[dm-crypt] Using plain64/plain IV (initialisation vector) in dm-crypt
Arno Wagner
arno at wagner.name
Tue Jul 27 12:47:35 CEST 2010
On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 10:46:44AM +0200, Milan Broz wrote:
> This thread is going crazy... :)
Slow day here ;-)
> 1) Facts about using plin IV generator:
>
> - "plain" IV is 32bit only, supported by all kernels
> - you should avoid using it for >2TB devices
> - it will remain this way because of backward compatibility (howgh:-)
>
> - "plain64" is fully 64bit, available since kernel 2.6.33
> - for device < 2TB it produces the same output as "plain"
>
> => use plain64 for new devices if you want to use tweakable encryption
> mode like XTS (or LRW), e.g. cryptsetup -c aes-xts-plain64
Added to the FAQ yesterday. Updated just now that plain64 is
backwards compatible below 2TB.
> p.s.
> Never use plain* IV for CBC mode, use ESSIV there.
> <joke>If you are using ECB mode, you are lost anyway.</joke>
>
> 2) crypsetup should have always safe defaults.
> It is aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 with 256bit key currently.
>
>
> 3) For the resize - we cannot catch all situations, someone can
> dd LUKS disk to another bigger volume without "resize" command.
Yes. My FAQ recomendation is to make a backup, create a new
container in the target size and then restore the data. I
think resizing the filesystem is just too risky otherwise.
> Tools will suggest using plain64 but it cannot force it.
>
>
> > So you guess the the 1TB limit could be actually ...
>
> Forgot about 1TB limit, it is different XTS only problem.
> We mixed up two unrelated problems here.
Indeed.
Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: arno at wagner.name
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
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