Automating MongoDB Password Rotation through A Script: Our Recent Innovation

Automating MongoDB Password Rotation

Our organization, IDMEXPRESS, has been working with numerous clients across various industries. However, one of the major challenges we recently encountered was managing password rotation for MongoDB databases.

Usually, MongoDB password rotation is completely manual, which takes a lot of time, invites human errors, and is a tedious task, making it harder to manage. Taking this as an opportunity, with the efforts of our internal security team, we started working to automate password rotation and make it reliable, repeatable, and secure.

What Was The Major Problem with MongoDB Password Rotation??

The problem starts with MongoDB not being integrated with any existing password management solution, like a password manager or any PAM solution. Thus, managing passwords either to change or rotate requires logging in, running commands, and updating records, which requires someone to do it by hand every single time.

This series of tasks makes the whole process time-consuming, error-prone, and inefficient, making the whole thing unable to scale well across a wide environments and systems. Thus, we needed a solution that could run automatically along with fitting into our PAM strategy.

How and What We Built? 

To find a solution for this, we started by developing a remote password changer for MondoDP using PowerShell and Mongo Shell. We prepared a script to change user passwords that needs no human involvement, which runs a set of Mongo shell commands.

Our script was capable of: 

• Securely connecting to the MongoDB instance,

• Authenticating using admin credentials (which can be stored securely),

• Running the password change command:

	db.changeUserPassword("username", "newSecurePassword")

• It also handles basic error checking,

• Logs the results for auditing

• Integrate with scheduling tools or even PAM tools like Delinea Secret Server.

The Process involved the following steps

• The PowerShell script starts by connecting to the MongoDB server.

• This script opens the Mongo shell at the back and runs the logic for password change

• If there are some errors, they are noticed and caught. A log is prepared so that the issue can be traced down.

The best part about the script is that it is prepared in such a way that it is not just limited to MongoDB. It could be used by different databases in the future after making the required adjustments to the script.

The Outcome of the whole process

On implementation, we were surprised to see the following outcomes

• Cut down manual effort by over 90%

• Align MongoDB with our broader password rotation policy

• Create a reusable solution that can be triggered automatically or on demand

• Improve our security and audit readiness

The Ultimate Learning

This use case reminded us how important it is to build small, practical automation solutions that solve specific pain points. We should not be too dependent on the complex tools; creating a well-thought-out custom script can also do the job perfectly and in an even better manner.

If you’re working with MongoDB and facing similar password management issues, I’d highly recommend looking into scripting out the process. It’s straightforward, effective, and pays off quickly in terms of both security and efficiency. If your organization is looking for an IAM or PAM implementation and managed service partner, then IDMEXPRESS is just a click away. Secure your tomorrow by contacting us today!

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