raspberrypi / raspberrypi/linux

CONFIG_CRYPTO_SERPENT is not enabled

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#5,906 5 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Dominant language
C
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Description

Describe the bug

The serpent encryption algorithm is not supported in the kernel.

Steps to reproduce the behaviour
  1. cryptsetup benchmark
  2. Results for serpent are N/A
Device (s)

Raspberry Pi 4 Mod. B

System
$ cat /etc/rpi-issue
Raspberry Pi reference 2023-05-03
Generated using pi-gen, https://github.com/RPi-Distro/pi-gen, 7c750947a959fb626a70c09fd17c65815df192ac, stage2

$ vcgencmd version
Mar 17 2023 10:50:39 
Copyright (c) 2012 Broadcom
version 82f3750a65fadae9a38077e3c2e217ad158c8d54 (clean) (release) (start)

$ uname -a
Linux mainserver 6.1.74-v8+ #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jan 28 01:30:24 UTC 2024 aarch64 GNU/Linux
Logs

No response

Additional context

I am not entirely sure why the algorthm is disabled. I can reasonably come up with 2 options:

  1. Its too slow due to not being properly supported on the hardware side
  2. It doesnt work at all on some devices

To test both, I have created https://github.com/Aegeontis/rpi-linux-serpent. The repo compiles the kernel in exactly the same way as the upstream one, except enabling serpent support. I installed the compiled kernel from that repo (arm64 on rpi4) and everything works fine. Speeds are acceptable.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Search the kernel configuration for CONFIG_CRYPTO_SERPENT and compare the upstream Raspberry Pi build with the configuration used by the linked rpi-linux-serpent repository. Reproduce the issue with cryptsetup benchmark on a Raspberry Pi 4, then verify that serpent is no longer reported as N/A when the configuration is enabled.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c, linux
Domain
cryptography, operating-systems, security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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