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43 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
43 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
# pgproxy
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The pgproxy server is a proxy for the Postgres wire protocol. [Read
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more in our blog
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post](https://tailscale.com/blog/introducing-pgproxy/) about it!
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The proxy runs an in-process Tailscale instance, accepts postgres
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client connections over Tailscale only, and proxies them to the
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configured upstream postgres server.
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This proxy exists because postgres clients default to very insecure
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connection settings: either they "prefer" but do not require TLS; or
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they set sslmode=require, which merely requires that a TLS handshake
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took place, but don't verify the server's TLS certificate or the
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presented TLS hostname. In other words, sslmode=require enforces that
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a TLS session is created, but that session can trivially be
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machine-in-the-middled to steal credentials, data, inject malicious
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queries, and so forth.
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Because this flaw is in the client's validation of the TLS session,
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you have no way of reliably detecting the misconfiguration
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server-side. You could fix the configuration of all the clients you
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know of, but the default makes it very easy to accidentally regress.
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Instead of trying to verify client configuration over time, this proxy
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removes the need for postgres clients to be configured correctly: the
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upstream database is configured to only accept connections from the
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proxy, and the proxy is only available to clients over Tailscale.
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Therefore, clients must use the proxy to connect to the database. The
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client<>proxy connection is secured end-to-end by Tailscale, which the
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proxy enforces by verifying that the connecting client is a known
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current Tailscale peer. The proxy<>server connection is established by
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the proxy itself, using strict TLS verification settings, and the
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client is only allowed to communicate with the server once we've
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established that the upstream connection is safe to use.
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A couple side benefits: because clients can only connect via
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Tailscale, you can use Tailscale ACLs as an extra layer of defense on
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top of the postgres user/password authentication. And, the proxy can
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maintain an audit log of who connected to the database, complete with
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the strongly authenticated Tailscale identity of the client.
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