aws / aws/aws-dynamodb-encryption-java

DirectKMSMaterialProvider API Behavior/Design improvements

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#151 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
Java
Stars
141
Forks
74
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

### Problem:

The correct behavior of the DirectKMSMaterialProvider is to use the configured CMK on encrypt, and to let KMS determine the correct CMK to use on Decrypt (this is a common KMS pattern, as KMS ciphertext stores the CMK used as metadata).

However, this behavior for DirectKMSMaterialProvider is potentially confusing, as customers may expect that the CMK configured on the CMP is also "used" to decrypt, and may be surprised if decryption succeeds even though the configured CMK was not the CMK used to encrypt the data.

### Solution:

Since the original DirectKMSMaterialProvider was designed, KMS has introduced a `keyId` param on Decrypt that ensures the call fails if a different key was used to encrypt the ciphertext.

We should consider either updating or replacing the DirectKMSMaterialProvider to allow enforcing a particular key on decrypt, similar to the Strict vs. Discovery modes expressed by the AWS Encryption SDK's Keyrings and Master Key Providers.

Our new design should:
- maintain API parity between the DDBEC for Python and Java.
- be as simple as possible to reason about.
- minimize possible "modes" for behavior, and ensure that any "mode" needs to be explicitly chosen by customers on config.
- ensure that any default configuration/behavior chooses the safest/most conservative option for customers.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reviewing the DirectKMSMaterialProvider behavior described in this issue and the KMS Decrypt keyId parameter. Compare the desired API with the AWS Encryption SDK's Strict and Discovery modes, while checking parity with the DDBEC for Python. Done means a settled, explicit API design with conservative defaults and documented encrypt/decrypt behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
aws, java
Domain
cloud, cryptography, security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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