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authorRoberto Sassu <roberto.sassu@polito.it>2011-06-27 13:45:44 +0200
committerMimi Zohar <zohar@linux.vnet.ibm.com>2011-06-27 15:11:17 +0200
commit79a73d188726b473ca3bf483244bc96096831905 (patch)
tree787ba050c91981cae2524b1e95e415424b067e64 /Documentation
parenteCryptfs: export global eCryptfs definitions to include/linux/ecryptfs.h (diff)
downloadlinux-79a73d188726b473ca3bf483244bc96096831905.tar.xz
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encrypted-keys: add ecryptfs format support
The 'encrypted' key type defines its own payload format which contains a symmetric key randomly generated that cannot be used directly to mount an eCryptfs filesystem, because it expects an authentication token structure. This patch introduces the new format 'ecryptfs' that allows to store an authentication token structure inside the encrypted key payload containing a randomly generated symmetric key, as the same for the format 'default'. More details about the usage of encrypted keys with the eCryptfs filesystem can be found in the file 'Documentation/keys-ecryptfs.txt'. Signed-off-by: Roberto Sassu <roberto.sassu@polito.it> Acked-by: Gianluca Ramunno <ramunno@polito.it> Acked-by: Tyler Hicks <tyhicks@linux.vnet.ibm.com> Signed-off-by: Mimi Zohar <zohar@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/keys-ecryptfs.txt68
-rw-r--r--Documentation/security/keys-trusted-encrypted.txt6
2 files changed, 72 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/keys-ecryptfs.txt b/Documentation/keys-ecryptfs.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c3bbeba63562
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/keys-ecryptfs.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+ Encrypted keys for the eCryptfs filesystem
+
+ECryptfs is a stacked filesystem which transparently encrypts and decrypts each
+file using a randomly generated File Encryption Key (FEK).
+
+Each FEK is in turn encrypted with a File Encryption Key Encryption Key (FEFEK)
+either in kernel space or in user space with a daemon called 'ecryptfsd'. In
+the former case the operation is performed directly by the kernel CryptoAPI
+using a key, the FEFEK, derived from a user prompted passphrase; in the latter
+the FEK is encrypted by 'ecryptfsd' with the help of external libraries in order
+to support other mechanisms like public key cryptography, PKCS#11 and TPM based
+operations.
+
+The data structure defined by eCryptfs to contain information required for the
+FEK decryption is called authentication token and, currently, can be stored in a
+kernel key of the 'user' type, inserted in the user's session specific keyring
+by the userspace utility 'mount.ecryptfs' shipped with the package
+'ecryptfs-utils'.
+
+The 'encrypted' key type has been extended with the introduction of the new
+format 'ecryptfs' in order to be used in conjunction with the eCryptfs
+filesystem. Encrypted keys of the newly introduced format store an
+authentication token in its payload with a FEFEK randomly generated by the
+kernel and protected by the parent master key.
+
+In order to avoid known-plaintext attacks, the datablob obtained through
+commands 'keyctl print' or 'keyctl pipe' does not contain the overall
+authentication token, which content is well known, but only the FEFEK in
+encrypted form.
+
+The eCryptfs filesystem may really benefit from using encrypted keys in that the
+required key can be securely generated by an Administrator and provided at boot
+time after the unsealing of a 'trusted' key in order to perform the mount in a
+controlled environment. Another advantage is that the key is not exposed to
+threats of malicious software, because it is available in clear form only at
+kernel level.
+
+Usage:
+ keyctl add encrypted name "new ecryptfs key-type:master-key-name keylen" ring
+ keyctl add encrypted name "load hex_blob" ring
+ keyctl update keyid "update key-type:master-key-name"
+
+name:= '<16 hexadecimal characters>'
+key-type:= 'trusted' | 'user'
+keylen:= 64
+
+
+Example of encrypted key usage with the eCryptfs filesystem:
+
+Create an encrypted key "1000100010001000" of length 64 bytes with format
+'ecryptfs' and save it using a previously loaded user key "test":
+
+ $ keyctl add encrypted 1000100010001000 "new ecryptfs user:test 64" @u
+ 19184530
+
+ $ keyctl print 19184530
+ ecryptfs user:test 64 490045d4bfe48c99f0d465fbbbb79e7500da954178e2de0697
+ dd85091f5450a0511219e9f7cd70dcd498038181466f78ac8d4c19504fcc72402bfc41c2
+ f253a41b7507ccaa4b2b03fff19a69d1cc0b16e71746473f023a95488b6edfd86f7fdd40
+ 9d292e4bacded1258880122dd553a661
+
+ $ keyctl pipe 19184530 > ecryptfs.blob
+
+Mount an eCryptfs filesystem using the created encrypted key "1000100010001000"
+into the '/secret' directory:
+
+ $ mount -i -t ecryptfs -oecryptfs_sig=1000100010001000,\
+ ecryptfs_cipher=aes,ecryptfs_key_bytes=32 /secret /secret
diff --git a/Documentation/security/keys-trusted-encrypted.txt b/Documentation/security/keys-trusted-encrypted.txt
index 0afcb5023c75..5f50ccabfc8a 100644
--- a/Documentation/security/keys-trusted-encrypted.txt
+++ b/Documentation/security/keys-trusted-encrypted.txt
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ Usage:
keyctl add encrypted name "load hex_blob" ring
keyctl update keyid "update key-type:master-key-name"
-format:= 'default'
+format:= 'default | ecryptfs'
key-type:= 'trusted' | 'user'
@@ -154,4 +154,6 @@ Load an encrypted key "evm" from saved blob:
24717c64 5972dcb82ab2dde83376d82b2e3c09ffc
Other uses for trusted and encrypted keys, such as for disk and file encryption
-are anticipated.
+are anticipated. In particular the new format 'ecryptfs' has been defined in
+in order to use encrypted keys to mount an eCryptfs filesystem. More details
+about the usage can be found in the file 'Documentation/keys-ecryptfs.txt'.