This is a very simply CLI based secrets manager written in python and tested on python 3.6, 3.7 and 3.10 to some various levels. At the time of this writing I've included support for the following storage engines and it's been tested under the stated operating system. Even though it is intended as CLI secrets manager there is a GUI option, just pass "gui" as a parameter and the GUI will start.
- File System: Windows 10, Windows 11, ubuntu 18, ubuntu 20, OpenBSD and MacOS
- Redis: Windows 10, Windows 11, ubuntu 18, ubuntu 20
- SQLite: Windows 10, Windows 11, ubuntu 18, ubuntu 20
- Microsoft SQL: Windows 10
- MySQL/MariaDB: Windows 10, WSL Debian, Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 11
- PostgreSQL: Windows 10, WSL Debian, Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 11
The level of testing is very superficial and inconsistent. More testing is appreciated and if you find issues or have a feature request please log it under the issue tab or submit a PR.
Features include:
- Add item to the store or update it if it already exists
- Fetch item from the store, either display it or put the value on the clipboard
- List the keys (names) of all items in the store
- Remove an item from the store
- Re-initialize the store and remove everything in it
- Generate a Time-based One Time Passcode (TOTP), aka Google Authenticator, based on a secret stored in the store
The clipboard feature works across SSH if you have X11 setup properly on both the client and the server, have xclip installed, etc. If you can do all sorts of X11 stuff, then the clipboard should work across the SSH connection. Otherwise the clipboard feature is unavailable on SSH or remote sessions where there is no clipboard support. You'll get a message when you start the script whether clipboard feature is working or not.
Everything is a key value pair where the key (aka name) is public but the value is secret. The value is encrypted using AES-256 in MODE_CBC, if you don't know what that means, just know that is one of the best encryption methods available when this was written in August of 2022. When used with a strong, un-guessable, password it has not been cracked as of this writing. After the value is encrypted it is base64 encoded and stored under the key in the chosen storage engine. I also plan to offer PGP encryption as well. This ReadMe will be updated once that is ready. You can see more details about my plans on the issue tab.
For the filesystem storage engine each key value pair is stored in its own file in a specified folder, where the key is the filename and the content of the file is the encrypted base64 encoded blob. If no folder path is provided then a folder called VaultData is created in the same directory as the script. You can provide an alternative path in one of two ways:
- Create and environment variable called VAULT with the preferred vault path, relative to the script or absolute path
- Supply the path as a command argument during execution. The argument should be formatted as
vault=~/MyVaultand it needs to be the first argument
SQLite database file will also be named after this vault variable, just has .db added after it.
By default password entries are masked but value entries are not. If you wish to have value entries masked, create a environment variable called HIDEINPUT and set it to true.
Speaking of passwords and environment variables, you can define an environment variable called VAULTPWD and assign your vault password to it. Don't do this lightly though, think through your threat matrix and evaluate if this fits into your risk model. Depending on your situation this cold be a risky thing to do. For most people it is fine to do this and makes it easy to use a long and complex password which increases your security. Of course the best way to deal with this is to use Doppler secrets manager. If you haven't heard about Doppler you can check out my blog at https://bit.ly/3KYvukH and feel free to reach out if you have questions.
When you fetch a stored value, the decrypted string is printed in red font by default. You can change this by defining an environment variable called VALUECOLOR and setting it to one these colors: black, red, green, orange, blue, purple, cyan, lightgrey, darkgrey, lightred, lightgreen, yellow, lightblue, pink, lightcyan.
If you initiate the script without any arguments, except maybe the vault argument, you will be dropped into an interactive shell.
If you set an environment variable called QUIET and set it to true all non essential output is suppressed and if you provide no command you get the help output. There is no interactive shell in quiet mode
Check out Environment Variables.txt for full details of possible environment variables, and reach out if you have questions. There is also EnvExamples.md that calls out what environment variable are important for each storage engine.
If you rather have a configuration file, you can create one with the create option, as well through the Preference window in the GUI. You should never put any passwords in this configuration file and always keep them in environment variables.
You can also accomplish everything by using just command arguments.
Here are the commands you can use:
help : Displays this message. Can also use /h -h and --help
quit : exit out of the script
add : Adds a new key value pair
del : removes the specified key
reset : Resets your stores so it is completely uninitialized
list : List out all keys
fetch : fetch a specified key
clip : put specified key value on the clipboard
passwd : Change the password
totp : Displays TOTP code for the secret stored at the specified key
create : Create a configuration file based on current environment
gui : Starts the GUI
login : Prompts for Vault password. Should never be needed manually as you are prompted when needed
Here are some examples:
python3 PiVault.py add testkey15 This is the value 15
This creates a new entry called testkey15 and encrypts the string "This is the value 15" and stores it in it. The script will combine all words after the first two (add command and the key name) into a value string. Note however that some operating system treat # as a comment and don't process anything beyond that. So if your value contains a #, it would be safe to quote your value string or escape the # otherwise your value might get truncated after the #.
python3 PiVault.py fetch testkey15
This decrypts entry testkey15 and displays the decrypted string in the console
python3 PiVault.py clippy testkey15
This decrypts entry testkey15 and places the decrypted string on the clipboard
python3 PiVault.py vault=MyVault add testkey17 this is a key value for new vault
This creates a new entry called testkey17 and encrypts the string "this is a key value for new vault" and stores it in a vault called MyVault in the current directory
python3 PiVault.py add JoesApp ERN7C3DG3GWBKDF6JXRCQIAF4M24GMQ7NZXL5JF4XPQU45N3R642VTCKHTIRU72W
This stores the TOTP secret from JoesApp for later use to generate a TOTP code
python3 PiVault.py add Wonderland otpauth://totp/Wonderland:Alice@wonderland.com?secret=JZ3I66NGNBHFA3PZRIUA46XNYXQJM6SFIWSXO6T3GUNFEDQFHPQRMHVSS3MAZCUCJZ3I66NGNBHFA3PZRIUA46XNYXQJM6SFIWSXO6T3GUNFEDQFHPQRMHVSS3MAZCUC
This stores the whole TOTP URL from the Wonderland system for later use to generate a TOTP code
python3 PiVault.py totp Wonderland
This decrypts entry otpath and uses it to generate a TOTP (Google Auth compatible) and displays it in the console
Here is a screenshot of what the main GUI looks like