hashicorp / hashicorp/vault

Reload tls_client_ca_file on SIGHUP

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Dominant language
Go
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Description

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Bootstrapping vault.

  • Start vault with temporary dummy certificates.
  • Generate real certificates with vault.
  • Replace temporary certificates at the same path.
  • Reload.

Describe the solution you'd like
Reload the file at tls_client_ca_file like tls_cert_file and tls_key_file.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Full restart + unseal

Additional context
For tls_cert_file/tls_key_file there's some conflicting docs:
"SIGHUP will not reload your TLS configuration."
"On SIGHUP, the path set here at Vault startup will be used for reloading the certificate"

From a robot:

     Empirically confirmed, with a double dissociation:

     1. Baseline: real PKI client cert → 200.
     2. Replaced only the on-disk tls_client_ca_file with a rogue CA (verified on disk), sent SIGHUP — Vault logged Vault reload triggered.
     3. Real PKI cert (trusted only by the in-memory CA now) → still 200. If the file had been reloaded, this must fail.
     4. Rogue cert (trusted only by the on-disk file) → rejected, server logged failed to verify certificate. If the file had been reloaded, this must succeed.
     5. Restored the real CA, reloaded, 200 again.

     So SIGHUP reloads the server cert/key but not tls_client_ca_file

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Search the Go code for SIGHUP handling and the tls_client_ca_file setting, then compare that reload path with tls_cert_file and tls_key_file. Reproduce the reported certificate swap and verify that SIGHUP causes the client CA file to be reread, while preserving the documented certificate reload behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
go
Domain
security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
68/100

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