Month: December 2018

Happy Holidays! wolfSSL release 3.15.7 is now available!

The holiday release of the wolfSSL embedded SSL/TLS library contains many feature additions, bug fixes, and improvements. Some of these changes include improved API documentation, RSA-verify-only and RSA-public-key-operations-only builds, and several new port additions. More details about what is included with the new version of wolfSSL are listed below.

• New Feature Additions And Ports:
• Support for Espressif ESP-IDF development framework
• PKCS#7 support for generating and verify bundles using a detached signature.
• Port update for Micrium uC/OS-III
• Feature to adjust max fragment size post handshake when compiled with the macro WOLFSSL_ALLOW_MAX_FRAGMENT_ADJUST
• The addition of multiple languages in wolfSSL’s bundled examples can cause problems for embedded devices that can not handle the special characters. Having NO_MULTIBYTE_PRINT defined compiles out code used for printing the special characters.
• RSA verify only (--enable-rsavfy) and RSA public only (--enable-rsapub) builds added. These are builds that can be used with --enable-cryptonly that compile out portions of RSA code. Giving the option for an even smaller build of wolfSSL in the case that only RSA public key operations or only RSA verify operations are needed.

One of the many new exciting updates to existing wolfSSL features was the support for the Intel QuickAssist v1.7 driver being added! This enables wolfSSL to be used in asynchronous mode with newer Intel hardware for a massive performance gain over the previous driver. In addition to the driver update, support for RSA key generation and SHA-3 support was added to the wolfSSL QuickAssist port. The following is a list of some of the other notable additional updates and fixes in the release:

• Fix for Xcode build with iPhone simulator on i386
• Fix for building the wolfSSL library with AES-CBC disabled and the opensslextra compatibility layer enabled
• Updates to sniffer for showing session information and handling split messages across records
• Updates for Doxygen documentation, including PKCS#11 API and more
• Enhancements to test cases for increased code coverage
• Updates to VxWorks port for use with Mongoose, including updates to the OpenSSL compatibility layer
• Updating --enable-armasm build for ease of use with autotools
• Lots of improvements were made for ease of use with Yocto. The INSTALL file bundled with wolfSSL has been updated as part of this to help guide users through a Yocto build of wolfSSL.
  

Some updates and minor fixes were made to the TLS 1.3 code in wolfSSL. Keeping our industry leading TLS 1.3 implementation robust and up to date. These fixes included:

• Updates to internal code checking TLS 1.3 version with a connection
• Removing unnecessary extended master secret from ServerHello if using TLS 1.3
• Fix for TLS v1.3 HelloRetryRequest to be sent immediately and not grouped

This release of wolfSSL also included a fix for 1 security vulnerability. It was a medium level fix for a potential cache attack with a variant of Bleichenbacher’s attack. Earlier versions of wolfSSL leaked PKCS #1 v1.5 padding information during private key decryption that could lead to a potential padding oracle attack. It is recommended that users update to the latest version of wolfSSL if they have RSA cipher suites enabled and have the potential for malicious software to be ran on the same system that is performing RSA operations. Users that have only ECC cipher suites enabled and are not performing RSA PKCS #1 v1.5 Decryption operations are not vulnerable. Users with TLS 1.3-only connections are not vulnerable to this attack. Thanks to Eyal Ronen (Weizmann Institute), Robert Gillham (University of Adelaide), Daniel Genkin (University of Michigan), Adi Shamir (Weizmann Institute), David Wong (NCC Group), and Yuval Yarom (University of Adelaide and Data61) for the report. The paper for further reading on the attack along with more details can be found at https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/1173.pdf. To view or apply a patch of the changes this is the exact PR on github with the fix: https://github.com/wolfSSL/wolfssl/pull/1950.

wolfSSH is a portable embedded SSH solution developed by wolfSSL. Recently we have made an exciting new feature enhancement to allow for client side support of pseudo terminal connections. This feature can be turned on by using the configure flag --enable-term and running the example client with “-t” ( i.e. ./examples/client/client -t -h <ip> -u <username> -p <port #> ). In addition to the added enhancement of using pseudo terminals, a function was added to support console code translations from Linux to Windows terminals. This allows usage of client side wolfSSH pseudo terminals on a Windows machine when connecting to a Linux server.

Another feature that was added is the ability for sending execution commands from the client to a server. An SSH connection to execute a command can be done by using the “-c” flag with the example SSH client. (i.e. ./examples/client/client -h <ip> -u <username> -p <port #> -c <command> ) There are many use cases for this, one being the case where an embedded system wants to startup a program on another device or server and pipe input / output through the secure wolfSSH connection.

These new features can be found at the wolfSSH github repository https://github.com/wolfSSL/wolfssh and in the next release version of wolfSSH on the wolfSSL website here https://www.wolfssl.com/download/.

For more information contact us at facts@wolfssl.com.

Recently, wolfSSL released version 3.15.5 of the wolfSSL embedded SSL/TLS library. This new release features many feature additions and updates, one of which is the added support for using public key callbacks with TLS on an STSAFE-A100.

The STSAFE-A100 is a highly secure solution that acts as a secure element providing authentication and data management services to a local or remote host.  When paired with wolfSSL, this results in a robust and secure device that is able to effectively prevent external malicious attacks and provide high-strength, fast encryption.

For more information about the release or about wolfSSL, please contact facts@wolfssl.com.

Resources:
STSAFE-A100: https://www.st.com/en/secure-mcus/stsafe-a100.html
wolfSSL version 3.15.5 release notes: https://www.wolfssl.com/wolfssl-3-15-5-now-available/

Recently, wolfSSL released version 3.15.5 of the wolfSSL embedded SSL/TLS library. This new release contains various updates and feature additions to the wolfSSL library, including the addition of Renesas RX e2 studio project files.

Renesas e2 studio is a development environment based on the Eclipse IDE. It covers various building tasks (editing, compiling, linking, etc.) and also provides a debug interface. It can use a wide range of compilers, including all Renesas compilers. This tool allows developers to more easily create and manage their project on their Renesas embedded controllers.

The addition of the wolfSSL studio project files for this tool is a great game changer, as it allows developers to use the portable, low-resource use wolfSSL library. wolfSSL uses the most secure and up-to-date encryption schemes that are offered by the wolfCrypt encryption engine, and also provides support for TLS 1.3! This way, Renesas embedded controllers can use high-end encryption with the latest version of the TLS protocol.

To find out more information, please contact facts@wolfssl.com.

Resources:
Renesas: https://www.renesas.com/us/en/
wolfSSL v3.15.5 release notes: https://www.wolfssl.com/wolfssl-3-15-5-now-available/

Recently, wolfSSL released version 3.15.5 of the wolfSSL embedded SSL/TLS library. This new release features many new additions and updates, including the addition of a port for the STM32L4 MCU.

The STM32L4 is an ultra-low-power device with high flexibility, and as a member of the STM32 family, is easily integratable with the wolfSSL library. As wolfSSL is highly portable and the STM32L4 is highly flexible, if your device has any special features that interfere with the wolfSSL port, they are easily remedied.

The new wolfSSL STM32 port functionality was added into the existing STM32 port, and the STM32L4 functionality can be enabled by either defining the "WOLFSSL_STM32L4" option in the user_settings.h file, or by including the option CPPFLAGS="-DWOLFSSL_STM32L4" to the configure script if building the wolfSSL library with autotools.

Additionally, wolfSSL also provides support for the latest version of the TLS protocol, TLS 1.3! Find more information about TLS 1.3 here: https://www.wolfssl.com/docs/tls13/

For more information, please contact facts@wolfssl.com.

Resources:

STM32L4: https://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/products/microcontrollers/stm32-32-bit-arm-cortex-mcus/stm32-ultra-low-power-mcus/stm32l4-series.html

wolfSSL has added support for using the AF_ALG and Cryptodev-linux Linux modules. These are modules that can be loaded into a Linux kernel and allow access to the Linux crypto drivers. Having access to the Linux crypto drivers gives the ability to leverage hardware acceleration that the kernel has in place. One such use case being when running Linux on an embedded i.MX6 IoT board and wanting to access CAAM drivers provided by Linux.

To build wolfSSL with AF_ALG support use the enable option --enable-afalg
To build with Cryptodev-linux support use --enable-devcrypto.

The current supported algorithms are SHA256 and AES.

For more information or if you need assistance using the wolfSSL embedded SSL/TLS on your platform, please feel free to contact support@wolfssl.com.

wolfSSL recently released version 3.15.5 of the wolfSSL embedded SSL/TLS library. This new release includes many new feature additions and updates, including a port to Contiki.

Contiki is an open source operating system for the Internet of Things. It connects tiny low-cost, low-power microcontrollers to the Internet. Contiki is a perfect match for wolfSSL, which was built for use on embedded and resource-constrained devices with portability in mind. In addition to being highly portable, wolfSSL provides support for the latest and greatest version of the TLS protocol, TLS 1.3! Using the wolfSSL port with your device running Contiki will allow your IoT device to connect to the internet in one of the most secure ways possible.

The Contiki port in wolfSSL is activated by using the "WOLFSSL_CONTIKI" macro when compiling wolfSSL. An example of this on embedded devices would be placing WOLFSSL_CONTIKI into a user_setttings.h file, or by including the option CPPFLAGS="-DWOLFSSL_CONTIKI" if compiling wolfSSL by using autotools.

For more information, please contact facts@wolfssl.com.

Resources
The most recent version of wolfSSL can be downloaded from our download page, here: https://www.wolfssl.com/download/
wolfSSL support for TLS 1.3: https://www.wolfssl.com/docs/tls13/
Contiki OS homepage: http://www.contiki-os.org

Have you heard talk about SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.2, and TLS 1.3 but never really knew the differences between the different versions? Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Transport Security Layer (TLS) are both cryptographic protocols which provide secure communication over networks. These different versions are all in widespread use today in applications such as web browsing, e-mail, instant messaging and VoIP, and each is slightly different from the others.

wolfSSL supports all three of these ciphers to best suit your needs and requirements. Below you will find the major differences between the different protocol versions.

SSL 3.0
This protocol was released in 1996, but first began with the creation of SSL 1.0 developed by Netscape. Version 1.0 wasn`t released, and version 2.0 had a number of security flaws, thus leading to the release of SSL 3.0. Some major improvements of SSL 3.0 over SSL 2.0 are:
- Separation of the transport of data from the message layer
- Use of a full 128 bits of keying material even when using the Export cipher
- Ability of the client and server to send chains of certificates, thus allowing organizations to use certificate hierarchy which is more than two certificates deep.
- Implementing a generalized key exchange protocol, allowing Diffie-Hellman and Fortezza key exchanges as well as non-RSA certificates.
- Allowing for record compression and decompression
- Ability to fall back to SSL 2.0 when a 2.0 client is encountered

Netscape`s Original SSL 3.0 Draft: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/pki/nss/ssl/draft302.txt
Comparison of SSLv2 and SSLv3: http://stason.org/TULARC/security/ssl-talk/4-11-What-is-the-difference-between-SSL-2-0-and-3-0.html

TLS 1.0
This protocol was first defined in RFC 2246 in January of 1999. This was an upgrade from SSL 3.0 and the differences were not dramatic, but they are significant enough that SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 don`t interoperate. Some of the major differences between SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 are:
- Key derivation functions are different
- MACs are different - SSL 3.0 uses a modification of an early HMAC while TLS 1.0 uses HMAC.
- The Finished messages are different
- TLS has more alerts
- TLS requires DSS/DH support

RFC 2246: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2246

TLS 1.1
This protocol was defined in RFC 4346 in April of 2006, and is an update to TLS 1.0. The major changes are:
- The Implicit Initialization Vector (IV) is replaced with an explicit IV to protect against Cipher block chaining (CBC) attacks.
- Handling of padded errors is changed to use the bad_record_mac alert rather than the decryption_failed alert to protect against CBC attacks.
- IANA registries are defined for protocol parameters
- Premature closes no longer cause a session to be non-resumable.

RFC 4346: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4346#section-1.1

TLS 1.2
This protocol was defined in RFC 5246 in August of 2008. Based on TLS 1.1, TLS 1.2 contains improved flexibility. The major differences include:
- The MD5/SHA-1 combination in the pseudorandom function (PRF) was replaced with cipher-suite-specified PRFs.
- The MD5/SHA-1 combination in the digitally-signed element was replaced with a single hash. Signed elements include a field explicitly specifying the hash algorithm used.
- There was substantial cleanup to the client`s and server`s ability to specify which hash and signature algorithms they will accept.
- Addition of support for authenticated encryption with additional data modes.
- TLS Extensions definition and AES Cipher Suites were merged in.
- Tighter checking of EncryptedPreMasterSecret version numbers.
- Many of the requirements were tightened
- Verify_data length depends on the cipher suite
- Description of Bleichenbacher/Dlima attack defenses cleaned up.

RFC 5246: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5246

TLS 1.3
This protocol is currently being revised, and is in its 28th draft. The major differences from TLS 1.2 include:
- The list of supported symmetric algorithms has been pruned of all legacy algorithms. The remaining algorithms all use Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data (AEAD) algorithms.
- A zero-RTT (0-RTT) mode was added, saving a round-trip at connection setup for some application data at the cost of certain security properties.
- Static RSA and Diffie-Hellman cipher suites have been removed; all public-key based key exchange mechanisms now provide forward secrecy.
- All handshake messages after the ServerHello are now encrypted.
- Key derivation functions have been re-designed, with the HMAC-based Extract-and-Expand Key Derivation Function (HKDF) being used as a primitive.
- The handshake state machine has been restructured to be more consistent and remove superfluous messages.
- ECC is now in the base spec and includes new signature algorithms. Point format negotiation has been removed in favor of single point format for each curve.
- Compression, custom DHE groups, and DSA have been removed, RSA padding now uses PSS.
- TLS 1.2 version negotiation verification mechanism was deprecated in favor of a version list in an extension.
- Session resumption with and without server-side state and the PSK-based ciphersuites of earlier versions of TLS have been replaced by a single new PSK exchange.

RFC 8446: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8446

Resources:
If you would like to read more about SSL or TLS, here are several resources that might be helpful:
TLS - Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security)
SSL versus TLS - What`s the Difference? (http://luxsci.com/blog/ssl-versus-tls-whats-the-difference.html)
Cisco - SSL: Foundation for Web Security (http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac123/ac147/archived_issues/ipj_1-1/ssl.html)

As always, if you have any questions or would like to talk to the wolfSSL team about more information, please contact facts@wolfssl.com.

Recently, wolfSSL released version 3.15.5 of the wolfSSL embedded SSL/TLS library. This new release contains many feature releases and updates, including the addition of an Atollic TrueSTUDIO static library project for wolfSSL.

Atollic TrueSTUDIO is a full-featured IDE used for STM32 development with out-of-the-box support for all STM32 boards and devices, and features advanced debugging and code analysis. The availability of a wolfSSL static library project for TrueSTUDIO will speed up the development and implementation of using wolfSSL with your STM32 device - providing an example of how to integrate wolfSSL into a TrueSTUDIO-based project.

For more information, please contact facts@wolfssl.com.

wolfSSL also provides support for TLS 1.3, the most recent version of the TLS protocol!

Resources
wolfSSL v3.15.5 release notes: https://www.wolfssl.com/wolfssl-3-15-5-now-available/
Atollic homepage: https://atollic.com