<feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom'>
<title>linux-stable.git/include/crypto/aes-gcm.h, branch master</title>
<subtitle>Linux kernel stable tree</subtitle>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/'/>
<entry>
<title>lib/crypto: aes: Add GCM support</title>
<updated>2026-07-22T19:01:11+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@kernel.org</email>
</author>
<published>2026-07-15T22:11:46+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=2a87486bc5c2bcb6c8085c4e4a3c8ee73a7c5c75'/>
<id>2a87486bc5c2bcb6c8085c4e4a3c8ee73a7c5c75</id>
<content type='text'>
Add support for AES-GCM to the crypto library.

This will be used to provide streamlined implementations of the
"gcm(aes)" and "rfc4106(gcm(aes))" crypto_aead algorithms.  Most users
of these will also be able to switch to the library, which as usual will
be faster and simpler, e.g.:

  - drivers/net/macsec.c
  - fs/smb/client/
  - fs/smb/server/
  - net/ceph/messenger_v2.c
  - net/mac80211/ (for both GMAC and GCMP)
  - net/tipc/crypto.c
  - security/keys/trusted-keys/trusted_dcp.c

(I've already written proof-of-concept patches for all the above, and
they helped inform the API design.)

As usual, the architecture-optimized AES-GCM code will be migrated into
the library as well (using the hooks provided in this commit as well as
the GHASH ones), eliminating lots of repetitive boilerplate code.

Incremental en/decryption is supported.  Incremental operation is a bit
controversial in AEAD APIs because users have to be careful not to
consume any decrypted data that hasn't been authenticated yet.  But I do
think it's the right choice here.  It's not fundamentally different from
the existing incremental MAC APIs, and it's the only approach that's
general enough to work well for all users in the kernel:

  - An array of virtually-addressed buffers (like that used by
    BoringSSL's EVP_AEAD_CTX_sealv() and EVP_AEAD_CTX_openv()) doesn't
    work in the kernel in general, since in some cases the data for a
    single AES-GCM message is contained in a large number of highmem
    pages that each need to be mapped into memory individually.  That
    can be done efficiently only by using CPU-local mappings, but there
    is a limited number of those.

    Ceph messenger v2 is a great example, as it can send or receive up
    to 32 MiB in a single AES-GCM message.  And it needs the
    en/decrypted data to go into a (potentially large) number of bvecs
    provided by a custom iterator, as well as into four
    virtually-addressed buffers, two of which can be large buffers in
    the vmalloc region.

    Even just allocating an array big enough to store all the pointers
    can be problematic in the kernel.  There are cases in which
    decryption runs in GFP_NOIO context or even in softirq context,
    where memory allocations are not as reliable as they normally are.

  - Meanwhile, 'struct scatterlist' (the choice of crypto_aead) has
    turned out to be really inconvenient for anyone who *does* just have
    virtually-addressed buffers.  This is especially true if they can be
    in the vmalloc region, including the stack, as in that case the
    conversion to a scatterlist has to be done page-by-page.

    And even for users who have all of their data in bare 'struct page',
    none of them actually use 'struct scatterlist' as their native data
    structure anyway.  They actually use skbs, bvecs, or other formats.

  - iov_iter is attractive, but ultimately not general enough either
    (considering the Ceph case for example), but also too general in
    some ways (like having support for userspace addresses).  Additional
    iter types like ITER_SKB would help a bit, but bloating iov_iter
    with more types would reduce performance elsewhere in the kernel.

Initial test coverage is provided by the crypto_aead support added in a
later commit.  I'm planning a KUnit test suite as well.

Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260715221153.246410-7-ebiggers@kernel.org
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260722021730.16897-1-ebiggers@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers &lt;ebiggers@kernel.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Add support for AES-GCM to the crypto library.

This will be used to provide streamlined implementations of the
"gcm(aes)" and "rfc4106(gcm(aes))" crypto_aead algorithms.  Most users
of these will also be able to switch to the library, which as usual will
be faster and simpler, e.g.:

  - drivers/net/macsec.c
  - fs/smb/client/
  - fs/smb/server/
  - net/ceph/messenger_v2.c
  - net/mac80211/ (for both GMAC and GCMP)
  - net/tipc/crypto.c
  - security/keys/trusted-keys/trusted_dcp.c

(I've already written proof-of-concept patches for all the above, and
they helped inform the API design.)

As usual, the architecture-optimized AES-GCM code will be migrated into
the library as well (using the hooks provided in this commit as well as
the GHASH ones), eliminating lots of repetitive boilerplate code.

Incremental en/decryption is supported.  Incremental operation is a bit
controversial in AEAD APIs because users have to be careful not to
consume any decrypted data that hasn't been authenticated yet.  But I do
think it's the right choice here.  It's not fundamentally different from
the existing incremental MAC APIs, and it's the only approach that's
general enough to work well for all users in the kernel:

  - An array of virtually-addressed buffers (like that used by
    BoringSSL's EVP_AEAD_CTX_sealv() and EVP_AEAD_CTX_openv()) doesn't
    work in the kernel in general, since in some cases the data for a
    single AES-GCM message is contained in a large number of highmem
    pages that each need to be mapped into memory individually.  That
    can be done efficiently only by using CPU-local mappings, but there
    is a limited number of those.

    Ceph messenger v2 is a great example, as it can send or receive up
    to 32 MiB in a single AES-GCM message.  And it needs the
    en/decrypted data to go into a (potentially large) number of bvecs
    provided by a custom iterator, as well as into four
    virtually-addressed buffers, two of which can be large buffers in
    the vmalloc region.

    Even just allocating an array big enough to store all the pointers
    can be problematic in the kernel.  There are cases in which
    decryption runs in GFP_NOIO context or even in softirq context,
    where memory allocations are not as reliable as they normally are.

  - Meanwhile, 'struct scatterlist' (the choice of crypto_aead) has
    turned out to be really inconvenient for anyone who *does* just have
    virtually-addressed buffers.  This is especially true if they can be
    in the vmalloc region, including the stack, as in that case the
    conversion to a scatterlist has to be done page-by-page.

    And even for users who have all of their data in bare 'struct page',
    none of them actually use 'struct scatterlist' as their native data
    structure anyway.  They actually use skbs, bvecs, or other formats.

  - iov_iter is attractive, but ultimately not general enough either
    (considering the Ceph case for example), but also too general in
    some ways (like having support for userspace addresses).  Additional
    iter types like ITER_SKB would help a bit, but bloating iov_iter
    with more types would reduce performance elsewhere in the kernel.

Initial test coverage is provided by the crypto_aead support added in a
later commit.  I'm planning a KUnit test suite as well.

Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260715221153.246410-7-ebiggers@kernel.org
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260722021730.16897-1-ebiggers@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers &lt;ebiggers@kernel.org&gt;
</pre>
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</content>
</entry>
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