PeerAuthentication

2 minute read

PeerAuthentication

PeerAuthentication defines how traffic will be tunneled (or not) to the sidecar.

Examples:

Policy to allow mTLS traffic for all workloads under namespace foo:

apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: PeerAuthentication
metadata:
  name: default
  namespace: foo
spec:
  mtls:
    mode: STRICT

For mesh level, put the policy in root-namespace according to your Istio installation.

Policies to allow both mTLS & plaintext traffic for all workloads under namespace foo, but require mTLS for workload finance.

apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: PeerAuthentication
metadata:
  name: default
  namespace: foo
spec:
  mtls:
    mode: PERMISSIVE
---
apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: PeerAuthentication
metadata:
  name: finance
  namespace: foo
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: finance
  mtls:
    mode: STRICT

Policy to allow mTLS strict for all workloads, but leave port 8080 to plaintext:

apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: PeerAuthentication
metadata:
  name: default
  namespace: foo
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: finance
  mtls:
    mode: STRICT
  portLevelMtls:
    8080:
      mode: DISABLE

Policy to inherit mTLS mode from namespace (or mesh) settings, and overwrite settings for port 8080

apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: PeerAuthentication
metadata:
  name: default
  namespace: foo
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: finance
  mtls:
    mode: UNSET
  portLevelMtls:
    8080:
      mode: DISABLE

Field Type Description Required

Field	Type	Description	Required
`selector`	`WorkloadSelector`	The selector determines the workloads to apply the PeerAuthentication on. The selector will match with workloads in the same namespace as the policy. If the policy is in the root namespace, the selector will additionally match with workloads in all namespace. If not set, the policy will be applied to all workloads in the same namespace as the policy. If it is in the root namespace, it would be applied to all workloads in the mesh.	No
`mtls`	`MutualTLS`	Mutual TLS settings for workload. If not defined, inherit from parent.	No
`portLevelMtls`	`map<uint32, MutualTLS>`	Port specific mutual TLS settings. These only apply when a workload selector is specified.	No

selector

WorkloadSelector

The selector determines the workloads to apply the PeerAuthentication on. The selector will match with workloads in the same namespace as the policy. If the policy is in the root namespace, the selector will additionally match with workloads in all namespace.

If not set, the policy will be applied to all workloads in the same namespace as the policy. If it is in the root namespace, it would be applied to all workloads in the mesh.

mtls

MutualTLS

Mutual TLS settings for workload. If not defined, inherit from parent.

portLevelMtls

map<uint32, MutualTLS>

Port specific mutual TLS settings. These only apply when a workload selector is specified.

PeerAuthentication.MutualTLS

Mutual TLS settings.

Field	Type	Description	Required
`mode`	`Mode`	Defines the mTLS mode used for peer authentication.	No

PeerAuthentication.MutualTLS.Mode

Name	Description
`UNSET`	Inherit from parent, if has one. Otherwise treated as PERMISSIVE.
`DISABLE`	Connection is not tunneled.
`PERMISSIVE`	Connection can be either plaintext or mTLS tunnel.
`STRICT`	Connection is an mTLS tunnel (TLS with client cert must be presented).