About Ansible Vault
Ansible is an open-source IT automation tool developed by Red Hat. It automates various IT tasks, such as configuration management, application deployment, orchestration, and task automation. Ansible Vault is a feature of Ansible that enables you to encrypt sensitive data, such as passwords or keys, in encrypted files instead of plaintext.Ansible Vault key features
- Encrypt entire files (YAML, vars, inventories)
- Encrypt individual variables using encrypt_string
- Support for multiple vault IDs/keys (e.g., dev vs prod)
- Secure file operations: edit, view, rekey
- CLI automation support (—vault-password-file)
- Avoids leaving decrypted data on disk (when used carefully)
- AES256 encryption by default
- Fully integrated with Ansible playbooks/workflows
Using HSMs to protect Ansible private keys
Ansible Vault can work with private keys stored on HSMs, which helps to prevent the disclosure of the keys and enables the secure usage of private keys to perform various functions. With this integration, you can securely reference your private key stored in an HSM to perform automated encryption and decryption tasks using Ansible Playbooks with the Futurex PKCS #11 library, pkcs11-provider by Latchset, and OpenSSL.Guardian integration
The Guardian Series 3 introduces mission-critical viability to core cryptographic infrastructure, including:- Centralization of device management
- Elimination of points of failure
- Distribution of transaction loads
- Group-specific function blocking
- User-defined grouping systems