lacework-global-241
Restrict API Keys to Only APIs That Application Needs Access (Automated)
Profile Applicability
• Level 1
Description
API keys are always at risk because they can be publicly viewable, such as from within a browser, or accessible on a device where the key resides. Best practices recommend restricting API keys to use (call) only APIs required by an application.
Rationale
Security risks involved in using API-Keys are below:
- API keys are simple encrypted strings
- API keys do not identify the user or the application making the API request
- API keys are typically accessible to clients, making it easy to discover and steal an API key
In light of these potential risks, Google recommends using the standard authentication flow instead of API-Keys. However, there are limited cases where API keys are more appropriate. For example, if there is a mobile application that needs to use the Google Cloud Translation API, but doesn't otherwise need a backend server, API keys are the simplest way to authenticate to that API.
In order to reduce attack surfaces by providing least privileges
, API-Keys can be restricted to use (call) only APIs required by an application.
Impact
Setting API restrictions
may break existing application functioning, if not done carefully.
Audit
From Console:
- Go to
APIs & Services\Credentials
usinghttps://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials
- In the section
API Keys
, Click theAPI Key Name
. The API Key properties display on a new page. - For every API Key, ensure the section
Key restrictions
parameterAPI restrictions
is not set toNone
.
Or,
Ensure API restrictions
is not set to Google Cloud APIs
Google Cloud APIs
represents the API collection of all cloud services/APIs offered by Google cloud.
Remediation
From Console:
- Go to
APIs & Services\Credentials
usinghttps://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials/
. - In the section
API Keys
, Click theAPI Key Name
. The API Key properties display on a new page. - In the
Key restrictions
section go toAPI restrictions
. - Click the
Select API
drop-down to choose an API. - Click
Save
. - Repeat steps 2,3,4,5 for every unrestricted API key.
Do not set API restrictions
to Google Cloud APIs
, as this option allows access to all services offered by Google cloud.
References
https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication/api-keys
https://cloud.google.com/apis/docs/overview