Re: [PATCH v2] Documentation: crypto: add info about "fips=" boot option

Stephan Mueller
2021-03-31T07:50:35Z

Am Dienstag, dem 30.03.2021 um 15:44 -0700 schrieb Eric Biggers:
> On Tue, Mar 30, 2021 at 09:38:55AM -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
> > On 3/29/21 10:29 PM, Eric Biggers wrote:
> > > On Mon, Mar 29, 2021 at 10:06:51PM -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
> > > > Having just seen a report of using "fips=1" on the kernel command
> > > > line,
> > > > I could not find it documented anywhere, so add some help for it.
> > > >
> > > > Signed-off-by: Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org>
> > > > Cc: Dexuan Cui <decui@microsoft.com>
> > > > Cc: linux-crypto@vger.kernel.org
> > > > Cc: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>
> > > > Cc: Herbert Xu <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>
> > > > Cc: "David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>
> > > > Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
> > > > Cc: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org
> > > > ---
> > > > Updates/corrections welcome.
> > > >
> > > > v2: drop comment that "fips_enabled can cause some tests to be
> > > > skipped".
> > > >
> > > >  Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt |   14 ++++++++++++++
> > > >  1 file changed, 14 insertions(+)
> > > >
> > > > --- linux-next-20210329.orig/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-
> > > > parameters.txt
> > > > +++ linux-next-20210329/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-
> > > > parameters.txt
> > > > @@ -1370,6 +1370,20 @@
> > > >                         See Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/net.rst
> > > > for
> > > >                         fb_tunnels_only_for_init_ns
> > > >
> > > > +       fips=           Format: { 0 | 1}
> > > > +                       Use to disable (0) or enable (1) FIPS mode.
> > > > +                       If enabled, any process that is waiting on the
> > > > +                       'fips_fail_notif_chain' will be notified of
> > > > fips
> > > > +                       failures.
> > > > +                       This setting can also be modified via sysctl
> > > > at
> > > > +                       /proc/sysctl/crypto/fips_enabled, i.e.,
> > > > +                       crypto.fips_enabled.
> > > > +                       If fips_enabled = 1 and a test fails, it will
> > > > cause a
> > > > +                       kernel panic.
> > > > +                       If fips_enabled = 1, RSA test requires a key
> > > > size of
> > > > +                       2K or larger.
> > > > +                       It can also effect which ECC curve is used.
> > >
> > > This doesn't really explain why anyone would want to give this option.
> > > What high-level thing is this option meant to be accomplishing?
> > > That's what the documentation should explain.
> >
> > Yes, clearly, even to me.
> >
> > But I could not find anything in the kernel source tree that would help me
> > explain that.  So to repeat:
> >
> > > > Updates/corrections welcome.
> >
> > thanks.
> > --
>
> I'm by no means an expert on this, but the main thing I have in mind is that
> (IIUC) the "fips" option is only useful if your whole kernel binary is
> certified
> as a "FIPS cryptographic module", *and* you actually need the FIPS
> compliance.
> And the upstream kernel doesn't have a FIPS certification out of the box;
> that's
> a task for specific Linux distributors like Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu, who get
> specific kernel binaries certified.
>
> So, compiling a kernel and using the "fips" option is useless by itself, as
> your
> kernel image won't actually have a FIPS certification in that case anyway.
>
> So, I would expect an explanation like that about under what circumstances
> the
> "fips" option is actually useful and intended for.
>
> The people who actually use this option should be able to explain it
> properly
> though; the above is just my understanding...

The fips=1 flag serves the following purposes:

In-kernel:

- it restricts crypto algos to those which are marked as .fips_allowed in the
testmgr.c

- it causes the panic() if the signature verification of a KO providing a
crypto algo implementation fails

- it causes a specific behavior in driver/char/random.c (which was correct
till 4.8 but then got modified - patches to correct it in current kernels were
ignored)

- elevates the priority of crypto/drbg.c to ensure that when using stdrng the
DRBG is invoked

- ensures that the Jitter RNG is allocated as one seed source for
crypto/drbg.c

In user space:

- Various crypto libraries (OpenSSL, GnuTLS, libgcrypt, NSS) use the flag as
the trigger point to enable their FIPS-compliance with the goal to have one
central "knob" that enables the FIPS mode system-wide

- The boot system (e.g. dracut) starts its FIPS work (see dracut-fips).

Ciao
Stephan
>
> - Eric