Re: fscrypt and FIPS

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 



Very quickly,
our current assessment is that HKDF is approved to be used only within
the protocols explicitly approved in FIPS 140-3 IG and 800-135r1, which
include TLS 1.3 but not generally.

I will come back with more info an pointers asap.

Simo.

On Wed, 2021-02-10 at 15:07 -0500, Thibaud Ecarot wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> HKDF is widely used in various HSM so this is necessarily compliant
> with FIPS 140-3 or 140-2. I have in mind Thales Luna HSM. I am curious
> why this statement was made on your side.
> 
> Thanks Jeff.
> 
> Thibaud
> 
> 
> Le mer. 10 févr. 2021, à 14 h 30, Jeff Layton <jlayton@xxxxxxxxxx> a écrit :
> > On Wed, 2021-02-10 at 09:49 -0800, Eric Biggers wrote:
> > > On Wed, Feb 10, 2021 at 08:14:08AM -0500, Jeff Layton wrote:
> > > > Hi Eric,
> > > > 
> > > > I'm still working on the ceph+fscrypt patches (it's been slow going, but
> > > > I am making progress). Eventually RH would like to ship this as a
> > > > feature, but there is one potential snag that  -- a lot of our customers
> > > > need their boxes to be FIPS-enabled [1].
> > > > 
> > > > Most of the algorithms and implementations that fscrypt use are OK, but
> > > > HKDF is not approved outside of TLS 1.3. The quote from our lab folks
> > > > is:
> > > > 
> > > > "HKDF is not approved as a general-purpose KDF, but only for SP800-56C
> > > > rev2 compliant use. That means that HKDF is only to be used to derive a
> > > > key from a ECDH/DH or RSA-wrapped shared secret. This includes TLS 1.3."
> > > > 
> > > > Would you be amenable to allowing the KDF to be pluggable in some
> > > > fashion, like the filename and content encryption algorithms are? It
> > > > would be nice if we didn't have to disable this feature on FIPS-enabled
> > > > boxes.
> > > > 
> > > > [1]: https://www.nist.gov/itl/fips-general-information
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks!
> > > > --
> > > > Jeff Layton <jlayton@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > > 
> > > Can you elaborate on why you think that HKDF isn't FIPS approved?  It's been
> > > recommended by NIST 800-56C since 2011, and almost any cryptographic application
> > > developed within the last 10 years is likely to be using HKDF, if it needs a
> > > non-passphrase based KDF.
> > > 
> > > In fact one of the reasons for switching from the weird AES-ECB-based KDF used
> > > in v1 encryption policies to HKDF-SHA512 is that HKDF is much more standard.
> > > 
> > > Are you sure you're looking at the latest version of FIPS?
> > > 
> > > And if HKDF isn't approved, what *is* approved, exactly?
> > > 
> > > As far as supporting a new KDF if it were necessary, one of the reserved fields
> > > in fscrypt_add_key_arg, fscrypt_policy_v2, fscrypt_context_v2, and
> > > fscrypt_provisioning_key_payload could be used to specify the KDF.  This would
> > > the first time someone has done so, so there would also be work required to add
> > > a '--kdf' parameter to the userspace tools, and make the kernel keep track of
> > > the keys for each KDF version separately.  Plus maybe some other things too.
> > > 
> > > I did figure that a new KDF might have to be supported eventually, but not to
> > > replace the HKDF construction (which is provably secure), but rather if someone
> > > wants to use something other than SHA-512 (which isn't provably secure).  I'm
> > > not too enthusiastic about adding another KDF that uses the same underlying hash
> > > function, as there would be no technical reason for this.
> > > 
> > > Note that the fscrypt userspace tool (https://github.com/google/fscrypt) also
> > > uses HKDF for a key derivation step in userspace, separately from the kernel.
> > > I suppose you'd want to change that too?
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > Bah, I meant to cc Simo on this since he's the one who brought it up. I
> > know just enough to be dangerous.
> > 
> > Simo, can you answer Eric's questions, or loop in someone who can?
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > --
> > Jeff Layton <jlayton@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > 
> 
> 





[Index of Archives]     [linux Cryptography]     [Asterisk App Development]     [PJ SIP]     [Gnu Gatekeeper]     [IETF Sipping]     [Info Cyrus]     [ALSA User]     [Fedora Linux Users]     [Linux SCTP]     [DCCP]     [Gimp]     [Yosemite News]     [Deep Creek Hot Springs]     [Yosemite Campsites]     [ISDN Cause Codes]

  Powered by Linux