Key Vault Is Not Recoverable

Overview

The Key Vault contains object keys, secrets, and certificates. Accidental unavailability of a Key Vault can cause immediate data loss or loss of security functions (authentication, validation, verification, non-repudiation, etc.) supported by the Key Vault objects.

It is recommended the Key Vault be made recoverable by enabling the "Do Not Purge" and "Soft Delete" functions. This is in order to prevent loss of encrypted data, including storage accounts, SQL databases, and/or dependent services provided by Key Vault objects (Keys, Secrets, Certificates) etc. This may happen in the case of accidental deletion by a user or from disruptive activity by a malicious user.

WARNING: A current limitation of the soft-delete feature across all Azure services is role assignments disappearing when Key Vault is deleted. All role assignments will need to be recreated after recovery.

Once purge-protection and soft-delete are enabled for a Key Vault, the action is irreversible.

Vendor

Azure

Cloud Service

KeyVault

Related Controls

CIS Azure v2.0.0 8.5

References

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/key-vault/key-vault-soft-delete-cli, https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/kv/2017/05/10/azure-key-vault-recovery-options/, https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security/benchmark/azure/security-controls-v3-governance-strategy#gs-8-define-and-implement-backup-and-recovery-strategy, https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security/benchmark/azure/security-controls-v3-data-protection#dp-8-ensure-security-of-key-and-certificate-repository

Severity

4

Item Types

Microsoft.KeyVault.vaults