---
stage: Create
group: Source Code
info: Any user with at least the Maintainer role can merge updates to this content. For details, see https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/development_processes.html#development-guidelines-review.
---

# FIPS compliance

FIPS is short for "Federal Information Processing Standard", a document which
defines certain security practices for a "cryptographic module" (CM). It aims
to ensure a certain security floor is met by vendors selling products to U.S.
Federal institutions.

WARNING:
You can build a FIPS-compliant instance of GitLab, but [not all features are included](#unsupported-features-in-fips-mode).
A FIPS-compliant instance must be configured following the [FIPS install instructions](#install-gitlab-with-fips-compliance)
exactly.

The two current FIPS standards: [140-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIPS_140-2)
and [140-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIPS_140-3). At GitLab we usually
mean FIPS 140-2.

## Current status

GitLab has completed FIPS 140-2 Compliance for the build specified in this documentation. You can find our FIPS 140-2 Attestation in our [customer assurance package](https://trust.gitlab.com/), specifically the community package.

## FIPS compliance at GitLab

To be compliant, all components (GitLab itself, Gitaly, etc) must be compliant,
along with the communication between those components, and any storage used by
them. Where functionality cannot be brought into compliance, it must be disabled
when FIPS mode is enabled. FIPS-compliant cryptography means that a cryptographic
operation leverages a FIPS-validated module.

### Leveraged Cryptographic modules

The following list is for reference purposes only and is not dynamically updated. The latest CMVP certificates for the modules below will apply.

| Cryptographic module name                                | CMVP number                                                                                     | Instance type | Software component used |
|----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------|-------------------------|
| Ubuntu 20.04 AWS Kernel Crypto API Cryptographic Module  | [4366](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/4366) | EC2 (Omnibus)          | Linux kernel |
| Ubuntu 20.04 OpenSSL Cryptographic Module                | [4292](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/4292) | EC2 (Omnibus)          | Gitaly, Rails (Puma/Sidekiq) |
| Ubuntu 20.04 Libgcrypt Cryptographic Module              | [3902](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/3902) | EC2 (Omnibus) | `gpg`, `sshd` |
| Amazon Linux 2 Kernel Crypto API Cryptographic Module    | [4593](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/4593) | EKS nodes     | Linux kernel |
| Amazon Linux 2 OpenSSL Cryptographic Module              | [4548](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/4548) | EKS nodes     | EKS |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 OpenSSL Cryptographic Module   | [4642](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/4642) | GitLab Helm chart     | UBI containers: Workhorse, Pages, container registry, Rails (Puma/Sidekiq), Security Analyzers, `gitlab-sshd` |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Libgcrypt Cryptographic Module | [4438](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/certificate/4438) | GitLab Helm chart     | UBI containers: GitLab Shell, `gpg` |

### Supported Operating Systems

The supported hybrid platforms are:

- Omnibus GitLab: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
- Cloud Native GitLab: Amazon Linux 2 (EKS)

### Unsupported features in FIPS mode

Some GitLab features may not work when FIPS mode is enabled. The following features
are known to not work in FIPS mode. However, there may be additional features not
listed here that also do not work properly in FIPS mode:

- [Container Scanning](../user/application_security/container_scanning/index.md) support for scanning images in repositories that require authentication.
- [Code Quality](../ci/testing/code_quality.md) does not support operating in FIPS-compliant mode.
- [Dependency scanning](../user/application_security/dependency_scanning/index.md) support for Gradle.
- [Solutions for vulnerabilities](../user/application_security/vulnerabilities/index.md#resolve-a-vulnerability)
  for yarn projects.
- [Static Application Security Testing (SAST)](../user/application_security/sast/index.md)
  supports a reduced set of [analyzers](../user/application_security/sast/index.md#fips-enabled-images)
  when operating in FIPS-compliant mode.
- [Operational Container Scanning](../user/clusters/agent/vulnerabilities.md).

Additionally, these package repositories are disabled in FIPS mode:

- [Conan package repository](../user/packages/conan_repository/index.md).
- [Debian package repository](../user/packages/debian_repository/index.md).

## FIPS compliance vs FIPS validation at GitLab

GitLab does not fork or modify cryptographic binaries (for example OpenSSL) in its FIPS-compliant
software releases but instead uses existing, FIPS-validated cryptographic software (modules).
GitLab therefore does not need to submit its software through the
[NIST Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP)](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/)
independent laboratory testing.
Instead, GitLab must use FIPS-validated software (listed in
[Cryptographic Module Validation Program](https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/validated-modules))
that has an active CMVP certificate and ensure it is enabled for all cryptographic operations.

FIPS-compliant cryptography means that a cryptographic operation uses a FIPS-validated module.
FIPS mode must be enabled on one or both sides of every communication session (that is, client, server, or both).
Enabling FIPS mode on the client ensures that the client uses strong cryptographic algorithms that
are compliant with FIPS 140-3/FIPS 140-2 for encryption, hashing, and signing.
If FIPS mode is not enabled on the client, it must be implemented on the server-side or application
load balancer or proxy server to allow for FIPS-compliant connections to be made.

## Install GitLab with FIPS compliance

This guide is specifically for public users or GitLab team members with a requirement
to run a production instance of GitLab that is FIPS compliant. This guide outlines
a hybrid deployment using elements from both Omnibus and our Cloud Native GitLab installations.

### Prerequisites

- Amazon Web Services account. Our first target environment is running on AWS, and uses other FIPS Compliant AWS resources. For many AWS resources, you must use a [FIPS specific endpoint](https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/fips/).
- Ability to run Ubuntu 20.04 machines for GitLab. Our first target environment uses the hybrid architecture.
- Advanced Search: GitLab does not provide a packaged Elastic or OpenSearch deployment. You must use a FIPS-compliant service or disable Advanced Search.

### Set up a FIPS-enabled cluster

You can use the [GitLab Environment Toolkit](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-environment-toolkit) to spin
up a FIPS-enabled cluster for development and testing. As mentioned in the prerequisites, these instructions use Amazon Web Services (AWS)
because that is the first target environment.

#### Set up your environment

To get started, your AWS account must subscribe to a FIPS-enabled Amazon
Machine Image (AMI) in the [AWS Marketplace console](https://repost.aws/knowledge-center/launch-ec2-marketplace-subscription).

This example assumes that the `Ubuntu Pro 20.04 FIPS LTS` AMI by
`Canonical Group Limited` has been added your account. This operating
system is used for virtual machines running in Amazon EC2.

#### Omnibus

The simplest way to get a FIPS-enabled GitLab cluster is to use an Omnibus reference architecture.
See the [GET Quick Start Guide](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-environment-toolkit/-/blob/main/docs/environment_quick_start_guide.md)
for more details. The following instructions build on the Quick Start and are also necessary for [Cloud Native Hybrid](#cloud-native-hybrid) installations.

##### Terraform: Use a FIPS AMI

GitLab team members can view more information in this internal handbook page on how to use FIPS AMI:
`https://internal.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/fedramp-compliance/get-configure/#terraform---use-fips-ami`

##### Ansible: Specify the FIPS Omnibus builds

The standard Omnibus GitLab releases build their own OpenSSL library, which is
not FIPS-validated. However, we have nightly builds that create Omnibus packages
that link against the operating system's OpenSSL library. To use this package,
update the `gitlab_edition` and `gitlab_repo_script_url` fields in the Ansible
`vars.yml`.

GitLab team members can view more information in this internal handbook page on Ansible (AWS):
`https://internal.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/fedramp-compliance/get-configure/#ansible-aws`

#### Cloud Native Hybrid

A Cloud Native Hybrid install uses both Omnibus and Cloud Native GitLab
(CNG) images. The previous instructions cover the Omnibus part, but two
additional steps are needed to enable FIPS in CNG:

1. Use a custom Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) AMI.
1. Use GitLab containers built with RedHat's Universal Base Image (UBI).

##### Build a custom EKS AMI

Because Amazon does not yet publish a FIPS-enabled AMI, you have to
build one yourself with Packer.

Amazon publishes the following Git repositories with information about custom EKS AMIs:

- [Amazon EKS AMI Build Specification](https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-eks-ami)
- [Sample EKS custom AMIs](https://github.com/aws-samples/amazon-eks-custom-amis/)

This [GitHub pull request](https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-eks-ami/pull/898) makes
it possible to create an Amazon Linux 2 EKS AMI with FIPS enabled for Kubernetes v1.21.
To build an image:

1. [Install Packer](https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/tutorials/docker-get-started/get-started-install-cli).
1. Run the following:

   ```shell
   git clone https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-eks-ami
   cd amazon-eks-ami
   git fetch origin pull/898/head:fips-ami
   git checkout fips-ami
   AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1 make 1.21-fips # Be sure to set the region accordingly
   ```

If you are using a different version of Kubernetes, adjust the `make`
command and `Makefile` accordingly.

When the AMI build is done, a new AMI should be created with a message
such as the following:

```plaintext
==> Builds finished. The artifacts of successful builds are:
--> amazon-ebs: AMIs were created:
us-west-2: ami-0a25e760cd00b027e
```

In this example, the AMI ID is `ami-0a25e760cd00b027e`, but your value may
be different.

Building a RHEL-based system with FIPS enabled should be possible, but
there is [an outstanding issue preventing the Packer build from completing](https://github.com/aws-samples/amazon-eks-custom-amis/issues/51).

Because this builds a custom AMI based on a specific version of an image, you must periodically rebuild the custom AMI to keep current with the latest security patches and upgrades.

##### Terraform: Use a custom EKS AMI

GitLab team members can view more information in this internal handbook page on how to use a custom EKS AMI:
`https://internal.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/fedramp-compliance/get-configure/#terraform---use-a-custom-eks-ami`

##### Ansible: Use UBI images

CNG uses a Helm Chart to manage which container images to deploy. To use UBI-based containers, edit the Ansible `vars.yml` to use custom
Charts variables:

```yaml
all:
  vars:
    ...
    gitlab_charts_custom_config_file: '/path/to/gitlab-environment-toolkit/ansible/environments/gitlab-10k/inventory/charts.yml'
```

Now create `charts.yml` in the location specified above and specify tags with a `-fips` suffix.

See our [Charts documentation on FIPS](https://docs.gitlab.com/charts/advanced/fips/index.html) for more details, including
an [example values file](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/gitlab/blob/master/examples/fips/values.yaml) as a reference.

You can also use release tags, but the versioning is tricky because each
component may use its own versioning scheme. For example, for GitLab v15.2:

```yaml
global:
  image:
    tagSuffix: -fips
  certificates:
    image:
      tag: 20211220-r0
  kubectl:
    image:
      tag: 1.18.20

gitlab:
  gitaly:
    image:
      tag: v15.2.0
  gitlab-exporter:
    image:
      tag: 11.17.1
  gitlab-shell:
    image:
      tag: v14.9.0
  gitlab-mailroom:
    image:
      tag: v15.2.0
  gitlab-pages:
    image:
      tag: v1.61.0
  migrations:
    image:
      tag: v15.2.0
  sidekiq:
    image:
      tag: v15.2.0
  toolbox:
    image:
      tag: v15.2.0
  webservice:
    image:
      tag: v15.2.0
    workhorse:
      tag: v15.2.0
```

## FIPS Performance Benchmarking

The Quality Engineering Enablement team assists these efforts by checking if FIPS-enabled environments perform well compared to non-FIPS environments.

Testing shows an impact in some places, such as Gitaly SSL, but it's not large enough to impact customers.

You can find more information on FIPS performance benchmarking in the following issue:

- [Benchmark performance of FIPS reference architecture](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/364051#note_1010450415)

## Setting up a FIPS-enabled development environment

The simplest approach is to set up a virtual machine running
[Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8](https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/security_hardening/using-the-system-wide-cryptographic-policies_security-hardening#switching-the-system-to-fips-mode_using-the-system-wide-cryptographic-policies).

Red Hat provide free licenses to developers, and permit the CD image to be
downloaded from the [Red Hat developer's portal](https://developers.redhat.com).
Registration is required.

After the virtual machine is set up, you can follow the [GDK](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-development-kit)
installation instructions, including the [advanced instructions for RHEL](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-development-kit/-/blob/main/doc/advanced.md#red-hat-enterprise-linux).
The `asdf` tool is not used for dependency management because it's essential to
use the RedHat-provided Go compiler and other system dependencies.

### Enable FIPS mode

After GDK and its dependencies are installed, run this command (as
root) and restart the virtual machine:

```shell
fips-mode-setup --enable
```

You can check whether it's taken effect by running:

```shell
fips-mode-setup --check
```

In this environment, OpenSSL refuses to perform cryptographic operations
forbidden by the FIPS standards. This enables you to reproduce FIPS-related bugs,
and validate fixes.

You should be able to open a web browser inside the virtual machine and sign in
to the GitLab instance.

You can disable FIPS mode again by running this command, then restarting the
virtual machine:

```shell
fips-mode-setup --disable
```

#### Detect FIPS enablement in code

You can query `Gitlab::FIPS` in Ruby code to determine if the instance is FIPS-enabled:

```ruby
def default_min_key_size(name)
  if Gitlab::FIPS.enabled?
    Gitlab::SSHPublicKey.supported_sizes(name).select(&:positive?).min || -1
  else
    0
  end
end
```

## Omnibus FIPS packages

GitLab has a dedicated repository
([`gitlab/gitlab-fips`](https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/gitlab-fips))
for builds of the Omnibus GitLab which are built with FIPS compliance.
These GitLab builds are compiled to use the system OpenSSL, instead of
the Omnibus-embedded version of OpenSSL. These packages are built for:

- RHEL 8 (and compatible)
- AmazonLinux 2
- Ubuntu

These are [consumed by the GitLab Environment Toolkit](#install-gitlab-with-fips-compliance) (GET).

See [the section on how FIPS builds are created](#how-fips-builds-are-created).

### Nightly Omnibus FIPS builds

The Distribution team has created [nightly FIPS Omnibus builds](https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/nightly-fips-builds),
which can be used for *testing* purposes. These should never be used for production environments.

## Runner

See the [documentation on installing a FIPS-compliant GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/#fips-compliant-gitlab-runner).

## Verify FIPS

The following sections describe ways you can verify if FIPS is enabled.

### Kernel

```shell
$ cat /proc/sys/crypto/fips_enabled
1
```

### Ruby (Omnibus images)

```ruby
$ /opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/irb
irb(main):001:0> require 'openssl'; OpenSSL.fips_mode
=> true
```

### Ruby (CNG images)

```ruby
$ irb
irb(main):001:0> require 'openssl'; OpenSSL.fips_mode
=> true
```

### Go

Google maintains a [`dev.boringcrypto` branch](https://github.com/golang/go/tree/dev.boringcrypto) in the Go compiler
that makes it possible to statically link BoringSSL, a FIPS-validated module forked from OpenSSL.
However, BoringSSL is not intended for public use.

We use [`golang-fips`](https://github.com/golang-fips/go), [a fork of the `dev.boringcrypto` branch](https://github.com/golang/go/blob/2fb6bf8a4a51f92f98c2ae127eff2b7ac392c08f/README.boringcrypto.md) to build Go programs that
[dynamically link OpenSSL via `dlopen`](https://github.com/golang-fips/go/blob/go1.18.1-1-openssl-fips/src/crypto/internal/boring/boring.go#L47-L65). This has several advantages:

- Using a FIPS-validated, system OpenSSL is straightforward.
- This is the source code used by the [Red Hat go-toolset package](https://gitlab.com/redhat/centos-stream/rpms/golang#sources).
- Unlike [go-toolset](https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2019/06/24/go-and-fips-140-2-on-red-hat-enterprise-linux#), this fork appears to keep up with the latest Go releases.

However, [cgo](https://pkg.go.dev/cmd/cgo) must be enabled via `CGO_ENABLED=1` for this to work. There
is a performance hit when calling into C code.

Projects that are compiled with `golang-fips` on Linux x86 automatically
get built the crypto routines that use OpenSSL. While the `boringcrypto`
build tag is automatically present, no extra build tags are actually
needed. There are [specific build tags](https://github.com/golang-fips/go/blob/go1.18.1-1-openssl-fips/src/crypto/internal/boring/boring.go#L6)
that disable these crypto hooks.

We can [check whether a given binary is using OpenSSL](https://go.googlesource.com/go/+/dev.boringcrypto/misc/boring/#caveat) via `go tool nm`
and look for symbols named `Cfunc__goboringcrypto` or `crypto/internal/boring/sig.BoringCrypto`.

For example:

```console
$ # Find in a Golang-FIPS 1.17 library
$ go tool nm nginx-ingress-controller | grep '_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_|\bcrypto/internal/boring/sig\.BoringCrypto' | tail
 2a0b650 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA384_Final
 2a0b658 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA384_Init
 2a0b660 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA384_Update
 2a0b668 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA512_Final
 2a0b670 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA512_Init
 2a0b678 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_SHA512_Update
 2a0b680 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_internal_ECDSA_sign
 2a0b688 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_internal_ECDSA_verify
 2a0b690 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_internal_ERR_error_string_n
 2a0b698 D crypto/internal/boring._cgo_71ae3cd1ca33_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_internal_ERR_get_error
$ # Find in a Golang-FIPS 1.22 library
$ go tool nm tenctl | grep '_Cfunc__goboringcrypto_|\bcrypto/internal/boring/sig\.BoringCrypto'
  4cb840 t crypto/internal/boring/sig.BoringCrypto.abi0
```

In addition, LabKit contains routines to [check whether FIPS is enabled](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/labkit/-/tree/master/fips).

## How FIPS builds are created

Many GitLab projects (for example: Gitaly, GitLab Pages) have
standardized on using `FIPS_MODE=1 make` to build FIPS binaries locally.

### Omnibus

The Omnibus FIPS builds are triggered with the `USE_SYSTEM_SSL`
environment variable set to `true`. When this environment variable is
set, the Omnibus recipes dependencies such as `curl`, NGINX, and libgit2
will link against the system OpenSSL. OpenSSL will NOT be included in
the Omnibus build.

The Omnibus builds are created using container images [that use the `golang-fips` compiler](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-omnibus-builder/-/blob/master/docker/snippets/go_fips). For
example, [this job](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-omnibus-builder/-/jobs/2363742108) created
the `registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-omnibus-builder/centos_8_fips:3.3.1` image used to
build packages for RHEL 8.

#### Add a new FIPS build for another Linux distribution

First, you need to make sure there is an Omnibus builder image for the
desired Linux distribution. The images used to build Omnibus packages are
created with [Omnibus Builder images](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-omnibus-builder).

Review [this merge request](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-omnibus-builder/-/merge_requests/218). A
new image can be added by:

1. Adding CI jobs with the `_fips` suffix (for example: `ubuntu_18.04_fips`).
1. Making sure the `Dockerfile` uses `Snippets.new(fips: fips).populate` instead of `Snippets.new.populate`.

After this image has been tagged, add a new [CI job to Omnibus GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/-/blob/911fbaccc08398dfc4779be003ea18014b3e30e9/gitlab-ci-config/dev-gitlab-org.yml#L594-602).

### Cloud Native GitLab (CNG)

The Cloud Native GitLab CI pipeline generates images using several base images:

- Debian
- The [Red Hat Universal Base Image (UBI)](https://developers.redhat.com/products/rhel/ubi)

UBI images ship with the same OpenSSL package as those used by
RHEL. This makes it possible to build FIPS-compliant binaries without
needing RHEL. RHEL 8.2 ships a [FIPS-validated OpenSSL](https://access.redhat.com/articles/compliance_activities_and_gov_standards), but 8.5 is in
review for FIPS validation.

[This merge request](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/CNG/-/merge_requests/981)
introduces a FIPS pipeline for CNG images. Images tagged for FIPS have the `-fips` suffix. For example,
the `webservice` container has the following tags:

- `master`
- `master-ubi8`
- `master-fips`

#### Base images for FIPS Builds

- Current: [UBI 8.10 Minimal](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/CNG/-/blob/master/ci_files/variables.yml?ref_type=heads#L4)
- Under Evaluation: [UBI 9](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/CNG/-/merge_requests/1460)

### Testing merge requests with a FIPS pipeline

Merge requests that can trigger Package and QA, can trigger a FIPS package and a
Reference Architecture test pipeline. The base image used for the trigger is
Ubuntu 20.04 FIPS:

1. Trigger `e2e:test-on-omnibus` job, if not already triggered.
1. On the `gitlab-omnibus-mirror` child pipeline, manually trigger `Trigger:package:fips`.
1. When the package job is complete, manually trigger the `RAT:FIPS` job.