Secure Storage

Entra Auth Cli uses platform-specific secure storage mechanisms to protect sensitive authentication data. Understanding how secrets are stored helps you make informed security decisions.

Platform Security Overview

PlatformMechanismSecurity LevelNotes
WindowsDPAPI🔒 StrongUser-account encryption
macOSKeychain🔒 StrongSystem-level encryption
LinuxXOR Obfuscation⚠️ WeakNot secure for production

What Gets Stored

Profile Configuration (Plaintext)

Location: ~/.entra-auth-cli/profiles.json

Stored in plaintext:

  • Profile name
  • Client ID
  • Tenant ID
  • Scope
  • Authority URL
  • OAuth2 flow preference

Example:

  {
  "profiles": [
    {
      "name": "my-service-principal",
      "clientId": "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc",
      "tenantId": "87654321-4321-4321-4321-cba987654321",
      "scope": "https://graph.microsoft.com/.default",
      "flow": "ClientCredentials"
    }
  ]
}

Secrets (Encrypted)

What’s encrypted:

  • Client secrets
  • Certificate passwords
  • Private key data

Storage location:

  • Windows: DPAPI-encrypted data
  • macOS: Keychain access
  • Linux: XOR-obfuscated file

Windows Security (DPAPI)

How It Works

Data Protection API (DPAPI):

  • Built into Windows
  • Uses user account credentials to encrypt data
  • Data is automatically tied to user profile

Security Properties:

  • ✅ Strong encryption (AES-256)
  • ✅ Automatic key management
  • ✅ Per-user encryption
  • ✅ OS-level protection

Storage Location

Encrypted data is stored in user-specific Windows data stores. The exact location is managed by Windows.

Access Control

  • Only the same user account on the same machine can decrypt
  • Administrator accounts cannot decrypt another user’s DPAPI data
  • Backing up and restoring requires user profile migration

Security Considerations

✅ Safe for:

  • Development workstations
  • Single-user systems
  • Corporate managed devices

⚠️ Be aware:

  • Data is tied to user profile
  • Lost password = lost data (unless backed up properly)
  • Malware running under your account can access

macOS Security (Keychain)

How It Works

macOS Keychain:

  • System-level secure storage
  • Encrypted with user’s login password
  • Managed by macOS Security framework

Security Properties:

  • ✅ Strong encryption (AES-256)
  • ✅ Integration with Touch ID / Face ID
  • ✅ Per-item access control
  • ✅ Audit logging

Storage Location 

  ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db

Note: Keychain is encrypted; you cannot read it directly.

Viewing Secrets

Open Keychain Access app:

  1. Launch: /Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access.app
  2. Search for: entra-auth-cli
  3. Double-click item → “Show password”
  4. Authenticate with your login password

Screenshot:

Access Control

  • Requires user authentication to access
  • Can be protected by Touch ID
  • Can set per-item access policies

Exporting Keychain

You can export secrets for backup:

  security export -k login.keychain-db -t identities -o backup.p12

⚠️ Warning: Exported files contain unencrypted secrets. Protect them carefully.

Security Considerations

✅ Safe for:

  • Development workstations
  • Personal Macs
  • Production automation (with proper access controls)

⚠️ Be aware:

  • Malware with keychain access can extract secrets
  • User password compromise = keychain compromise
  • Backup keychain securely

Linux Security (XOR Obfuscation)

⚠️ Security Warning

How It Works

XOR Obfuscation:

  • Simple XOR cipher with fixed key
  • Not encryption — just encoding
  • Prevents casual viewing in text editors

Security Properties:

  • ❌ No real protection
  • ❌ Easily reversible
  • ❌ Fixed obfuscation key in source code

Storage Location 

  ~/.entra-auth-cli/secrets.dat

Warning: This file contains your secrets in an easily decodable format.

Why XOR?

Linux lacks a universal, secure secret storage mechanism:

  • Keyring services vary by distribution (GNOME Keyring, KWallet, etc.)
  • Not always available on servers or minimal installs
  • Inconsistent APIs across distributions

XOR obfuscation is a lowest common denominator approach that works everywhere but provides minimal security.

Linux Alternatives

1. Environment Variables

Store secrets in environment variables:

  export AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET="your-secret"
entra-auth-cli get-token -p myprofile

Profile without stored secret:

  {
  "name": "myprofile",
  "clientId": "...",
  "useClientSecret": true
  // No "clientSecret" field
}

The tool will read from AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET if available.

2. Azure Key Vault

Store secrets in Azure Key Vault and retrieve at runtime:

  SECRET=$(az keyvault secret show --vault-name MyVault --name ClientSecret --query value -o tsv)
entra-auth-cli get-token -p myprofile --client-secret "$SECRET"

3. HashiCorp Vault 

  SECRET=$(vault kv get -field=client_secret secret/entra-auth-cli)
entra-auth-cli get-token -p myprofile --client-secret "$SECRET"

4. Certificate Authentication

Use certificates instead of secrets (more secure):

  entra-auth-cli config create
# Select: Certificate
# Provide: /path/to/cert.pfx

Certificates can be stored with restricted file permissions:

  chmod 600 /path/to/cert.pfx
chown myuser:myuser /path/to/cert.pfx

5. Managed Identity (Azure VMs)

On Azure VMs, use Managed Identity (no secrets needed):

  # Configure VM with Managed Identity
# No secrets stored locally
entra-auth-cli get-token -p managed-identity-profile

Security Recommendations

Certificate Storage

How Certificates Are Stored

Certificates are not stored by the tool. You provide the certificate path:

  {
  "name": "cert-profile",
  "certificatePath": "/path/to/certificate.pfx"
}

Certificate Security

Security depends on:

  1. File permissions on certificate file
  2. Password protection of PFX/PKCS12 file
  3. Storage location security

Best Practices

1. Restrict File Permissions 

  # Linux/macOS
chmod 600 /path/to/cert.pfx
chown myuser:myuser /path/to/cert.pfx

# Windows
icacls cert.pfx /inheritance:r /grant:r "%USERNAME%:F"

2. Password-Protect Certificates

Always use password-protected PFX files:

  # Convert to password-protected PFX
openssl pkcs12 -export -in cert.pem -inkey key.pem \
  -out cert.pfx -password pass:YourStrongPassword

3. Store in Secure Locations

macOS:

  # Store in user-protected directory
~/Library/Application Support/entra-auth-cli/certs/

Windows:

  # Store in user profile
%USERPROFILE%\.entra-auth-cli\certs\

Linux:

  # Store with restricted permissions
~/.entra-auth-cli/certs/
chmod 700 ~/.entra-auth-cli/certs/

4. Use Certificate Stores

Windows Certificate Store:

  # Import certificate to Windows store
certutil -user -p YourPassword -importPFX cert.pfx

# Reference by thumbprint in profile
"certificateThumbprint": "ABC123..."

macOS Keychain:

  # Import to Keychain
security import cert.pfx -k login.keychain -P YourPassword

# Reference by name
"certificateName": "My Certificate"

Secret Lifecycle

1. Secret Creation

Client Secret:

  entra-auth-cli config create
# Select: Client Secret
# Enter: your-secret-here
# ✓ Encrypted and stored securely

Certificate:

  entra-auth-cli config create
# Select: Certificate
# Enter: /path/to/cert.pfx
# Enter password: ****
# ✓ Password encrypted and stored
# ✓ Certificate path stored (plaintext)

2. Secret Usage

When generating tokens:

  1. Profile is read from profiles.json
  2. Secrets are decrypted from secure storage
  3. Used for authentication
  4. Never written to logs or disk unencrypted

3. Secret Rotation

Update secrets regularly:

  # Edit profile and update secret
entra-auth-cli config edit -p myprofile
# Select: Client Secret or Certificate
# Enter new secret
# ✓ Old secret overwritten

4. Secret Deletion

When deleting a profile:

  entra-auth-cli config delete -p myprofile
# ✓ Profile removed from profiles.json
# ✓ Associated secrets removed from secure storage

Security Audit

Checking What’s Stored

List Profiles 

  entra-auth-cli config list

View Profile Details 

  # View non-sensitive profile data
cat ~/.entra-auth-cli/profiles.json | jq

Check Keychain (macOS) 

  security find-generic-password -s entra-auth-cli -g

DPAPI Inventory (Windows)

Use specialized tools like dpapick to audit DPAPI-protected data.

Best Practices

✅ Development

  • Use platform secure storage (DPAPI on Windows, Keychain on macOS)
  • Separate profiles for dev/test/prod
  • Short-lived secrets
  • Regular rotation

✅ Production

Windows/macOS:

  • Platform secure storage is acceptable
  • Certificates preferred over secrets
  • Regular audits

Linux:

  • ⚠️ Do not use built-in storage
  • Use external secret manager (Key Vault, Vault)
  • Or use certificate authentication with restricted file permissions
  • Or use Managed Identity

✅ CI/CD

  • Store secrets in CI/CD secret manager (GitHub Secrets, Azure Pipelines)
  • Inject at runtime
  • Never commit secrets to git
  • Use short-lived tokens

❌ Never

  • ❌ Commit profiles.json to git
  • ❌ Share secrets via email/Slack
  • ❌ Store secrets in plaintext files
  • ❌ Use the same secret across environments
  • ❌ Trust Linux XOR storage for production

Troubleshooting

“Access to secure storage denied”

Windows:

  • User profile may be corrupted
  • Try running as the correct user

macOS:

  • Keychain may be locked
  • Open Keychain Access and unlock

“Cannot decrypt secret”

Cause: Secret was encrypted on different machine or user account

Fix:

  1. Delete profile: entra-auth-cli config delete -p myprofile
  2. Recreate profile: entra-auth-cli config create
  3. Re-enter secret

Migrating Secrets

Secrets are tied to user accounts and machines. To migrate:

  1. Export profile configuration (plaintext):

      cat ~/.entra-auth-cli/profiles.json

  2. On new machine, recreate profile:

      entra-auth-cli config create
# Re-enter all secrets

Note: Secrets cannot be exported/imported directly due to encryption.

Next Steps