public inbox for stable@vger.kernel.org
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>
To: linux-crypto@vger.kernel.org
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>,
	"Jason A . Donenfeld" <Jason@zx2c4.com>,
	Herbert Xu <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>,
	Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>, Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>,
	stable@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] lib/crypto: chacha - Zeroize permuted_state before it leaves scope
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:29:20 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260326032920.39408-1-ebiggers@kernel.org> (raw)

Since the ChaCha permutation is invertible, the local variable
'permuted_state' is sufficient to compute the original 'state', and thus
the key, even after the permutation has been done.

While the kernel is quite inconsistent about zeroizing secrets on the
stack (and some prominent userspace crypto libraries don't bother at all
since it's not guaranteed to work anyway), the kernel does try to do it
as a best practice, especially in cases involving the RNG.

Thus, explicitly zeroize 'permuted_state' before it goes out of scope.

Fixes: c08d0e647305 ("crypto: chacha20 - Add a generic ChaCha20 stream cipher implementation")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>
---

This patch is targeting libcrypto-fixes

 lib/crypto/chacha-block-generic.c | 4 ++++
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)

diff --git a/lib/crypto/chacha-block-generic.c b/lib/crypto/chacha-block-generic.c
index 77f68de71066..4a6d627580cb 100644
--- a/lib/crypto/chacha-block-generic.c
+++ b/lib/crypto/chacha-block-generic.c
@@ -85,10 +85,12 @@ void chacha_block_generic(struct chacha_state *state,
 	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(state->x); i++)
 		put_unaligned_le32(permuted_state.x[i] + state->x[i],
 				   &out[i * sizeof(u32)]);
 
 	state->x[12]++;
+
+	chacha_zeroize_state(&permuted_state);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(chacha_block_generic);
 
 /**
  * hchacha_block_generic - abbreviated ChaCha core, for XChaCha
@@ -108,7 +110,9 @@ void hchacha_block_generic(const struct chacha_state *state,
 
 	chacha_permute(&permuted_state, nrounds);
 
 	memcpy(&out[0], &permuted_state.x[0], 16);
 	memcpy(&out[4], &permuted_state.x[12], 16);
+
+	chacha_zeroize_state(&permuted_state);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(hchacha_block_generic);

base-commit: 0138af2472dfdef0d56fc4697416eaa0ff2589bd
-- 
2.53.0


                 reply	other threads:[~2026-03-26  3:33 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: [no followups] expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=20260326032920.39408-1-ebiggers@kernel.org \
    --to=ebiggers@kernel.org \
    --cc=Jason@zx2c4.com \
    --cc=ardb@kernel.org \
    --cc=herbert@gondor.apana.org.au \
    --cc=linux-crypto@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=stable@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=tytso@mit.edu \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox