Cryptsetup FAQ is confusing re: key-file length and newlines
John Wiersba <jrw32982-/[email protected]> Wed, 15 Jul 2020 20:49:09 +0000 (UTC)
| Newsgroups | gmane.linux.kernel.device-mapper.dm-crypt |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
The FAQ as of today (2020/7/15) states Make sureno trailing newline (0x0a) is contained in the input key file, or thepassphrase will not work because the whole file is used as input. But then a few lines later it suggests head -c 256 /dev/random > keyfile Obviously if /dev/random is used, it's possible that the keyfile will end with a trailing newline. I think you're trying to distinguish between - A file which contains a human-readable passphrase which could also be entered interactively, and - A file which contains random bytes. In order for a passphrase to be entered interactively, the passphrase must not end with a newline. Therefore, when intending to use both a keyfile containing a passphrase and also enter that same passphrase interactively, the keyfile should not contain a newline (anywhere), including a trailing newline. If a keyfile does contain a newline (anywhere), the text of that keyfile will not be able to be entered interactively as a passphrase. Additionally, I see lots of guidance on the length of a keyfile which uses magic numbers, both on the internet and also in the FAQ. Examples are the value 256 above, and the parameters bs=512 count=8 for dd. If I understand the FAQ correctly, the actual advice is Plain dm-crypt: Use > 80 bit. ... If paranoid, add at least 20 bit. This implies (taking the worst case) that head -c 13 /dev/random should be sufficient (13 * 8 bytes = 104 bits > 81+20 bits), and 256 bytes is "overkill". I do understand that some reasonable amount of overkill is essentially "free" and therefore can be used "just in case". Did I understand these two concepts correctly, and if so, could you clarify the FAQ? Thanks!-- John Wiersba _______________________________________________ dm-crypt mailing list [email protected] https://www.saout.de/mailman/listinfo/dm-crypt