Documentation/crypto/userspace-if.rst

User Space Interface
====================

Introduction
------------

AF_ALG provides unprivileged userspace programs access to arbitrary hash,
symmetric cipher, AEAD, and RNG algorithms that are implemented in kernel-mode
code.

AF_ALG is insecure and is deprecated. Originally added to the kernel in 2010,
most kernel developers now consider it to be a mistake. Support for hardware
accelerators, which was the original purpose of AF_ALG, has been removed.

AF_ALG continues to be supported only for backwards compatibility. On systems
where no programs using AF_ALG remain, the support for it should be disabled by
disabling ``CONFIG_CRYPTO_USER_API_*``.

Deprecation
-----------

AF_ALG was originally intended to provide userspace programs access to crypto
accelerators that they wouldn't otherwise have access to.

However, that capability turned out to not be useful on very many systems. More
significantly, the actual implementation exposes a vastly greater amount of
functionality than that. It actually provides access to all software algorithms.

This includes arbitrary compositions of different algorithms created via a
complex template system, as well as algorithms that only make sense as internal
implementation details of other algorithms. In the past, it also included full
zero-copy support, which was difficult for the kernel to implement securely.

Ultimately, these algorithms are just math computations. They use the same
instructions that userspace programs already have access to, just accessed in a
much more convoluted and less efficient way.

Indeed, userspace code is nearly always what is being used anyway. These same
algorithms are widely implemented in userspace crypto libraries.

Even when zero-copy and off-CPU accelerators were supported, AF_ALG was usually
much slower than optimized software cryptography in userspace. This was
especially true for the small message sizes usually seen in performance-critical
workloads. While it was possible to demonstrate performance wins for hashing
large files on embedded devices, it is hard to imagine a situation where this
would be performance-critical.

Nowadays, AF_ALG no longer supports zero-copy or off-CPU accelerators.
Therefore, it is *always* slower than an optimized userspace implementation,
even for large messages. The only possible advantage left is that it avoids
duplicating code between kernel and userspace. However, userspace
implementations, especially hardware-accelerated ones, do not need to be large.
Just because OpenSSL is huge does not mean that all userspace cryptography
libraries are.

Meanwhile, AF_ALG hasn't been withstanding modern vulnerability discovery tools
such as syzbot and large language models. It receives a steady stream of CVEs.
Some of the examples include:

- CVE-2026-31677
- CVE-2026-31431 (https://copy.fail)
- CVE-2025-38079
- CVE-2025-37808
- CVE-2024-26824
- CVE-2022-48781
- CVE-2019-8912
- CVE-2018-14619
- CVE-2017-18075
- CVE-2017-17806
- CVE-2017-17805
- CVE-2016-10147
- CVE-2015-8970
- CVE-2015-3331
- CVE-2014-9644
- CVE-2013-7421
- CVE-2011-4081

Hardware accelerator drivers are frequently buggy. To reduce attack surface,
AF_ALG now only provides access to algorithms implemented in software. This
means that AF_ALG no longer fulfills its original purpose.

It is recommended that, whenever possible, userspace programs be migrated to
userspace crypto code (which again, is what is normally used anyway) and
``CONFIG_CRYPTO_USER_API_*`` be disabled.  On systems that use SELinux, SELinux
can also be used to restrict the use of AF_ALG to trusted programs.

The remainder of this documentation provides the historical documentation for
the deprecated AF_ALG interface.

User Space API General Remarks
------------------------------

The kernel crypto API is accessible from user space. Currently, the
following ciphers are accessible:

-  Message digest including keyed message digest (HMAC, CMAC)

-  Symmetric ciphers

-  AEAD ciphers

-  Random Number Generators

The interface is provided via socket type using the type AF_ALG. In
addition, the setsockopt option type is SOL_ALG. In case the user space
header files do not export these flags yet, use the following macros:

::

    #ifndef AF_ALG
    #define AF_ALG 38
    #endif
    #ifndef SOL_ALG
    #define SOL_ALG 279
    #endif


A cipher is accessed with the same name as done for the in-kernel API
calls. This includes the generic vs. unique naming schema for ciphers as
well as the enforcement of priorities for generic names.

To interact with the kernel crypto API, a socket must be created by the
user space application. User space invokes the cipher operation with the
send()/write() system call family. The result of the cipher operation is
obtained with the read()/recv() system call family.

The following API calls assume that the socket descriptor is already
opened by the user space application and discusses only the kernel
crypto API specific invocations.

To initialize the socket interface, the following sequence has to be
performed by the consumer:

1. Create a socket of type AF_ALG with the struct sockaddr_alg
   parameter specified below for the different cipher types.

2. Invoke bind with the socket descriptor

3. Invoke accept with the socket descriptor. The accept system call
   returns a new file descriptor that is to be used to interact with the
   particular cipher instance. When invoking send/write or recv/read
   system calls to send data to the kernel or obtain data from the
   kernel, the file descriptor returned by accept must be used.

In-place Cipher operation
-------------------------

Just like the in-kernel operation of the kernel crypto API, the user
space interface allows the cipher operation in-place. That means that
the input buffer used for the send/write system call and the output
buffer used by the read/recv system call may be one and the same. This
is of particular interest for symmetric cipher operations where a
copying of the output data to its final destination can be avoided.

If a consumer on the other hand wants to maintain the plaintext and the
ciphertext in different memory locations, all a consumer needs to do is
to provide different memory pointers for the encryption and decryption
operation.

Message Digest API
------------------

The message digest type to be used for the cipher operation is selected
when invoking the bind syscall. bind requires the caller to provide a
filled struct sockaddr data structure. This data structure must be
filled as follows:

::

    struct sockaddr_alg sa = {
        .salg_family = AF_ALG,
        .salg_type = "hash", /* this selects the hash logic in the kernel */
        .salg_name = "sha1" /* this is the cipher name */
    };


The salg_type value "hash" applies to message digests and keyed message
digests. Though, a keyed message digest is referenced by the appropriate
salg_name. Please see below for the setsockopt interface that explains
how the key can be set for a keyed message digest.

Using the send() system call, the application provides the data that
should be processed with the message digest. The send system call allows
the following flags to be specified:

-  MSG_MORE: If this flag is set, the send system call acts like a
   message digest update function where the final hash is not yet
   calculated. If the flag is not set, the send system call calculates
   the final message digest immediately.

With the recv() system call, the application can read the message digest
from the kernel crypto API. If the buffer is too small for the message
digest, the flag MSG_TRUNC is set by the kernel.

In order to set a message digest key, the calling application must use
the setsockopt() option of ALG_SET_KEY or ALG_SET_KEY_BY_KEY_SERIAL. If the
key is not set the HMAC operation is performed without the initial HMAC state
change caused by the key.

Symmetric Cipher API
--------------------

The operation is very similar to the message digest discussion. During
initialization, the struct sockaddr data structure must be filled as
follows:

::

    struct sockaddr_alg sa = {
        .salg_family = AF_ALG,
        .salg_type = "skcipher", /* this selects the symmetric cipher */
        .salg_name = "cbc(aes)" /* this is the cipher name */
    };


Before data can be sent to the kernel using the write/send system call
family, the consumer must set the key. The key setting is described with
the setsockopt invocation below.

Using the sendmsg() system call, the application provides the data that
should be processed for encryption or decryption. In addition, the IV is
specified with the data structure provided by the sendmsg() system call.

The sendmsg system call parameter of struct msghdr is embedded into the
struct cmsghdr data structure. See recv(2) and cmsg(3) for more
information on how the cmsghdr data structure is used together with the
send/recv system call family. That cmsghdr data structure holds the
following information specified with a separate header instances:

-  specification of the cipher operation type with one of these flags:

   -  ALG_OP_ENCRYPT - encryption of data

   -  ALG_OP_DECRYPT - decryption of data

-  specification of the IV information marked with the flag ALG_SET_IV

The send system call family allows the following flag to be specified:

-  MSG_MORE: If this flag is set, the send system call acts like a
   cipher update function where more input data is expected with a
   subsequent invocation of the send system call.

Note: The kernel reports -EINVAL for any unexpected data. The caller
must make sure that all data matches the constraints given in
/proc/crypto for the selected cipher.

With the recv() system call, the application can read the result of the
cipher operation from the kernel crypto API. The output buffer must be
at least as large as to hold all blocks of the encrypted or decrypted
data. If the output data size is smaller, only as many blocks are
returned that fit into that output buffer size.

AEAD Cipher API
---------------

The operation is very similar to the symmetric cipher discussion. During
initialization, the struct sockaddr data structure must be filled as
follows:

::

    struct sockaddr_alg sa = {
        .salg_family = AF_ALG,
        .salg_type = "aead", /* this selects the symmetric cipher */
        .salg_name = "gcm(aes)" /* this is the cipher name */
    };


Before data can be sent to the kernel using the write/send system call
family, the consumer must set the key. The key setting is described with
the setsockopt invocation below.

In addition, before data can be sent to the kernel using the write/send
system call family, the consumer must set the authentication tag size.
To set the authentication tag size, the caller must use the setsockopt
invocation described below.

Using the sendmsg() system call, the application provides the data that
should be processed for encryption or decryption. In addition, the IV is
specified with the data structure provided by the sendmsg() system call.

The sendmsg system call parameter of struct msghdr is embedded into the
struct cmsghdr data structure. See recv(2) and cmsg(3) for more
information on how the cmsghdr data structure is used together with the
send/recv system call family. That cmsghdr data structure holds the
following information specified with a separate header instances:

-  specification of the cipher operation type with one of these flags:

   -  ALG_OP_ENCRYPT - encryption of data

   -  ALG_OP_DECRYPT - decryption of data

-  specification of the IV information marked with the flag ALG_SET_IV

-  specification of the associated authentication data (AAD) with the
   flag ALG_SET_AEAD_ASSOCLEN. The AAD is sent to the kernel together
   with the plaintext / ciphertext. See below for the memory structure.

The send system call family allows the following flag to be specified:

-  MSG_MORE: If this flag is set, the send system call acts like a
   cipher update function where more input data is expected with a
   subsequent invocation of the send system call.

Note: The kernel reports -EINVAL for any unexpected data. The caller
must make sure that all data matches the constraints given in
/proc/crypto for the selected cipher.

With the recv() system call, the application can read the result of the
cipher operation from the kernel crypto API. The output buffer must be
at least as large as defined with the memory structure below. If the
output data size is smaller, the cipher operation is not performed.

The authenticated decryption operation may indicate an integrity error.
Such breach in integrity is marked with the -EBADMSG error code.

AEAD Memory Structure
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The AEAD cipher operates with the following information that is
communicated between user and kernel space as one data stream:

-  plaintext or ciphertext

-  associated authentication data (AAD)

-  authentication tag

The sizes of the AAD and the authentication tag are provided with the
sendmsg and setsockopt calls (see there). As the kernel knows the size
of the entire data stream, the kernel is now able to calculate the right
offsets of the data components in the data stream.

The user space caller must arrange the aforementioned information in the
following order:

-  AEAD encryption input: AAD \|\| plaintext

-  AEAD decryption input: AAD \|\| ciphertext \|\| authentication tag

The output buffer the user space caller provides must be at least as
large to hold the following data:

-  AEAD encryption output: ciphertext \|\| authentication tag

-  AEAD decryption output: plaintext

Random Number Generator API
---------------------------

Again, the operation is very similar to the other APIs. During
initialization, the struct sockaddr data structure must be filled as
follows:

::

    struct sockaddr_alg sa = {
        .salg_family = AF_ALG,
        .salg_type = "rng", /* this selects the random number generator */
        .salg_name = "stdrng" /* this is the RNG name */
    };


Depending on the RNG type, the RNG must be seeded. The seed is provided
using the setsockopt interface to set the key. The SP800-90A DRBGs do
not require a seed, but may be seeded. The seed is also known as a
*Personalization String* in NIST SP 800-90A standard.

Using the read()/recvmsg() system calls, random numbers can be obtained.
The kernel generates at most 128 bytes in one call. If user space
requires more data, multiple calls to read()/recvmsg() must be made.

WARNING: The user space caller may invoke the initially mentioned accept
system call multiple times. In this case, the returned file descriptors
have the same state.

Following CAVP testing interfaces are enabled when kernel is built with
CRYPTO_USER_API_RNG_CAVP option:

-  the concatenation of *Entropy* and *Nonce* can be provided to the RNG via
   ALG_SET_DRBG_ENTROPY setsockopt interface. Setting the entropy requires
   CAP_SYS_ADMIN permission.

-  *Additional Data* can be provided using the send()/sendmsg() system calls,
   but only after the entropy has been set.

Zero-Copy Interface
-------------------

AF_ALG used to have zero-copy support, but it was removed due to it being a
frequent source of vulnerabilities.  For backwards compatibility the splice()
and sendfile() system calls are still supported, but the kernel will make an
internal copy of the data before passing it to the crypto code.


Setsockopt Interface
--------------------

In addition to the read/recv and send/write system call handling to send
and retrieve data subject to the cipher operation, a consumer also needs
to set the additional information for the cipher operation. This
additional information is set using the setsockopt system call that must
be invoked with the file descriptor of the open cipher (i.e. the file
descriptor returned by the accept system call).

Each setsockopt invocation must use the level SOL_ALG.

The setsockopt interface allows setting the following data using the
mentioned optname:

-  ALG_SET_KEY -- Setting the key. Key setting is applicable to:

   -  the skcipher cipher type (symmetric ciphers)

   -  the hash cipher type (keyed message digests)

   -  the AEAD cipher type

   -  the RNG cipher type to provide the seed

- ALG_SET_KEY_BY_KEY_SERIAL -- Setting the key via keyring key_serial_t.
   This operation behaves the same as ALG_SET_KEY. The decrypted
   data is copied from a keyring key, and uses that data as the
   key for symmetric encryption.

   The passed in key_serial_t must have the KEY_(POS|USR|GRP|OTH)_SEARCH
   permission set, otherwise -EPERM is returned. Supports key types: user,
   logon, encrypted, and trusted.

-  ALG_SET_AEAD_AUTHSIZE -- Setting the authentication tag size for
   AEAD ciphers. For a encryption operation, the authentication tag of
   the given size will be generated. For a decryption operation, the
   provided ciphertext is assumed to contain an authentication tag of
   the given size (see section about AEAD memory layout below).

-  ALG_SET_DRBG_ENTROPY -- Setting the entropy of the random number generator.
   This option is applicable to RNG cipher type only.

User space API example
----------------------

Please see [1] for libkcapi which provides an easy-to-use wrapper around
the aforementioned Netlink kernel interface. [1] also contains a test
application that invokes all libkcapi API calls.

[1] https://www.chronox.de/libkcapi/index.html