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crypto-API.tmpl
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" []>
<book id="KernelCryptoAPI">
<bookinfo>
<title>Linux Kernel Crypto API</title>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Stephan</firstname>
<surname>Mueller</surname>
<affiliation>
<address>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Marek</firstname>
<surname>Vasut</surname>
<affiliation>
<address>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</address>
</affiliation>
</author>
</authorgroup>
<copyright>
<year>2014</year>
<holder>Stephan Mueller</holder>
</copyright>
<legalnotice>
<para>
This documentation is free software; you can redistribute
it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version.
</para>
<para>
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
See the GNU General Public License for more details.
</para>
<para>
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston,
MA 02111-1307 USA
</para>
<para>
For more details see the file COPYING in the source
distribution of Linux.
</para>
</legalnotice>
</bookinfo>
<toc></toc>
<chapter id="Intro">
<title>Kernel Crypto API Interface Specification</title>
<sect1><title>Introduction</title>
<para>
The kernel crypto API offers a rich set of cryptographic ciphers as
well as other data transformation mechanisms and methods to invoke
these. This document contains a description of the API and provides
example code.
</para>
<para>
To understand and properly use the kernel crypto API a brief
explanation of its structure is given. Based on the architecture,
the API can be separated into different components. Following the
architecture specification, hints to developers of ciphers are
provided. Pointers to the API function call documentation are
given at the end.
</para>
<para>
The kernel crypto API refers to all algorithms as "transformations".
Therefore, a cipher handle variable usually has the name "tfm".
Besides cryptographic operations, the kernel crypto API also knows
compression transformations and handles them the same way as ciphers.
</para>
<para>
The kernel crypto API serves the following entity types:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>consumers requesting cryptographic services</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>data transformation implementations (typically ciphers)
that can be called by consumers using the kernel crypto
API</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
This specification is intended for consumers of the kernel crypto
API as well as for developers implementing ciphers. This API
specification, however, does not discuss all API calls available
to data transformation implementations (i.e. implementations of
ciphers and other transformations (such as CRC or even compression
algorithms) that can register with the kernel crypto API).
</para>
<para>
Note: The terms "transformation" and cipher algorithm are used
interchangably.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Terminology</title>
<para>
The transformation implementation is an actual code or interface
to hardware which implements a certain transformation with precisely
defined behavior.
</para>
<para>
The transformation object (TFM) is an instance of a transformation
implementation. There can be multiple transformation objects
associated with a single transformation implementation. Each of
those transformation objects is held by a crypto API consumer or
another transformation. Transformation object is allocated when a
crypto API consumer requests a transformation implementation.
The consumer is then provided with a structure, which contains
a transformation object (TFM).
</para>
<para>
The structure that contains transformation objects may also be
referred to as a "cipher handle". Such a cipher handle is always
subject to the following phases that are reflected in the API calls
applicable to such a cipher handle:
</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Initialization of a cipher handle.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Execution of all intended cipher operations applicable
for the handle where the cipher handle must be furnished to
every API call.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Destruction of a cipher handle.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>
When using the initialization API calls, a cipher handle is
created and returned to the consumer. Therefore, please refer
to all initialization API calls that refer to the data
structure type a consumer is expected to receive and subsequently
to use. The initialization API calls have all the same naming
conventions of crypto_alloc_*.
</para>
<para>
The transformation context is private data associated with
the transformation object.
</para>
</sect1>
</chapter>
<chapter id="Architecture"><title>Kernel Crypto API Architecture</title>
<sect1><title>Cipher algorithm types</title>
<para>
The kernel crypto API provides different API calls for the
following cipher types:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Symmetric ciphers</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>AEAD ciphers</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Message digest, including keyed message digest</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Random number generation</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>User space interface</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Ciphers And Templates</title>
<para>
The kernel crypto API provides implementations of single block
ciphers and message digests. In addition, the kernel crypto API
provides numerous "templates" that can be used in conjunction
with the single block ciphers and message digests. Templates
include all types of block chaining mode, the HMAC mechanism, etc.
</para>
<para>
Single block ciphers and message digests can either be directly
used by a caller or invoked together with a template to form
multi-block ciphers or keyed message digests.
</para>
<para>
A single block cipher may even be called with multiple templates.
However, templates cannot be used without a single cipher.
</para>
<para>
See /proc/crypto and search for "name". For example:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>aes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ecb(aes)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>cmac(aes)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ccm(aes)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>rfc4106(gcm(aes))</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>sha1</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>hmac(sha1)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>authenc(hmac(sha1),cbc(aes))</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
In these examples, "aes" and "sha1" are the ciphers and all
others are the templates.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Synchronous And Asynchronous Operation</title>
<para>
The kernel crypto API provides synchronous and asynchronous
API operations.
</para>
<para>
When using the synchronous API operation, the caller invokes
a cipher operation which is performed synchronously by the
kernel crypto API. That means, the caller waits until the
cipher operation completes. Therefore, the kernel crypto API
calls work like regular function calls. For synchronous
operation, the set of API calls is small and conceptually
similar to any other crypto library.
</para>
<para>
Asynchronous operation is provided by the kernel crypto API
which implies that the invocation of a cipher operation will
complete almost instantly. That invocation triggers the
cipher operation but it does not signal its completion. Before
invoking a cipher operation, the caller must provide a callback
function the kernel crypto API can invoke to signal the
completion of the cipher operation. Furthermore, the caller
must ensure it can handle such asynchronous events by applying
appropriate locking around its data. The kernel crypto API
does not perform any special serialization operation to protect
the caller's data integrity.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Crypto API Cipher References And Priority</title>
<para>
A cipher is referenced by the caller with a string. That string
has the following semantics:
<programlisting>
template(single block cipher)
</programlisting>
where "template" and "single block cipher" is the aforementioned
template and single block cipher, respectively. If applicable,
additional templates may enclose other templates, such as
<programlisting>
template1(template2(single block cipher)))
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
The kernel crypto API may provide multiple implementations of a
template or a single block cipher. For example, AES on newer
Intel hardware has the following implementations: AES-NI,
assembler implementation, or straight C. Now, when using the
string "aes" with the kernel crypto API, which cipher
implementation is used? The answer to that question is the
priority number assigned to each cipher implementation by the
kernel crypto API. When a caller uses the string to refer to a
cipher during initialization of a cipher handle, the kernel
crypto API looks up all implementations providing an
implementation with that name and selects the implementation
with the highest priority.
</para>
<para>
Now, a caller may have the need to refer to a specific cipher
implementation and thus does not want to rely on the
priority-based selection. To accommodate this scenario, the
kernel crypto API allows the cipher implementation to register
a unique name in addition to common names. When using that
unique name, a caller is therefore always sure to refer to
the intended cipher implementation.
</para>
<para>
The list of available ciphers is given in /proc/crypto. However,
that list does not specify all possible permutations of
templates and ciphers. Each block listed in /proc/crypto may
contain the following information -- if one of the components
listed as follows are not applicable to a cipher, it is not
displayed:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>name: the generic name of the cipher that is subject
to the priority-based selection -- this name can be used by
the cipher allocation API calls (all names listed above are
examples for such generic names)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>driver: the unique name of the cipher -- this name can
be used by the cipher allocation API calls</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>module: the kernel module providing the cipher
implementation (or "kernel" for statically linked ciphers)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>priority: the priority value of the cipher implementation</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>refcnt: the reference count of the respective cipher
(i.e. the number of current consumers of this cipher)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>selftest: specification whether the self test for the
cipher passed</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>type:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>blkcipher for synchronous block ciphers</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>ablkcipher for asynchronous block ciphers</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>cipher for single block ciphers that may be used with
an additional template</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>shash for synchronous message digest</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>ahash for asynchronous message digest</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>aead for AEAD cipher type</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>compression for compression type transformations</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>rng for random number generator</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>givcipher for cipher with associated IV generator
(see the geniv entry below for the specification of the
IV generator type used by the cipher implementation)</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>blocksize: blocksize of cipher in bytes</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>keysize: key size in bytes</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>ivsize: IV size in bytes</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>seedsize: required size of seed data for random number
generator</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>digestsize: output size of the message digest</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>geniv: IV generation type:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>eseqiv for encrypted sequence number based IV
generation</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>seqiv for sequence number based IV generation</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>chainiv for chain iv generation</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><builtin> is a marker that the cipher implements
IV generation and handling as it is specific to the given
cipher</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Key Sizes</title>
<para>
When allocating a cipher handle, the caller only specifies the
cipher type. Symmetric ciphers, however, typically support
multiple key sizes (e.g. AES-128 vs. AES-192 vs. AES-256).
These key sizes are determined with the length of the provided
key. Thus, the kernel crypto API does not provide a separate
way to select the particular symmetric cipher key size.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Cipher Allocation Type And Masks</title>
<para>
The different cipher handle allocation functions allow the
specification of a type and mask flag. Both parameters have
the following meaning (and are therefore not covered in the
subsequent sections).
</para>
<para>
The type flag specifies the type of the cipher algorithm.
The caller usually provides a 0 when the caller wants the
default handling. Otherwise, the caller may provide the
following selections which match the the aforementioned
cipher types:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_CIPHER Single block cipher</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_COMPRESS Compression</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_AEAD Authenticated Encryption with
Associated Data (MAC)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_BLKCIPHER Synchronous multi-block cipher</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_ABLKCIPHER Asynchronous multi-block cipher</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_GIVCIPHER Asynchronous multi-block
cipher packed together with an IV generator (see geniv field
in the /proc/crypto listing for the known IV generators)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_DIGEST Raw message digest</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_HASH Alias for CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_DIGEST</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_SHASH Synchronous multi-block hash</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_AHASH Asynchronous multi-block hash</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_RNG Random Number Generation</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_PCOMPRESS Enhanced version of
CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_COMPRESS allowing for segmented compression /
decompression instead of performing the operation on one
segment only. CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_PCOMPRESS is intended to replace
CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_COMPRESS once existing consumers are converted.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
The mask flag restricts the type of cipher. The only allowed
flag is CRYPTO_ALG_ASYNC to restrict the cipher lookup function
to asynchronous ciphers. Usually, a caller provides a 0 for the
mask flag.
</para>
<para>
When the caller provides a mask and type specification, the
caller limits the search the kernel crypto API can perform for
a suitable cipher implementation for the given cipher name.
That means, even when a caller uses a cipher name that exists
during its initialization call, the kernel crypto API may not
select it due to the used type and mask field.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Internal Structure of Kernel Crypto API</title>
<para>
The kernel crypto API has an internal structure where a cipher
implementation may use many layers and indirections. This section
shall help to clarify how the kernel crypto API uses
various components to implement the complete cipher.
</para>
<para>
The following subsections explain the internal structure based
on existing cipher implementations. The first section addresses
the most complex scenario where all other scenarios form a logical
subset.
</para>
<sect2><title>Generic AEAD Cipher Structure</title>
<para>
The following ASCII art decomposes the kernel crypto API layers
when using the AEAD cipher with the automated IV generation. The
shown example is used by the IPSEC layer.
</para>
<para>
For other use cases of AEAD ciphers, the ASCII art applies as
well, but the caller may not use the GIVCIPHER interface. In
this case, the caller must generate the IV.
</para>
<para>
The depicted example decomposes the AEAD cipher of GCM(AES) based
on the generic C implementations (gcm.c, aes-generic.c, ctr.c,
ghash-generic.c, seqiv.c). The generic implementation serves as an
example showing the complete logic of the kernel crypto API.
</para>
<para>
It is possible that some streamlined cipher implementations (like
AES-NI) provide implementations merging aspects which in the view
of the kernel crypto API cannot be decomposed into layers any more.
In case of the AES-NI implementation, the CTR mode, the GHASH
implementation and the AES cipher are all merged into one cipher
implementation registered with the kernel crypto API. In this case,
the concept described by the following ASCII art applies too. However,
the decomposition of GCM into the individual sub-components
by the kernel crypto API is not done any more.
</para>
<para>
Each block in the following ASCII art is an independent cipher
instance obtained from the kernel crypto API. Each block
is accessed by the caller or by other blocks using the API functions
defined by the kernel crypto API for the cipher implementation type.
</para>
<para>
The blocks below indicate the cipher type as well as the specific
logic implemented in the cipher.
</para>
<para>
The ASCII art picture also indicates the call structure, i.e. who
calls which component. The arrows point to the invoked block
where the caller uses the API applicable to the cipher type
specified for the block.
</para>
<programlisting>
<![CDATA[
kernel crypto API | IPSEC Layer
|
+-----------+ |
| | (1)
| givcipher | <----------------------------------- esp_output
| (seqiv) | ---+
+-----------+ |
| (2)
+-----------+ |
| | <--+ (2)
| aead | <----------------------------------- esp_input
| (gcm) | ------------+
+-----------+ |
| (3) | (5)
v v
+-----------+ +-----------+
| | | |
| ablkcipher| | ahash |
| (ctr) | ---+ | (ghash) |
+-----------+ | +-----------+
|
+-----------+ | (4)
| | <--+
| cipher |
| (aes) |
+-----------+
]]>
</programlisting>
<para>
The following call sequence is applicable when the IPSEC layer
triggers an encryption operation with the esp_output function. During
configuration, the administrator set up the use of rfc4106(gcm(aes)) as
the cipher for ESP. The following call sequence is now depicted in the
ASCII art above:
</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
esp_output() invokes crypto_aead_givencrypt() to trigger an encryption
operation of the GIVCIPHER implementation.
</para>
<para>
In case of GCM, the SEQIV implementation is registered as GIVCIPHER
in crypto_rfc4106_alloc().
</para>
<para>
The SEQIV performs its operation to generate an IV where the core
function is seqiv_geniv().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Now, SEQIV uses the AEAD API function calls to invoke the associated
AEAD cipher. In our case, during the instantiation of SEQIV, the
cipher handle for GCM is provided to SEQIV. This means that SEQIV
invokes AEAD cipher operations with the GCM cipher handle.
</para>
<para>
During instantiation of the GCM handle, the CTR(AES) and GHASH
ciphers are instantiated. The cipher handles for CTR(AES) and GHASH
are retained for later use.
</para>
<para>
The GCM implementation is responsible to invoke the CTR mode AES and
the GHASH cipher in the right manner to implement the GCM
specification.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The GCM AEAD cipher type implementation now invokes the ABLKCIPHER API
with the instantiated CTR(AES) cipher handle.
</para>
<para>
During instantiation of the CTR(AES) cipher, the CIPHER type
implementation of AES is instantiated. The cipher handle for AES is
retained.
</para>
<para>
That means that the ABLKCIPHER implementation of CTR(AES) only
implements the CTR block chaining mode. After performing the block
chaining operation, the CIPHER implementation of AES is invoked.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The ABLKCIPHER of CTR(AES) now invokes the CIPHER API with the AES
cipher handle to encrypt one block.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The GCM AEAD implementation also invokes the GHASH cipher
implementation via the AHASH API.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>
When the IPSEC layer triggers the esp_input() function, the same call
sequence is followed with the only difference that the operation starts
with step (2).
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2><title>Generic Block Cipher Structure</title>
<para>
Generic block ciphers follow the same concept as depicted with the ASCII
art picture above.
</para>
<para>
For example, CBC(AES) is implemented with cbc.c, and aes-generic.c. The
ASCII art picture above applies as well with the difference that only
step (4) is used and the ABLKCIPHER block chaining mode is CBC.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2><title>Generic Keyed Message Digest Structure</title>
<para>
Keyed message digest implementations again follow the same concept as
depicted in the ASCII art picture above.
</para>
<para>
For example, HMAC(SHA256) is implemented with hmac.c and
sha256_generic.c. The following ASCII art illustrates the
implementation:
</para>
<programlisting>
<![CDATA[
kernel crypto API | Caller
|
+-----------+ (1) |
| | <------------------ some_function
| ahash |
| (hmac) | ---+
+-----------+ |
| (2)
+-----------+ |
| | <--+
| shash |
| (sha256) |
+-----------+
]]>
</programlisting>
<para>
The following call sequence is applicable when a caller triggers
an HMAC operation:
</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
The AHASH API functions are invoked by the caller. The HMAC
implementation performs its operation as needed.
</para>
<para>
During initialization of the HMAC cipher, the SHASH cipher type of
SHA256 is instantiated. The cipher handle for the SHA256 instance is
retained.
</para>
<para>
At one time, the HMAC implementation requires a SHA256 operation
where the SHA256 cipher handle is used.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The HMAC instance now invokes the SHASH API with the SHA256
cipher handle to calculate the message digest.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>
<chapter id="Development"><title>Developing Cipher Algorithms</title>
<sect1><title>Registering And Unregistering Transformation</title>
<para>
There are three distinct types of registration functions in
the Crypto API. One is used to register a generic cryptographic
transformation, while the other two are specific to HASH
transformations and COMPRESSion. We will discuss the latter
two in a separate chapter, here we will only look at the
generic ones.
</para>
<para>
Before discussing the register functions, the data structure
to be filled with each, struct crypto_alg, must be considered
-- see below for a description of this data structure.
</para>
<para>
The generic registration functions can be found in
include/linux/crypto.h and their definition can be seen below.
The former function registers a single transformation, while
the latter works on an array of transformation descriptions.
The latter is useful when registering transformations in bulk.
</para>
<programlisting>
int crypto_register_alg(struct crypto_alg *alg);
int crypto_register_algs(struct crypto_alg *algs, int count);
</programlisting>
<para>
The counterparts to those functions are listed below.
</para>
<programlisting>
int crypto_unregister_alg(struct crypto_alg *alg);
int crypto_unregister_algs(struct crypto_alg *algs, int count);
</programlisting>
<para>
Notice that both registration and unregistration functions
do return a value, so make sure to handle errors. A return
code of zero implies success. Any return code < 0 implies
an error.
</para>
<para>
The bulk registration / unregistration functions require
that struct crypto_alg is an array of count size. These
functions simply loop over that array and register /
unregister each individual algorithm. If an error occurs,
the loop is terminated at the offending algorithm definition.
That means, the algorithms prior to the offending algorithm
are successfully registered. Note, the caller has no way of
knowing which cipher implementations have successfully
registered. If this is important to know, the caller should
loop through the different implementations using the single
instance *_alg functions for each individual implementation.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Single-Block Symmetric Ciphers [CIPHER]</title>
<para>
Example of transformations: aes, arc4, ...
</para>
<para>
This section describes the simplest of all transformation
implementations, that being the CIPHER type used for symmetric
ciphers. The CIPHER type is used for transformations which
operate on exactly one block at a time and there are no
dependencies between blocks at all.
</para>
<sect2><title>Registration specifics</title>
<para>
The registration of [CIPHER] algorithm is specific in that
struct crypto_alg field .cra_type is empty. The .cra_u.cipher
has to be filled in with proper callbacks to implement this
transformation.
</para>
<para>
See struct cipher_alg below.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2><title>Cipher Definition With struct cipher_alg</title>
<para>
Struct cipher_alg defines a single block cipher.
</para>
<para>
Here are schematics of how these functions are called when
operated from other part of the kernel. Note that the
.cia_setkey() call might happen before or after any of these
schematics happen, but must not happen during any of these
are in-flight.
</para>
<para>
<programlisting>
KEY ---. PLAINTEXT ---.
v v
.cia_setkey() -> .cia_encrypt()
|
'-----> CIPHERTEXT
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
Please note that a pattern where .cia_setkey() is called
multiple times is also valid:
</para>
<para>
<programlisting>
KEY1 --. PLAINTEXT1 --. KEY2 --. PLAINTEXT2 --.
v v v v
.cia_setkey() -> .cia_encrypt() -> .cia_setkey() -> .cia_encrypt()
| |
'---> CIPHERTEXT1 '---> CIPHERTEXT2
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Multi-Block Ciphers [BLKCIPHER] [ABLKCIPHER]</title>
<para>
Example of transformations: cbc(aes), ecb(arc4), ...
</para>
<para>
This section describes the multi-block cipher transformation
implementations for both synchronous [BLKCIPHER] and
asynchronous [ABLKCIPHER] case. The multi-block ciphers are
used for transformations which operate on scatterlists of
data supplied to the transformation functions. They output
the result into a scatterlist of data as well.
</para>
<sect2><title>Registration Specifics</title>
<para>
The registration of [BLKCIPHER] or [ABLKCIPHER] algorithms
is one of the most standard procedures throughout the crypto API.
</para>
<para>
Note, if a cipher implementation requires a proper alignment
of data, the caller should use the functions of
crypto_blkcipher_alignmask() or crypto_ablkcipher_alignmask()
respectively to identify a memory alignment mask. The kernel
crypto API is able to process requests that are unaligned.
This implies, however, additional overhead as the kernel
crypto API needs to perform the realignment of the data which
may imply moving of data.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2><title>Cipher Definition With struct blkcipher_alg and ablkcipher_alg</title>
<para>
Struct blkcipher_alg defines a synchronous block cipher whereas
struct ablkcipher_alg defines an asynchronous block cipher.
</para>
<para>
Please refer to the single block cipher description for schematics
of the block cipher usage. The usage patterns are exactly the same
for [ABLKCIPHER] and [BLKCIPHER] as they are for plain [CIPHER].
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2><title>Specifics Of Asynchronous Multi-Block Cipher</title>
<para>
There are a couple of specifics to the [ABLKCIPHER] interface.
</para>
<para>
First of all, some of the drivers will want to use the
Generic ScatterWalk in case the hardware needs to be fed
separate chunks of the scatterlist which contains the
plaintext and will contain the ciphertext. Please refer
to the ScatterWalk interface offered by the Linux kernel
scatter / gather list implementation.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Hashing [HASH]</title>
<para>
Example of transformations: crc32, md5, sha1, sha256,...
</para>
<sect2><title>Registering And Unregistering The Transformation</title>
<para>
There are multiple ways to register a HASH transformation,
depending on whether the transformation is synchronous [SHASH]
or asynchronous [AHASH] and the amount of HASH transformations
we are registering. You can find the prototypes defined in
include/crypto/internal/hash.h:
</para>
<programlisting>
int crypto_register_ahash(struct ahash_alg *alg);
int crypto_register_shash(struct shash_alg *alg);
int crypto_register_shashes(struct shash_alg *algs, int count);
</programlisting>
<para>
The respective counterparts for unregistering the HASH
transformation are as follows:
</para>
<programlisting>
int crypto_unregister_ahash(struct ahash_alg *alg);
int crypto_unregister_shash(struct shash_alg *alg);