Nginx Ingress Basic Auth Does Not Work in Kubernetes? Here’s the Fix!

Are you stuck with Nginx ingress basic authentication in your Kubernetes cluster? You’re not alone! This article will guide you through the common pitfalls and provide a step-by-step solution to get basic auth working with Nginx ingress in Kubernetes.

What is Nginx Ingress?

Nginx ingress is a popular ingress controller for Kubernetes clusters. It provides a single entry point for incoming traffic, allowing you to manage and route traffic to your cluster’s services. One of the features of Nginx ingress is support for basic authentication, which enables you to restrict access to your services using a username and password.

The Problem: Basic Auth Not Working

But, what happens when you try to implement basic auth with Nginx ingress in Kubernetes, and it simply doesn’t work? You’ve configured everything correctly, but still, users can access your services without providing credentials. Frustrating, right? Don’t worry; we’re here to help you troubleshoot and fix this issue.

Common Causes of Basic Auth Failure

Before we dive into the solution, let’s identify the common causes of basic auth failure with Nginx ingress in Kubernetes:

• Incorrect configuration
• Missing or incorrect annotations
• Wrong ingress class
• Insufficient permissions
• Misconfigured custom auth

Solution: Step-by-Step Guide

Now, let’s walk through the steps to get basic auth working with Nginx ingress in Kubernetes:

Step 1: Create a Secret for Basic Auth

Create a Kubernetes secret to store your basic auth credentials:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: basic-auth-credentials
type: Opaque
data:
  username: <base64 encoded username>
  password: <base64 encoded password>

Replace `` and `` with the actual base64 encoded values of your desired username and password.

Step 2: Configure Ingress Annotations

Update your ingress resource to include the necessary annotations for basic auth:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: example-ingress
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-type: "basic"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-secret: "basic-auth-credentials"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-realm: "Protected Area"
spec:
  rules:
  - host: example.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        backend:
          serviceName: example-service
          servicePort: 80

kubectl apply -f ingress.yaml
kubectl get ingress example-ingress -o yaml

curl -v -u username:password http://example.com