Configure Access Requests

This guide explains the considerations you should make when configuring Teleport Access Requests, which enable a Teleport user to obtain elevated permissions by getting approval from one or more users in the same Teleport cluster.

Access Requests are configurable on a role-by-role basis. When a user authenticates to Teleport, including through a single sign-on provider, the Teleport Auth Service reconciles all of a user's roles to determine the Access Request configuration for that user. Teleport then applies this configuration to any Access Requests the user creates.

For examples of the full Access Request lifecycle, follow one of the how-to guides:

• Role requests in commercial Teleport editions
• Resource requests in commercial Teleport editions
• Role requests in Teleport Community Edition

The access a user can request

By default, a Teleport user cannot request elevated permissions. To configure the elevated access that a user can request, you can define a Teleport role that:

• Names other Teleport roles the user can request.
• Names other Teleport roles that the user can use to search for resources to request, such as databases or Kubernetes clusters.

You can also configure a Teleport role to prevent the user from requesting access to these roles.

Restrict role requests

When a user submits an Access Request, they can specify the roles they would like to request access to.

You can allow a user to request access to certain roles—and deny access to other roles—by using the following configuration options:

• allow.request.roles
• allow.request.claims_to_roles
• deny.request.roles
• deny.request.claims_to_roles

Here is an example, which allows the employee user to request the dev and dba role, and specifies some more complex restrictions that we will explain below:

kind: role
version: v6
metadata:
  name: employee
spec:
  allow:
    request:
      roles:
        - 'dev'
        - 'dba'
      claims_to_roles:
        - claim: groups
          value: admins
          roles: ['*']
  deny:
    request:
      claims_to_roles:
        - claim: groups
          value: contractors
          roles: ['*']

The Teleport Auth Service combines the values of these fields for all of a user's roles into two lists of role matchers:

• Deny: If the requested role matches any of these, Teleport denies the request.
• Allow: If the requested role matches any of these, and no deny matcher also matches the role, Teleport allows the request.

A role matcher can include the following values:

• The literal name of a role (such as admin).
• A wildcard character, which matches one or more characters in a role name. For example, db-* matches db-reader and db-writer.
• A Go regular expression inside a string that begins with ^ and ends with $. For example, if you define roles by AWS region, a role matcher could use the regular expression ^db-writer-us-(east|west)-[0-9]+ to match the db-writer-us-east-1 and db-writer-us-west-2 roles.

To add the values of claims_to_roles to the lists of role matchers, the Auth Service evaluates template expressions with the user's traits. See the Role Templates for more information on how Teleport executes template expressions with user traits in the claims_to_roles field.

In the employee role above, if the user is in the admins group (as declared by their single sign-on provider), this role allows them to request access to all roles. If they are in the contractors group, this role denies them access to request any roles.

Restrict resource requests

Users can also submit Access Requests for a specific Teleport resource.

The following fields in a Teleport role indicate which roles a user assumes when they search for a Teleport resource:

• allow.request.search_as_roles
• deny.request.search_as_roles

For example, the following role enables a user to search for resources that the k8s-viewer role allows access to.

# requester.yaml
kind: role
version: v6
metadata:
  name: k8s-requester
spec:
  allow:
    request:
      search_as_roles:
        - k8s-viewer

In contrast to configuring role requests, the request.search_as_roles field is a list of literal role names only, and does not support wildcards or regular expressions.

The Teleport Auth Service combines the values of these fields for all of a user's Teleport roles in order to validate the user's Access Requests.

When a user attempts to list Teleport resources (such as servers and databases) or Kubernetes resources (such as pods and deployments), the Auth Service checks the roles that the user is allowed to search as. If a user's Teleport roles or a role specified in search_as_roles allow the user to search for a resource, the Teleport Auth Service will return information about the resource.

When a user requests access to a resource ID, the Teleport Auth Service does the following:

1. Collects all the roles named in allow.request.search_as_roles, filtering these to exclude roles specified in deny.request.search_as_roles or deny.request.roles.
2. Determines which of the remaining roles can access the requested resource. For a Resource Access Request to be valid, one of the roles listed in a user's search_as_roles configuration must permit access to the requested resources.

How long access lasts

You can configure the length of time that Teleport will grant a user elevated privileges for an approved Access Request.

Calculating the duration of elevated privileges

Teleport uses the following logic to calculate how long a user has elevated privileges:

1. Calculate the maximum duration of elevated privileges if the Access Request were granted. This is the lowest value of:
   • The --max-duration flag of the tsh request create command (if the user creating the request provides this flag).
   • The lowest value of the request.max_duration field included in one of the user's requested roles.
2. Calculate the session TTL of the certificate the user would receive if Teleport were to grant the Access Request. This calculation chooses the lowest value of:
   • The requested session expiration time, which is the value of the --session-ttl flag of tsh request create.
   • The remaining time in the user's current Teleport session.
   • The lowest value of the options.max_session_ttl field in the user's requested roles.
3. If the maximum duration is greater than zero, set the duration of elevated privileges to either the maximum duration or the session TTL calculated earlier, whichever is shorter. Otherwise, set the duration of elevated privileges to the session TTL.

Setting when users can assume elevated privileges

When creating or reviewing Access Requests, you can specify the earliest time that a user can assume elevated privileges by using the --assume-start-time flag. This flag is available for the tsh request create and tsh request review commands. The format accepted is defined in RFC 3339, e.g, 2023-12-12T23:20:50.52Z. The time specified must be in the future.

Reviewers can override this time when approving an Access Request. If multiple reviewers override the start time, the most recent override will be chosen.

The request.max_duration field

The max_duration option indicates the maximum length of time that a user is allowed to have elevated privileges for particular roles. After a user makes a successful Access Request, the user can authenticate to Teleport with the elevated access until the maximum duration has elapsed.

Each time the user authenticates to Teleport, Teleport calculates the TTL of the user's Teleport session using a formula that we describe in the previous section. The user can have multiple sessions with elevated privileges before the maximum duration elapses.

You can specify the max_duration option with a role like the following:

kind: role
version: v6
metadata:
  name: temp-dba
spec:
  allow:
    request:
      # Allow access to role `dba` for up to 4 days.
      roles: ['dba']
      max_duration: 4d

The value of max_duration can never exceed seven days.

How long Access Requests are valid

Teleport uses the following logic to determine how long an Access Request is valid while it awaits approval:

1. Begin with with the base expiration of the Access Request, which a user can set with the --request-ttl flag of the tsh request create command. If this is unset, the request TTL is one hour.
2. If the user's Teleport session is due to expire before the base expiration time, Teleport sets the Access Request expiration to the end of the Teleport session.
3. If any of the Teleport roles requested by the Access Request has an options.max_session_ttl that expires before the expiration time, Teleport sets the expiration of the Access Request to that time.
4. Return an error if the value of --request-ttl is greater than the request TTL calculated in the previous step.

How clients request access

A user's Teleport roles determine how they submit Access Requests, whether Access Requests are optional or mandatory, and whether a user must provide a reason when making a request.

A role's options.request_access setting specifies a strategy for producing Access Requests. It can include one of the following values:

Value	Meaning
optional	The default. The user does not need to specify a reason when making a request. The user must initiate a request manually when they log in to Teleport.
always	When a user signs in to Teleport, their client automatically generates an Access Request for all roles available to the user, without providing a reason.
reason	When a user signs in to Teleport, their client automatically generates an Access Request for all roles available to the user. The user must provide a reason when authenticating.

If a role includes the reason strategy, you can specify a prompt to remind the user to provide a reason if the user attempts to create an Access Request without one. To do so, set the options.request_prompt option in a role.

For example, the following role prompts the user with the text, "Please provide your ticket ID":

kind: role
version: v6
metadata:
  name: employee
spec:
  allow:
    request:
      roles:
        - 'dba'
  options:
    request_access: reason
    request_prompt: Please provide your ticket ID

The Teleport Auth Service uses the following logic to combine strategies specified in the request_access fields of different roles that belong to a user:

1. If one of the user's roles includes either the reason or the always strategy, Teleport will automatically request all available roles for the user when they authenticate.
2. If one of the user's roles includes the reason strategy, the user must provide a reason when authenticating.

Review thresholds

You can configure a user's roles to specify the criteria that an Access Request must meet before Teleport approves or denies it. To do so, configure the allow.request.thresholds field.

The allow.request.thresholds field

Here is an example of a role that specifies review thresholds for requestable roles:

kind: role
version: v6
metadata:
  name: devops
spec:
  allow:
    request:
      roles: ['dbadmin']
      thresholds:
        - approve: 3
          deny: 2
          filter: '!contains(reviewer.traits.team, "dev")'
        - approve: 1
          deny: 1
          filter: 'contains(reviewer.roles, "admin")'

Note that there is no corresponding deny.requests.thresholds field, and Teleport rejects roles that include one.

Each threshold includes the following fields:

Field	Description
approve	The number of reviewers that must approve the Access Request for it to be approved. The default is 1.
deny	The number of reviewers that must deny the Access Request for it to be denied. The default is 1.
filter	A condition that the Access Request or its review must satisfy before a review is added to a threshold's approval or denial count. Described in more detail in the next section.

In the devops role above, there are two thresholds associated with the dbadmin role. As a result, one of the following conditions must obtain before the request is approved is denied:

1. Three users must approve the request, and two users must deny it, as long as those users do not have a team trait with the value dev.
2. One user must approve the review, and one user must deny it, as long as the user submitting the review has the admin role.

Threshold filters

When Teleport processes an Access Request for a specific role, it checks whether the request has met the criteria specified in one of the thresholds in allow.request.thresholds associated with that role.

The value of filter is an expression that uses the Teleport predicate language.

For example, the following configuration includes three thresholds, two of which have filters:

spec:
  allow:
    request:
      roles: ['dbadmin']
      thresholds:
        - approve: 3
          deny: 1
        - filter: 'contains(reviewer.roles, "super-approver")'
          approve: 2
          deny: 1
        - filter: '!equals(request.reason, "") && contains(reviewer.roles, "super-approver")'
          approve: 1
          deny: 1

The first threshold requires three users to approve and one user to deny. However, if each reviewer has the super-approver role, the request only needs two approvals. And if the request has a non-empty reason, it only needs a single approval from a user with the super-approver role.

Filter expressions can draw on the following data associated with each Access Request review: the request, the reviewer, and the review itself:

Field	Type	Description
reviewer.roles	[]string	The reviewer's roles.
reviewer.traits	map[string][]string	The reviewer's traits.
review.reason	string	The reason given for the review.
review.annotations	map[string][]string	Annotations added to the review. These are added by programmatic Teleport clients that approve or deny an Access Request.
request.roles	[]string	The roles included in the request.
request.reason	string	The reason provided in the request.
request.system_annotations	map[string][]string	Request annotations.

You can use these fields in expressions that include the following operators and functions:

Operator/Function	Description
equals(val1,val2)	Returns true if val1 is equal to val2 and false otherwise
contains([]string, val)	Returns true if the list of strings in the first argument contains the element in the second argument and false otherwise.
expr1 && expr2	Evaluates to true if both expr1 and expr2 evaluate to true.
expr1 || expr2	Evaluates to true if expr1, expr2, or both evaluate to true.
!expr	Negates expr.

Suggested reviewers

You can configure a Teleport role to suggest reviewers for Access Requests.

Teleport combines all reviewers named in the allow.request.suggested_reviewers fields of a user's roles. If an Access Request has no suggested reviewers, Teleport adds the user's suggested reviewers to the request.

The following role adds the suggested reviewers user1 and user2:

kind: role
version: v6
metadata:
  name: employee
spec:
  allow:
    request:
      roles:
        - 'dev'
        - 'dba'
      suggested_reviewers:
       - 'user1'
       - 'user2'

Suggested reviewers apply to all of the roles a user can request access to, not just the roles named in the same role resource as the suggested reviewers.

While Teleport will accept a role with a nonempty deny.request.suggested_reviewers field, it only considers the allow.request.suggested_reviewers field when evaluating Access Requests.

Roles that a reviewer can grant access to

Teleport users must be authorized to review Access Requests for a particular role. You can configure a user's Teleport roles to allow the user to review Access Requests for some Teleport roles, and deny the user the ability to review requests for other roles.

Allowing and denying reviews for specific roles

To allow a user to review requests for certain roles but not others, edit the following role fields:

• allow.review_requests.roles
• allow.review_requests.claims_to_roles
• deny.review_requests.roles
• deny.review_requests.claims_to_roles

The Auth Service evaluates the claims_to_roles field using template expressions with the user's traits. See the Role Templates for more information on how Teleport executes template expressions with user traits in the claims_to_roles field.

For a user to review an Access Request for a particular role, at least one allow rule must grant the user access to review requests for that role. No deny rule must disallow access to review that role.

where expressions

Unlike the requests.roles and requests.claims_to_roles fields, the review_requests.roles and review_requests.claims_to_roles fields allow you to grant or deny permissions to review an Access Request for a role based on a where expression. If the expression holds for an Access Request, Teleport applies the allow or deny rules for the review_requests_claims_to_roles and review_requests.roles fields.

For example, the following configuration allows a reviewer to review requests for all roles unless the role is contractor-prod and the request reason is empty:

metadata:
  name: reviewer
# ...
allow:
  review_requests:
    roles: ['*']
deny:
  review_requests:
    roles: ['contractor-prod']
    where: 'request.reason == ""'

When validating an Access Request review, Teleport considers each where expression within all of a reviewer's roles. If one where expression holds for the review, Teleport ensures that the reviewer is authorized to review requests for the corresponding roles, which are defined in the same Teleport role as the where expression.

If a user is requesting the contractor-prod role, for example, and leaves an empty reason in the request, a user with the reviewer role defined above will not be able to review the request.

where expressions can draw on the following data associated with an Access Request:

Field	Type	Description
reviewer.roles	[]string	The reviewer's Teleport roles.
reviewer.traits	map[string][]string	The reviewer's Teleport traits.
request.roles	[]string	The roles requested by the Access Request.
request.reason	string	The reason for the request.
request.system_annotations	map[string][]string	Request annotations.

You can use these fields in expressions that include the following operators and functions:

Operator/Function	Description
equals(val1,val2)	Returns true if val1 is equal to val2 and false otherwise
contains([]string, val)	Returns true if the list of strings in the first argument contains the element in the second argument and false otherwise.
expr1 && expr2	Evaluates to true if both expr1 and expr2 evaluate to true.
expr1 || expr2	Evaluates to true if expr1, expr2, or both evaluate to true.
!expr	Evaluates to the opposite of expr.

Inspecting requested resources

A Teleport user can view information about a resource without having access to that resource. This is useful for inspecting a resource before granting another user access to it by approving that user's Access Requests.

To grant or deny a user the ability to list Teleport resources without accessing them, use the allow.review_requests.preview_as_roles and deny.review_requests.preview_as_roles fields in the user's roles:

kind: role
version: v6
metadata:
  name: reviewer
spec:
  allow:
    review_requests:
      roles:
        - access
      preview_as_roles:
        - access

When a user attempts to list Teleport resources, for example, by using a tsh ls command, the Teleport Auth Service checks whether the user's preview_as_roles grant access to list the resource and, if so, lists the resources. This also applies to users attempting to list Kubernetes resources protected by Teleport, such as deployments and pods.

Without the ability to preview a resource, reviewers can only see the resource's UUID as provided by the Access Request.

Request annotations

When a user creates an Access Request, the Teleport Auth Service can write arbitrary metadata to the request. Teleport integrations that consume the access request can read the metadata in order to direct their behavior.

Annotations are key value pairs in which a single key corresponds to a list of values. All values are strings.

Plugins that support request annotations

The following Teleport-supported Access Request plugins read request annotations:

Integration	Annotation keys	How it uses annotations
Pagerduty	pagerduty_notify_service, pagerduty_services	Opens an incident in the service named in pagerduty_notify_service when a user submits an Access Request. If a user is on the on-call rotation for a service named in pagerduty_services, Teleport will approve any Access Request opened by the user.
Opsgenie	teleport.dev/notify-services, teleport.dev/schedules	The integration approves a user's Access Request if the user is on call for the of the services listed in teleport.dev/schedules. It also creates an alert in the services named in teleport.dev/notify-services when a user creates an Access Request.
ServiceNow	teleport.dev/notify-services, teleport.dev/schedules	The integration approves a user's Access Request if the user is on call for the of the services listed in teleport.dev/schedules. It also creates an alert in the services named in teleport.dev/notify-services when a user creates an Access Request.

Allowing and denying annotations

The Teleport Auth Service evaluates Access Request annotations in a user's roles by applying the following logic: for all allowed annotation values with a given key, check whether there is also a denied annotation value with the same key. If there is, skip it. Otherwise, add the annotation to the Access Request.

For example, let's say we have defined a role with the following fields:

allow:
  request:
    annotations:
      pagerduty_services:
        - data-writer
        - data-reader

We have also defined a role with these fields:

deny:
  request:
    annotations:
      pagerduty_services:
        - data-reader

In this case, the final annotation mapping for the user's Access Requests would contain the annotation:

pagerduty_services:
 - data-writer

Reading annotations in custom plugins

If you write your own Access Request plugin, the program can access system annotations using a function similar to the following:

func getMyAnnotation(req types.AccessRequest) ([]string, error) {
	result, ok := req.GetSystemAnnotations()["my-annotation"]
	if !ok {
		return nil, trace.NotFound("annotation not found")
	}
	return result, nil
}

This function uses the GetSystemAnnotations method of the types.AccessRequest type to get all the annotation values of an Access Requests with the key my-annotation.

Further reading

For a full description of the configuration options within a Teleport role, refer to the Access Controls Reference.