will be able to restrict access to all Kubernetes resources kinds mentioned above except for the desired pod. Teleport is also able to restrict access to namespaced-scoped custom resources but not cluster-scoped custom resources - CRDs resources that are cluster-scoped will be accessible to the user if the principals in the kubernetes_users and kubernetes_groups fields have access to them.

Requesting access to a Kubernetes Namespace allows you to access all resources in that namespace but you won't be able to access any other supported resources in the cluster.

`db`

You can restrict access to searching db resources by assigning values to the db_labels field in the spec.allow or spec.deny fields.

The following role allows access to databases with the environment:dev or environment:stage labels:

kind: role
version: v5
metadata:
  name: developer
spec:
  allow:
    db_labels:
      environment: ["dev", "stage"]

    # Database account names this role can connect as.
    db_users: ["viewer", "editor"]
    db_names: ["*"]

`app`

You can restrict access to searching app resources by assigning values to the app_labels field in the spec.allow or spec.deny fields.

The following role allows access to all applications except for those in env:prod:

kind: role
version: v5
metadata:
  name: dev
spec:
  allow:
    app_labels:
      "*": "*"
  deny:
    app_labels:
      env: "prod"

`windows_desktop`

You can restrict access to searching windows_desktop resources by assigning values to the windows_desktop_labels field in the spec.allow or spec.deny fields.

The following role allows access to all Windows desktops with the environment:dev or environment:stage labels.

kind: role
version: v4
metadata:
  name: developer
spec:
  allow:
    windows_desktop_labels:
      environment: ["dev", "stage"]

    windows_desktop_logins: ["{{internal.windows_logins}}"]

Request access to Kubernetes resources

Teleport users can request access to a Kubernetes resources by running the following command:

$ tsh request create resource-id

Namespace-scoped resources

For Kubernetes namespaced resources, the resource-id is in the following format:

/TELEPORT_CLUSTER/NAMESPACED_KIND/KUBE_CLUSTER/NAMESPACE/RESOURCE_NAME

Teleport supports the following namespaced resources: pod, secret, configmap, service, serviceaccount, persistentvolumeclaim, deployment, replicaset, statefulset, daemonset, kube_role, rolebinding, cronjob, job, ingress.

For example, to request access to a pod called nginx-1 in the development namespace, run the following command:

$ tsh request create --resources /teleport.example.com/pod/mycluster/development/nginx-1

For the NAMESPACE and RESOURCE_NAME values, you can match ranges of characters by supplying a wildcard (*) or regular expression. Regular expressions must begin with ^ and end with $.

For example, to create a request to access all pods in all namespaces that match the regular expression /^nginx-[a-z0-9-]+$/, run the following command:

$ tsh request create --resources /teleport.example.com/pod/mycluster/*/^nginx-[a-z0-9-]+$

Cluster-scoped resources

For Kubernetes cluster-scoped resources, the resource-id is in the following format:

/TELEPORT_CLUSTER/CLUSTER_WIDE_KIND/KUBE_CLUSTER/RESOURCE_NAME

Teleport supports the following cluster-wide resources: namespace, kube_node, clusterrole, clusterrolebinding, persistentvolume, certificatesigningrequest.

For example, to request access to a namespace called prod, run the following command:

$ tsh request create --resources /teleport.example.com/namespace/mycluster/prod

For the RESOURCE_NAME value, you can match ranges of characters by supplying a wildcard (*) or regular expression. Regular expressions must begin with ^ and end with $.

For example, to create a request to access all namespaces prefixed with dev match the regular expression /^dev-[a-z0-9-]+$/, run the following command:

$ tsh request create --resources /teleport.example.com/namespace/mycluster/^dev-[a-z0-9-]+$

Using cluster-scoped resource requests requires the role under search_as_roles to have the correct permissions for the cluster-scoped resource. This is an example of the required permissions to request access only to the namespace prod (and all resources within it):

kind: role
spec:
  allow:
    kubernetes_resources:
    - kind: namespace
      name: prod
      verbs:
      - '*'

Search for Kubernetes resources

If a user has no access to a Kubernetes cluster, they can search the list of resources in the cluster by running the following command:

$ tsh request search --kind=<kind> --kube-cluster=kube-cluster \
[--kube-namespace=namespace|--all-kube-namespaces]
Name               Namespace Labels    Resource ID
-----------------  --------- --------- ----------------------------------------------------------
nginx-deployment-0 default   app=nginx /teleport.example.com/pod/local/default/nginx-deployment-0
nginx-deployment-1 default   app=nginx /teleport.example.com/pod/local/default/nginx-deployment-1

To request access to these resources, run
> tsh request create --resource /teleport.example.com/pod/local/default/nginx-deployment-0 --resource /teleport.example.com/pod/local/default/nginx-deployment-1 \
    --reason <request reason>

The list returned includes the name of the resource, the namespace it is in if applicable, its labels, and the resource ID. Resources included in the list are those that match the kubernetes_resources field in the user's search_as_roles. The user can then:

Request access to the resources by running the command provided by the tsh request search command.
Edit the command to request access to a subset of the resources.
Use a custom request with wildcards or regular expressions.

tsh request search --kind=<kind> works even if the user has no permissions to interact with the desired Kubernetes cluster, but the user's search_as_roles values must allow access to the cluster. If the user is unsure of the name of the cluster, they can run the following command to search it:

$ tsh request search --kind=kube_cluster
Name  Hostname Labels Resource ID
----- -------- ------ ----------------------------------------
local                 /teleport.example.com/kube_cluster/local

Integrating with an external tool

With Teleport's Access Request plugins, users can manage Access Requests from within your organization's existing messaging and project management solutions.

Integration	Type	Setup Instructions
Slack	Messaging	Set up Slack
Mattermost	Messaging	Set up Mattermost
Microsoft Teams	Messaging	Set up Microsoft Teams
Jira	Project Board	Set up Jira
PagerDuty	Schedule	Set up PagerDuty
Email	Messaging	Set up email
Discord	Messaging	Set up Discord
OpsGenie	Incident Management	Set up OpsGenie
ServiceNow	Workflow	Set up ServiceNow

Next Steps

Learn more about Access Lists

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Prerequisites​

Step 1/8. Create the requester role​

Step 2/8. Create the reviewer role​

Step 3/8. Grant the roles to users​

Step 4/8. Search for resources​

Step 5/8. Request access to a resource​

Step 6/8. Approve the Access Request​

Step 7/8. Access the requested resource​

Step 8/8. Resume regular access​

Next Steps​

Automatically request access for SSH​

Restrict the resources a user can request access to​

node​

kube_cluster​

Kubernetes resources​

Preventing unintended access to Kubernetes resources​

db​

app​

windows_desktop​

Request access to Kubernetes resources​

Namespace-scoped resources​

Cluster-scoped resources​

Search for Kubernetes resources​

Integrating with an external tool​

Next Steps​

Prerequisites

Step 1/8. Create the requester role

Step 2/8. Create the reviewer role

Step 3/8. Grant the roles to users

Step 4/8. Search for resources

Step 5/8. Request access to a resource

Step 6/8. Approve the Access Request

Step 7/8. Access the requested resource

Step 8/8. Resume regular access

Next Steps

Automatically request access for SSH

Restrict the resources a user can request access to

`node`

`kube_cluster`

Kubernetes resources

Preventing unintended access to Kubernetes resources

`db`

`app`

`windows_desktop`

Request access to Kubernetes resources

Namespace-scoped resources

Cluster-scoped resources

Search for Kubernetes resources

Integrating with an external tool

Next Steps