fscrypt.rst 29 KB

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  1. =====================================
  2. Filesystem-level encryption (fscrypt)
  3. =====================================
  4. Introduction
  5. ============
  6. fscrypt is a library which filesystems can hook into to support
  7. transparent encryption of files and directories.
  8. Note: "fscrypt" in this document refers to the kernel-level portion,
  9. implemented in ``fs/crypto/``, as opposed to the userspace tool
  10. `fscrypt <https://github.com/google/fscrypt>`_. This document only
  11. covers the kernel-level portion. For command-line examples of how to
  12. use encryption, see the documentation for the userspace tool `fscrypt
  13. <https://github.com/google/fscrypt>`_. Also, it is recommended to use
  14. the fscrypt userspace tool, or other existing userspace tools such as
  15. `fscryptctl <https://github.com/google/fscryptctl>`_ or `Android's key
  16. management system
  17. <https://source.android.com/security/encryption/file-based>`_, over
  18. using the kernel's API directly. Using existing tools reduces the
  19. chance of introducing your own security bugs. (Nevertheless, for
  20. completeness this documentation covers the kernel's API anyway.)
  21. Unlike dm-crypt, fscrypt operates at the filesystem level rather than
  22. at the block device level. This allows it to encrypt different files
  23. with different keys and to have unencrypted files on the same
  24. filesystem. This is useful for multi-user systems where each user's
  25. data-at-rest needs to be cryptographically isolated from the others.
  26. However, except for filenames, fscrypt does not encrypt filesystem
  27. metadata.
  28. Unlike eCryptfs, which is a stacked filesystem, fscrypt is integrated
  29. directly into supported filesystems --- currently ext4, F2FS, and
  30. UBIFS. This allows encrypted files to be read and written without
  31. caching both the decrypted and encrypted pages in the pagecache,
  32. thereby nearly halving the memory used and bringing it in line with
  33. unencrypted files. Similarly, half as many dentries and inodes are
  34. needed. eCryptfs also limits encrypted filenames to 143 bytes,
  35. causing application compatibility issues; fscrypt allows the full 255
  36. bytes (NAME_MAX). Finally, unlike eCryptfs, the fscrypt API can be
  37. used by unprivileged users, with no need to mount anything.
  38. fscrypt does not support encrypting files in-place. Instead, it
  39. supports marking an empty directory as encrypted. Then, after
  40. userspace provides the key, all regular files, directories, and
  41. symbolic links created in that directory tree are transparently
  42. encrypted.
  43. Threat model
  44. ============
  45. Offline attacks
  46. ---------------
  47. Provided that userspace chooses a strong encryption key, fscrypt
  48. protects the confidentiality of file contents and filenames in the
  49. event of a single point-in-time permanent offline compromise of the
  50. block device content. fscrypt does not protect the confidentiality of
  51. non-filename metadata, e.g. file sizes, file permissions, file
  52. timestamps, and extended attributes. Also, the existence and location
  53. of holes (unallocated blocks which logically contain all zeroes) in
  54. files is not protected.
  55. fscrypt is not guaranteed to protect confidentiality or authenticity
  56. if an attacker is able to manipulate the filesystem offline prior to
  57. an authorized user later accessing the filesystem.
  58. Online attacks
  59. --------------
  60. fscrypt (and storage encryption in general) can only provide limited
  61. protection, if any at all, against online attacks. In detail:
  62. fscrypt is only resistant to side-channel attacks, such as timing or
  63. electromagnetic attacks, to the extent that the underlying Linux
  64. Cryptographic API algorithms are. If a vulnerable algorithm is used,
  65. such as a table-based implementation of AES, it may be possible for an
  66. attacker to mount a side channel attack against the online system.
  67. Side channel attacks may also be mounted against applications
  68. consuming decrypted data.
  69. After an encryption key has been provided, fscrypt is not designed to
  70. hide the plaintext file contents or filenames from other users on the
  71. same system, regardless of the visibility of the keyring key.
  72. Instead, existing access control mechanisms such as file mode bits,
  73. POSIX ACLs, LSMs, or mount namespaces should be used for this purpose.
  74. Also note that as long as the encryption keys are *anywhere* in
  75. memory, an online attacker can necessarily compromise them by mounting
  76. a physical attack or by exploiting any kernel security vulnerability
  77. which provides an arbitrary memory read primitive.
  78. While it is ostensibly possible to "evict" keys from the system,
  79. recently accessed encrypted files will remain accessible at least
  80. until the filesystem is unmounted or the VFS caches are dropped, e.g.
  81. using ``echo 2 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches``. Even after that, if the
  82. RAM is compromised before being powered off, it will likely still be
  83. possible to recover portions of the plaintext file contents, if not
  84. some of the encryption keys as well. (Since Linux v4.12, all
  85. in-kernel keys related to fscrypt are sanitized before being freed.
  86. However, userspace would need to do its part as well.)
  87. Currently, fscrypt does not prevent a user from maliciously providing
  88. an incorrect key for another user's existing encrypted files. A
  89. protection against this is planned.
  90. Key hierarchy
  91. =============
  92. Master Keys
  93. -----------
  94. Each encrypted directory tree is protected by a *master key*. Master
  95. keys can be up to 64 bytes long, and must be at least as long as the
  96. greater of the key length needed by the contents and filenames
  97. encryption modes being used. For example, if AES-256-XTS is used for
  98. contents encryption, the master key must be 64 bytes (512 bits). Note
  99. that the XTS mode is defined to require a key twice as long as that
  100. required by the underlying block cipher.
  101. To "unlock" an encrypted directory tree, userspace must provide the
  102. appropriate master key. There can be any number of master keys, each
  103. of which protects any number of directory trees on any number of
  104. filesystems.
  105. Userspace should generate master keys either using a cryptographically
  106. secure random number generator, or by using a KDF (Key Derivation
  107. Function). Note that whenever a KDF is used to "stretch" a
  108. lower-entropy secret such as a passphrase, it is critical that a KDF
  109. designed for this purpose be used, such as scrypt, PBKDF2, or Argon2.
  110. Per-file keys
  111. -------------
  112. Master keys are not used to encrypt file contents or names directly.
  113. Instead, a unique key is derived for each encrypted file, including
  114. each regular file, directory, and symbolic link. This has several
  115. advantages:
  116. - In cryptosystems, the same key material should never be used for
  117. different purposes. Using the master key as both an XTS key for
  118. contents encryption and as a CTS-CBC key for filenames encryption
  119. would violate this rule.
  120. - Per-file keys simplify the choice of IVs (Initialization Vectors)
  121. for contents encryption. Without per-file keys, to ensure IV
  122. uniqueness both the inode and logical block number would need to be
  123. encoded in the IVs. This would make it impossible to renumber
  124. inodes, which e.g. ``resize2fs`` can do when resizing an ext4
  125. filesystem. With per-file keys, it is sufficient to encode just the
  126. logical block number in the IVs.
  127. - Per-file keys strengthen the encryption of filenames, where IVs are
  128. reused out of necessity. With a unique key per directory, IV reuse
  129. is limited to within a single directory.
  130. - Per-file keys allow individual files to be securely erased simply by
  131. securely erasing their keys. (Not yet implemented.)
  132. A KDF (Key Derivation Function) is used to derive per-file keys from
  133. the master key. This is done instead of wrapping a randomly-generated
  134. key for each file because it reduces the size of the encryption xattr,
  135. which for some filesystems makes the xattr more likely to fit in-line
  136. in the filesystem's inode table. With a KDF, only a 16-byte nonce is
  137. required --- long enough to make key reuse extremely unlikely. A
  138. wrapped key, on the other hand, would need to be up to 64 bytes ---
  139. the length of an AES-256-XTS key. Furthermore, currently there is no
  140. requirement to support unlocking a file with multiple alternative
  141. master keys or to support rotating master keys. Instead, the master
  142. keys may be wrapped in userspace, e.g. as done by the `fscrypt
  143. <https://github.com/google/fscrypt>`_ tool.
  144. The current KDF encrypts the master key using the 16-byte nonce as an
  145. AES-128-ECB key. The output is used as the derived key. If the
  146. output is longer than needed, then it is truncated to the needed
  147. length. Truncation is the norm for directories and symlinks, since
  148. those use the CTS-CBC encryption mode which requires a key half as
  149. long as that required by the XTS encryption mode.
  150. Note: this KDF meets the primary security requirement, which is to
  151. produce unique derived keys that preserve the entropy of the master
  152. key, assuming that the master key is already a good pseudorandom key.
  153. However, it is nonstandard and has some problems such as being
  154. reversible, so it is generally considered to be a mistake! It may be
  155. replaced with HKDF or another more standard KDF in the future.
  156. Encryption modes and usage
  157. ==========================
  158. fscrypt allows one encryption mode to be specified for file contents
  159. and one encryption mode to be specified for filenames. Different
  160. directory trees are permitted to use different encryption modes.
  161. Currently, the following pairs of encryption modes are supported:
  162. - AES-256-XTS for contents and AES-256-CTS-CBC for filenames
  163. - AES-128-CBC for contents and AES-128-CTS-CBC for filenames
  164. It is strongly recommended to use AES-256-XTS for contents encryption.
  165. AES-128-CBC was added only for low-powered embedded devices with
  166. crypto accelerators such as CAAM or CESA that do not support XTS.
  167. New encryption modes can be added relatively easily, without changes
  168. to individual filesystems. However, authenticated encryption (AE)
  169. modes are not currently supported because of the difficulty of dealing
  170. with ciphertext expansion.
  171. For file contents, each filesystem block is encrypted independently.
  172. Currently, only the case where the filesystem block size is equal to
  173. the system's page size (usually 4096 bytes) is supported. With the
  174. XTS mode of operation (recommended), the logical block number within
  175. the file is used as the IV. With the CBC mode of operation (not
  176. recommended), ESSIV is used; specifically, the IV for CBC is the
  177. logical block number encrypted with AES-256, where the AES-256 key is
  178. the SHA-256 hash of the inode's data encryption key.
  179. For filenames, the full filename is encrypted at once. Because of the
  180. requirements to retain support for efficient directory lookups and
  181. filenames of up to 255 bytes, a constant initialization vector (IV) is
  182. used. However, each encrypted directory uses a unique key, which
  183. limits IV reuse to within a single directory. Note that IV reuse in
  184. the context of CTS-CBC encryption means that when the original
  185. filenames share a common prefix at least as long as the cipher block
  186. size (16 bytes for AES), the corresponding encrypted filenames will
  187. also share a common prefix. This is undesirable; it may be fixed in
  188. the future by switching to an encryption mode that is a strong
  189. pseudorandom permutation on arbitrary-length messages, e.g. the HEH
  190. (Hash-Encrypt-Hash) mode.
  191. Since filenames are encrypted with the CTS-CBC mode of operation, the
  192. plaintext and ciphertext filenames need not be multiples of the AES
  193. block size, i.e. 16 bytes. However, the minimum size that can be
  194. encrypted is 16 bytes, so shorter filenames are NUL-padded to 16 bytes
  195. before being encrypted. In addition, to reduce leakage of filename
  196. lengths via their ciphertexts, all filenames are NUL-padded to the
  197. next 4, 8, 16, or 32-byte boundary (configurable). 32 is recommended
  198. since this provides the best confidentiality, at the cost of making
  199. directory entries consume slightly more space. Note that since NUL
  200. (``\0``) is not otherwise a valid character in filenames, the padding
  201. will never produce duplicate plaintexts.
  202. Symbolic link targets are considered a type of filename and are
  203. encrypted in the same way as filenames in directory entries. Each
  204. symlink also uses a unique key; hence, the hardcoded IV is not a
  205. problem for symlinks.
  206. User API
  207. ========
  208. Setting an encryption policy
  209. ----------------------------
  210. The FS_IOC_SET_ENCRYPTION_POLICY ioctl sets an encryption policy on an
  211. empty directory or verifies that a directory or regular file already
  212. has the specified encryption policy. It takes in a pointer to a
  213. :c:type:`struct fscrypt_policy`, defined as follows::
  214. #define FS_KEY_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE 8
  215. struct fscrypt_policy {
  216. __u8 version;
  217. __u8 contents_encryption_mode;
  218. __u8 filenames_encryption_mode;
  219. __u8 flags;
  220. __u8 master_key_descriptor[FS_KEY_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE];
  221. };
  222. This structure must be initialized as follows:
  223. - ``version`` must be 0.
  224. - ``contents_encryption_mode`` and ``filenames_encryption_mode`` must
  225. be set to constants from ``<linux/fs.h>`` which identify the
  226. encryption modes to use. If unsure, use
  227. FS_ENCRYPTION_MODE_AES_256_XTS (1) for ``contents_encryption_mode``
  228. and FS_ENCRYPTION_MODE_AES_256_CTS (4) for
  229. ``filenames_encryption_mode``.
  230. - ``flags`` must be set to a value from ``<linux/fs.h>`` which
  231. identifies the amount of NUL-padding to use when encrypting
  232. filenames. If unsure, use FS_POLICY_FLAGS_PAD_32 (0x3).
  233. - ``master_key_descriptor`` specifies how to find the master key in
  234. the keyring; see `Adding keys`_. It is up to userspace to choose a
  235. unique ``master_key_descriptor`` for each master key. The e4crypt
  236. and fscrypt tools use the first 8 bytes of
  237. ``SHA-512(SHA-512(master_key))``, but this particular scheme is not
  238. required. Also, the master key need not be in the keyring yet when
  239. FS_IOC_SET_ENCRYPTION_POLICY is executed. However, it must be added
  240. before any files can be created in the encrypted directory.
  241. If the file is not yet encrypted, then FS_IOC_SET_ENCRYPTION_POLICY
  242. verifies that the file is an empty directory. If so, the specified
  243. encryption policy is assigned to the directory, turning it into an
  244. encrypted directory. After that, and after providing the
  245. corresponding master key as described in `Adding keys`_, all regular
  246. files, directories (recursively), and symlinks created in the
  247. directory will be encrypted, inheriting the same encryption policy.
  248. The filenames in the directory's entries will be encrypted as well.
  249. Alternatively, if the file is already encrypted, then
  250. FS_IOC_SET_ENCRYPTION_POLICY validates that the specified encryption
  251. policy exactly matches the actual one. If they match, then the ioctl
  252. returns 0. Otherwise, it fails with EEXIST. This works on both
  253. regular files and directories, including nonempty directories.
  254. Note that the ext4 filesystem does not allow the root directory to be
  255. encrypted, even if it is empty. Users who want to encrypt an entire
  256. filesystem with one key should consider using dm-crypt instead.
  257. FS_IOC_SET_ENCRYPTION_POLICY can fail with the following errors:
  258. - ``EACCES``: the file is not owned by the process's uid, nor does the
  259. process have the CAP_FOWNER capability in a namespace with the file
  260. owner's uid mapped
  261. - ``EEXIST``: the file is already encrypted with an encryption policy
  262. different from the one specified
  263. - ``EINVAL``: an invalid encryption policy was specified (invalid
  264. version, mode(s), or flags)
  265. - ``ENOTDIR``: the file is unencrypted and is a regular file, not a
  266. directory
  267. - ``ENOTEMPTY``: the file is unencrypted and is a nonempty directory
  268. - ``ENOTTY``: this type of filesystem does not implement encryption
  269. - ``EOPNOTSUPP``: the kernel was not configured with encryption
  270. support for this filesystem, or the filesystem superblock has not
  271. had encryption enabled on it. (For example, to use encryption on an
  272. ext4 filesystem, CONFIG_EXT4_ENCRYPTION must be enabled in the
  273. kernel config, and the superblock must have had the "encrypt"
  274. feature flag enabled using ``tune2fs -O encrypt`` or ``mkfs.ext4 -O
  275. encrypt``.)
  276. - ``EPERM``: this directory may not be encrypted, e.g. because it is
  277. the root directory of an ext4 filesystem
  278. - ``EROFS``: the filesystem is readonly
  279. Getting an encryption policy
  280. ----------------------------
  281. The FS_IOC_GET_ENCRYPTION_POLICY ioctl retrieves the :c:type:`struct
  282. fscrypt_policy`, if any, for a directory or regular file. See above
  283. for the struct definition. No additional permissions are required
  284. beyond the ability to open the file.
  285. FS_IOC_GET_ENCRYPTION_POLICY can fail with the following errors:
  286. - ``EINVAL``: the file is encrypted, but it uses an unrecognized
  287. encryption context format
  288. - ``ENODATA``: the file is not encrypted
  289. - ``ENOTTY``: this type of filesystem does not implement encryption
  290. - ``EOPNOTSUPP``: the kernel was not configured with encryption
  291. support for this filesystem
  292. Note: if you only need to know whether a file is encrypted or not, on
  293. most filesystems it is also possible to use the FS_IOC_GETFLAGS ioctl
  294. and check for FS_ENCRYPT_FL, or to use the statx() system call and
  295. check for STATX_ATTR_ENCRYPTED in stx_attributes.
  296. Getting the per-filesystem salt
  297. -------------------------------
  298. Some filesystems, such as ext4 and F2FS, also support the deprecated
  299. ioctl FS_IOC_GET_ENCRYPTION_PWSALT. This ioctl retrieves a randomly
  300. generated 16-byte value stored in the filesystem superblock. This
  301. value is intended to used as a salt when deriving an encryption key
  302. from a passphrase or other low-entropy user credential.
  303. FS_IOC_GET_ENCRYPTION_PWSALT is deprecated. Instead, prefer to
  304. generate and manage any needed salt(s) in userspace.
  305. Adding keys
  306. -----------
  307. To provide a master key, userspace must add it to an appropriate
  308. keyring using the add_key() system call (see:
  309. ``Documentation/security/keys/core.rst``). The key type must be
  310. "logon"; keys of this type are kept in kernel memory and cannot be
  311. read back by userspace. The key description must be "fscrypt:"
  312. followed by the 16-character lower case hex representation of the
  313. ``master_key_descriptor`` that was set in the encryption policy. The
  314. key payload must conform to the following structure::
  315. #define FS_MAX_KEY_SIZE 64
  316. struct fscrypt_key {
  317. u32 mode;
  318. u8 raw[FS_MAX_KEY_SIZE];
  319. u32 size;
  320. };
  321. ``mode`` is ignored; just set it to 0. The actual key is provided in
  322. ``raw`` with ``size`` indicating its size in bytes. That is, the
  323. bytes ``raw[0..size-1]`` (inclusive) are the actual key.
  324. The key description prefix "fscrypt:" may alternatively be replaced
  325. with a filesystem-specific prefix such as "ext4:". However, the
  326. filesystem-specific prefixes are deprecated and should not be used in
  327. new programs.
  328. There are several different types of keyrings in which encryption keys
  329. may be placed, such as a session keyring, a user session keyring, or a
  330. user keyring. Each key must be placed in a keyring that is "attached"
  331. to all processes that might need to access files encrypted with it, in
  332. the sense that request_key() will find the key. Generally, if only
  333. processes belonging to a specific user need to access a given
  334. encrypted directory and no session keyring has been installed, then
  335. that directory's key should be placed in that user's user session
  336. keyring or user keyring. Otherwise, a session keyring should be
  337. installed if needed, and the key should be linked into that session
  338. keyring, or in a keyring linked into that session keyring.
  339. Note: introducing the complex visibility semantics of keyrings here
  340. was arguably a mistake --- especially given that by design, after any
  341. process successfully opens an encrypted file (thereby setting up the
  342. per-file key), possessing the keyring key is not actually required for
  343. any process to read/write the file until its in-memory inode is
  344. evicted. In the future there probably should be a way to provide keys
  345. directly to the filesystem instead, which would make the intended
  346. semantics clearer.
  347. Access semantics
  348. ================
  349. With the key
  350. ------------
  351. With the encryption key, encrypted regular files, directories, and
  352. symlinks behave very similarly to their unencrypted counterparts ---
  353. after all, the encryption is intended to be transparent. However,
  354. astute users may notice some differences in behavior:
  355. - Unencrypted files, or files encrypted with a different encryption
  356. policy (i.e. different key, modes, or flags), cannot be renamed or
  357. linked into an encrypted directory; see `Encryption policy
  358. enforcement`_. Attempts to do so will fail with EXDEV. However,
  359. encrypted files can be renamed within an encrypted directory, or
  360. into an unencrypted directory.
  361. Note: "moving" an unencrypted file into an encrypted directory, e.g.
  362. with the `mv` program, is implemented in userspace by a copy
  363. followed by a delete. Be aware that the original unencrypted data
  364. may remain recoverable from free space on the disk; prefer to keep
  365. all files encrypted from the very beginning. The `shred` program
  366. may be used to overwrite the source files but isn't guaranteed to be
  367. effective on all filesystems and storage devices.
  368. - Direct I/O is not supported on encrypted files. Attempts to use
  369. direct I/O on such files will fall back to buffered I/O.
  370. - The fallocate operations FALLOC_FL_COLLAPSE_RANGE,
  371. FALLOC_FL_INSERT_RANGE, and FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE are not supported
  372. on encrypted files and will fail with EOPNOTSUPP.
  373. - Online defragmentation of encrypted files is not supported. The
  374. EXT4_IOC_MOVE_EXT and F2FS_IOC_MOVE_RANGE ioctls will fail with
  375. EOPNOTSUPP.
  376. - The ext4 filesystem does not support data journaling with encrypted
  377. regular files. It will fall back to ordered data mode instead.
  378. - DAX (Direct Access) is not supported on encrypted files.
  379. - The st_size of an encrypted symlink will not necessarily give the
  380. length of the symlink target as required by POSIX. It will actually
  381. give the length of the ciphertext, which will be slightly longer
  382. than the plaintext due to NUL-padding and an extra 2-byte overhead.
  383. - The maximum length of an encrypted symlink is 2 bytes shorter than
  384. the maximum length of an unencrypted symlink. For example, on an
  385. EXT4 filesystem with a 4K block size, unencrypted symlinks can be up
  386. to 4095 bytes long, while encrypted symlinks can only be up to 4093
  387. bytes long (both lengths excluding the terminating null).
  388. Note that mmap *is* supported. This is possible because the pagecache
  389. for an encrypted file contains the plaintext, not the ciphertext.
  390. Without the key
  391. ---------------
  392. Some filesystem operations may be performed on encrypted regular
  393. files, directories, and symlinks even before their encryption key has
  394. been provided:
  395. - File metadata may be read, e.g. using stat().
  396. - Directories may be listed, in which case the filenames will be
  397. listed in an encoded form derived from their ciphertext. The
  398. current encoding algorithm is described in `Filename hashing and
  399. encoding`_. The algorithm is subject to change, but it is
  400. guaranteed that the presented filenames will be no longer than
  401. NAME_MAX bytes, will not contain the ``/`` or ``\0`` characters, and
  402. will uniquely identify directory entries.
  403. The ``.`` and ``..`` directory entries are special. They are always
  404. present and are not encrypted or encoded.
  405. - Files may be deleted. That is, nondirectory files may be deleted
  406. with unlink() as usual, and empty directories may be deleted with
  407. rmdir() as usual. Therefore, ``rm`` and ``rm -r`` will work as
  408. expected.
  409. - Symlink targets may be read and followed, but they will be presented
  410. in encrypted form, similar to filenames in directories. Hence, they
  411. are unlikely to point to anywhere useful.
  412. Without the key, regular files cannot be opened or truncated.
  413. Attempts to do so will fail with ENOKEY. This implies that any
  414. regular file operations that require a file descriptor, such as
  415. read(), write(), mmap(), fallocate(), and ioctl(), are also forbidden.
  416. Also without the key, files of any type (including directories) cannot
  417. be created or linked into an encrypted directory, nor can a name in an
  418. encrypted directory be the source or target of a rename, nor can an
  419. O_TMPFILE temporary file be created in an encrypted directory. All
  420. such operations will fail with ENOKEY.
  421. It is not currently possible to backup and restore encrypted files
  422. without the encryption key. This would require special APIs which
  423. have not yet been implemented.
  424. Encryption policy enforcement
  425. =============================
  426. After an encryption policy has been set on a directory, all regular
  427. files, directories, and symbolic links created in that directory
  428. (recursively) will inherit that encryption policy. Special files ---
  429. that is, named pipes, device nodes, and UNIX domain sockets --- will
  430. not be encrypted.
  431. Except for those special files, it is forbidden to have unencrypted
  432. files, or files encrypted with a different encryption policy, in an
  433. encrypted directory tree. Attempts to link or rename such a file into
  434. an encrypted directory will fail with EXDEV. This is also enforced
  435. during ->lookup() to provide limited protection against offline
  436. attacks that try to disable or downgrade encryption in known locations
  437. where applications may later write sensitive data. It is recommended
  438. that systems implementing a form of "verified boot" take advantage of
  439. this by validating all top-level encryption policies prior to access.
  440. Implementation details
  441. ======================
  442. Encryption context
  443. ------------------
  444. An encryption policy is represented on-disk by a :c:type:`struct
  445. fscrypt_context`. It is up to individual filesystems to decide where
  446. to store it, but normally it would be stored in a hidden extended
  447. attribute. It should *not* be exposed by the xattr-related system
  448. calls such as getxattr() and setxattr() because of the special
  449. semantics of the encryption xattr. (In particular, there would be
  450. much confusion if an encryption policy were to be added to or removed
  451. from anything other than an empty directory.) The struct is defined
  452. as follows::
  453. #define FS_KEY_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE 8
  454. #define FS_KEY_DERIVATION_NONCE_SIZE 16
  455. struct fscrypt_context {
  456. u8 format;
  457. u8 contents_encryption_mode;
  458. u8 filenames_encryption_mode;
  459. u8 flags;
  460. u8 master_key_descriptor[FS_KEY_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE];
  461. u8 nonce[FS_KEY_DERIVATION_NONCE_SIZE];
  462. };
  463. Note that :c:type:`struct fscrypt_context` contains the same
  464. information as :c:type:`struct fscrypt_policy` (see `Setting an
  465. encryption policy`_), except that :c:type:`struct fscrypt_context`
  466. also contains a nonce. The nonce is randomly generated by the kernel
  467. and is used to derive the inode's encryption key as described in
  468. `Per-file keys`_.
  469. Data path changes
  470. -----------------
  471. For the read path (->readpage()) of regular files, filesystems can
  472. read the ciphertext into the page cache and decrypt it in-place. The
  473. page lock must be held until decryption has finished, to prevent the
  474. page from becoming visible to userspace prematurely.
  475. For the write path (->writepage()) of regular files, filesystems
  476. cannot encrypt data in-place in the page cache, since the cached
  477. plaintext must be preserved. Instead, filesystems must encrypt into a
  478. temporary buffer or "bounce page", then write out the temporary
  479. buffer. Some filesystems, such as UBIFS, already use temporary
  480. buffers regardless of encryption. Other filesystems, such as ext4 and
  481. F2FS, have to allocate bounce pages specially for encryption.
  482. Filename hashing and encoding
  483. -----------------------------
  484. Modern filesystems accelerate directory lookups by using indexed
  485. directories. An indexed directory is organized as a tree keyed by
  486. filename hashes. When a ->lookup() is requested, the filesystem
  487. normally hashes the filename being looked up so that it can quickly
  488. find the corresponding directory entry, if any.
  489. With encryption, lookups must be supported and efficient both with and
  490. without the encryption key. Clearly, it would not work to hash the
  491. plaintext filenames, since the plaintext filenames are unavailable
  492. without the key. (Hashing the plaintext filenames would also make it
  493. impossible for the filesystem's fsck tool to optimize encrypted
  494. directories.) Instead, filesystems hash the ciphertext filenames,
  495. i.e. the bytes actually stored on-disk in the directory entries. When
  496. asked to do a ->lookup() with the key, the filesystem just encrypts
  497. the user-supplied name to get the ciphertext.
  498. Lookups without the key are more complicated. The raw ciphertext may
  499. contain the ``\0`` and ``/`` characters, which are illegal in
  500. filenames. Therefore, readdir() must base64-encode the ciphertext for
  501. presentation. For most filenames, this works fine; on ->lookup(), the
  502. filesystem just base64-decodes the user-supplied name to get back to
  503. the raw ciphertext.
  504. However, for very long filenames, base64 encoding would cause the
  505. filename length to exceed NAME_MAX. To prevent this, readdir()
  506. actually presents long filenames in an abbreviated form which encodes
  507. a strong "hash" of the ciphertext filename, along with the optional
  508. filesystem-specific hash(es) needed for directory lookups. This
  509. allows the filesystem to still, with a high degree of confidence, map
  510. the filename given in ->lookup() back to a particular directory entry
  511. that was previously listed by readdir(). See :c:type:`struct
  512. fscrypt_digested_name` in the source for more details.
  513. Note that the precise way that filenames are presented to userspace
  514. without the key is subject to change in the future. It is only meant
  515. as a way to temporarily present valid filenames so that commands like
  516. ``rm -r`` work as expected on encrypted directories.