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Iceberg table encryption protects confidentiality and integrity of table data in an untrusted storage. The data, delete, manifest and manifest list files are encrypted and tamper-proofed before being sent to the storage backend. The metadata.json file does not contain data or stats, and is therefore not encrypted.
Currently, encryption is supported in the Hive and REST catalogs for tables with Parquet and Avro data formats.

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Configuration Requirements

Two parameters are required to activate encryption of a table:
  1. Catalog property - Specifies the KMS (“key management service”):
    • encryption.kms-type for pre-defined KMS clients (aws, azure or gcp)
    • encryption.kms-impl with the client class path for custom KMS clients
  2. Table property - encryption.key-id specifies the ID of a master key used to encrypt and decrypt the table. Master keys are stored and managed in the KMS.

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Example

1

Configure Spark with encryption

Start Spark SQL with the encryption KMS configuration:
spark-sql --packages org.apache.iceberg:iceberg-spark-runtime-3.3:1.5.0 \
    --conf spark.sql.extensions=org.apache.iceberg.spark.extensions.IcebergSparkSessionExtensions \
    --conf spark.sql.catalog.spark_catalog=org.apache.iceberg.spark.SparkSessionCatalog \
    --conf spark.sql.catalog.spark_catalog.type=hive \
    --conf spark.sql.catalog.local=org.apache.iceberg.spark.SparkCatalog \
    --conf spark.sql.catalog.local.type=hive \
    --conf spark.sql.catalog.local.encryption.kms-type=aws
2

Create encrypted table

Create a table with the encryption key ID:
CREATE TABLE local.db.table (id bigint, data string) USING iceberg
TBLPROPERTIES ('encryption.key-id'='<master-key-id>');
3

Insert data (automatically encrypted)

Insert data which will be automatically encrypted:
INSERT INTO local.db.table VALUES (1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c');
4

Verify encryption

Verify encryption by dumping file contents:
hexdump -C <path/to/file> | more
  • Parquet files must start with the “PARE” magic string (PARquet Encrypted footer mode)
  • Manifest/list files must start with “AGS1” magic string (Aes Gcm Stream version 1)
5

Query data (automatically decrypted)

Query data which will be automatically decrypted:
SELECT * FROM local.db.table;

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Catalog Security Requirements

Catalogs must ensure the encryption.key-id property is not modified or removed during table lifetime.
To function properly, Iceberg table encryption requires the catalog implementations not to retrieve the metadata directly from metadata.json files, if these files are kept unprotected in a storage vulnerable to tampering:
  • Catalogs may keep the metadata in a trusted independent object store
  • Catalogs may work with metadata.json files in a tamper-proof storage
  • Catalogs may use checksum techniques to verify integrity of metadata.json files in a storage vulnerable to tampering (the checksums must be kept in a separate trusted storage)

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Key Management Clients

Currently, Iceberg has clients for the AWS, GCP and Azure KMS systems. A custom client can be built for other key management systems by implementing the org.apache.iceberg.encryption.KeyManagementClient interface.

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Interface Methods

This interface has the following main methods: 
/**
 * Initialize the KMS client with given properties.
 *
 * @param properties kms client properties (taken from catalog properties)
 */
void initialize(Map<String, String> properties);

/**
 * Wrap a secret key, using a wrapping/master key which is stored in KMS and referenced by an ID.
 * Wrapping means encryption of the secret key with the master key, and adding optional
 * KMS-specific metadata that allows the KMS to decrypt the secret key in an unwrapping call.
 *
 * @param key a secret key being wrapped
 * @param wrappingKeyId a key ID that represents a wrapping key stored in KMS
 * @return wrapped key material
 */
ByteBuffer wrapKey(ByteBuffer key, String wrappingKeyId);

/**
 * Unwrap a secret key, using a wrapping/master key which is stored in KMS and referenced by an
 * ID.
 *
 * @param wrappedKey wrapped key material (encrypted key and optional KMS metadata, returned by
 *     the wrapKey method)
 * @param wrappingKeyId a key ID that represents a wrapping key stored in KMS
 * @return raw key bytes
 */
ByteBuffer unwrapKey(ByteBuffer wrappedKey, String wrappingKeyId);

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Appendix: Internals Overview

The standard Iceberg encryption manager generates an encryption key and a unique file ID (“AAD prefix”) for each data and delete file. The generation is performed in the worker nodes, by using a secure random number generator.

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Data File Encryption

  • Parquet data files: Parameters are passed to the native Parquet Modular Encryption mechanism
  • Avro data files: Parameters are passed to the AES GCM Stream encryption mechanism

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Manifest File Encryption

The parent manifest file stores the encryption key and AAD prefix for each data and delete file in the key_metadata field. For Avro data tables, the data file length is also added to the key_metadata. The manifest file is encrypted by the AES GCM Stream encryption mechanism, using an encryption key and an AAD prefix generated by the standard encryption manager in the driver nodes.

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Manifest List Encryption

The parent manifest list file stores the encryption key, AAD prefix and file length for each manifest file in the key_metadata field. The manifest list file is encrypted by the AES GCM Stream encryption mechanism, using an encryption key and an AAD prefix generated by the standard encryption manager.

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Key Encryption Keys (KEK)

The manifest list encryption key, AAD prefix and file length are packed in a key metadata object. This object is serialized and encrypted with a “key encryption key” (KEK), using the KEK creation timestamp as the AES GCM AAD. A KEK and its unique KEK_ID are generated by using a secure random number generator. For each snapshot:
  • The KEK_ID is kept in the key-id field in the table metadata snapshot structure
  • The encrypted manifest list key metadata is kept in the encryption-keys list in the table metadata structure
  • The KEK is encrypted by the table master key via the KMS client

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KEK Rotation

The KEK is re-used for a period allowed by the NIST SP 800-57 specification. Then, it is rotated:
  • A new KEK and KEK_ID are generated for encryption of new manifest list key metadata objects
  • The new KEK is encrypted by the table master key and stored in the encryption-keys list
  • Previous KEKs are retained for the existing table snapshots

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