Re: [dm-crypt] maximum keyfile size

[Matthias Schniedermeyer <ms@citd.de>]

On 28.06.2012 12:28, Heinz Diehl wrote:
> On 28.06.2012, Milan Broz wrote: 
> 
> > Passphrase is interactively entered string
> > (from real terminal, not stdint), keyfile is everything else.
> 
> So the length of a keyfile is equivalent to the length of a
> passphrase, or is there any difference which should let me choose a
> bigger keyfile than one containing 64 chars for "maximum security",
> assumed I'm using 512 bit encryption?

If you shoot for maximum security that means you need at last 512 bit of 
ENTROPHY not characters (per se). As there are "values/bits missing" (at 
least the "\n") a 64 char key can't have the full 512 bit entrophy.

But when using e.g. base64 encoding you can pack the full 512 bits of 
entrophy into 85.33 chars. Personally i round that up to 528 bit, to get 
an even 88 chars. For base64 encoding the length should be divisible by 
3, otherwise you still get 88 chars (in this case) but the rest is 
filled with one or two "=" (Which you could also strip, it's no like you 
you need to be able to decode the string.)

head -c 66 /dev/random | openssl base64 -A
which gets you 88 chars.
or
head -c 64 /dev/random | openssl base64 -A | tr -d =
which gets you 86 chars.

Case one has 528 bits of entropy.
Case two has 512 bits of entrophy + 4 "empty" bits.


Bis denn

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