Inspect PyPI event logs to audit your account's and project's security

To help you check for security problems, PyPI is adding an advanced audit log of user actions beyond the current (existing) journal. This will, for instance, allow publishers to track all actions taken by third party services on their behalf.

This beta feature is live now on PyPI and on Test PyPI.

Background:
We're further increasing the security of the Python Package Index with another new beta feature: an audit log of sensitive actions that affect users and projects. This is thanks to a grant from the Open Technology Fund, coordinated by the Packaging Working Group of the Python Software Foundation.

Details:

Project security history display, listing
events (such as "file removed from release version 1.0.1")
with user, date/time, and IP address for each event.

We're adding a display so you can look at things that have happened in your user account or project, and check for signs someone's stolen your credentials.

In your account settings, you can view a log of sensitive actions from the last two weeks that are relevant to your user account, and if you are an Owner at least one project on PyPI, you can go to that project's Manage Project page to view a log of sensitive actions (performed by any user) relevant to that project. (And PyPI site administrators are able to view the full audit log for all users and all projects.)

Please help us test this, and report issues.

User security history display, listing
events (such as "API token added")
with additional details (such as token scope), date/time,
and IP address for each event.

In beta:
We're still refining this and may fail to log, or to properly display, events in the audit log. And the sensitive event logging and display starting on 16 August 2019, so you won't see sensitive events from before that date. (Read more technical details about implementation in the GitHub issue.)

Next:
We're continuing to refine all our beta features, while working on accessibility improvements and starting to work on localization on PyPI. Follow our progress reports in more detail on Discourse.

PyPI now supports uploading via API token

We're further increasing the security of the Python Package Index with another new beta feature: scoped API tokens for package upload. This is thanks to a grant from the Open Technology Fund, coordinated by the Packaging Working Group of the Python Software Foundation.

Over the last few months, we've added two-factor authentication (2FA) login security methods. We added Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) support in late May and physical security device support in mid-June. Now, over 1600 users have started using physical security devices or TOTP applications to better secure their accounts. And over the past week, over 7.8% of logins to PyPI.org have been protected by 2FA, up from 3% in the month of June.

Now, we have another improvement: you can use API tokens to upload packages to PyPI and Test PyPI! And we've designed the token to be a drop-in replacement for the username and password you already use (warning: this is a beta feature that we need your help to test).

PyPI interface for adding an
API token for package upload

How it works: Go to your PyPI account settings and select "Add API token". When you create an API token, you choose its scope: you can create a token that can upload to all the projects you maintain or own, or you can limit its scope to just one project.


The token management screen shows you when each of your tokens were created, and last used. And you can revoke one token without revoking others, and without having to change your password on PyPI and in configuration files.

PyPI API token management interface

Uploading with an API token is currently optional but encouraged; in the future, PyPI will set and enforce a policy requiring users with two-factor authentication enabled to use API tokens to upload (rather than just their password sans second factor). Watch our announcement mailing list for future details.

Immediately after creating the API token,
PyPI gives the user one chance to copy it

Why: These API tokens can only be used to upload packages to PyPI, and not to log in more generally. This makes it safer to automate package upload and store the credential in the cloud, since a thief who copies the token won't also gain the ability to delete the project, delete old releases, or add or remove collaborators. And, since the token is a long character string (with 32 bytes of entropy and a service identifier) that PyPI has securely generated on the server side, we vastly reduce the potential for credential reuse on other sites and for a bad actor to guess the token.


Help us test: Please try this out! This is a beta feature and we expect that users will find minor issues over the next few weeks; we ask for your bug reports. If you find any potential security vulnerabilities, please follow our published security policy. (Please don't report security issues in Warehouse via GitHub, IRC, or mailing lists. Instead, please directly email [email protected].) If you find an issue that is not a security vulnerability, please report it via GitHub.

We'd particularly like testing from:

• Organizations that automate uploads using continuous integration
• People who save PyPI credentials in a .pypirc file
• Windows users
• People on mobile devices
• People on very slow connections
• Organizations where users share an auth token within a group
• Projects with 4+ maintainers or owners
• People who usually block cookies and JavaScript
• People who maintain 20+ projects
• People who created their PyPI account 6+ years ago

What's next for PyPI: Next, we'll move on to working on an advanced audit trail of sensitive user actions, plus improvements to accessibility and localization for PyPI (some of which have already started). More details are in our progress reports on Discourse.

Thanks to the Open Technology Fund for funding this work. And please sign up for the PyPI Announcement Mailing List for future updates.

Written by Sumana Harihareswara, published initially to https://pyfound.blogspot.com/2019/07/pypi-now-supports-uploading-via-api.html

PyPI Now Supports Two-Factor Login via WebAuthn

To further increase the security of Python package downloads, we're adding a new beta feature to the Python Package Index: WebAuthn support for U2F compatible hardware security keys as a two-factor authentication (2FA) login security method. This is thanks to a grant from the Open Technology Fund, coordinated by the Packaging Working Group of the Python Software Foundation.

Last month, we added the first 2FA method for users logging into the canonical Python Package Index at PyPI.org and the test site at test.pypi.org. Hundreds of project owners and maintainers have now started using that method (generating a code through a Time-based One-time Password (TOTP) application) to better secure their accounts.

Starting today, PyPI also supports (in beta) WebAuthn (U2F compatible) security keys for a second login factor. A security key (also known as a universal second factor, or U2F compatible key) is hardware device that communicates via USB, NFC, or Bluetooth. Popular keys include Yubikey, Google Titan and Thetis. PyPI supports any FIDO U2F compatible key and follows the WebAuthn standard. Users who have set up this second factor will be prompted to use their key (usually by inserting it into a USB port and pressing a button) when logging in. (This feature requires JavaScript.)

This is a beta feature and we expect that users will find minor issues over the next few weeks; we ask for your bug reports. If you find any potential security vulnerabilities, please follow our published security policy. (Please don't report security issues in Warehouse via GitHub, IRC, or mailing lists. Instead, please directly email one or more of our maintainers.) If you find an issue that is not a security vulnerability, please report it via GitHub.

We encourage project maintainers and owners to log in and go to your Account Settings to add a second factor. This will help improve the security of your PyPI user accounts, and thus reduce the risk of vandals, spammers, and thieves gaining account access. If you're not yet comfortable using a beta feature, you can provision a TOTP application for your second factor.

You'll need to verify your primary email address on your Test PyPI and/or PyPI accounts before setting up 2FA. You can also do that in your Account Settings.

2FA only affects login via the website, which safeguards against malicious changes to project ownership, deletion of old releases, and account takeovers. Package uploads will continue to work without users providing 2FA codes.

But that's just for now. We are working on implementing per-user API keys as an alternative form of multifactor authentication in the setuptools/twine/PyPI auth flows. These will be application-specific tokens scoped to individual users/projects, so that users will be able to use token-based logins to better secure uploads. And we'll move on to working on an advanced audit trail of sensitive user actions, plus improvements to accessibility and localization for PyPI. More details are in our progress reports.

Thanks to the Open Technology Fund for funding this work. And please sign up for the PyPI Announcement Mailing List for future updates.

Use two-factor auth to improve your PyPI account's security

To increase the security of Python package downloads, we're beginning to introduce two-factor authentication (2FA) as a login security option on the Python Package Index. This is thanks to a grant from the Open Technology Fund; coordinated by the Packaging Working Group of the Python Software Foundation.

Starting today, the canonical Python Package Index at PyPI.org and the test site at test.pypi.org offer 2FA for all users. We encourage project maintainers and owners to log in and go to their Account Settings to add a second factor. This will help improve the security of their PyPI user accounts, and thus reduce the risk of vandals, spammers, and thieves gaining account access.

PyPI's maintainers tested this new feature throughout May and fixed several resulting bug reports; regardless, you might find a new issue. If you find any potential security vulnerabilities, please follow our published security policy. (Please don't report security issues in Warehouse via GitHub, IRC, or mailing lists. Instead, please directly email one or more of our maintainers.) If you find an issue that is not a security vulnerability, please report it via GitHub.

PyPI currently supports a single 2FA method: generating a code through a Time-based One-time Password (TOTP) application. After you set up 2FA on your PyPI account, then you must provide a TOTP (along with your username and password) to log in. Therefore, to use 2FA on PyPI, you'll need to provision an application (usually a mobile phone app) in order to generate authentication codes; see our FAQ for suggestions and pointers.

You'll need to verify your primary email address on your Test PyPI and/or PyPI accounts before setting up 2FA. You can also do that in your Account Settings.

Currently, only TOTP is supported as a 2FA method. Also, 2FA only affects login via the website which safeguards against malicious changes to project ownership, deletion of old releases, and account take overs. Package uploads will continue to work without 2FA codes being provided.

But we're not done! We're currently working on WebAuthn-based multi-factor authentication, which will let you use, for instance, Yubikeys for your second factor. Then we'll add API keys for package upload, then an advanced audit trail of sensitive user actions. More details are in our progress reports.

Thanks to the Open Technology Fund for funding this work. And please sign up for the PyPI Announcement Mailing List for future updates.