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azure-keyvault-keys-rust

manage cryptographic keys with Rust

Covers Security Azure Microsoft Rust Access Control

Description

Azure Key Vault Keys library for Rust. Create, manage, and use cryptographic keys including RSA, EC, and HSM-protected keys. Triggers: "keyvault keys rust", "KeyClient rust", "create key rust", "encrypt rust", "wrap key rust", "sign rust".

SKILL.md

Azure Key Vault Keys library for Rust

Secure storage and management of cryptographic keys — RSA, EC, and HSM-protected.

Use this skill when:

  • An app needs to create or manage cryptographic keys in Key Vault from Rust
  • You need to wrap/unwrap data encryption keys (envelope encryption)
  • You need to sign or verify data with Key Vault keys
  • You need HSM-protected keys

IMPORTANT: Only use the official azure_security_keyvault_keys crate published by the azure-sdk crates.io user. Do NOT use unofficial or community crates. Official crates use underscores in names and none have version 0.21.0.

Installation

cargo add azure_security_keyvault_keys azure_identity tokio futures

If your code uses azure_core types directly, add azure_core to Cargo.toml. If you only use azure_security_keyvault_keys re-exports, direct azure_core dependency is optional.

Environment Variables

AZURE_KEYVAULT_URL=https://<vault-name>.vault.azure.net/ # Required for all operations

Authentication

use azure_identity::DeveloperToolsCredential;
use azure_security_keyvault_keys::KeyClient;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Local dev: DeveloperToolsCredential. Production: use ManagedIdentityCredential.
    let credential = DeveloperToolsCredential::new(None)?;
    let client = KeyClient::new(
        "https://<vault-name>.vault.azure.net/",
        credential.clone(),
        None,
    )?;

    let key = client.get_key("key-name", None).await?.into_model()?;
    println!("Key: {:?}", key.key);
    Ok(())
}

Core Workflow

Create Key

use azure_security_keyvault_keys::{
    models::{CreateKeyParameters, CurveName, KeyType},
    ResourceExt,
};

// Create an EC key
let body = CreateKeyParameters {
    kty: Some(KeyType::Ec),
    curve: Some(CurveName::P256),
    ..Default::default()
};

let key = client
    .create_key("key-name", body.try_into()?, None)
    .await?
    .into_model()?;

println!(
    "Name: {:?}, Type: {:?}, Version: {:?}",
    key.resource_id()?.name,
    key.key.as_ref().map(|k| k.kty.as_ref()),
    key.resource_id()?.version,
);

Update Key Properties

use azure_security_keyvault_keys::models::UpdateKeyPropertiesParameters;
use std::collections::HashMap;

#[allow(clippy::needless_update)]
let params = UpdateKeyPropertiesParameters {
    tags: Some(HashMap::from_iter(vec![("env".into(), "prod".into())])),
    ..Default::default()
};

client
    .update_key_properties("key-name", params.try_into()?, None)
    .await?
    .into_model()?;

Delete Key

client.delete_key("key-name", None).await?;

List Keys (Pagination)

list_key_properties returns a Pager<T> — iterate items directly:

use azure_security_keyvault_keys::ResourceExt;
use futures::TryStreamExt as _;

let mut pager = client.list_key_properties(None)?;
while let Some(key) = pager.try_next().await? {
    println!("Found: {}", key.resource_id()?.name);
}

Wrap / Unwrap (Envelope Encryption)

Key Vault performs crypto operations server-side — the private key never leaves the HSM:

use azure_security_keyvault_keys::{
    models::{
        CreateKeyParameters, EncryptionAlgorithm, KeyOperationParameters, KeyType,
    },
    ResourceExt, ResourceId,
};
use rand::random;

// Create a key encryption key (KEK)
let body = CreateKeyParameters {
    kty: Some(KeyType::Rsa),
    key_size: Some(2048),
    ..Default::default()
};

let key = client
    .create_key("kek-name", body.try_into()?, None)
    .await?
    .into_model()?;

// Generate a symmetric data encryption key (DEK)
let dek = random::<u32>().to_le_bytes().to_vec();

// Wrap the DEK with the KEK
let mut params = KeyOperationParameters {
    algorithm: Some(EncryptionAlgorithm::RsaOaep256),
    value: Some(dek.clone()),
    ..Default::default()
};
let wrapped = client
    .wrap_key("kek-name", params.clone().try_into()?, None)
    .await?
    .into_model()?;

// Retain the key version used to wrap so you can unwrap with the same version later
let ResourceId { version, .. } = wrapped.resource_id()?;
let key_version = version.as_deref().unwrap_or_default();

// Unwrap to recover the DEK
params.value = wrapped.result;
let unwrapped = client
    .unwrap_key("kek-name", key_version, params.try_into()?, None)
    .await?
    .into_model()?;

assert!(matches!(unwrapped.result, Some(ref result) if result.eq(&dek)));

Key Types

TypeUse CaseParameter
ECSigning, key agreementKeyType::Ec
RSAEncryption, signing, wrappingKeyType::Rsa
OctSymmetric operations (HSM)KeyType::Oct
EC-HSMHSM-protected EC keysKeyType::EcHsm
RSA-HSMHSM-protected RSA keysKeyType::RsaHsm

RBAC Roles

For Entra ID auth, assign one of these roles:

RoleAccess
Key Vault Crypto UserUse keys for crypto ops
Key Vault Crypto OfficerFull key management

Best Practices

  1. Use cargo add to manage dependencies, never edit Cargo.toml directly. Add and remove Rust SDK dependencies with cargo commands instead of manual manifest edits.
  2. Add azure_core only when importing azure_core types directly. If your code imports azure_core::http::Url, azure_core::http::RequestContent, or azure_core::error::ErrorKind, include azure_core; otherwise a direct dependency is optional.
  3. Use DeveloperToolsCredential for local dev, ManagedIdentityCredential for production — Rust does not provide a single DefaultAzureCredential type
  4. Never hardcode credentials — use environment variables or managed identity
  5. Use ..Default::default() with #[allow(clippy::needless_update)] for model struct updates
  6. Use ResourceExt to extract key name/version from key IDs
  7. Reuse clientsKeyClient is thread-safe; create once, share across tasks

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