Boundary 0.21 enhances RDP security and user experience.

Announcing HashiCorp Boundary 0.21: Enhanced Security with RDP Credential Injection

Today marks an exciting development for organizations seeking to bolster their cybersecurity measures, as HashiCorp has officially launched Boundary 0.21. This latest release introduces the general availability of Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) credential injection alongside enhancements to the Boundary Desktop client. These advancements aim to elevate security protocols while simplifying the user experience for end-users accessing remote infrastructure.

Understanding HashiCorp Boundary

HashiCorp Boundary is designed to address the complexities faced by organizations that rely on conventional tools like Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and bastion hosts for remote access to private networks. Once inside the network, users can reach various infrastructure resources, including Linux and Windows hosts, databases, web applications, and Kubernetes clusters. The challenge lies in managing credentials and enforcing least privilege access in ever-changing environments, which often necessitates additional tools and increases complexity. HashiCorp Boundary was developed to tackle these security challenges without adding to management complexity or hindering user experience.

Boundary functions as an identity-based secure remote access platform, facilitating a more secure and simplified remote access process compared to traditional methods. It centrally manages credential retrieval and injects them into sessions, offering a seamless passwordless experience. This approach assists organizations in meeting compliance standards like ISO and SOC 2 by enhancing their security posture with least-privilege access and detailed user activity logging, including SSH session recordings.

RDP Credential Injection: A Game-Changer

Background

A recent report by Verizon highlights that 88% of attacks targeting web applications involve compromised credentials, with stolen credentials contributing to roughly one-third of breaches over the past decade. For organizations heavily reliant on Windows systems, the manual handling of credentials poses a significant security risk. VPNs and jump boxes typically do not provide the necessary capabilities to safeguard credentials for numerous network resources.

Initially, HashiCorp Boundary revolutionized Linux access security with SSH credential injection, which eliminated unnecessary exposure to SSH credentials and provided a passwordless user experience. Windows users, having observed the effectiveness and efficiency of this workflow, expressed a desire for a similar secure access experience for RDP connections.

What’s New

Following its introduction as a public beta in the prior Boundary 0.20 release, the RDP credential injection feature is now generally available. This enhancement extends Boundary’s secure, passwordless access capabilities to Windows Server environments, significantly reducing the risk of credential exposure for RDP connections while retaining the user-friendly experience that made SSH credential injection so popular.

This release represents a major advancement in securing Windows infrastructure. Let’s delve into the challenges it addresses and the workings of this feature.

The Windows Credential Challenge

Organizations with extensive Windows infrastructure often grapple with persistent security challenges. Traditional RDP workflows require users to manually handle credentials, leading to poor security practices such as:

• Copying passwords from password managers
• Typing usernames and domains
• Storing credentials in insecure locations

  These practices introduce multiple vulnerabilities:

  1. Copied and pasted RDP credentials are temporarily stored in clipboard memory, where they can be intercepted by malware, keyloggers, or screen scrapers, potentially resulting in credential theft and unauthorized access.
  2. Credentials are often shared among users or embedded in code, scripts, or repositories, increasing their exposure to unauthorized parties.
  3. Many Windows environments rely on long-lived, shared service accounts that are difficult to rotate, making them attractive targets for attackers and a compliance headache for security teams.
  4. The previous workflow for RDP credentials in Boundary required users to manage authentication, retrieve brokered credentials, and manually enter them into RDP clients.
     

     Seamless Windows Access Without Credential Exposure
     

     RDP credential injection in Boundary revolutionizes Windows access by eliminating the need for users to interact with credentials. Here’s how it works:

  5. Identity-Based Authentication: Users authenticate to Boundary once using their existing identity provider, such as Okta, Azure Entra ID, or IBM Verify Identity, or through Boundary’s built-in authentication methods.
  6. Automatic Credential Injection: When users connect to Windows targets, Boundary workers automatically inject the necessary credentials into the RDP authentication process. Users never see usernames, passwords, or domain information.
  7. Protocol-Aware Proxying: Boundary has a deep understanding of the RDP protocol, intercepting authentication flows and seamlessly injecting credentials using enterprise-grade security protocols like Kerberos and NTLMv2.
     

     Enhanced User Experience for RDP
     

     The RDP credential injection feature operates behind the scenes, ensuring a transparent experience for users. They can connect to RDP targets using various methods, including their existing RDP client. The newly enhanced Boundary Desktop client further simplifies the process by automatically launching RDP clients from within, creating an intuitive workflow.

     Once authenticated to the Boundary Desktop client, available for macOS and Windows, users can connect to RDP targets by simply clicking the "Open" button. This action automatically launches the RDP client (Windows App on macOS or Microsoft Remote Desktop on Windows) with the appropriate IP address and port number. If RDP injection is enabled, login credentials are seamlessly managed on the user’s behalf. This streamlined workflow allows users to connect using familiar client tools without the hassle or security risks associated with manual credential handling.

     Getting Started with RDP Credential Injection
     

     The RDP credential injection feature is now generally available in Boundary Enterprise and HCP Boundary as part of the 0.21 release. It requires no changes to existing Windows infrastructure and works seamlessly with current RDP clients in supported configurations. To begin using this feature:

  8. Upgrade Your Boundary Cluster to 0.21: Download the latest release or upgrade your HCP Boundary cluster.
  9. Review Supported Configurations: Ensure your Windows targets and RDP clients match the tested configurations outlined in the documentation.
  10. Configure RDP Targets: Create RDP target resources in your Boundary configuration, specifying the Windows servers you want to protect.
  11. Set Up Credential Sources: Configure static credentials in Boundary.
  12. Test the Workflow: Install the latest Boundary Desktop client on your local machine, authenticate to Boundary, and connect to your Windows targets using supported RDP client tools.

      For more information on RDP credential injection:

• Explore the Credential Injection Documentation.
• Try it with a free HCP Boundary account.
• Join the community forum or provide feedback.

  In conclusion, the release of HashiCorp Boundary 0.21 represents a significant step forward in enhancing remote access security for organizations with Windows infrastructure. By addressing long-standing credential management challenges and offering a seamless user experience, this update empowers organizations to protect their resources more effectively and maintain robust security practices.

For more Information, Refer to this article.