openssl/doc/man7/OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS.pod

=pod

=head1 NAME

OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS - OpenSSL FIPS provider

=head1 DESCRIPTION

The OpenSSL FIPS provider is a special provider that conforms to the Federal
Information Processing Standards (FIPS) specified in FIPS 140-3. This 'module'
contains an approved set of cryptographic algorithms that is validated by an
accredited testing laboratory.

=head2 Properties

The implementations in this provider specifically have these properties
defined for approved algorithms:

=over 4

=item "provider=fips"

=item "fips=yes"

=back

It may be used in a property query string with fetching functions such as
L<EVP_MD_fetch(3)> or L<EVP_CIPHER_fetch(3)>, as well as with other
functions that take a property query string, such as
L<EVP_PKEY_CTX_new_from_name(3)>.

To be FIPS compliant, it is mandatory to include C<fips=yes> as
part of all property queries.  This ensures that only FIPS approved
implementations are used for cryptographic operations.  The C<fips=yes>
query may also include other non-crypto support operations that
are not in the FIPS provider, such as asymmetric key encoders, see
L<OSSL_PROVIDER-default(7)/Asymmetric Key Management>.

It is not mandatory to include C<provider=fips> as part of your property
query.  Including C<provider=fips> in your property query guarantees
that the OpenSSL FIPS provider is used for cryptographic operations
rather than other FIPS capable providers.

=head2 Approved algorithms

Algorithms that are fetched using "fips=yes" may still be unapproved if certain
conditions are not met. See L<fips_module(7)/FIPS indicators> for additional
information.

=head2 Provider parameters

See L<provider-base(7)/Provider parameters> for a list of base parameters.
The OpenSSL FIPS provider also handles FIPS indicator related parameters as
specified by L<fips_config(5)/FIPS indicator options>.

=head1 OPERATIONS AND ALGORITHMS

The OpenSSL FIPS provider supports these operations and algorithms:

=head2 Hashing Algorithms / Message Digests

=over 4

=item SHA1, see L<EVP_MD-SHA1(7)>

=item SHA2, see L<EVP_MD-SHA2(7)>

=item SHA3, see L<EVP_MD-SHA3(7)>

=item SHAKE, see L<EVP_MD-SHAKE(7)>

=item KECCAK-KMAC, see L<EVP_MD-KECCAK-KMAC(7)>

KECCAK-KMAC is only used internally as a sub algorithm of KMAC.

=back

=head2 Symmetric Ciphers

=over 4

=item AES, see L<EVP_CIPHER-AES(7)>

=item 3DES, see L<EVP_CIPHER-DES(7)>

=back

=head2 Message Authentication Code (MAC)

=over 4

=item CMAC, see L<EVP_MAC-CMAC(7)>

=item GMAC, see L<EVP_MAC-GMAC(7)>

=item HMAC, see L<EVP_MAC-HMAC(7)>

=item KMAC, see L<EVP_MAC-KMAC(7)>

=back

=head2 Key Derivation Function (KDF)

=over 4

=item HKDF, see L<EVP_KDF-HKDF(7)>

=item HKDF-SHA256, see L<EVP_KDF-HKDF(7)>

=item HKDF-SHA384, see L<EVP_KDF-HKDF(7)>

=item HKDF-SHA512, see L<EVP_KDF-HKDF(7)>

=item TLS13-KDF, see L<EVP_KDF-TLS13_KDF(7)>

=item SSKDF, see L<EVP_KDF-SS(7)>

=item PBKDF2, see L<EVP_KDF-PBKDF2(7)>

=item SSHKDF, see L<EVP_KDF-SSHKDF(7)>

=item TLS1-PRF, see L<EVP_KDF-TLS1_PRF(7)>

=item KBKDF, see L<EVP_KDF-KB(7)>

=item X942KDF-ASN1, see L<EVP_KDF-X942-ASN1(7)>

=item X942KDF-CONCAT, see L<EVP_KDF-X942-CONCAT(7)>

=item X963KDF, see L<EVP_KDF-X963(7)>

=back

=head2 Key Exchange

=over 4

=item DH, see L<EVP_KEYEXCH-DH(7)>

=item ECDH, see L<EVP_KEYEXCH-ECDH(7)>

=item X25519, see L<EVP_KEYEXCH-X25519(7)>

=item X448, see L<EVP_KEYEXCH-X448(7)>

=item ML-KEM, see L<EVP_KEM-ML-KEM(7)>

=item TLS1-PRF

=item HKDF

=back

=head2 Asymmetric Signature

=over 4

=item RSA, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-RSA(7)>

The B<X931> padding mode "OSSL_PKEY_RSA_PAD_MODE_X931" is no longer supported
for signature generation, but may be used for verification for legacy use cases.
(This is a FIPS 140-3 requirement)

=item DSA, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-DSA(7)>

=item ED25519, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-ED25519(7)>

=item ED448, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-ED448(7)>

=item ECDSA, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-ECDSA(7)>

=item ML-DSA-44, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-ML-DSA(7)>

=item ML-DSA-65, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-ML-DSA(7)>

=item ML-DSA-87, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-ML-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item HMAC, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-HMAC(7)>

=item CMAC, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-CMAC(7)>

=item LMS, see L<EVP_SIGNATURE-LMS(7)>

=back

=head2 Asymmetric Cipher

=over 4

=item RSA, see L<EVP_ASYM_CIPHER-RSA(7)>

=back

=head2 Asymmetric Key Encapsulation

=over 4

=item RSA, see L<EVP_KEM-RSA(7)>

=back

=head2 Asymmetric Key Management

=over 4

=item DH, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-DH(7)>

=item DHX, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-DHX(7)>

=item DSA, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-DSA(7)>

=item RSA, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-RSA(7)>

=item RSA-PSS

=item EC, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-EC(7)>

=item ED25519, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-ED25519(7)>

=item ED448, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-ED448(7)>

=item X25519, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-X25519(7)>

This is an unapproved algorithm.
The FIPS 140-3 IG states that "Curves that are included in SP 800-186 but not
included in SP 800-56Arev3 are not approved for key agreement".

=item X448, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-X448(7)>

This is an unapproved algorithm.
The FIPS 140-3 IG states that "Curves that are included in SP 800-186 but not"
included in SP 800-56Arev3 are not approved for key agreement".

=item TLS1-PRF

=item HKDF

=item HMAC, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-HMAC(7)>

=item CMAC, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-CMAC(7)>

=item ML-DSA-44, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-ML-DSA(7)>

=item ML-DSA-65, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-ML-DSA(7)>

=item ML-DSA-87, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-ML-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHA2-192s, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHA2-192f, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHA2-256s, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHA2-256f, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128f, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHAKE-192s, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHAKE-192f, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHAKE-256s, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=item SLH-DSA-SHAKE-256f, see L<EVP_KEYMGMT-SLH-DSA(7)>

=back

=head2 Random Number Generation

=over 4

=item CRNG-TEST, see L<EVP_RAND-CRNG-TEST(7)>

=item CTR-DRBG, see L<EVP_RAND-CTR-DRBG(7)>

=item HASH-DRBG, see L<EVP_RAND-HASH-DRBG(7)>

=item HMAC-DRBG, see L<EVP_RAND-HMAC-DRBG(7)>

=item TEST-RAND, see L<EVP_RAND-TEST-RAND(7)>

TEST-RAND is an unapproved algorithm.

=back

=head1 SELF TESTING

A requirement of FIPS modules is to run cryptographic algorithm self tests.
FIPS 140-3 requires known answer tests to be run on startup as well as
conditional tests that run during cryptographic operations.

An optional callback mechanism is available to return information to the user using
L<OSSL_SELF_TEST_set_callback(3)>.

The parameters passed to the callback are described in L<OSSL_SELF_TEST_new(3)>

The OpenSSL FIPS module uses the following mechanism to provide information
about the self tests as they run.
This is useful for debugging if a self test is failing.
The callback also allows forcing any self test to fail, in order to check that
it operates correctly on failure.
Note that all self tests run even if a self test failure occurs.

The FIPS module passes the following type(s) to OSSL_SELF_TEST_onbegin().

=over 4

=item "Module_Integrity" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_MODULE_INTEGRITY>)

Uses HMAC SHA256 on the module file to validate that the module has not been
modified. The integrity value is compared to a value written to a configuration
file during installation.

=item "KAT_Integrity" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_INTEGRITY>)

Used during the Module Integrity test to perform a known answer test on
HMAC SHA256 prior to using it.

=item "KAT_Cipher" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_CIPHER>)

Known answer test for a symmetric cipher.

=item "KAT_AsymmetricCipher" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_ASYM_CIPHER>)

Known answer test for a asymmetric cipher.

=item "KAT_Digest" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_DIGEST>)

Known answer test for a digest.

=item "KAT_AsymmetricKeyGeneration" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_ASYM_KEYGEN>)

Known answer test for asymmetric key generation.

=item "KAT_Signature" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_SIGNATURE>)

Known answer test for a signature.

=item "PCT_Signature" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_PCT_SIGNATURE>)

Pairwise Consistency check for a signature.

=item "KAT_KDF" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_KDF>)

Known answer test for a key derivation function.

=item "KAT_KA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_KA>)

Known answer test for key agreement.

=item "KAT_KEM" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_KEM>)

Known answer test for key encapsulation.

=item "DRBG" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_DRBG>)

Known answer test for a Deterministic Random Bit Generator.

=item "Conditional_PCT" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_PCT>)

Conditional test that is run during the generation of key pairs.

=item "Import_PCT" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_PCT_IMPORT>)

Conditional test that is run during the import of key pairs.

=item "Conditional_KAT" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_PCT_KAT>)

Conditional test run during generation that derive the public key from the
private key and checks that the public key matches. This is a SP 800-56A requirement.

=item "Continuous_RNG_Test" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_CRNG>)

Continuous random number generator test.

=item "Install_Integrity" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_INSTALL_INTEGRITY>)

This is deprecated. The option is no longer used since FIPS 140-3 requires
self tests to always run on startup. Previous FIPS 140-2 validations allowed
the self tests to be run just once.

=back

The FIPS module passes the following descriptions(s) to OSSL_SELF_TEST_onbegin().

=over 4

=item "HMAC" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_INTEGRITY_HMAC>)

"Module_Integrity" uses this.

=item "RSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_RSA_PKCS1>)

=item "RSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_RSA>)

=item "ECDSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_ECDSA>)

=item "EDDSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_EDDSA>)

=item "DSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_DSA>)

=item "ML-DSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_ML_DSA>)

=item "ML-KEM" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_ML_KEM>)

=item "SLH-DSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_SLH_DSA>)

Key generation tests used with the "Pairwise_Consistency_Test" type.

=item "RSA_Encrypt" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_ASYM_RSA_ENC>)

=item "RSA_Decrypt" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_ASYM_RSA_DEC>)

"KAT_AsymmetricCipher" uses this to indicate an encrypt or decrypt KAT.

=item "ML-DSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KEYGEN_ML_DSA>)

=item "ML-KEM" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KEYGEN_ML_KEM>)

=item "SLH-DSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KEYGEN_SLH_DSA>)

"KAT_AsymmetricKeyGeneration" uses this to indicate a key generation KAT.

=item "AES_GCM" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_CIPHER_AES_GCM>)

=item "AES_ECB_Decrypt" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_CIPHER_AES_ECB>)

=item "TDES" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_CIPHER_TDES>)

Symmetric cipher tests used with the "KAT_Cipher" type.

=item "SHA1" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA1>)

=item "SHA2" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA2>)

=item "SHA3" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA3>)

Digest tests used with the "KAT_Digest" type.

=item "DSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_DSA>)

=item "RSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_RSA>)

=item "ECDSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_ECDSA>)

=item "DetECDSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_DetECDSA>)

=item "EDDSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_EDDSA>)

=item "LMS" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_LMS>)

=item "ML-DSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_ML_DSA>)

=item "SLH-DSA" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_SLH_DSA>)

Signature tests used with the "KAT_Signature" type.

=item "ECDH" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KA_ECDH>)

=item "DH" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KA_DH>)

Key agreement tests used with the "KAT_KA" type.

=item "HKDF" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_HKDF>)

=item "TLS13_KDF_EXTRACT" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_TLS13_EXTRACT>)

=item "TLS13_KDF_EXPAND" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_TLS13_EXPAND>)

=item "SSKDF" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_SSKDF>)

=item "X963KDF" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_X963KDF>)

=item "X942KDF" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_X942KDF>)

=item "PBKDF2" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_PBKDF2>)

=item "SSHKDF" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_SSHKDF>)

=item "TLS12_PRF" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_TLS12_PRF>)

=item "KBKDF" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_KBKDF>)

Key Encapsulation Function tests used with the "KAT_KEM" type.

=item "KEM_Encap" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_ENCAP_KEM>)

=item "KEM_Decap" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DECAP_KEM>)

=item "KEM_Decap_Reject" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DECAP_REJ_KEM>)

Key Derivation Function tests used with the "KAT_KDF" type.

=item "CTR" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DRBG_CTR>)

=item "HASH" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DRBG_HASH>)

=item "HMAC" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DRBG_HMAC>)

DRBG tests used with the "DRBG" type.

=item "RNG" (B<OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_RNG>)

"Continuous_RNG_Test" uses this.

=back

=head1 EXAMPLES

A simple self test callback is shown below for illustrative purposes.

  #include <openssl/self_test.h>

  static OSSL_CALLBACK self_test_cb;

  static int self_test_cb(const OSSL_PARAM params[], void *arg)
  {
    int ret = 0;
    const OSSL_PARAM *p = NULL;
    const char *phase = NULL, *type = NULL, *desc = NULL;

    p = OSSL_PARAM_locate_const(params, OSSL_PROV_PARAM_SELF_TEST_PHASE);
    if (p == NULL || p->data_type != OSSL_PARAM_UTF8_STRING)
        goto err;
    phase = (const char *)p->data;

    p = OSSL_PARAM_locate_const(params, OSSL_PROV_PARAM_SELF_TEST_DESC);
    if (p == NULL || p->data_type != OSSL_PARAM_UTF8_STRING)
        goto err;
    desc = (const char *)p->data;

    p = OSSL_PARAM_locate_const(params, OSSL_PROV_PARAM_SELF_TEST_TYPE);
    if (p == NULL || p->data_type != OSSL_PARAM_UTF8_STRING)
        goto err;
    type = (const char *)p->data;

    /* Do some logging */
    if (strcmp(phase, OSSL_SELF_TEST_PHASE_START) == 0)
        BIO_printf(bio_out, "%s : (%s) : ", desc, type);
    if (strcmp(phase, OSSL_SELF_TEST_PHASE_PASS) == 0
            || strcmp(phase, OSSL_SELF_TEST_PHASE_FAIL) == 0)
        BIO_printf(bio_out, "%s\n", phase);

    /* Corrupt the SHA1 self test during the 'corrupt' phase by returning 0 */
    if (strcmp(phase, OSSL_SELF_TEST_PHASE_CORRUPT) == 0
            && strcmp(desc, OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA1) == 0) {
        BIO_printf(bio_out, "%s %s", phase, desc);
        return 0;
    }
    ret = 1;
  err:
    return ret;
  }

=head1 NOTES

Some released versions of OpenSSL do not include a validated
FIPS provider.  To determine which versions have undergone
the validation process, please refer to the
L<OpenSSL Downloads page|https://www.openssl.org/source/>.  If you
require FIPS-approved functionality, it is essential to build your FIPS
provider using one of the validated versions listed there.  Normally,
it is possible to utilize a FIPS provider constructed from one of the
validated versions alongside F<libcrypto> and F<libssl> compiled from any
release within the same major release series.  This flexibility enables
you to address bug fixes and CVEs that fall outside the FIPS boundary.

You can load the FIPS provider into multiple library contexts as any other
provider. However the following restriction applies. The FIPS provider cannot
be used by multiple copies of OpenSSL libcrypto in a single process.

As the provider saves core callbacks to the libcrypto obtained in the
OSSL_provider_init() call to global data it will fail if subsequent
invocations of its OSSL_provider_init() function yield different addresses
of these callbacks than in the initial call. This happens when different
copies of libcrypto are present in the memory of the process and both try
to load the same FIPS provider. A workaround is to have a different copy
of the FIPS provider loaded for each of the libcrypto instances in the
process.

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<openssl-fipsinstall(1)>,
L<fips_config(5)>,
L<OSSL_SELF_TEST_set_callback(3)>,
L<OSSL_SELF_TEST_new(3)>,
L<OSSL_PARAM(3)>,
L<openssl-core.h(7)>,
L<openssl-core_dispatch.h(7)>,
L<provider(7)>,
L<https://www.openssl.org/source/>

=head1 HISTORY

The HKDF-SHA256, HKDF-SHA384 and HKDF-SHA512 algorithms were added in OpenSSL 3.6.

All other functionality was added in OpenSSL 3.0.

=head1 COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2019-2025 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License").  You may not use
this file except in compliance with the License.  You can obtain a copy
in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.

=cut