This command line tool can be used to encrypt and decrypt files and directories using the AWS Encryption SDK.
The latest full documentation can be found at Read the Docs.
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- Python 2.7+ or 3.4+
- aws-encryption-sdk >= 1.3.2
Note
If you have not already installed cryptography, you might need to install additional prerequisites as detailed in the cryptography installation guide for your operating system.
$ pip install aws-encryption-sdk-cli
For the most part, the behavior of aws-encryption-cli in handling files is based on that
of GNU CLIs such as cp. A qualifier to this is that when encrypting a file, if a
directory is provided as the destination, rather than creating the source filename
in the destination directory, a suffix is appended to the destination filename. By
default the suffix is .encrypted when encrypting and .decrypted when decrypting,
but a custom suffix can be provided by the caller if desired.
If a destination file already exists, the contents will be overwritten.
| Allowed input/output pairings | output | |||
| stdout | file | directory | ||
| input | stdin | Y | Y | Â |
| single file | Y | Y | Y | |
| pattern match | Â | Â | Y | |
| directory | Â | Â | Y | |
If the source includes a directory and the --recursive flag is set, the entire
tree of the source directory is replicated in the target directory.
Some arguments accept additional parameter values. These values must be provided in the
form of key=value as demonstrated below.
--encryption-context key1=value1 key2=value2 "key 3=value with spaces"
--master-keys provider=aws-kms key=$KEY_ID_1 key=$KEY_ID_2
--caching capacity=3 max_age=80.0The encryption context is an optional, but recommended, set of key-value pairs that contain arbitrary nonsecret data. The encryption context can contain any data you choose, but it typically consists of data that is useful in logging and tracking, such as data about the file type, purpose, or ownership.
Parameters may be provided using Parameter Values.
--encryption-context key1=value1 key2=value2 "key 3=value with spaces"If an encryption context is provided on decrypt, it is instead used to require that the message being decrypted was encrypted using an encryption context that matches the specified requirements.
If key=value elements are provided, the decryption will only continue if the encryption
context found in the encrypted message contains matching pairs.
--encryption-context required_key=required_value classification=secretIf bare key elements are provided, the decryption will continue if those keys are found,
regardless of the values. key and key=value elements can be mixed.
--encryption-context required_key classification=secretWarning
If encryption context requirements are not satisfied by the ciphertext message, the message will not be decrypted. One side effect of this is that if you chose to write the plaintext output to a file and that file already exists, it will be deleted when we stop the decryption.
In addition to the actual output of the operation, there is metadata about the operation that can be useful. This metadata includes some information about the operation as well as the complete header data from the ciphertext message.
The metadata for each operation is written to the specified file as a single line containing formatted JSON, so if a single command performs multiple file operations, a separate line will be written for each operation. There are three operating modes:
--metadata-output FILE: Writes the metadata output toFILE(can be-for stdout as long as main output is not stdout). Default behavior is to append the metadata entry to the end ofFILE.--overwrite-metadata: Force overwriting the contents ofFILEwith the new metadata.-S/--suppress-metadata: Output metadata is suppressed.
The metadata JSON contains the following fields:
"mode":"encrypt"/"decrypt""input": Full path to input file (or"<stdin>"if stdin)"output": Full path to output file (or"<stdout>"if stdout)"header": JSON representation of message header data"header_auth": JSON representation of message header authentication data (only on decrypt)
If encryption context checks fail when attempting to decrypt a file, the metadata contains additional fields:
skipped:truereason:"Missing encryption context key or value"missing_encryption_context_keys: List of required encryption context keys that were missing from the message.missing_encryption_context_pairs: List of required encryption context key-value pairs missing from the message.
Information for configuring a master key provider must be provided.
Parameters may be provided using Parameter Values.
Required parameters:
provider (default: aws-encryption-sdk-cli::aws-kms) : Indicator of the master key provider to use.
- See Advanced Configuration for more information on using other master key providers.
key (at least one required, many allowed) : Identifier for a master key to be used. Must be an identifier understood by the specified master key provider.
- If using
aws-kmsto decrypt, you must not specify a key.
- If using
Any additional parameters supplied are collected into lists by parameter name and passed to the master key provider class when it is instantiated. Custom master key providers must accept all arguments as prepared. See Advanced Configuration for more information.
Multiple master keys can be defined using multiple instances of the key argument.
Multiple master key providers can be defined using multiple --master-keys groups.
If multiple master key providers are defined, the first one is treated as the primary.
If multiple master keys are defined in the primary master key provider, the first one is treated as the primary. The primary master key is used to generate the data key.
The below logic is used to construct all master key providers. We use KMSMasterKeyProvider
as an example.
# With parameters:
--master-keys provider=aws-kms key=$KEY_1 key=$KEY_2
# KMSMasterKeyProvider is called as:
key_provider = KMSMasterKeyProvider()
key_provider.add_master_key($KEY_1)
key_provider.add_master_key($KEY_2)# Single KMS CMK
--master-keys provider=aws-kms key=$KEY_ARN_1
# Two KMS CMKs
--master-keys provider=aws-kms key=$KEY_ARN_1 key=$KEY_ARN_2
# KMS Alias by name in default region
--master-keys provider=aws-kms key=$ALIAS_NAME
# KMS Alias by name in two specific regions
--master-keys provider=aws-kms key=$ALIAS_NAME region=us-west-2
--master-keys provider=aws-kms key=$ALIAS_NAME region=eu-central-1If you want to use the aws-kms master key provider, you can either specify that
as the provider or simply not specify a provider and allow the default value to be used.
There are some configuration options which are unique to the aws-kms master key provider:
- profile : Providing this configuration value will use the specified named profile credentials.
- region : This allows you to specify the target region.
The logic for determining which region to use is shown in the pseudocode below:
if key ID is an ARN:
use region identified in ARN
else:
if region is specified:
use region
else if profile is specified and profile has a defined region:
use region defined in profile
else:
use system default regionIf you want to use a different master key provider, that provider must register a
setuptools entry point. You can find an example of registering this entry point in the
setup.py for this package.
When a provider name is specifed in a call to aws-encryption-cli, the appropriate entry
point for that name is used.
If multiple entry points are registered for a given name, you will need to specify the package that registered the entry point you want to use.
In order to specify the package name, use the format: PACKAGE_NAME::ENTRY_POINT.
provider=aws-kmsprovider=aws-encryption-sdk-cli::aws-kms
If you supply only an entry point name and there is only one entry point registered for that name, that entry point will be used.
If you supply only an entry point name and there is more than one entry point registered for that name, an error will be raised showing you all of the packages that have an entry point registered for that name.
If you supply both a package and an entry point name, that exact entry point will be used. If it is not accessible, an error will be raised showing you all of the packages that have an entry point registered for that name.
The entry point name use must not contain the string ::. This is used as a namespace
separator as descibed in Handling Multiple Entry Points.
When called, these entry points must return an instance of a master key provider. They must accept the parameters prepared by the CLI as described in Master Key Provider.
These entry points must be registered in the aws_encryption_sdk_cli.master_key_providers
group.
If the entry point raises a aws_encryption_sdk_cli.exceptions.BadUserArgumentError, the
CLI will present the raised error message to the user to indicate bad user input.
Data key caching is optional, but if used then the parameters noted as required must be provided. For detailed information about using data key caching with the AWS Encryption SDK, see the data key caching documentation.
Parameters may be provided using Parameter Values.
Allowed parameters:
- capacity (required) : Number of entries that the cache will hold.
- max_age (required) : Determines how long each entry can remain in the cache, beginning when it was added.
- max_messages_encrypted : Determines how long each entry can remain in the cache, beginning when it was added.
- max_bytes_encrypted : Specifies the maximum number of bytes that a cached data key can encrypt.
The -v argument allows you to tune the verbosity of the built-in logging to your desired level.
In short, the more -v arguments you supply, the more verbose the output gets.
- unset :
aws-encryption-clilogs all warnings, all dependencies only log critical messages -v:aws-encryption-cliperforms moderate logging, all dependencies only log critical messages-vv:aws-encryption-cliperforms detailed logging, all dependencies only log critical messages-vvv:aws-encryption-cliperforms detailed logging, all dependencies perform moderate logging-vvvv:aws-encryption-cliperforms detailed logging, all dependencies perform detailed logging
| python logging levels | ||
|---|---|---|
| verbosity flag | aws-encryption-cli | dependencies |
| unset | WARNING | CRITICAL |
| -v | INFO | CRITICAL |
| -vv | DEBUG | CRITICAL |
| -vvv | DEBUG | INFO |
| -vvvv | DEBUG | DEBUG |
As with any CLI where the configuration can get rather complex, you might want to use a configuration file to define some or all of your desired behavior.
Configuration files are supported using Python's native argparse file support, which allows
you to write configuration files exactly as you would enter arguments in the shell. Configuration
file references passed to aws-encryption-cli are identified by the @ prefix and the
contents are expanded as if you had included them in line. Configuration files can have any
name you desire.
Note
In PowerShell, you will need to escape the @ symbol so that it is sent to aws-encryption-cli
rather than interpreted by PowerShell.
For example, if I wanted to use a common master key configuration for all of my calls, I could
create a file master-key.conf with contents detailing my master key configuration.
master-key.conf
--master-key key=A_KEY key=ANOTHER_KEYThen, when calling aws-encryption-cli, I can specify the rest of my arguments and reference
my new configuration file, and aws-encryption-cli will use the composite configuration.
aws-encryption-cli -e -i $INPUT_FILE -o $OUTPUT_FILE @master-key.confTo extend the example, if I wanted a common caching configuration for all of my calls, I could
similarly place my caching configuration in a configuration file caching.conf in this example
and include both files in my call.
caching.conf
--caching capacity=10 max_age=60.0 max_messages_encrypted=15aws-encryption-cli -e -i $INPUT_FILE -o $OUTPUT_FILE @master-key.conf @caching.confConfiguration files can be referenced anywhere in aws-encryption-cli parameters.
aws-encryption-cli -e -i $INPUT_DIR -o $OUTPUT_DIR @master-key.conf @caching.conf --recursiveConfiguration files can have many lines, include comments using #. Escape characters are
platform-specific: \ on Linux and MacOS and ` on Windows. Configuration files may
also include references to other configuration files.
my-encrypt.config
--encrypt
@master-key.conf # Use existing master key config
@caching.conf
# Always recurse, but require interactive overwrite.
--recursive
--interactiveaws-encryption-cli @my-encrypt -i $INPUT -o $OUTPUTBy default, aws-encryption-cli will always output raw binary data and expect raw binary data
as input. However, there are some cases where you might not want this to be the case.
Sometimes this might be for convenience:
- Accepting ciphertext through stdin from a human.
- Presenting ciphertext through stdout to a human.
Sometimes it might be out of necessity:
Saving ciphertext output to a shell variable.
- Most shells apply a system encoding to any data stored in a variable. As a result, this often results in corrupted data if binary data is stored without additional encoding.
Piping ciphertext in PowerShell.
- Similar to the above, all data passed through a PowerShell pipe is encoded using the system encoding.
In order to address these scenarios, we provide two optional arguments:
--decode: Base64-decode input before processing.--encode: Base64-encode output after processing.
These can be used independently or together, on any valid input or output.
Be aware, however, that if you target multiple files either through a path expansion or by targetting a directory, the requested decoding/encoding will be applied to all files.
usage: aws-encryption-cli [-h] [--version] [-e] [-d] [-S]
[--metadata-output METADATA_OUTPUT] [--overwrite-metadata]
[-m MASTER_KEYS [MASTER_KEYS ...]]
[--caching CACHING [CACHING ...]] -i INPUT -o OUTPUT
[--encode] [--decode]
[-c ENCRYPTION_CONTEXT [ENCRYPTION_CONTEXT ...]]
[--algorithm {
AES_256_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA384_ECDSA_P384,
AES_192_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA384_ECDSA_P384,
AES_128_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA256_ECDSA_P256,
AES_256_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA256,
AES_192_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA256,
AES_128_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA256,
AES_256_GCM_IV12_TAG16,
AES_192_GCM_IV12_TAG16,
AES_128_GCM_IV12_TAG16
}]
[--frame-length FRAME_LENGTH] [--max-length MAX_LENGTH]
[--suffix [SUFFIX]] [--interactive] [--no-overwrite] [-r]
[-v] [-q]
Encrypt or decrypt data using the AWS Encryption SDK
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--version show program's version number and exit
-e, --encrypt Encrypt data
-d, --decrypt Decrypt data
-S, --suppress-metadata
Suppress metadata output.
--metadata-output METADATA_OUTPUT
File to which to write metadata records
--overwrite-metadata Force metadata output to overwrite contents of file
rather than appending to file
-m MASTER_KEYS [MASTER_KEYS ...], --master-keys MASTER_KEYS [MASTER_KEYS ...]
Identifying information for a master key provider and
master keys. Each instance must include a master key
provider identifier and identifiers for one or more
master key supplied by that provider. ex: --master-
keys provider=aws-kms key=$AWS_KMS_KEY_ARN
--caching CACHING [CACHING ...]
Configuration options for a caching cryptographic
materials manager and local cryptographic materials
cache. Must consist of "key=value" pairs. If caching,
at least "capacity" and "max_age" must be defined. ex:
--caching capacity=10 max_age=100.0
-i INPUT, --input INPUT
Input file or directory for encrypt/decrypt operation,
or "-" for stdin.
-o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
Output file or directory for encrypt/decrypt
operation, or - for stdout.
--encode Base64-encode output after processing
--decode Base64-decode input before processing
-c ENCRYPTION_CONTEXT [ENCRYPTION_CONTEXT ...], --encryption-context ENCRYPTION_CONTEXT [ENCRYPTION_CONTEXT ...]
key-value pair encryption context values (encryption
only). Must a set of "key=value" pairs. ex: -c
key1=value1 key2=value2
--algorithm {
AES_256_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA384_ECDSA_P384,
AES_192_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA384_ECDSA_P384,
AES_128_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA256_ECDSA_P256,
AES_256_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA256,
AES_192_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA256,
AES_128_GCM_IV12_TAG16_HKDF_SHA256,
AES_256_GCM_IV12_TAG16,
AES_192_GCM_IV12_TAG16,
AES_128_GCM_IV12_TAG16
}
Algorithm name (encryption only)
--frame-length FRAME_LENGTH
Frame length in bytes (encryption only)
--max-length MAX_LENGTH
Maximum frame length (for framed messages) or content
length (for non-framed messages) (decryption only)
--suffix [SUFFIX] Custom suffix to use when target filename is not
specified (empty if specified but no value provided)
--interactive Force aws-encryption-cli to prompt you for verification before
overwriting existing files
--no-overwrite Never overwrite existing files
-r, -R, --recursive Allow operation on directories as input
-v Enables logging and sets detail level. Multiple -v
options increases verbosity (max: 4).
-q, --quiet Suppresses most warning and diagnostic messages
For more usage instructions and examples, see: http://aws-encryption-sdk-cli.readthedocs.io/en/latest/