RECENT BLOG NEWS

The NXP Memory-Mapped Cryptographic Acceleration Unit (mmCAU) is on many Kinetis microcontrollers. It improves symmetric AES and SHA performance as compared to our software based implementation. wolfSSL version 4.2.0 enhanced mmCAU support to use multiple blocks against hardware and optimize to avoid memory copies (memcpy) when possible. This resulted in a 20-78% improvement in performance!

Features:

• Enhancement for NXP mmCAU to process more than one block at a time.
• Added optional buffer alignment detection macro, WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT, to avoid memcpy.
• Added MD5 and SHA-1 support for XTRANSFORM_LEN to process blocks.
• Cleanups for consistency between algorithms and code commenting.

Improved MMCAU performance: SHA-1 by 35%, SHA-256 by 20% and MD5 by 78%.

NXP K64 MMCAU with wolfSSL v4.2.0:

MD5 8 MB took 1.000 seconds, 7.910 MB/s
SHA 4 MB took 1.005 seconds, 3.644 MB/s
SHA-256 2 MB took 1.006 seconds, 2.306 MB/s

NXP K64 MMCAU with wolfSSL v4.1.0:

MD5 4 MB took 1.004 seconds, 4.450 MB/s
SHA 3 MB took 1.006 seconds, 2.670 MB/s
SHA-256 2 MB took 1.008 seconds, 1.913 MB/s

Changes are in GitHub pull request #2481 and in the wolfSSL v4.3.0 release.
If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.

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wolfSSL Team

We have added many new features in our new release of wolfSSL 4.3.0. One new feature we have added is a CMS/PKCS #7 callback for signing SignedData raw digests – enabled with the macro HAVE_PKCS7_RSA_RAW_SIGN_CALLBACK and call to function wc_PKCS7_SetRsaSignRawDigestCb().

For those who are unaware PKCS #7 is used to sign and/or encrypt messages under a PKI. Used also for certificate dissemination (for instance as a response to a PKCS #10 message), it formed the basis for S/MIME, which is as of 2010 based on RFC 5652, an updated Cryptographic Message Syntax Standard (CMS). Often used for single sign-on.

If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.

We love you.

Team wolfSSL

In our new release of wolfSSL 4.3.0 we have added updates to RSA-PSS salt lengths. The macro WOLFSSL_PSS_SALT_LEN_DISCOVER value into wc_RsaPSS_Verify_ex() attempts to discover salt length and can use larger salt lengths.

RSA-PSS is a probabilistic signature scheme (PSS) with appendix. A signature scheme with appendix requires the message itself to verify the signature (i.e. the message is not recoverable from the signature). RSA-PSS is an adaptation of their work and is standardized as part of PKCS#1 v2.1. In general, RSA-PSS should be used as a replacement for RSA-PKCS#1 v1.5.

RSA-PSS parameters

• hash algorithm/function. The default is SHA-1.
• mask generation function (MGF). Currently always MGF1.
• salt length. The default value is 20 but the convention is to use hLen, the length of the output of the hash function in bytes. A salt length of zero is permitted and will result in a deterministic signature value. The actual salt length used can be determined from the signature value.
• trailer field, used in the encoding operation. The default trailer field is the byte 0xbc. There are no options to change this value.

The default parameters for RSA-PSS are:

hashAlgorithm      sha1,
maskGenAlgorithm   mgf1SHA1 (the function MGF1 with SHA-1)
saltLength         20,
trailerField       trailerFieldBC (the byte 0xbc)

It is recommended that the MGF hash function be the same as the scheme hash algorithm/function, and that the salt length be hLen, the length of the output of the hash function.

For more information on RSA-PSS visit https://www.cryptosys.net/pki/manpki/pki_rsaschemes.html

If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.

We love you.

Team wolfSSL

wolfSSL: TLS 1.3, OpenSSL comparison

wolfSSL’s open-source SSL/TLS library is constantly updated to maintain a mature code base and adapts quickly to any standard changes. One recent change is the release of TLS 1.3 (successor of TLS 1.2 which was out for 10 years).

What is new in TLS 1.3?
TLS 1.3 brought forth numerous improvements including faster handshake times, full session encryption and new cipher suites. There are faster handshake times as there is only one RTT instead of two which enables clients to send data immediately after the first reply from the server. Full session encryption is also achieved through the use of a variety of encryption algorithms to secure data. In addition, new cipher suites considered to be stronger also come with TLS 1.3.

How are we different from OpenSSL?
There are several key differentiators between wolfSSL and OpenSSL. These include the following:

• Build size (up to 20x smaller than OpenSSL)
• Standards support: up to date on most recent standards
• Hardware acceleration
• Team of security experts
• Ease of Use designed for developers
• Portability: a long list of supported platforms
• Dual license: GPLv2 or Commercial
• 24/7 Support

To watch all the wolfSSL webinars, check out our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxcGPWzOnhdocvKmxqhfvPg?view_as=subscriber

To read more about the differences between TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 visit:
https://www.wolfssl.com/differences-between-tls-12-and-tls-13-12/

If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.

The wolfMQTT client library has an Amazon Web Services example that demonstrates securely connecting over TLS provided by the wolfSSL embedded SSL/TLS library.

We setup an AWS IoT endpoint and testing device certificate. The AWS server uses a TLS client certificate for authentication. The example is located in `/examples/aws/`.  It subscribes to `$aws/things/”AWSIOT_DEVICE_ID”/shadow/update/delta` and publishes to `$aws/things/”AWSIOT_DEVICE_ID”/shadow/update`.

Everyone deserves to have their IoT data secure, and wolfSSL provides the best libraries to accomplish that! wolfSSL supports up to TLS 1.3, FIPS 140-2, expansive support for hardware cryptography, and more!  Secure-IoT-Love from the wolfSSL team!

You can download the latest release here: https://www.wolfssl.com/download/

Or clone directly from our GitHub repository.

If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.

The team at wolfSSL has taken the core functionality of the wolfSSL embedded SSL/TLS library to the next level and implemented changes to conform to the Required and Mandatory rules from the MISRA-C:2012 Guidelines.

Currently a subset of the wolfCrypt files are checked (sha256.c, aes.c (CBC/GCM), rsa.c, random.c, sp_c64.c), let us know if your project requires other files and we can target them while expanding coverage.

If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.

The Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) framework supports the installation of security providers. These providers can implement a subset of the functionality used by the Java JSSE security APIs, including SSL/TLS.  We are happy to announce the availability of the wolfJSSE Provider, which wraps the native wolfSSL SSL/TLS library.  With this provider, users can leverage all the advantages of native wolfSSL from Java applications!  These advantages include TLS 1.3 support, performance optimizations, hardware cryptography support, FIPS 140-2 validation, and much more!

The wolfSSL JSSE provider (wolfJSSE) is distributed along with the wolfSSL JNI wrapper.  Version 1.5.0 is now available from the wolfSSL download page (wolfssl-jni-jsse-1.5.0.zip).  wolfJSSE has currently been tested on several JDK’s, including Oracle JDK, OpenJDK, Android OSP, and Zulu JDK.  If you would like to use wolfJSSE on a different JDK or platform, let us know at facts@wolfssl.com!

There are several example applications that ship as part of the JSSE download, including an example Client and Server, which make it easier to get up and running quickly.  The provider can be installed at runtime per application, or at the system level for all Java Security API consumers to use.

Initial benchmarking between native wolfSSL, wolfJSSE, and the default SunJSSE provider client on Mac are below:

NOTE: TLS 1.2 cipher suite used in above benchmarks: ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384

To learn more, please see the following documentation pages:

wolfSSL JSSE Provider (and JNI wrapper) Product Page
wolfSSL Java JSSE Provider User Manual
Installing a JSSE Provider in Android OSP

If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.

wolfSSL is a proud partner of STMicroelectronics, and we support a great many of their products. Now we have added support for the STM32_PKA accelerator found in the STM32WB55 module.

The STM32WB55 module is is a heterogeneous dual-core MCU with a Cortex-M4 for the end-user application and a Cortex-M0 for the BLE stack. This PKA module accelerates ECC sign and verification. The measured performance is 160ms per ECC SECP256R1 verification. This option is enabled with the WOLFSSL_STM32_PKA build option and is demonstrated with our wolfBoot library.

Support added in PR 2498:
https://github.com/wolfSSL/wolfssl/pull/2498

wolfBoot implementation details can be found here.

If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.

We love you.

Team wolfSSL

wolfSSL now provides support for complete RTCA DO-178C level A certification! wolfSSL will offer DO-178 wolfCrypt as a commercial off -the-shelf (COTS) solution for connected avionics applications. Adherence to DO-178C level A will be supported through the first wolfCrypt COTS DO-178C certification kit release that includes traceable artifacts for the following encryption algorithms:

• SHA-256 for message digest
• AES for encryption and decryption
• RSA to sign and verify a message.
• Chacha20_poly1305 for authenticated encryption and decryption.

The primary goal of this initial release is to provide the proper cryptographic underpinnings for secure boot and secure firmware update in commercial and military avionics. wolfSSL brings trusted, military-grade security to connected commercial and military aircraft. Avionics developers now have a flexible, compact, economical, high-performance COTS solution for quickly delivering FIPS 140-2 validated crypto algorithms can be used in DO-178 mode for combined FIPS 140-2/DO-178 consumption. The wolfCrypt cryptography library FIPS 140-2 validation certificates can be applied to DO-178 uses. 

Optimization Support

We understand that securely rebooting avionic systems has rigorous performance requirements. As such, we’re here to help with cryptographic performance optimizations through our services organization. 

To download and view the most recent version of wolfSSL, the wolfSSL GitHub repository can be cloned from here: https://github.com/wolfssl/wolfssl.git, and the most recent stable release can be downloaded from the wolfSSL download page here: https://www.wolfssl.com/download/.

wolfSSL DO-178 product page: https://www.wolfssl.com/wolfssl-support-178-dal/.

If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.

wolfSSL FIPS Ready

Along with the recent release of wolfSSL v4.1.0, wolfSSL has updated its support for the wolfCrypt FIPS Ready version of the wolfSSL library. wolfCrypt FIPS Ready is our FIPS enabled cryptography layer included in the wolfSSL source tree that can be enabled and built. To elaborate on what FIPS Ready really means: you do not get a FIPS certificate and you are not FIPS approved. FIPS Ready means that you have included the FIPS code into your build and that you are operating according to the FIPS enforced best practices of default entry point, and Power On Self Test (POST).

FIPS Ready with curl

(modified from Daniel Stenberg) 

The integration of wolfSSL and curl means that the curl library can also be built using the wolfCrypt FIPS ready library. The following outlines the steps for building curl with FIPS Ready:

1. Download wolfSSL fips ready

2. Unzip the source code somewhere suitable:

$ cd $HOME/src
$ unzip wolfssl-4.1.0-gplv3-fips-ready.zip
$ cd wolfssl-4.1.0-gplv3-fips-ready

3. Build the fips-ready wolfSSL and install it somewhere suitable:

$ ./configure --prefix=$HOME/wolfssl-fips --enable-harden --enable-all
$ make -sj
$ make install

4. Download curl, the normal curl package.

5. Unzip the source code somewhere suitable:

$ cd $HOME/src
$ unzip curl-7.66.0.zip
$ cd curl-7.66.0

6. Build curl with the just recently built and installed FIPS ready wolfSSL version:

$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/wolfssl-fips/lib ./configure --with-wolfssl=$HOME/wolfssl-fips --without-ssl
$ make -sj

7. Now, verify that your new build matches your expectations by:

$ ./src/curl -V

It should show that it uses wolfSSL and that all the protocols and features you want are enabled and present. If not, iterate until it does!

wolfSSL FIPS ready is open source and dual-licensed. More information about building FIPS ready can be found in the FIPS Ready user guide.
More information about wolfSSL and curl can be found on the curl product page.
Details on wolfSSL support for curl is also located on the support page.

If you have any questions or run into any issues, contact us at facts@wolfssl.com, or call us at +1 425 245 8247.