Keychain and 'self' key

[richardschneider]

The self key is the local peer's identity, commonly referred to as PrivKey. This key is currently stored in .config and is naked. It should be placed onto the keychain, see ipfs/kubo#4240 (comment).

• ipfs init requires --pass to create the keychain
• ipfs init should store peer identity as self in the keychain
• Gracefully upgrade, at "boot/startup" ipfs should move the PrivKey in .config into the keychain
• ipfs init should not store PrivKey in .config
• any access to config PrivKey should error

[richardschneider]

Here'a quick ipfs search and libp2p search for PrivKey.

[daviddias]

@richardschneider anything I can do to empower you to finish this work?

[richardschneider]

@diasdavid RE: removing PrivKey from .config

This will introduce a major breaking change. The --pass option will be required, otherwise the peer's private key cannot be fetched from the keychain.

[daviddias]

@richardschneider doesn't have to need a breaking change. The node can check if there is a key on the config and move it to the keychain on first run.

The --pass option will be required

Why? That should be just if we want to store the private key encrypted. "" should be a valid passphrase for the users that want to store it in plaintext

[richardschneider]

doesn't have to need a breaking change. The node can check if there is a key on the config and move it to the keychain on first run.

This is what is does now!

Why? That should be just if we want to store the private key encrypted. "" should be a valid passphrase for the users that want to store it in plaintext

This is all about SECURITY. Keys should never be in plain text. NIST SP 800-132 requires a minimum of 20 chars for a passphrase to a key.

Basically, I want to mandate that the user knows the passphrase. Otherwise, the private key is not private (as is the current case with it being stored in .config) and there is no security.

This is the same approach that @ianopolous took in peergos.

[daviddias]

@richardschneider I believe we are having a communication issue. First, my suggestion for a migration of the key from the config.json to keychain was based on your comment above. If that is already implemented, great. Let's try to communicate all the features and notes in advance so that there are no misunderstandings.

Second, yes I do understand the security concerns of storing a key in plaintext. However, the ipfs daemon has historically enabled users to do so and changing that behaviour would be breaking the interface. We need to enable both storage of plaintext + encrypted and then provide security recommendations for our users. If we decide as a project to stop supporting plaintext keys, then we will make sure that users have a good transition process.

So here is the path to move forward:

• Support both plaintext and encrypted storage of the keys
• Open an issue on IPFS Specs proposing that we should drop plaintext storage
• Work on getting documentation ready for that transition

[richardschneider]

@fiatjaf commented

Why can't the private keys be stored as plaintext and within reach from the local user without this password-PBKDF2-whatever stuff? go-ipfs does that.

The keychain was designed to protect private keys by encrypting them with a pass phrase, hence the password-PBKDF2 stuff.

As @diasdavid points out, perhaps we should use "" as the pass phrase when not specified by the user.

[whizzzkid]

js-ipfs is being deprecated in favor of Helia. You can #4336 and read the migration guide.

Please feel to reopen with any comments before 2023-06-05. We will do a final pass on reopened issues afterward (see #4336).