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docs: fix modutil/P11_KIT_SERVER_ADDRESS ordering in PKCS#11 guide #534

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docs: fix modutil/P11_KIT_SERVER_ADDRESS ordering in PKCS#11 guide #534

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1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions .vale/styles/config/vocabularies/Smallstep/accept.txt
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -388,6 +388,7 @@ catalogued
certkeys
certmagic
certspotter
certutil
cfcc
chown
chxwEdmr
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11 changes: 8 additions & 3 deletions platform/smallstep-agent.mdx
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Expand Up @@ -347,14 +347,19 @@ For this example, we’re using Ubuntu 24.04. The location of `p11-kit-client.so

Let’s make client certificates and keys from the agent available to Google Chrome via PKCS#11 tokens. We will use `modutil` and an NSS database. Google Chrome defaults to storing an NSS database in `~/.pki/nssdb`, so we can leverage that.

To use Smallstep certificates in Chrome, run:
To use Smallstep certificates in Chrome, first point the p11-kit client library at the agent's running PKCS#11 socket, then register it with `modutil`:

```bash
export P11_KIT_SERVER_ADDRESS=unix:path=$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/step-agent/step-agent-pkcs11.sock

```
modutil -dbdir ~/.pki/nssdb -add step-agent \
-libfile /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/pkcs11/p11-kit-client.so
export P11_KIT_SERVER_ADDRESS=unix:path=$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/step-agent/step-agent-pkcs11.sock
```

<Alert severity="warning">
Export `P11_KIT_SERVER_ADDRESS` and point it at the running agent's socket **before** you run `modutil`. `modutil` loads and initializes the module as it adds it, so running it first fails with a load error and can leave a broken module registered in the NSS database. If you hit this, see [Recovering from a failed `modutil` add](./troubleshooting-agent.mdx#recovering-from-a-failed-modutil-add).
</Alert>

Next, start Chrome from the command line.

In Chrome, you should now have access to certificates managed by Smallstep.
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33 changes: 33 additions & 0 deletions platform/troubleshooting-agent.mdx
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Expand Up @@ -486,6 +486,39 @@ The location of `p11-kit-client.so` may vary by distribution.
5. See [PKCS#11 configuration guide](./smallstep-agent.mdx#openssl-and-pkcs11-support)
6. See the [p11-kit documentation](https://p11-glue.github.io/p11-glue/p11-kit/manual/) for general PKCS#11 reference

##### Recovering from a failed `modutil` add

If you ran `modutil -add` before exporting `P11_KIT_SERVER_ADDRESS` (see [OpenSSL and PKCS#11 support](./smallstep-agent.mdx#openssl-and-pkcs11-support)), the add can fail or register a broken module, because `modutil` loads `p11-kit-client.so` as it adds it and the client library cannot initialize without a reachable agent socket. To recover:

1. Close any application using the NSS database (for example, Google Chrome). `modutil` cannot modify a database that is in use.

2. List the modules currently registered to confirm the state:
```bash
modutil -dbdir ~/.pki/nssdb -list
```
You can also list modules with `certutil`:
```bash
certutil -d ~/.pki/nssdb -U
```

3. Remove the broken `step-agent` module:
```bash
modutil -dbdir ~/.pki/nssdb -delete step-agent
```
Add `-force` to skip the interactive confirmation prompt. If the add failed outright and nothing was registered, this reports that the module can't be found, which is harmless; skip to the next step.

4. Export `P11_KIT_SERVER_ADDRESS`, then re-add the module in the correct order:
```bash
export P11_KIT_SERVER_ADDRESS=unix:path=$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/step-agent/step-agent-pkcs11.sock
modutil -dbdir ~/.pki/nssdb -add step-agent \
-libfile /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/pkcs11/p11-kit-client.so
```

5. Confirm the module now lists its slots and tokens:
```bash
modutil -dbdir ~/.pki/nssdb -list step-agent
```

#### Cannot access a resource (wi-fi, VPN, web app)

**Symptoms:**
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