Two-Factor Authentication (2FA/MFA) for PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is a database which uses techniques to provide security to site-to-site connections. Also, it secures a point-to-point connection. You can enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for your PostgreSQL with Active Directory as a user store to increase security level. When you enable 2FA, your users enter their username and password (first factor) as usual, and as a second factor they have to enter an authentication code which will be shared virtually on their device or in the form of a hardware token. This 2FA/MFA solution adds an additional security measure to prevent unwanted users getting access to your PostgreSQL .

Types of 2FA Authentication with RADIUS

The 2-factor authentication can be of two types depending on the applications.

Applications that support RADIUS Challenge.
Applications that do not support RADIUS Challenge.

Note: PostgreSQL do not support RADIUS challenge.

miniOrange 2FA authentication for PostgreSQL Login

miniOrange accomplishes this by acting as a RADIUS server that accepts the username/password of the user entered as a RADIUS request and validates the user against the user store as Active Directory (AD). After the first level of authentication, miniOrange prompts the user with 2-factor authentication and either grants/revokes access based on the input by the user.

MFA 2FA Two-Factor authentication for Fortinet

Primary authentication initiates with the user submitting his Username and Password for PostgreSQL .
User request acts as an authentication request to RADIUS Server(miniOrange).
miniOrange RADIUS server passes user credentials to validate against the credentials stored in AD (Active Directory) / Database.
Once the user's first level of authentication gets validated AD sends the confirmation to RADIUS Server.
Now miniOrange RADIUS Server asks for a 2-factor authentication challenge to the user.
Here user submits the response/code which he receives on his hardware/phone.
User response is checked at miniOrange’s RADIUS Server side.
On successful 2nd factor authentication the user is granted access to login.

What are different 2FA/MFA methods for PostgreSQL supported by miniOrange?

miniOrange supports multiple 2FA/MFA authentication methods for PostgreSQL secure access such as, Push Notification, Soft Token, Microsoft / Google Authenticator etc.

Authentication Type	Method	Supported
miniOrange Authenticator	Soft Token
miniOrange Authenticator	miniOrange Push Notification
Mobile Token	Google Authenticator
	Microsoft Authenticator
	Authy Authenticator
SMS	OTP Over SMS
SMS	SMS with Link
Email	OTP Over Email
Email	Email with Link
Call Verification	OTP Over Call
Hardware Token	Yubikey Hardware Token
Hardware Token	Display Hardware Token

You can opt for any of the 2FA methods to secure your PostgreSQL . To integrate 2FA, you can enable RADIUS authentication in PostgreSQL and configure policies in miniOrange to enable or disable 2FA for users.

Connect with any External Directories

miniOrange provides user authentication from various external directories such as miniOrange Directory, Microsoft AD, Azure Active Directory/LDAP, AWS Cognito and many more.

Can't find your Directory? Contact us on idpsupport@xecurify.com

Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)/MFA for PostgreSQL Client to extend security level.

1. Configure PostgreSQL in miniOrange

Login into miniOrange Admin Console.
Click on Customization in the left menu of the dashboard.
In Basic Settings, set the Organization Name as the custom_domain name.
Click Save. Once that is set, the branded login URL would be of the format https://<custom_domain>.xecurify.com/moas/login

2FA Two-Factor authentication for PostgreSQL : setting up branding

Go to Apps Click on Add Application button.

Choose RADIUS as Application type and click on Create App button.

2FA Two-Factor authentication for PostgreSQL : Create Radius Application

Click on PostgreSQL application tab. If you don't find your application click on Radius Client application tab.

2FA Two-Factor radius authentication for PostgreSQL : Select your Radius Client

Click on the Documentation to get the Radius server IPs.

2FA Two-Factor radius authentication for PostgreSQL : Documentation section

Copy and save the Radius server IPs which will be required to configure your Radius client.

2FA Two-Factor radius authentication for PostgreSQL : Radius server IPs

Configure the below details to add Radius Client.

Client Name:	Any name for your reference.
Client IP:	IP address of VPN server which will send Radius authentication request.
Shared Secret:	Security key. For Eg. "sharedsecret" (Keep this with you, you will need to configure same on VPN Server).

Click Next.
Under the Attribute Mappings tab, enable the toggle if you want to Send Groups in response and then click Next

You can refer the table below for Vendor group attributes id.

Vendor Name	Group Attribute	Vendor ID	Vendor Attribute ID
Cisco ASA VPN	26 Vendor-Specific	3076	25
Fortinet VPN	26 Vendor-Specific	12356	1
Palo Alto VPN	26 Vendor-Specific	25461	5
SonicWall VPN	26 Vendor-Specific	8741	3
Citrix VPN	26 Vendor-Specific	66	16

Configure the following Policy details for the Radius Client.

Group Name:	Group for which the policy will apply.
Policy Name:	Any Identifier that specifies policy name.
Login Method	Login Method for the users associated with this policy.
Enable 2-Factor Authentication	Enables Second Factor during Login for users associated with this policy.
Enable Adaptive Authentication	Enables Adaptive Authentication for Login of users associated with this policy.

After configuring the given above details, Click on Save button.

Note: You can follow this guide, if you want to configure Radius MFA using MSCHAPv2 protocol.

NOTE:

On-Premise

Only For On-Premise Version

Open Firewall Ports.

In order to receive the RADIUS request, it is necessary to open UDP traffic on ports 1812 and 1813 for the machine where On-Premise IdP is deployed.
If the hosting machine is a Windows Machine then you can follow this document.
If the hosting machine is a Linux Machine then you can follow this document.

NOTE:

2. Configure PostgreSQL Server as radius client

Locate and edit the pg_hba.conf configuration file and perform the following commands in command line.


    updatedb
    locate pg_hba.conf
    vi /etc/postgresql/12/main/pg_hba.conf

Add the following line at the beginning of this file.

host all all 0.0.0.0/0 radius radiusservers=<MO Radius IP> radiussecrets=<radius password> radiusports=1812

Restart the PostgreSQL service using service postgresql restart
Connect to the PostgreSQL server using the admin account and the password set on the Active directory using psql -h 127.0.0.1 -U <username> -W <password>

This step involves Importing the user group from the Active Directory and Provisioning them.
Go to Provisioning. Switch to Setup Provisioning tab and select Active Directory from Dropdown menu.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for PostgreSQL : Select Active Directory (AD)

Select Group Provisioning/Deprovisioning tab, and toggle on Import Group option.
Enter the Base DN for group sync and click Save.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for PostgreSQL : Enter BaseDN

If you want to dynamically allocate users to the groups present in the miniOrange, then enable "Assign Users to groups"

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for PostgreSQL : Switch on import Group

Now switch to Import Groups option and select Active Directory from which you want to import your users.
Finally, click on Import button. Your group will be imported.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for PostgreSQL : User group imported successfully

(The Active Directory Group Provisioning (Sync) setup is done. Now, whenever a user is created or modified in LDAP server and if the Assign Users to groups is enabled, then user group attribute from the LDAP server will be automatically synced and the user group will be assigned or changed accordingly in miniOrange.)

Select Groups >> Manage Groups from left panel.
Click on the Create Group button on the top.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for PostgreSQL Manage Groups

Enter an appropriate Group Name and click on Create Group.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for PostgreSQL Create Groups

In this guide we have created a Group by name VPN_Group.
Assign various members to the group using the Assign User option associated with the group in the groups list.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for PostgreSQL User Assign

Select the Users that are required to be assigned to this group. Then Select Assign to Group in Select Action Dropdown and click on Apply button.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for PostgreSQL Assignment to Group

These groups will be helpful in adding multiple 2FA policies on the applications.

6. Setup MFA for PostgreSQL

Note: You can follow this guide, if you want to customize and enroll MFA for end users.

Here, we will configure a policy for the User Group that we created in this step and associate it with the PostgreSQL VPN Application.
Click on Policies tab >> App Login Policy.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for PostgreSQL App Authentication Policy

Click on Add Policy tab.
In Application section, select the RADIUS App that we configured earlier in Step 1.
Select the required User Group in Group Name and enter the Policy name.
In this guide, we will configure a Password Only policy for "VPN_Group", so that only the VPN_Group members can access VPN Services without a Second Factor.
Once done with the policy settings, click on Save to Add Policy.

MFA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for PostgreSQL App Add Policy

7. Test 2FA for PostgreSQL Login

Connect to your Postgres database using either the CLI or pgAdmin.
Enter your username.
When prompted for your password, enter your password with the 2-Factor Authentication code appended to it. For e.g., if your password is 'password', and the 2FA code is 412324, then enter this when prompted for the password - 'password412324'
After successful authentication, you'll be connected to your Postgres database.

Further References

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