Pass the CyberArk Secrets Manager SECRET-SEN Questions and answers with ValidTests

The cause of the issue is A. The certificate based on the Follower DNS name is not present on the Leader. This means that the Leader does not have a certificate file that matches the Follower DNS name used in the seed request, and therefore cannot generate a valid seed file for the Follower. This results in a 500 error in the Seed Fetcher container log. To resolve the issue, you need to import a certificate with the Follower DNS name as the subject alt name on the Leader, and create a copy of the certificate file with a name that matches the Follower DNS name used in the seed request1.

This is the correct answer because the log file shows the error message “CEADBR009E Failed to load policy through SDK” and the exception message “The number of LOBs exceeds the limit”. This indicates that the Vault Conjur Synchronizer service (Synchronizer) encountered a problem when trying to sync the secrets from the CyberArk Vault to the Conjur database using the Conjur SDK. The Conjur SDK is a library that allows the Synchronizer to interact with the Conjur REST API and perform operations on the Conjur resources, such as roles, policies, secrets, and audit records. The number of LOBs refers to the number of lines of business (LOBs) that are configured in the Synchronizer. A LOB is a logical grouping of secrets that belong to a specific business unit or function. Each LOB has its own configuration file that specifies the source safe, the target policy, and the mapping rules for the secrets. The Synchronizer can sync multiple LOBs concurrently using multiple threads. However, there is a limit on the number of threads that the Synchronizer can use, which depends on the hardware and software specifications of the Synchronizer machine. If the number of LOBs exceeds the number of threads, the Synchronizer will not be able to sync all the LOBs and will generate an error. This answer is based on the CyberArk Secrets Manager documentation and the CyberArk Secrets Manager training course.

The cause of the issue is that the host does not have access to the credential. This can happen if the host does not have the correct permissions or if the credential is not properly configured in the Vault Conjur Synchronizer.

The Vault Conjur Synchronizer is a tool that enables the integration between CyberArk Vault and Conjur Secrets Manager Enterprise. The Synchronizer synchronizes secrets that are stored and managed in the CyberArk Vault with Conjur Enterprise, and allows them to be used via Conjur clients, APIs, and SDKs. The Synchronizer creates and updates Conjur policies and variables based on the Vault accounts and safes, and assigns permissions to Conjur hosts based on the Vault allowed machines.

To fix this issue, the host needs to have the permission to access the credential in Conjur. This can be done by adding the host to the allowed machines list of the Vault account that corresponds to the credential, and synchronizing the changes with Conjur. Alternatively, the host can be granted the permission to access the credential in Conjur by modifying the Conjur policy that corresponds to the Vault safe that contains the credential, and loading the policy to Conjur. However, this may cause conflicts or inconsistencies with the Synchronizer, and is not recommended.

For more information, see the CyberArk Vault Synchronizer docs1 and the Synchronizer Troubleshooting guide2.

The most likely cause for this issue is A. malformed Policy file. A 422 Response from Conjur indicates that the request was well-formed but was unable to be followed due to semantic errors. A common semantic error when loading policy is having a malformed Policy file, which means that the Policy file does not follow the correct syntax, structure, or logic of the Conjur Policy language. A malformed Policy file can result from typos, missing or extra characters, incorrect indentation, invalid references, or other mistakes that prevent Conjur from parsing and applying the Policy file. The message that accompanies the 422 Response will usually provide more details about the error and the location of the problem in the Policy file.

To resolve this issue, you should review the Policy file and check for any errors or inconsistencies. You can use a YAML validator or a text editor with syntax highlighting to help you identify and correct any syntax errors. You can also use the Conjur Policy Simulator to test and debug your Policy file before loading it to Conjur. The Conjur Policy Simulator is a web-based tool that allows you to upload your Policy file and see how it will affect the Conjur data model, without actually loading it to Conjur. You can also use the Conjur Policy Simulator to compare different versions of your Policy file and see the changes and conflicts between them. For more information, refer to the following resources:

Policy - CyberArk, Section “Policy”

Policy Language - CyberArk, Section “Policy Language”

Conjur Policy Simulator - CyberArk, Section “Conjur Policy Simulator”

B. Review the log file ‘CreateEnv.log’ and investigate any error messages it contains.

This is the best option because the CreateEnv.log file records the steps and results of creating the CP environment in the Vault during the installation. The CP environment includes the safe, the provider user, the application user, and the application identity. If any errors occurred when creating the CP environment, they will be logged in this file and may indicate a problem with the Vault connection, the credential file, the permissions, or the configuration. Reviewing the log file can help to identify and resolve the root cause of the errors and ensure the CP environment is properly set up.

Continuing configuring the application to use the CP without further action is not a good option because it may lead to unexpected or inconsistent behavior of the CP or the application. The errors that occurred when creating the CP environment may affect the security, availability, or integrity of the credentials or the application. Ignoring the errors may also make it harder to troubleshoot or fix them later.

Running setup.exe again and selecting ‘Recreate Vault Environment’ is not a good option because it may overwrite or delete the existing CP environment and cause more errors or conflicts. Recreating the Vault environment should only be done after reviewing the log file and understanding the cause of the errors. Moreover, recreating the Vault environment may require more privileges than creating it for the first time, as some objects may be already in use or locked.

Reviewing the PVWA logs to determine which REST API call used during the installation failed is not a good option because it may not provide enough information or context to understand or resolve the errors. The PVWA logs may show the HTTP status codes or messages of the REST API calls, but they may not show the details or parameters of the calls or the responses. The PVWA logs may also contain other unrelated or irrelevant entries that may confuse or distract from the errors. The CreateEnv.log file is a more specific and reliable source of information for the errors that occurred when creating the CP environment.

According to the CyberArk Sentry Secrets Manager documentation, Conjur is a secrets management solution that consists of a leader node and one or more follower nodes. The leader node is responsible for managing the secrets, policies, and audit records, while the follower nodes are read-only replicas that can serve secrets requests from applications. Additionally, Conjur supports a standby node, which is a special type of follower node that can be promoted to a leader node in case of a leader failure. A standby node is synchronized with the leader node and can take over its role in a disaster recovery scenario. A possible Conjur node role change is when a standby node is promoted to a leader node, either manually or automatically, using the auto-failover feature. A follower node cannot be promoted to a leader node, as it does not have the same data and functionality as the leader node. A standby node cannot be promoted to a follower node, as it already has the same capabilities as a follower node, plus the ability to become a leader node. A leader node cannot be demoted to a standby node in the event of a failover, as it would lose its data and functionality and would not be able to resume its role as a leader node. References: 1: Conjur Architecture 2: Deploying Conjur on AWS 3: Auto-failover

Conjur Followers are read-only replicas of the Leader that can serve client requests for authentication, authorization, and secret retrieval. However, Followers cannot perform write operations, such as creating or updating secrets, policies, or roles. If the Leader becomes unavailable, the Followers will not be able to sync with the latest data and will eventually become stale. To ensure high availability and data consistency, the customer should extend the auto-failover cluster to include Standbys in each data center. Standbys are also replicas of the Leader, but they can participate in replication and promotion. One Standby is configured for synchronous replication, which means it receives the same updates as the Leader at the same time. The other Standbys are configured for asynchronous replication, which means they receive updates from the Leader periodically, but not in real time. In case of Leader failure, the synchronous Standby can be automatically promoted to become the new Leader, and one of the asynchronous Standbys can become the new synchronous Standby. This way, the customer can ensure that there is always an up-to-date Leader that can serve write requests and sync with the Followers in different data centers. References: Set up Follower, Set up auto-failover cluster, Conjur architecture and deployment reference

The log entry shows a failed authentication attempt with Conjur using the authn-jwt method. This method allows applications to authenticate with Conjur using JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) that are signed by a trusted identity provider. In this case, the application is Jenkins, which is a CI/CD tool that can integrate with Conjur using the Conjur Jenkins plugin. The plugin allows Jenkins to securely retrieve secrets from Conjur and inject them as environment variables into Jenkins pipelines or projects.

The log entry indicates that the JWT sent by Jenkins was rejected by Conjur because of an SSL connection error. The error message says that the certificate chain of Jenkins could not be verified by Conjur, and that the certificate authority (CA) that signed the Jenkins certificate was unknown to Conjur. This means that the Jenkins certificate chain is not trusted by Conjur, and that Conjur does not have the CA certificate of Jenkins in its trust store. Therefore, Conjur cannot establish a secure and trusted connection with Jenkins, and cannot validate the JWT signature.

To fix this problem, the Jenkins certificate chain needs to be trusted by Conjur. This can be done by copying the CA certificate of Jenkins to the Conjur server, and adding it to the Conjur trust store. The Conjur trust store is a directory that contains the CA certificates of the trusted identity providers for the authn-jwt method. The Conjur server also needs to be restarted for the changes to take effect.

References = Conjur Jenkins Plugin; Conjur JWT Authentication; Conjur Trust Store

The most likely cause for this issue is A. The application ID or Application Provider does not have the correct permissions on the safe. The CyberArk Central Credential Provider (CCP) is a web service that enables applications to retrieve secrets from the CyberArk Vault using REST API calls. The CCP requires an application ID or an Application Provider to authenticate and authorize the application before returning the requested secret. The application ID or Application Provider must have the Retrieve and List permissions on the safe where the secret is stored, otherwise the CCP will not be able to find the matching secret and will return an error.

To resolve this issue, you should verify that the application ID or Application Provider has the correct permissions on the safe, and that the safe name and object name are correctly specified in the REST API call. You can use the CyberArk Privileged Access Security Web Access (PVWA) or the PrivateArk Client to check and modify the permissions on the safe. You can also use the CyberArk REST API Tester or a tool like Postman to test the REST API call and see the response from the CCP. For more information, refer to the following resources:

Credential Providers - Centralized Credential Management | CyberArk, Section “Central Credential Provider”

Credential Provider - CyberArk, Section “Using the Credential Provider”

How to Build Your Secrets Management REST API’s into Postman, Section “How to Build Your Secrets Management REST API’s into Postman”

 According to the CyberArk Sentry Secrets Manager documentation, the Secrets Provider for Kubernetes can be deployed as an init container or a sidecar in Push-to-File mode. In Push-to-File mode, the Secrets Provider pushes Conjur secrets to one or more secrets files in a shared volume in the same Pod as the application container. The application container can then consume the secrets files from the shared volume. The deployment option that should be used to support rotation with Push-to-File mode is the sidecar, because the sidecar can run continuously and check for updates to the secrets in Conjur. If changes are detected, the sidecar can update the secrets files in the shared volume. The init container, on the other hand, runs to completion and does not support rotation. The application container and the service broker are not valid deployment options for the Secrets Provider for Kubernetes in Push-to-File mode. References: 1: Secrets Provider - Init container/Sidecar - Push-to-File mode 2: Secrets Provider - init container/sidecar - Push-to-File mode