Just-In-Time Access with OpenSSL

The SSH session was alive for exactly eleven minutes. That was all it needed. Keys were granted, code was built, and access was gone before anyone could even think about stealing it. This is Just-In-Time (JIT) access with OpenSSL—fast, precise, and gone when the work is done.

Traditional credential management leaves long-lived keys in storage, waiting to be stolen or misused. Just-In-Time access changes that. With OpenSSL, you can issue short-lived certificates or keys on demand. You create the credential at the moment it’s needed, deliver it directly to the user or service, and revoke or expire it automatically within minutes. No unused credentials lying around. No stale secrets in repos or logs.

To implement Just-In-Time access with OpenSSL, start with ephemeral key generation. Use openssl genrsa or openssl ecparam to create private keys instantly when a request is authorized. Sign these keys with a short-lived certificate from an internal CA using openssl x509. Power it with an API that responds to verified requests, and you control who gets access, for how long, and under what conditions.

You can integrate this into CI/CD workflows, secure automation scripts, or live system administration. Each time a job or user needs access, the system calls the OpenSSL command set, issues the credential, and sets an instant expiry. Once done, the key vanishes—either deleted from disk or invalidated by certificate revocation. This forces a zero-trust lifecycle for every authentication event.

The benefits compound: reduced attack surface, no persistent secrets, easy compliance reporting, and a clear audit trail. Combining OpenSSL’s cryptographic toolkit with a Just-In-Time framework delivers ironclad access control without slowing down work.

Produce, use, revoke. That is the entire security cycle, and OpenSSL gives you the commands to automate it under your rules.

See Just-In-Time access with OpenSSL running in minutes—go to hoop.dev and watch it live.