How are identity verification and access granting implemented in Vault?

HashiCorp Vault implements identity verification (authentication) and access granting (authorization) mechanisms through several key components:

1. Authentication — Vault supports various authentication methods such as tokens, LDAP, GitHub, AppRole, Kubernetes, and others. A user or service first authenticates to obtain a temporary access token.

2. Policies — after authentication, Vault checks policies associated with the user or role. Policies define which secrets and operations are accessible.

3. Access tokens — after successful authentication, Vault issues a token with specific rights limited by policies.

For example, when using the AppRole method, a service obtains a role and secret, which are used to request a token from Vault. This token is then used to access secrets permitted by policies.

Thus, Vault provides secure and flexible control over secret access, separating the processes of identification and authorization.