Tunnel permissions

A remotely-managed tunnel only requires the tunnel token to run. Anyone with access to the token will be able to run the tunnel.

View the tunnel token

To get the token for a remotely-managed tunnel:

Dashboard

1. In Zero Trust ↗, go to Networks > Tunnels.
2. Select a cloudflared tunnel and select Edit.
3. Copy cloudflared installation command.
4. Paste the installation command into any text editor. The token value is of the form eyJhIjoiNWFiNGU5Z...

API

Make a GET request to the Cloudflare Tunnel token endpoint. The token value can be found in the result:

{
  "success": true,
  "errors": [],
  "messages": [],
  "result": "eyJhIjoiNWFiNGU5Z..."
}

Rotate a token without service disruption

Cloudflare recommends rotating the tunnel token at a regular cadence to reduce the risk of token compromise. You can rotate a token with minimal disruption to users as long as the tunnel is served by at least two cloudflared replicas. To ensure service availability, we recommend performing token rotations outside of working hours or in a maintenance window.

To rotate a tunnel token:

1. Refresh the token on Cloudflare:

   Dashboard
   1. In Zero Trust ↗, go to Networks > Tunnels.
   2. Select a cloudflared tunnel and select Edit.
   3. Select Refresh token.
   4. Copy the cloudflared installation command for your operating system. This command contains the new token.
   API

   1. Generate a random base64 string (minimum size 32 bytes) to use as a tunnel secret:

      openssl rand -base64 32

      AQIDBAUGBwgBAgMEBQYHCAECAwQFBgcIAQIDBAUGBwg=

   2. Make a PATCH request to the Cloudflare Tunnel endpoint:

      curl --request PATCH \
      https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/cfd_tunnel/$TUNNEL_ID \
      --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
      --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \
      --data '{
        "name": "Example tunnel",
        "tunnel_secret": "AQIDBAUGBwgBAgMEBQYHCAECAwQFBgcIAQIDBAUGBwg="
      }'

      {
        "success": true,
        "errors": [],
        "messages": [],
        "result": {
          "id": "f70ff985-a4ef-4643-bbbc-4a0ed4fc8415",
          "account_tag": "699d98642c564d2e855e9661899b7252",
          "created_at": "2024-12-04T22:03:26.291225Z",
          "deleted_at": null,
          "name": "Example tunnel",
          "connections": [],
          "conns_active_at": null,
          "conns_inactive_at": "2024-12-04T22:03:26.291225Z",
          "tun_type": "cfd_tunnel",
          "metadata": {},
          "status": "inactive",
          "remote_config": true,
          "token": "eyJhIjoiNWFiNGU5Z..."
        }
      }

   3. Copy the token value shown in the output.

   After refreshing the token, cloudflared can no longer establish new connections to Cloudflare using the old token. However, existing connectors will remain active and the tunnel will continue serving traffic.

2. On half of your cloudflared replicas, update cloudflared to use the new token. For example, on a Linux host:

   sudo cloudflared service install <TOKEN>

3. Restart cloudflared:

   sudo systemctl restart cloudflared.service

4. Confirm that the service started correctly:

   sudo systemctl status cloudflared

   While these replicas are connecting to Cloudflare with the new token, traffic will automatically route through the other replicas.

5. Wait 10 minutes for traffic to route through the new connectors.

6. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 for the second half of the replicas.

The tunnel token is now fully rotated. The old token is no longer in use.

Rotate a compromised token

If your tunnel token is compromised, we recommend taking the following steps:

1. Refresh the token using the dashboard or API. Refer to Step 1 of Rotate a token without service disruption.

2. Delete all connections between cloudflared and Cloudflare:

   curl --request DELETE \
   https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/cfd_tunnel/$TUNNEL_ID/connections \
   --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN"

   This will clean up any unauthorized connections and prevent users from connecting to your network.

3. On each cloudflared replica, update cloudflared to use the new token. For example, on a Linux host:

   sudo cloudflared service install <TOKEN>

4. Restart cloudflared:

   sudo systemctl restart cloudflared.service

5. Confirm that the service started correctly:

   sudo systemctl status cloudflared

The tunnel token is now fully rotated. The old token is no longer in use.

Account-scoped roles

Minimum permissions needed to create, delete, and configure tunnels for an account:

• Cloudflare Access

Additional permissions needed to route traffic to a public hostname:

• DNS