Encrypt attribute values manually without needing save callback

.github/workflows/run-tests.yml

@@ -10,13 +10,13 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         # https://endoflife.date/ruby
-        ruby: ["2.7", "3.0", "3.1", "3.2"]
-        vault: ["1.11.9", "1.12.5", "1.13.1"]
+        ruby: ["2.7", "3.0", "3.1", "3.3"]
+        vault: ["1.11.9", "1.19.5", "1.20.4", "1.21.0"]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 5
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@3df4ab11eba7bda6032a0b82a6bb43b11571feac # v4.0.0
-      - uses: ruby/setup-ruby@250fcd6a742febb1123a77a841497ccaa8b9e939 # v1.152.0
+      - uses: ruby/setup-ruby@ab177d40ee5483edb974554986f56b33477e21d0 # v1.265.0
         with:
           ruby-version: ${{ matrix.ruby }}
           bundler-cache: true # runs 'bundle install' and caches installed gems automatically

Gemfile

@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@ source "https://rubygems.org"
 RAILS_VERSION = ENV.fetch("RAILS_VERSION", "6.0.0")
 
 gem "rails", "~> #{RAILS_VERSION}"
+
+# Rails versions before 7.1 have a dependency on concurrent-ruby but 
+# we need to pin to 1.3.4 because later versions removed a dependency on Logger
+# that we need to start tests.
+gem "concurrent-ruby", "1.3.4"
+
 if RAILS_VERSION.start_with?("6")
   gem "sqlite3", "~> 1.4"
 end

README.md

@@ -332,6 +332,21 @@ So for the example above, the key would be:
 
     my_app_people_ssn
 
+### Encrypting without Saving
+Normally, vault-rails will wait until the after_save callback to encrypt changed
+values before updating them. If you'd like to encrypt changed attributes without
+saving, call `vault_encrypt_attributes!`
+
+```ruby
+p = Person.new(ssn: "123-45-6789")
+p.ssn_encrypted
+=> nil
+p.vault_encrypt_attributes!
+p.ssn_encrypted
+=> "vault:dev:flu/yp9oeYYFgjcZH2hVBA=="
+p.persisted?
+=> false
+```
 
 ### Searching Encrypted Attributes
 Because each column is uniquely encrypted, it is not possible to search for a
@@ -345,7 +360,6 @@ Person.where(ssn: "123-45-6789")
 This is because the database is unaware of the plain-text data (which is part of
 the security model).
 
-
 Development
 -----------
 ↥ [back to top](#table-of-contents)

lib/vault/encrypted_model.rb

@@ -325,12 +325,7 @@ def __vault_persist_attributes!
       # Encrypt a single attribute using Vault and persist back onto the
       # encrypted attribute value.
       def __vault_persist_attribute!(attribute, options)
-        key        = options[:key]
-        path       = options[:path]
-        serializer = options[:serializer]
-        column     = options[:encrypted_column]
-        context    = options[:context]
-        transform  = options[:transform_secret]
+        column = options[:encrypted_column]
 
         # Only persist changed attributes to minimize requests - this helps
         # minimize the number of requests to Vault.
@@ -346,6 +341,19 @@ def __vault_persist_attribute!(attribute, options)
 
         # Get the current value of the plaintext attribute
         plaintext = attributes[attribute.to_s]
+        ciphertext = __vault_write_encrypted_attribute!(plaintext, options)
+
+        # Return the updated column so we can save
+        { column => ciphertext }
+      end
+
+      def __vault_write_encrypted_attribute!(plaintext, options)
+        column     = options[:encrypted_column]
+        key        = options[:key]
+        path       = options[:path]
+        serializer = options[:serializer]
+        context    = options[:context]
+        transform  = options[:transform_secret]
 
         # Apply the serialize to the plaintext value, if one exists
         if serializer
@@ -372,8 +380,7 @@ def __vault_persist_attribute!(attribute, options)
         # to get the ciphertext
         write_attribute(column, ciphertext)
 
-        # Return the updated column so we can save
-        { column => ciphertext }
+        ciphertext
       end
 
       # Generates an Vault Transit encryption context for use on derived keys.
@@ -405,6 +412,18 @@ def reload(*)
           self.__vault_initialize_attributes!
         end
       end
+
+      def vault_encrypt_attributes!
+        self.class.__vault_attributes.each do |attribute, options|
+          next if !attribute_changed?(attribute) && options[:default].nil?
+
+          # Get the current value of the plaintext attribute
+          plaintext = attributes[attribute.to_s]
+
+          __vault_write_encrypted_attribute!(plaintext, options)
+        end
+        self
+      end
     end
   end
 end

spec/integration/rails_spec.rb

@@ -746,4 +746,41 @@
       expect(person.credit_card).to eq("1234567890111213")
     end
   end
+
+  context "manual encryption" do
+    describe "#vault_encrypt_attributes!" do
+      it "encrypts vault attributes without saving" do
+        person = Person.new(ssn: "123-45-6789", favorite_color: "green")
+        expect {
+          person.vault_encrypt_attributes!
+        }.to change {
+          person.ssn_encrypted
+        }.from(nil).to(be_a(String))
+
+        expect(person.favorite_color).to eq("green")
+        expect(person.favorite_color_encrypted).to be_present
+      end
+
+      it "returns self" do
+        person = Person.new
+        result = person.vault_encrypt_attributes!
+        expect(result).to be(person)
+      end
+
+      it "encrypts attributes with a default option" do
+        person = Person.new
+        expect(person.default).to eq("abc123")
+        expect(person.default_with_serializer).to eq({})
+
+        expect {
+          person.vault_encrypt_attributes!
+        }.to change {
+          person.default_encrypted
+        }.from(nil).to(be_a(String))
+         .and change {
+          person.default_with_serializer_encrypted
+        }.from(nil).to(be_a(String))
+      end
+    end
+  end
 end