linux/include
Eric Biggers a22fd0e3c4 lib/crypto: aes: Introduce improved AES library
The kernel's AES library currently has the following issues:

- It doesn't take advantage of the architecture-optimized AES code,
  including the implementations using AES instructions.

- It's much slower than even the other software AES implementations: 2-4
  times slower than "aes-generic", "aes-arm", and "aes-arm64".

- It requires that both the encryption and decryption round keys be
  computed and cached.  This is wasteful for users that need only the
  forward (encryption) direction of the cipher: the key struct is 484
  bytes when only 244 are actually needed.  This missed optimization is
  very common, as many AES modes (e.g. GCM, CFB, CTR, CMAC, and even the
  tweak key in XTS) use the cipher only in the forward (encryption)
  direction even when doing decryption.

- It doesn't provide the flexibility to customize the prepared key
  format.  The API is defined to do key expansion, and several callers
  in drivers/crypto/ use it specifically to expand the key.  This is an
  issue when integrating the existing powerpc, s390, and sparc code,
  which is necessary to provide full parity with the traditional API.

To resolve these issues, I'm proposing the following changes:

1. New structs 'aes_key' and 'aes_enckey' are introduced, with
   corresponding functions aes_preparekey() and aes_prepareenckey().

   Generally these structs will include the encryption+decryption round
   keys and the encryption round keys, respectively.  However, the exact
   format will be under control of the architecture-specific AES code.

   (The verb "prepare" is chosen over "expand" since key expansion isn't
   necessarily done.  It's also consistent with hmac*_preparekey().)

2. aes_encrypt() and aes_decrypt() will be changed to operate on the new
   structs instead of struct crypto_aes_ctx.

3. aes_encrypt() and aes_decrypt() will use architecture-optimized code
   when available, or else fall back to a new generic AES implementation
   that unifies the existing two fragmented generic AES implementations.

   The new generic AES implementation uses tables for both SubBytes and
   MixColumns, making it almost as fast as "aes-generic".  However,
   instead of aes-generic's huge 8192-byte tables per direction, it uses
   only 1024 bytes for encryption and 1280 bytes for decryption (similar
   to "aes-arm").  The cost is just some extra rotations.

   The new generic AES implementation also includes table prefetching,
   making it have some "constant-time hardening".  That's an improvement
   from aes-generic which has no constant-time hardening.

   It does slightly regress in constant-time hardening vs. the old
   lib/crypto/aes.c which had smaller tables, and from aes-fixed-time
   which disabled IRQs on top of that.  But I think this is tolerable.
   The real solutions for constant-time AES are AES instructions or
   bit-slicing.  The table-based code remains a best-effort fallback for
   the increasingly-rare case where a real solution is unavailable.

4. crypto_aes_ctx and aes_expandkey() will remain for now, but only for
   callers that are using them specifically for the AES key expansion
   (as opposed to en/decrypting data with the AES library).

This commit begins the migration process by introducing the new structs
and functions, backed by the new generic AES implementation.

To allow callers to be incrementally converted, aes_encrypt() and
aes_decrypt() are temporarily changed into macros that use a _Generic
expression to call either the old functions (which take crypto_aes_ctx)
or the new functions (which take the new types).  Once all callers have
been updated, these macros will go away, the old functions will be
removed, and the "_new" suffix will be dropped from the new functions.

Acked-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260112192035.10427-3-ebiggers@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>
2026-01-12 11:39:58 -08:00
..
acpi ACPI: PCI: IRQ: Fix INTx GSIs signedness 2026-01-05 19:06:40 +01:00
asm-generic hyperv-next for v6.19 2025-12-09 06:10:17 +09:00
clocksource
crypto lib/crypto: aes: Introduce improved AES library 2026-01-12 11:39:58 -08:00
cxl
drm drm-misc-fixes for v6.19-rc5: 2026-01-08 07:41:00 +10:00
dt-bindings This pull request is entirely SoC clk drivers, not for lack of trying to modify 2025-12-08 09:38:52 +09:00
hyperv mshv: Add definitions for MSHV sleep state configuration 2025-12-05 23:24:57 +00:00
keys
kunit kunit: Enforce task execution in {soft,hard}irq contexts 2025-12-22 12:20:08 -08:00
kvm
linux treewide: Update email address 2026-01-11 06:09:11 -10:00
math-emu
media
memory
misc
net net: dsa: properly keep track of conduit reference 2025-12-23 10:32:08 +01:00
pcmcia
ras Significant patch series in this merge are as follows: 2025-12-05 13:52:43 -08:00
rdma
rv rv: Fix compilation if !CONFIG_RV_REACTORS 2025-12-02 12:33:37 -05:00
scsi
soc This pull request is entirely SoC clk drivers, not for lack of trying to modify 2025-12-08 09:38:52 +09:00
sound ASoC: soc-acpi / SOF: Add best_effort flag to get_function_tplg_files op 2025-12-15 23:08:35 +09:00
target
trace nfsd-6.19 fixes: 2026-01-06 09:12:52 -08:00
uapi treewide: Update email address 2026-01-11 06:09:11 -10:00
ufs
vdso
video
xen
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