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DataStax Enterprise 6.8 Security Guide

    • About DSE Advanced Security
    • Security FAQs
    • Security checklists
    • Securing the environment
      • Securing ports
      • Securing the TMP directory
    • Authentication and authorization
      • Configuring authentication and authorization
        • About DSE Unified Authentication
          • Steps for new deployment
          • Steps for production environments
        • Configuring security keyspaces
        • Setting up Kerberos
          • Kerberos guidelines
          • Enabling JCE Unlimited
            • Removing AES-256
          • Preparing DSE nodes for Kerberos
            • DNS and NTP
            • krb5.conf
            • Principal
            • Keytab
        • Enabling authentication and authorization
          • Defining a Kerberos scheme
          • Defining an LDAP scheme
        • Configuring JMX authentication
        • Configuring cache settings
        • Securing schema information
      • Managing database access
        • About RBAC
        • Setting up logins and users
          • Adding a superuser login
          • Adding database users
          • LDAP users and groups
            • LDAP logins
            • LDAP groups
          • Kerberos principal logins
          • Setting up roles for applications
          • Binding a role to an authentication scheme
        • Assigning permissions
          • Database object permissions
            • Data resources
            • Functions and aggregate resources
            • Search indexes
            • Roles
            • Proxy login and execute
            • Authentication schemes
            • DSE Utilities (MBeans)
            • Analytic applications
            • Remote procedure calls
          • Separation of duties
          • Keyspaces and tables
          • Row Level Access Control (RLAC)
          • Search index permissions
          • DataStax Graph keyspace
          • Spark application permissions
          • DataStax Studio permissions
          • Remote procedure calls
          • DSE client-tool spark
          • JMX MBean permissions
          • Deny (denylist) db object permission
          • Restricting access to data
      • Providing credentials from DSE tools
        • About clients
        • Internal and LDAP authentication
          • Command line
          • File
          • Environment variables
          • Using CQLSH
        • Kerberos
          • JAAS configuration file location
          • Keytab
          • Ticket Cache
          • Spark jobs
          • SSTableLoader
          • Graph and gremlin-console
          • dsetool
          • CQLSH
        • Nodetool
        • JConsole
    • Auditing database activity
      • Enabling database auditing
      • Capturing DSE Search HTTP requests
      • Log formats
      • View events from DSE audit table
    • Transparent data encryption
      • About Transparent Data Encryption
      • Configuring local encryption
        • Setting up local encryption keys
        • Encrypting configuration file properties
        • Encrypting system resources
        • Encrypting tables
        • Rekeying existing data
        • Using tools with TDE-encrypted SSTables
        • Troubleshooting encryption key errors
      • Configuring KMIP encryption
      • Encrypting Search indexes
        • Encrypting new Search indexes
        • Encrypting existing Search indexes
        • Tuning encrypted Search indexes
      • Migrating encrypted tables from earlier versions
      • Bulk loading data between TDE-enabled clusters
    • Configuring SSL
      • Steps for configuring SSL
      • Creating SSL certificates, keystores, and truststores
        • Remote keystore provider
        • Local keystore files
      • Securing node-to-node connections
      • Securing client-to-node connections
        • Configuring JMX on the server side
        • nodetool, nodesync, dsetool, and Advanced Replication
        • JConsole (JMX)
        • SSTableloader
        • Connecting to SSL-enabled nodes using cqlsh
      • Enabling SSL encryption for DSEFS
      • Reference: SSL instruction variables
    • Securing Spark connections
  • DataStax Enterprise 6.8 Security Guide
  • Authentication and authorization
  • Configuring authentication and authorization
  • Setting up Kerberos
  • Enabling JCE Unlimited

Enabling JCE Unlimited

DataStax recommends enabling Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited to ensure support for all encryption algorithms, especially AES-256 for Kerberos and SSL when using Oracle Java.

Prior to JDK 1.8.0_151 (8u151), you had to download and install the JCE jurisdiction policy files separately. Those steps are unnecessary in 8u151 and later JDK releases. To enable JCE Unlimited use the crypto.policy Security property introduced in JDK 8u151, as noted in the New Features section of the Oracle JDK 1.8.0_151 Release Notes.

Enabling JCE Unlimited Cryptography

To enable JCE Unlimited Cryptography in environments with JDK 8u151 or later, set the following Security property in the java.security file:

crypto.policy=unlimited

When set in java.security, or when declared dynamically using the Security.setProperty() call before the JCE framework has been initialized, the unlimited setting is used by the JDK.

Starting in JDK 8u161, JCE Unlimited is enabled by default. Refer to the Release Notes for JDK 8u161.

The location of the cassandra.yaml file depends on the type of installation:

  • Package installations: /etc/dse/cassandra/cassandra.yaml

  • Tarball installations: <installation_location>/resources/cassandra/conf/cassandra.yaml

Some of the cipher suites in the default set of server_encryption_options in cassandra.yaml are included only in the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files.

By default Kerberos uses the AES-256 cipher. DataStax recommends using AES-256 encryption. OpenJDK includes AES-256. However, Oracle Java does not include the AES-256 cipher due to export restrictions to certain countries. To use AES-256 with Oracle Java, install the JCE Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files.

If your environment uses a JDK version prior to 8u151, which released in October 2017, refer to the download and install steps in the following sections.

Installing JCE Unlimited for pre-8u151 JDK environments on RHEL-Based systems

If your JDK on RHEL-based systems must use a pre-8u151 JDK:

  1. Install the JCE using the Oracle JAR:

    1. Download the Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files from Oracle Java SE download page under Additional Resources.

    2. Unzip the downloaded file.

    3. Copy local_policy.jar and US_export_policy.jar to the $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security directory to overwrite the existing JARS.

    4. Check permissions of installed files so that they are readable by all users.

Installing JCE Unlimited for pre-8u151 JDK Environments on Debian-Based Systems

If your JDK on Debian-based systems must use a pre-8u151 JDK, then install JCE using webupd8 PPA repository:

sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-unlimited-jce-policy

If the repository is not available in your environment, add it and then install.

For example:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java

Removing AES-256

Steps to remove AES-256 settings.

Kerberos guidelines Removing AES-256

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