keys-ecryptfs.txt 3.1 KB

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  1. Encrypted keys for the eCryptfs filesystem
  2. ECryptfs is a stacked filesystem which transparently encrypts and decrypts each
  3. file using a randomly generated File Encryption Key (FEK).
  4. Each FEK is in turn encrypted with a File Encryption Key Encryption Key (FEFEK)
  5. either in kernel space or in user space with a daemon called 'ecryptfsd'. In
  6. the former case the operation is performed directly by the kernel CryptoAPI
  7. using a key, the FEFEK, derived from a user prompted passphrase; in the latter
  8. the FEK is encrypted by 'ecryptfsd' with the help of external libraries in order
  9. to support other mechanisms like public key cryptography, PKCS#11 and TPM based
  10. operations.
  11. The data structure defined by eCryptfs to contain information required for the
  12. FEK decryption is called authentication token and, currently, can be stored in a
  13. kernel key of the 'user' type, inserted in the user's session specific keyring
  14. by the userspace utility 'mount.ecryptfs' shipped with the package
  15. 'ecryptfs-utils'.
  16. The 'encrypted' key type has been extended with the introduction of the new
  17. format 'ecryptfs' in order to be used in conjunction with the eCryptfs
  18. filesystem. Encrypted keys of the newly introduced format store an
  19. authentication token in its payload with a FEFEK randomly generated by the
  20. kernel and protected by the parent master key.
  21. In order to avoid known-plaintext attacks, the datablob obtained through
  22. commands 'keyctl print' or 'keyctl pipe' does not contain the overall
  23. authentication token, which content is well known, but only the FEFEK in
  24. encrypted form.
  25. The eCryptfs filesystem may really benefit from using encrypted keys in that the
  26. required key can be securely generated by an Administrator and provided at boot
  27. time after the unsealing of a 'trusted' key in order to perform the mount in a
  28. controlled environment. Another advantage is that the key is not exposed to
  29. threats of malicious software, because it is available in clear form only at
  30. kernel level.
  31. Usage:
  32. keyctl add encrypted name "new ecryptfs key-type:master-key-name keylen" ring
  33. keyctl add encrypted name "load hex_blob" ring
  34. keyctl update keyid "update key-type:master-key-name"
  35. name:= '<16 hexadecimal characters>'
  36. key-type:= 'trusted' | 'user'
  37. keylen:= 64
  38. Example of encrypted key usage with the eCryptfs filesystem:
  39. Create an encrypted key "1000100010001000" of length 64 bytes with format
  40. 'ecryptfs' and save it using a previously loaded user key "test":
  41. $ keyctl add encrypted 1000100010001000 "new ecryptfs user:test 64" @u
  42. 19184530
  43. $ keyctl print 19184530
  44. ecryptfs user:test 64 490045d4bfe48c99f0d465fbbbb79e7500da954178e2de0697
  45. dd85091f5450a0511219e9f7cd70dcd498038181466f78ac8d4c19504fcc72402bfc41c2
  46. f253a41b7507ccaa4b2b03fff19a69d1cc0b16e71746473f023a95488b6edfd86f7fdd40
  47. 9d292e4bacded1258880122dd553a661
  48. $ keyctl pipe 19184530 > ecryptfs.blob
  49. Mount an eCryptfs filesystem using the created encrypted key "1000100010001000"
  50. into the '/secret' directory:
  51. $ mount -i -t ecryptfs -oecryptfs_sig=1000100010001000,\
  52. ecryptfs_cipher=aes,ecryptfs_key_bytes=32 /secret /secret