Dynamic Role-Based Access Control with Keycloak

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To set up dynamic role-based access control (RBAC) using Keycloak, you would begin by defining realms, roles, users, and clients (applications) within Keycloak. You would then assign roles to users or clients and use Keycloak's policies to enforce role-based access to your applications.

Below is a Pulumi program written in Python to demonstrate how you could use Keycloak to achieve dynamic RBAC. In this example, we'll set up the following:

1. Create a Keycloak Realm: Realms are used to manage a set of users, credentials, roles, and groups. A user belongs to and logs into a realm.
2. Define Keycloak Roles: Roles identify a type or category of user — admin, user, manager, etc.
3. Create a Keycloak Client: Clients are entities that can request Keycloak to authenticate a user. In this context, it means an application that wants to use the services of Keycloak.
4. Create a Keycloak User: We'll create a user and assign roles to it.
5. Bind roles to the user: We'll demonstrate how to link the defined roles to a specific user.

Let's see the code:

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_keycloak as keycloak

# Create a new Keycloak realm
# Realms in Keycloak represent a single security domain and manage a set of users, credentials, roles, and groups.
my_realm = keycloak.Realm("myRealm",
    realm="my-realm",
    enabled=True, 
    # You can customize the Realm settings according to your security requirements
    remember_me=True,
    verify_email=False,
    reset_password_allowed=True,
    edit_username_allowed=True
    # For full properties and explanation visit:
    # https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/keycloak/api-docs/realm/
)

# Define a Keycloak role
# Roles are a mechanism for assigning permissions to users or groups within a realm.
admin_role = keycloak.Role("adminRole",
    realm_id=my_realm.id,
    name="admin",
    # You can add attributes or define if the role is composite (i.e., includes other roles)
    description="Administrator role with full access"
    # For full properties and explanation visit:
    # https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/keycloak/api-docs/role/
)

# Create a Keycloak client
# Clients are entities that can request Keycloak to authenticate a user, such as an application.
my_client = keycloak.openid.Client("myClient",
    realm_id=my_realm.id,
    client_id="my-client-app",
    name="My Client Application",
    enabled=True,
    # Customize the client access type and other settings as required by your application
    access_type="CONFIDENTIAL",
    valid_redirect_uris=["http://localhost:8080/*"]
    # For full properties and explanation visit:
    # https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/keycloak/api-docs/openid/client/
)

# Create a new Keycloak user
# Users are entities capable of logging in.
my_user = keycloak.User("myUser",
    realm_id=my_realm.id,
    username="myusername",
    enabled=True,
    email_verified=True,
    # You can add user attributes, set up initial passwords, or link federated identities
    email="user@example.com"
    # For full properties and explanation visit:
    # https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/keycloak/api-docs/user/
)

# Bind roles to the user
# This is where we assign roles to specific users for access control.
my_user_roles = keycloak.UserRoles("myUserRoles",
    realm_id=my_realm.id,
    user_id=my_user.id,
    role_ids=[admin_role.id]
    # The `role_ids` parameter accepts a list of roles. You can assign multiple roles to the user.
    # For full properties and explanation visit:
    # https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/keycloak/api-docs/userroles/
)

# Export the URLs of the created resources
pulumi.export("realm_url", my_realm.id)
pulumi.export("client_id", my_client.client_id)
pulumi.export("user_username", my_user.username)
```

This program uses the `pulumi_keycloak` provider to define a realm, roles, a client, and a user in Keycloak. It then assigns an administrator role to the user we created. You can expand this example by creating more roles and users, and by creating fine-grained access control policies that reflect your application's requirements.

Remember to replace the placeholders like `http://localhost:8080/*` with the actual URLs of your application. Once you deploy this program using Pulumi, you'll be able to manage users and their roles in the Keycloak Administration Console. With keycloak, you can also define fine-grained permissions for each role to control access to different parts of your application.