step CLI, A Root, A Leaf, A Chain Verified And One Refused
step on EL 10 from the GitHub release; get_url refuses it unless its SHA-256 is in the vendor's checksums file, and the live test re-checks it, then creates a root CA and a leaf offline, verifies the chain against the right root, sees it refused against another, and inspects the leaf as JSON. The client half of the step-ca role. Pinned. Original role, live-tested on Rocky Linux 10.
Verification
Live-testedReally deployed to a container sandbox, proven idempotent (a second run changes nothing), verified against the role’s assertions, then torn down.
Conformance
- Static validation (yamllint · ansible-lint)
Provenance
- SHA-256 checksum
- Signature (pending)
Functional
- Live-tested - applied, verified, destroyed
Last verified 2026-09-21 · podman 4.9.3 · ansible 2.21.4 · how we verify
Documentation
step
Smallstep step on EL 10 from the vendor's release, checked against the
published SHA-256, pinned to a version, installed as root's binary
in /usr/local/bin. Original role for EL 10, live-tested with podman on
Rocky Linux 10.
No package worth the name. EL 10 carries no step, and a
third-party repository is one more key to trust. This role takes the
release from smallstep.com/cli, has Ansible's get_url refuse the asset unless
its SHA-256 is the published one, and the live test checks the asset on
disk against the same published value again.
Pinned. step_version is what gets installed, kept in a directory
of its own so the checksum file and the asset it names stay together. A
newer release is a variable change and a run; the same version is
changed=0.
Proven to run. The live test runs step certificate verify /tmp/step-p/leaf.crt --roots /tmp/step-p/other.crt and expects
"certificate signed by unknown authority" - the binary ran all the way to the point where it
needed something this host does not have.
A root, a leaf, a chain verified and one refused. The live test
has step certificate create make a root CA and a leaf for probe.test
(offline, no CA server), verifies the leaf against that root (rc 0) and
against an unrelated root ("certificate signed by unknown authority", rc
1), and inspects the leaf as JSON expecting the subject and issuer common
names it asked for - which step returns as lists. This is the client half
of the step-ca role in this catalogue; the two can be installed
together or apart.
License
Commercial - IaC Bazaar EULA. (c) IaC Bazaar.
Usage code & full reference need an account
The complete copy-paste usage, the full input/output reference, and operational notes are free with an account - shown here and bundled in the download. Sign in and this section fills in.
- Variables
- Test
Related modules
vault-kv-engine
KV v1 overwrites in place, so a bad write is the end of the previous secret; cas_required defaults to false, so two writers that read the same version both succeed and the second silently replaces the first; and version history is unbounded by default. v2 always, check-and-set on (off by name), versions bounded by count and age, the mount's lease ceilings set rather than inherited.
vault-pki-certificate-authority
Issuing from the root puts every leaf one signature from the root's compromise; a PKI role's defaults issue nothing until somebody reaches for allow_any_name, which issues for every hostname; and without AIA and CRL URLs a leaf is valid and unverifiable. A root that signs one intermediate, roles bound to allowed_domains, 30-day leaves under a 90-day ceiling, URLs on both mounts.
vault-approle
A secret ID with no TTL and no use limit is a password, and both default to unlimited; a role with no bound CIDRs logs in from anywhere; and a role with no max TTL mints tokens that renew forever. Secret IDs that live an hour and are used once, roles bound to the ranges they run from with unbound accepted by name, and token ceilings set.
ansible-cfssl
cfssl and cfssljson on EL 10 from the GitHub release, each refused by Ansible's get_url unless its SHA-256 is the one in the vendor's checksums file, and re-checked by the live test, which mints a root CA from a CSR, writes it as PEM through cfssljson and reads the subject back with certinfo. Pinned; a newer release is a variable change. Original role, live-tested on Rocky Linux 10.
vault-database-secrets
The credential Vault connects with is still a password somebody knows until Vault rotates it; a role with no max TTL issues credentials that renew forever; and creation statements are the privilege, so a careless one is a superuser factory. Root rotation daily, TTLs per role, statements that grant exactly the PostgreSQL role you name, and the connection verified at apply.
vault-oidc-auth
An OIDC role with no bound claims admits every user of the identity provider; a role with no bound audience accepts tokens minted for other services; and the client secret lands in state. Bound claims expected with none accepted by name, an audience required, callbacks listed rather than assumed, token ceilings set, and the write-only secret path named for Terraform 1.11+.