# Simulated Secrets Manager Source: https://yulinsim.dev/services/secretsmanager/ Index of every page: https://yulinsim.dev/llms.txt Yulin simulates AWS Secrets Manager in memory. Secrets have encrypted versions and staging labels, and simulated IAM authorizes every operation. Secrets Manager-specific types are imported from the `@kensio/yulin/secretsmanager` subpath. ## Creating and reading a secret ```typescript sim-secrets-manager-create-and-read /** * Creating a simulated secret and reading it back. */ import { CreateSecretCommand, GetSecretValueCommand, } from "@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager"; import { SimAws } from "@kensio/yulin"; const simAws = new SimAws(); const secretsManager = simAws.secretsManager(); await secretsManager.createSecret( new CreateSecretCommand({ Name: "db-creds", SecretString: JSON.stringify({ username: "app", password: "hunter2" }), }), ); const read = await secretsManager.getSecretValue( new GetSecretValueCommand({ SecretId: "db-creds" }), ); const credentials = JSON.parse(read.SecretString ?? "{}") as { password?: string; }; console.log(credentials.password); // "hunter2" ``` `SecretString` and `SecretBinary` are mutually exclusive on write, and exactly one of them comes back on read. ## Encryption and KMS permissions Every secret version is encrypted through simulated KMS. `GetSecretValue` decrypts the version and either returns its plaintext or fails. A secret without `KmsKeyId` uses the `aws/secretsmanager` AWS managed key. Its policy permits use through Secrets Manager, so callers do not need a separate KMS permission. Pass `KmsKeyId` to use a customer managed key. Writing a version requires `kms:GenerateDataKey`, and reading it requires `kms:Decrypt`, in addition to the relevant Secrets Manager permission. ```typescript sim-secrets-manager-customer-key /** * A Role allowed to read a simulated secret but not to decrypt it. */ import { CreateRoleCommand, PutRolePolicyCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-iam"; import { CreateKeyCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-kms"; import { CreateSecretCommand, GetSecretValueCommand, } from "@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager"; import { SimAws } from "@kensio/yulin"; const simAws = new SimAws(); const accountId = simAws.defaultAccountId; const key = await simAws .kms() .createKey(new CreateKeyCommand({ Description: "Secret key" })); await simAws.secretsManager().createSecret( new CreateSecretCommand({ Name: "db-credentials", SecretString: "hunter2", KmsKeyId: key.KeyMetadata?.Arn, }), ); const role = await simAws.iam().createRole( new CreateRoleCommand({ RoleName: "SecretReader", AssumeRolePolicyDocument: JSON.stringify({ Version: "2012-10-17", Statement: { Effect: "Allow", Principal: { AWS: `arn:aws:iam::${accountId}:root` }, Action: "sts:AssumeRole", }, }), }), ); // The secret is allowed, the key is not. await simAws.iam().putRolePolicy( new PutRolePolicyCommand({ RoleName: "SecretReader", PolicyName: "ReadDbCredentials", PolicyDocument: JSON.stringify({ Version: "2012-10-17", Statement: { Effect: "Allow", Action: "secretsmanager:GetSecretValue", Resource: "*", }, }), }), ); const caller = { kind: "arn", arn: role.Role.Arn } as const; try { await simAws .secretsManager() .getSecretValue(new GetSecretValueCommand({ SecretId: "db-credentials" }), { caller, }); } catch (error) { console.log((error as Error).name); // "AccessDenied" } ``` Each version is bound to its own secret ARN and version id as the KMS encryption context, as real Secrets Manager binds them. A `KmsKeyId` naming a key that is absent, disabled, or pending deletion fails with `EncryptionFailure` when a value is written under it, and a version whose key has since become unusable fails with `DecryptionFailure` when it is read. Changing `KmsKeyId` applies to versions written afterwards. The versions already written keep the key they were made with and stay readable, as they do on real AWS. ## Secret ARNs and IAM policies Secret ARNs end with a hyphen and six random characters. A secret named `db-creds`, for example, gets an ARN ending in `:secret:db-creds-AbCdEf`. An IAM resource pattern for the secret must include that suffix, such as `-??????` or `-*`. ```typescript sim-secrets-manager-iam-policy /** * A simulated IAM policy allowing for the random suffix on a secret ARN. */ import { CreateRoleCommand, PutRolePolicyCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-iam"; import { CreateSecretCommand, GetSecretValueCommand, } from "@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager"; import { SimAws } from "@kensio/yulin"; const simAws = new SimAws(); const accountId = simAws.defaultAccountId; const regionName = simAws.defaultRegionName; const role = await simAws.iam().createRole( new CreateRoleCommand({ RoleName: "SecretReader", AssumeRolePolicyDocument: JSON.stringify({ Version: "2012-10-17", Statement: { Effect: "Allow", Principal: { AWS: `arn:aws:iam::${accountId}:root` }, Action: "sts:AssumeRole", }, }), }), ); await simAws.iam().putRolePolicy( new PutRolePolicyCommand({ RoleName: "SecretReader", PolicyName: "ReadDbCreds", PolicyDocument: JSON.stringify({ Version: "2012-10-17", Statement: { Effect: "Allow", Action: "secretsmanager:GetSecretValue", // Without the six wildcard characters this policy would match nothing. Resource: `arn:aws:secretsmanager:${regionName}:${accountId}:secret:db-creds-??????`, }, }), }), ); await simAws .secretsManager() .createSecret( new CreateSecretCommand({ Name: "db-creds", SecretString: "hunter2" }), ); const read = await simAws .secretsManager() .getSecretValue(new GetSecretValueCommand({ SecretId: "db-creds" }), { caller: { kind: "arn", arn: role.Role.Arn }, }); console.log(read.SecretString); // "hunter2" ``` `ListSecrets` is the exception. Real Secrets Manager gives it no resource-level permissions, and a policy allowing it has to use a resource of `*`. A policy naming individual secret ARNs grants nothing, here as there. ## Naming a secret `SecretId` accepts the friendly name, the full ARN with its random suffix, or the partial ARN without the suffix. An ARN naming another account or region resolves to no secret at all. Its name is never read out and looked up locally, and a foreign ARN cannot reach a secret that happens to share a name. ## Versions and staging labels Every write creates a version. `AWSCURRENT` marks the version returned by a plain read. Writing a new current version moves `AWSPREVIOUS` to the former current version. ```typescript sim-secrets-manager-staging-labels /** * Staging labels moving as a simulated secret is rotated by hand. */ import { CreateSecretCommand, GetSecretValueCommand, PutSecretValueCommand, } from "@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager"; import { SimAws } from "@kensio/yulin"; const simAws = new SimAws(); const secretsManager = simAws.secretsManager(); await secretsManager.createSecret( new CreateSecretCommand({ Name: "api-key", SecretString: "old-key" }), ); await secretsManager.putSecretValue( new PutSecretValueCommand({ SecretId: "api-key", SecretString: "new-key" }), ); const current = await secretsManager.getSecretValue( new GetSecretValueCommand({ SecretId: "api-key" }), ); const previous = await secretsManager.getSecretValue( new GetSecretValueCommand({ SecretId: "api-key", VersionStage: "AWSPREVIOUS", }), ); console.log(current.SecretString); // "new-key" console.log(previous.SecretString); // "old-key" ``` A `ClientRequestToken` becomes the version id, as it does on real AWS. Repeating a write with the same token and the same value is ignored, so a retry is safe. The same token with a different value is refused, because a version's value never changes once written. `DescribeSecret` reports `VersionIdsToStages`. That lists only the versions still carrying a staging label. A version that has lost every label is on its way out of existence, and is left out. ## Deletion and the recovery window `DeleteSecret` schedules deletion after a recovery window of 7 to 30 days, defaulting to 30. During that window the secret can be described or restored, but it cannot be read or changed. Its name also remains reserved. Advance simulated time past the window to complete deletion. ```typescript sim-secrets-manager-deletion /** * A simulated secret holding its name until the recovery window elapses. */ import { CreateSecretCommand, DeleteSecretCommand, } from "@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager"; import { SimAws } from "@kensio/yulin"; import { SimSecretsManagerInvalidRequestException } from "@kensio/yulin/secretsmanager"; const simAws = new SimAws(); const secretsManager = simAws.secretsManager(); await secretsManager.createSecret( new CreateSecretCommand({ Name: "db-creds", SecretString: "hunter2" }), ); await secretsManager.deleteSecret( new DeleteSecretCommand({ SecretId: "db-creds", RecoveryWindowInDays: 7 }), ); try { await secretsManager.createSecret( new CreateSecretCommand({ Name: "db-creds", SecretString: "hunter2" }), ); } catch (error) { // The name is still taken by the secret waiting out its window. console.log(error instanceof SimSecretsManagerInvalidRequestException); // true } await simAws.clock().advanceBy({ days: 8 }); // Now the secret is gone and the name is free again. const recreated = await secretsManager.createSecret( new CreateSecretCommand({ Name: "db-creds", SecretString: "hunter2" }), ); console.log(recreated.Name); // "db-creds" ``` `ForceDeleteWithoutRecovery` deletes at once and frees the name straight away. Asking for it alongside `RecoveryWindowInDays` is a contradiction, and is refused. See [simulated time](https://yulinsim.dev/time/ "Simulated time docs") for what else the clock can do. ## Scoping Secrets belong to an account and a region, as they do on real AWS. A secret name is unique within one account and region and nowhere wider. The same name can be used in two regions for two different secrets. ```typescript sim-secrets-manager-scoping /** * Simulated secrets are scoped to an account and region. */ import { CreateSecretCommand, GetSecretValueCommand, } from "@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager"; import { SimAws } from "@kensio/yulin"; import { SimSecretsManagerResourceNotFoundException } from "@kensio/yulin/secretsmanager"; const simAws = new SimAws(); await simAws .account("222222222222") .region("eu-west-2") .secretsManager() .createSecret( new CreateSecretCommand({ Name: "db-creds", SecretString: "hunter2" }), ); try { await simAws .account("222222222222") .region("us-east-1") .secretsManager() .getSecretValue(new GetSecretValueCommand({ SecretId: "db-creds" })); } catch (error) { console.log(error instanceof SimSecretsManagerResourceNotFoundException); // true } ``` ## Deploying a secret from CloudFormation Simulated CloudFormation creates a secret from an `AWS::SecretsManager::Secret` resource, in the stack's account and region. A template either supplies the value with `SecretString` or asks Secrets Manager to generate one with `GenerateSecretString`, as on real AWS. Declaring both is refused, as CloudFormation refuses it. `Ref` on the resource gives the full secret ARN, random suffix and all, and `Fn::GetAtt … Id` gives the same. A `Ref` is therefore usable directly as a `SecretId`, whether it goes into a Lambda's environment or into an IAM policy resource. ```typescript sim-secrets-manager-cloudformation-secret /** * Deploying a secret from a CloudFormation template and reading back the * password the deployment generated. */ import { GetSecretValueCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager"; import { SimAws } from "@kensio/yulin"; const simAws = new SimAws(); const stack = await simAws.cloudFormation().deployTemplate({ stackName: "database-stack", template: { Resources: { DbSecret: { Type: "AWS::SecretsManager::Secret", Properties: { Name: "db-credentials", Description: "Credentials for the application database", GenerateSecretString: { SecretStringTemplate: JSON.stringify({ username: "app" }), GenerateStringKey: "password", PasswordLength: 24, ExcludePunctuation: true, }, }, }, }, Outputs: { DbSecretArn: { Value: { Ref: "DbSecret" }, }, }, }, }); await stack.waitForDeployComplete(); // Ref resolves to the ARN including its suffix, so it works as a SecretId. const secretArn = stack.output("DbSecretArn"); const read = await simAws .secretsManager() .getSecretValue(new GetSecretValueCommand({ SecretId: secretArn })); const credentials = JSON.parse(read.SecretString ?? "{}") as { username?: string; password?: string; }; console.log(credentials.username); // "app" console.log(credentials.password?.length); // 24 ``` Generated passwords are random. Read the deployed value through Secrets Manager instead of asserting on an exact password. ## Updating a deployed secret `Name` is the only property real CloudFormation replaces a secret for. A stack update that changes anything else applies it to the deployed secret, which keeps its ARN and its versions. A change to the description, the tags or the KMS key leaves the value alone. That is what carries a generated password across an update, and it keeps a resource that read the secret as the stack deployed, such as a CloudFront origin custom header, holding the value the secret still has. A new version is written when the template asks for a different value, which is a changed `SecretString` or a changed `GenerateSecretString`. A changed `GenerateSecretString` generates a new password, as real CloudFormation writes a new version for one. **A resource that resolved the old value keeps it.** Its own template entry is unchanged, so the update leaves it alone, and it goes on holding what it read at deploy time. A consumer that has to follow the value must read the secret when it runs, the way a Lambda function given the secret's ARN does, rather than take a copy through a `{{resolve:secretsmanager:...}}` reference. The template is the desired state. A property the new template leaves out is cleared. A dropped `Description` is emptied, and a dropped `KmsKeyId` puts the secret back on the `aws/secretsmanager` key. Versions already written keep the key they were made with and stay readable. Changing the `Name` replaces the secret. The new one is created under the new name and the old one is scheduled for deletion, waiting out its recovery window. A secret is also replaced when a resource it names is replaced, because the update deletes and recreates that resource and the secret would otherwise be applied against the one on its way out. That replacement then fails, since the name is held for the recovery window. Real CloudFormation updates the secret in place and hands it the new physical name. Nothing is applied to the deployed secret before the failure. ## Reading a secret with a dynamic reference A `{{resolve:secretsmanager:...}}` dynamic reference reads an existing secret while CloudFormation creates the resource containing the reference. CDK emits this form for `SecretValue.secretsManager`. The whole form is `{{resolve:secretsmanager:secret-id:secret-string:json-key:version-stage:version-id}}`. Only the secret id is required, and it takes a friendly name, a full ARN or a partial ARN. Every segment after it can be left empty, so `{{resolve:secretsmanager:db-credentials::::}}` reads what `{{resolve:secretsmanager:db-credentials}}` reads. - `secret-string` accepts `SecretString` and refuses anything else. (AWS documents the segment as the field to read, and `SecretString` is the only field a dynamic reference has ever read.) - `json-key` names one key of a secret holding a JSON object. Omitting it reads the whole secret string. - `version-stage` and `version-id` select a version, defaulting to `AWSCURRENT`. A reference carries one or the other, and giving both is refused. ```typescript sim-secrets-manager-dynamic-reference /** * A CloudFormation template reading a secret into a Lambda function's * environment. */ import { InvokeCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-lambda"; import { CreateSecretCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager"; import { SimAws } from "@kensio/yulin"; const simAws = new SimAws(); await simAws.secretsManager().createSecret( new CreateSecretCommand({ Name: "db-credentials", SecretString: JSON.stringify({ username: "app", password: "hunter2" }), }), ); const stack = await simAws.cloudFormation().deployTemplate({ stackName: "api-stack", template: { Resources: { ApiRole: { Type: "AWS::IAM::Role", Properties: { RoleName: "ApiRole", AssumeRolePolicyDocument: { Version: "2012-10-17", Statement: [ { Effect: "Allow", Principal: { Service: "lambda.amazonaws.com" }, Action: "sts:AssumeRole", }, ], }, }, }, ApiFunction: { Type: "AWS::Lambda::Function", Properties: { FunctionName: "api", Role: { "Fn::GetAtt": ["ApiRole", "Arn"] }, Handler: "index.handler", Runtime: "nodejs20.x", Environment: { Variables: { DB_USERNAME: "{{resolve:secretsmanager:db-credentials:SecretString:username}}", DB_PASSWORD: "{{resolve:secretsmanager:db-credentials:SecretString:password}}", }, }, Code: { ZipFile: "exports.handler = async () => process.env.DB_USERNAME;", }, }, }, }, }, }); await stack.waitForDeployComplete(); // The function was created holding the values the references resolved to. const output = await simAws .lambda() .invoke(new InvokeCommand({ FunctionName: "api" })); const username = JSON.parse( Buffer.from(output.Payload ?? []).toString(), ) as string; console.log(username); // "app" await simAws.backgroundTasksComplete(); ``` A reference can sit inside a longer string, where only the reference itself is replaced. One written inside `Fn::Sub` is read after the variables around it are substituted. A full ARN naming another account is read from that account's simulated Secrets Manager, as real CloudFormation reads it. A friendly name and a partial ARN both name a secret in the stack's own account and region. The value is decrypted through simulated KMS on the way out, the same as `GetSecretValue` decrypts it. A secret under a customer managed key that the simulation cannot decrypt resolves to a stand-in value. Real CloudFormation makes no dependency out of a dynamic reference, and neither does this. A secret another resource of the same stack creates is only there in time when the template says `DependsOn`. Resource properties are reported as they resolved, including this one. Real CloudFormation keeps a resolved secret out of its own logs and events, and sim CloudFormation has no such protection. ### Unresolved references If Yulin cannot resolve a reference, it substitutes `dummy-value-for-` and continues the deployment. The substitution is recorded on [`stack.ignoredProperties`](https://yulinsim.dev/services/cloudformation/#properties-a-resource-was-created-without), naming the property that held the reference and why the value is a stand-in. A `json-key` the secret has no value for, a version stage no version carries, a `secret-string` segment other than `SecretString`, and a reference naming both a version stage and a version id are all recorded the same way. `SecretStringTemplate` and `GenerateStringKey` go together. The generated password is added to the template's JSON object under that key. Without them, the whole secret value is the generated password. That is what an empty `GenerateSecretString: {}` produces, and it is the property CDK synthesises for a `secretsmanager.Secret` with no options. The other generation options behave as they do on real AWS, being `PasswordLength` (32 by default), `ExcludeCharacters`, `ExcludeUppercase`, `ExcludeLowercase`, `ExcludeNumbers`, `ExcludePunctuation`, `IncludeSpace`, and `RequireEachIncludedType`. The last is on unless turned off, and a generated password carries one of every character type it was not told to exclude. A secret with no `Name` is named from the stack name, the logical ID and a tail derived from both. An `ApiSecret` in `db-stack` becomes `db-stack-ApiSecret-` and twelve more characters, where real CloudFormation ends the name in twelve random ones. Simulated Secrets Manager then appends its own six characters to the ARN, as it does for a secret named by hand. The name is trimmed to the 512 characters a secret name allows, and [the CloudFormation docs](https://yulinsim.dev/services/cloudformation/#names-cloudformation-generates "Names CloudFormation generates") cover how the stack name and the logical ID share what is left. ## Inside a simulated Lambda handler Function code requiring `@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager` is routed into the same simulated AWS environment, with the function's execution role as the caller. A handler fetching a secret therefore has to be allowed to, by that role's policy, the same as on real AWS. See [simulated Lambda](https://yulinsim.dev/services/lambda/ "Simulated Lambda docs") for how function code and execution roles work. The same applies to `SimSdk` interception. Intercepting `SecretsManagerClient` routes ordinary SDK code into the simulation, served in process. See [AWS SDK interception](https://yulinsim.dev/sdk/ "Simulated AWS SDK docs"). ## Supported operations - `CreateSecretCommand`, holding either a string or binary - `GetSecretValueCommand`, by staging label or by version id - `PutSecretValueCommand` and `UpdateSecretCommand`, each writing a new version - `DescribeSecretCommand` and `ListSecretsCommand` - `DeleteSecretCommand`, with a recovery window, and `RestoreSecretCommand` - `AWSCURRENT` and `AWSPREVIOUS` staging labels, and custom labels - Secret ARNs carrying the six random characters real Secrets Manager appends - Friendly names, full ARNs and partial ARNs as interchangeable ways to name a secret - Authorization of every operation by simulated IAM, against the real IAM action - Encryption of every version through simulated KMS, under `KmsKeyId` or the `aws/secretsmanager` managed key - Calls made from inside a simulated Lambda handler, authorized as the function's execution role - The `AWS::SecretsManager::Secret` CloudFormation resource, including `GenerateSecretString` - `{{resolve:secretsmanager:...}}` dynamic references in CloudFormation resource properties, by JSON key, by staging label and by version id - A dynamic reference carrying a full ARN reading the account that ARN names ## Limitations - A `KmsKeyId` is checked when a version is written under it, not when it is set on its own. An `UpdateSecret` changing only the key accepts a key that is absent, and the next write of a value fails. - A secret name ending in a hyphen and six alphanumeric characters is refused. That is stricter than AWS, which only advises against such names, because they cannot be told apart from an ARN's resource part when a partial ARN is resolved. This rules out ordinary-looking names such as `app-secret` and `prod-config`, since `secret` and `config` are six characters. Name them `app-credentials` or `prod-settings` instead. - `RotateSecret`, `CancelRotateSecret` and the rotation Lambda protocol are left out. `DescribeSecret` always reports `RotationEnabled` as `false`. - `AWS::SecretsManager::Secret` supports `Name`, `Description`, `KmsKeyId`, `SecretString`, `GenerateSecretString` and `Tags`. `ReplicaRegions` is ignored. The other resource types (`SecretTargetAttachment`, `RotationSchedule` and `ResourcePolicy`) are reported as unsupported and skipped. - A template declaring neither `SecretString` nor `GenerateSecretString` is refused, which is stricter than real CloudFormation. Real CloudFormation creates an empty secret in that case, and a secret with no version is outside this simulation. - `ExcludeCharacters` that removes every character of an included type is refused. Generating a password missing a type it was told to include would be worse. - A `{{resolve:secretsmanager:...}}` dynamic reference resolves to a marker while the rest of the resource's properties resolve around it, and the value replaces the marker once Secrets Manager has answered. An intrinsic function reading the string in between, such as an `Fn::Split` over a reference, sees the marker. - Resource policies (`PutResourcePolicy`, `GetResourcePolicy`, `DeleteResourcePolicy`, `ValidateResourcePolicy`) are left out, and cross-account access to a secret cannot be granted. - Replica regions are left out. `AddReplicaRegions`, `ReplicateSecretToRegions` and `RemoveRegionsFromReplication` do nothing, and `ReplicationStatus` goes unreported. - `BatchGetSecretValue` is absent, as is the Parameters and Secrets Lambda Extension HTTP endpoint. - `ListSecrets` refuses `Filters`, `SortOrder` and `SortBy` outright, since quietly returning an unfiltered or differently ordered list would be worse. Secrets are listed in creation order, with `MaxResults` and `NextToken` paging over them. A `NextToken` this simulation did not issue, including one whose offset is past the end of the list, is refused rather than answered with an empty page. - Tags are stored and reported by `DescribeSecret` and `ListSecrets`, but `TagResource` and `UntagResource` are absent, and the `secretsmanager:ResourceTag` and `aws:ResourceTag` condition keys are left underived. A stack update applies the tags its template declares to the deployed secret, since there is no command to ask for it with. - A stack update authorizes the whole change as `secretsmanager:UpdateSecret`. Real CloudFormation needs `secretsmanager:TagResource` as well for a change to the tags. - Other Secrets Manager condition keys, such as `secretsmanager:SecretId` and `secretsmanager:VersionStage`, are left underived too, and a policy relying on them fails to match. Ordinary condition operators on values sim IAM does supply work as usual. - A version that loses every staging label is kept indefinitely and stays readable by version id, where real Secrets Manager removes it after about a day. It is left out of `VersionIdsToStages` either way. - `LastAccessedDate`, `LastRotatedDate`, `NextRotationDate`, `OwningService` and `PrimaryRegion` go unreported. - Secret values live in process memory for the lifetime of the `SimAws` instance. Anything sharing the process can reach them. - Secrets Manager is not served as an HTTP API by `serveSimAws`.