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author | Daiki Ueno <dueno@redhat.com> | 2020-05-18 12:25:42 +0200 |
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committer | Daiki Ueno <ueno@gnu.org> | 2020-05-20 07:00:13 +0200 |
commit | 27c29e341656252c9e52bdb581d9c36c16035fc4 (patch) | |
tree | 572d2d22ceb23cdc4e25129aaad4c7d366a9f204 /doc | |
parent | a9f907be146be0df2cc756c19543ec1d10ccdef9 (diff) | |
download | gnutls-27c29e341656252c9e52bdb581d9c36c16035fc4.tar.gz |
fips: make FIPS140-2 mode enablement logic simpler
Previously, to enable the FIPS140-2 mode, both /etc/system-fips and
the fips=1 kernel command line need to be set. While this was
designed to be consistent, the convention is not well followed by the
other crypto libraries and the former tends to be ignored. This
aligns the behavior to the latter, i.e. if fips=1 is set, the library
enables the FIPS140-2 mode regardless of the existence of
/etc/system-fips.
Suggested by Alexander Sosedkin.
Signed-off-by: Daiki Ueno <dueno@redhat.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'doc')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/cha-internals.texi | 22 |
1 files changed, 18 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/doc/cha-internals.texi b/doc/cha-internals.texi index 2a9bc1a45b..f188caecc9 100644 --- a/doc/cha-internals.texi +++ b/doc/cha-internals.texi @@ -667,15 +667,29 @@ is for the conformance to NIST's FIPS140-2 publication, which consists of polici for cryptographic modules (such as software libraries). Its implementation in GnuTLS is designed for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and can only be enabled when the library is explicitly compiled with the '--enable-fips140-mode' -configure option. The operation of the library is then modified, as follows. +configure option. + +There are two distinct library states with regard to FIPS140-2: the FIPS140-2 +mode is @emph{installed} if @code{/etc/system-fips} is present, and the +FIPS140-2 mode is @emph{enabled} if @code{/proc/sys/crypto/fips_enabled} +contains '1', which is typically set with the ``fips=1'' kernel command line +option. + +When the FIPS140-2 mode is installed, the operation of the library is modified +as follows. @itemize -@item FIPS140-2 mode is enabled when @code{/proc/sys/crypto/fips_enabled} contains '1' and @code{/etc/system-fips} is present. -@item Only approved by FIPS140-2 algorithms are enabled -@item Only approved by FIPS140-2 key lengths are allowed for key generation @item The random generator used switches to DRBG-AES @item The integrity of the GnuTLS and dependent libraries is checked on startup @item Algorithm self-tests are run on library load +@end itemize + +When the FIPS140-2 mode is enabled, The operation of the library is in addition +modified as follows. + +@itemize +@item Only approved by FIPS140-2 algorithms are enabled +@item Only approved by FIPS140-2 key lengths are allowed for key generation @item Any cryptographic operation will be refused if any of the self-tests failed @end itemize |