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Concepts

Just-In-Time Access with Socat

Andrios Robert

• 1 min read

A locked system waits. Access will be granted, but only when it’s needed, and only for as long as it’s required. This is the core of Just-In-Time (JIT) Access, and Socat is one of the simplest, most reliable ways to make it real.

What Just-In-Time Access Means
JIT Access reduces attack surface by removing permanent credentials and standing permissions. Users, processes, and services gain access temporarily, triggered by demand. When the session ends, privileges vanish. No leftover keys. No blind trust.

Socat as a Transport Layer for JIT Access
Socat is a command-line utility that creates bidirectional data streams between two endpoints. It handles TCP, UDP, Unix sockets, and more. Combined with JIT Access workflows, Socat becomes a controlled gateway, only activated when necessary.

Instead of exposing services 24/7, use Socat to open connections dynamically:

  • Bind on demand: Create a listener only when a user requests access.
  • Restrict duration: Kill the Socat process automatically after minutes or hours.
  • Enforce auth at the edge: Wrap Socat behind short-lived certificates or one-time tokens.

Practical Setup
Grant a developer temporary SSH access to a production database:

socat TCP-LISTEN:5432,reuseaddr,fork TLS:db.example.com:5432,cert=/tmp/jit-cert.pem,key=/tmp/jit-key.pem

This listener runs only for the approved window. After shutdown, the path closes. Everything resets.

Security Advantages

  • No persistent open ports
  • No stale credentials in configs
  • Fast revocation by killing the transport layer
  • Reduces blast radius in case of compromise

Operational Flow

  1. Request access through a controlled system.
  2. System provisions a Socat tunnel with strict timeouts.
  3. Access expires automatically without admin intervention.

This approach scales across environments, CI/CD pipelines, and secure remote debugging. It works wherever you can run Socat and script lifecycle controls.

Stop leaving doors open. Start granting only the access that’s needed, exactly when it’s needed. See live Just-In-Time Access with Socat in minutes at hoop.dev.