What happens if an approach to access a secret is denied via policy?

When an approach to access a secret is denied via policy in HashiCorp Vault, the outcome is that the request is forbidden. In this context, policies are a critical component of Vault's access control mechanism, dictating which actions a user, application, or service account is permitted to perform.

When a request is made to access a secret and it doesn't comply with the defined policies, Vault responds by denying access. This results in a clear and unambiguous denial, communicating that the requester doesn't have the necessary permissions to access the specified resource or secret. The response to this denial is typically accompanied by an error message indicating that the request is forbidden.

The design of this access control system ensures that only authorized entities can access sensitive data, maintaining the security and integrity of the secrets stored within Vault. This safeguard is crucial in environments where strict compliance and data security are paramount.

The other outcomes, such as timeouts, automatic retries, and even logging for audit purposes, do not accurately reflect the behavior defined by Vault's access policies. While logging is a valuable feature, it does not occur as the immediate action for a denied request but is part of the broader auditing framework in Vault.