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Getting started with Mbed Crypto
What is Mbed Crypto?
Mbed Crypto is an open source cryptographic library that supports a wide range of cryptographic operations, including:
- Key management
- Hashing
- Symmetric cryptography
- Asymmetric cryptography
- Message authentication (MAC)
- Key generation and derivation
- Authenticated encryption with associated data (AEAD)
The Mbed Crypto library is a reference implementation of the cryptography interface of the Arm Platform Security Architecture (PSA). It is written in portable C.
The Mbed Crypto library is distributed under the Apache License, version 2.0.
Platform Security Architecture (PSA)
Arm's Platform Security Architecture (PSA) is a holistic set of threat models, security analyses, hardware and firmware architecture specifications, and an open source firmware reference implementation. PSA provides a recipe, based on industry best practice, that allows security to be consistently designed in, at both a hardware and firmware level. Part of the API provided by PSA is the cryptography interface, which provides access to a set of primitives.
Using Mbed Crypto
- Getting the Mbed Crypto library
- Building the Mbed Crypto library
- Using the Mbed Crypto library
- Importing a key
- Signing a message using RSA
- Encrypting or decrypting using symmetric ciphers
- Hashing a message
- Deriving a new key from an existing key
- Generating a random value
- Authenticating and encrypting or decrypting a message
- Generating and exporting keys
- More about the Mbed Crypto library
Getting the Mbed Crypto library
Mbed Crypto releases are available in the public Github repository.
Building the Mbed Crypto library
You need the following tools to build the library with the provided makefiles:
- GNU Make.
- A C toolchain (compiler, linker, archiver).
- Python 2 or Python 3 (either works) to generate the test code.
- Perl to run the tests.
If you have a C compiler such as GCC or Clang, just run make in the top-level directory to build the library, a set of unit tests and some sample programs.
To select a different compiler, set the CC variable to name or path of the compiler and linker (default: cc) and set AR to a compatible archiver (default: ar), such as:
make CC=arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc AR=arm-linux-gnueabi-ar
The provided makefiles pass options to the compiler that assume a GCC-like command line syntax. To use a different compiler, you may need to pass different values for CFLAGS, WARNINGS_CFLAGS and LDFLAGS.
To run the unit tests on the host machine, run make test from the top-level directory. If you are cross-compiling, copy the test executable from the tests directory to the target machine.
Using the Mbed Crypto library
To use the Mbed Crypto APIs, call psa_crypto_init() before calling any other API. This initializes the library.
Importing a key
To use a key for cryptography operations in Mbed Crypto, you need to first import it into a key slot. Each slot can store only one key at a time. The slot where the key is stored must be unoccupied, and valid for a key of the chosen type.
Prerequisites to importing keys:
- Initialize the library with a successful call to
psa_crypto_init.
Importing a key and checking key information:
- Import a key pair into key slot
1. - Test the information stored in this slot:
int key_slot = 1;
uint8_t *data = "KEYPAIR_KEY_DATA";
size_t data_size;
psa_key_type_t type = PSA_KEY_TYPE_RSA_PUBLIC_KEY;
size_t got_bits;
psa_key_type_t got_type;
size_t expected_bits = data_size;
psa_key_type_t type = PSA_KEY_TYPE_RAW_DATA;
size_t export_size = data_size;
psa_crypto_init();
/* Import the key */
status = psa_import_key(key_slot, type, data, data_size);
/* Test the key information */
status = psa_get_key_information(slot, &got_type, &got_bits);
/* Destroy the key */
psa_destroy_key(key_slot);
mbedtls_psa_crypto_free();
Signing a message using RSA
Mbed Crypto provides support for encrypting, decrypting, signing and verifying messages using public key signature algorithms (such as RSA or ECDSA).
Prerequisites to working with the asymmetric cipher API:
- Initialize the library with a successful call to
psa_crypto_init. - Configure the key policy accordingly:
PSA_KEY_USAGE_SIGNto allow signing.PSA_KEY_USAGE_VERIFYto allow signature verification.
- Have a valid key in the key slot.
To sign a given message payload using RSA:
- Set the key policy of the chosen key slot by calling
psa_key_policy_set_usage()with thePSA_KEY_USAGE_SIGNparameter and the algorithmPSA_ALG_RSA_PKCS1V15_SIGN_RAW. This allows the key in the key slot to be used for RSA signing. - Import the key into the key slot by calling
psa_import_key(). You can use an already imported key instead of importing a new one. - Call
psa_asymmetric_sign()and get the output buffer that contains the signature:
psa_status_t status;
int key_slot = 1;
unsigned char key[] = "RSA_KEY";
unsigned char payload[] = "ASYMMETRIC_INPUT_FOR_SIGN";
psa_key_policy_t policy = PSA_KEY_POLICY_INIT;
unsigned char signature[PSA_ASYMMETRIC_SIGNATURE_MAX_SIZE] = {0};
size_t signature_length;
status = psa_crypto_init();
/* Import the key */
psa_key_policy_set_usage(&policy, PSA_KEY_USAGE_SIGN,
PSA_ALG_RSA_PKCS1V15_SIGN_RAW);
status = psa_set_key_policy(key_slot, &policy);
status = psa_import_key(key_slot, PSA_KEY_TYPE_RSA_KEYPAIR,
key, sizeof(key));
/* Sing message using the key */
status = psa_asymmetric_sign(key_slot, PSA_ALG_RSA_PKCS1V15_SIGN_RAW,
payload, sizeof(payload),
signature, sizeof(signature),
&signature_length);
/* Destroy the key */
psa_destroy_key(key_slot);
mbedtls_psa_crypto_free();
Encrypting or decrypting using symmetric ciphers
Mbed Crypto provides support for encrypting and decrypting messages using various symmetric cipher algorithms (both block and stream ciphers).
Prerequisites to working with the symmetric cipher API:
- Initialize the library with a successful call to
psa_crypto_init. - Configure the key policy accordingly (
PSA_KEY_USAGE_ENCRYPTto allow encryption orPSA_KEY_USAGE_DECRYPTto allow decryption). - Have a valid key in the key slot.
Encrypting a message with a symmetric cipher:
- Allocate an operation (
psa_cipher_operation_t) structure to pass to the cipher functions. - Call
psa_cipher_encrypt_setupto initialize the operation structure and specify the algorithm and the key to be used. - Call either
psa_cipher_generate_ivorpsa_cipher_set_ivto generate or set the initialization vector (IV). We recommendedpsa_cipher_generate_iv, unless you require a specific IV value. - Call
psa_cipher_updateone or more times, passing either the whole or only a fragment of the message each time. - Call
psa_cipher_finishto end the operation and output the encrypted message.
Encrypting random data using an AES key in cipher block chain (CBC) mode with no padding (assuming all prerequisites have been fulfilled):
psa_key_slot_t key_slot = 1;
psa_algorithm_t alg = PSA_ALG_CBC_NO_PADDING;
psa_cipher_operation_t operation;
size_t block_size = PSA_BLOCK_CIPHER_BLOCK_SIZE(PSA_KEY_TYPE_AES);
unsigned char input[block_size];
unsigned char iv[block_size];
size_t iv_len;
unsigned char output[block_size];
size_t output_len;
/* generate some random data to be encrypted */
psa_generate_random(input, sizeof(input));
/* encrypt the key */
psa_cipher_encrypt_setup(&operation, key_slot, alg);
psa_cipher_generate_iv(&operation, iv, sizeof(iv), &iv_len);
psa_cipher_update(&operation, input, sizeof(input),
output, sizeof(output),
&output_len);
psa_cipher_finish(&operation,
output + output_len, sizeof(output) - output_len,
&output_len);
/* Clean up cipher operation context */
psa_cipher_abort(&operation);
Decrypting a message with a symmetric cipher:
- Allocate an operation (
psa_cipher_operation_t) structure to pass to the cipher functions. - Call
psa_cipher_decrypt_setupto initialize the operation structure and to specify the algorithm and the key to be used. - Call
psa_cipher_set_ivwith the IV for the decryption. - Call
psa_cipher_updateone or more times passing either the whole or only a fragment of the message each time. - Call
psa_cipher_finishto end the operation and output the decrypted message.
Decrypting encrypted data using an AES key in CBC mode with no padding (assuming all prerequisites have been fulfilled):
psa_key_slot_t key_slot = 1;
psa_algorithm_t alg = PSA_ALG_CBC_NO_PADDING;
psa_cipher_operation_t operation;
size_t block_size = PSA_BLOCK_CIPHER_BLOCK_SIZE(PSA_KEY_TYPE_AES);
unsigned char input[block_size];
unsigned char iv[block_size];
size_t iv_len;
unsigned char output[block_size];
size_t output_len;
/* setup input data */
fetch_iv(iv, sizeof(iv)); /* fetch the IV used when the data was encrypted */
fetch_input(input, sizeof(input)); /* fetch the data to be decrypted */
/* encrypt the encrypted data */
psa_cipher_decrypt_setup(&operation, key_slot, alg);
psa_cipher_set_iv(&operation, iv, sizeof(iv));
psa_cipher_update(&operation, input, sizeof(input),
output, sizeof(output),
&output_len);
psa_cipher_finish(&operation,
output + output_len, sizeof(output) - output_len,
&output_len);
/* Clean up cipher operation context */
psa_cipher_abort(&operation);
Handling cipher operation contexts
Once you've initialized the operation structure with a successful call to psa_cipher_encrypt_setup or psa_cipher_decrypt_setup, you can terminate the operation at any time by calling psa_cipher_abort.
The call to psa_cipher_abort frees any resources associated with the operation (except for the operation structure itself). An implicit call to psa_cipher_abort occurs when any of these conditions occur:
- A call to
psa_cipher_generate_iv,psa_cipher_set_ivorpsa_cipher_updatehas failed (returning any status other thanPSA_SUCCESS). - Either a successful or failed call to
psa_cipher_finish.
Once psa_cipher_abort has been called (either implicitly by the implementation or explicitly by the user), the operation structure is invalidated and may not be reused for the same operation. However, the operation structure may be reused for a different operation by calling either psa_cipher_encrypt_setup or psa_cipher_decrypt_setup again.
For an operation that has been initialized successfully (by a successful call to psa_cipher_encrypt_setup or psa_cipher_decrypt_setup) it is imperative that at some time psa_cipher_abort is called.
Multiple sequential calls to psa_cipher_abort on an operation that has already been terminated (either implicitly or explicitly) are safe and have no effect.
Hashing a message
Mbed Crypto lets you compute and verify hashes using various hashing algorithms.
The current implementation supports the following hash algorithms: MD2, MD4, MD5, RIPEMD160, SHA-1, SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512.
Prerequisites to working with the hash APIs:
- Initialize the library with a successful call to
psa_crypto_init.
To calculate a hash:
- Allocate an operation structure (
psa_hash_operation_t) to pass to the hash functions. - Call
psa_hash_setupto initialize the operation structure and specify the hash algorithm. - Call
psa_hash_updateone or more times, passing either the whole or only a fragment of the message each time. - Call
psa_hash_finishto calculate the hash, orpsa_hash_verifyto compare the computed hash with an expected hash value.
Calculate the SHA-256 hash of a message:
psa_algorithm_t alg = PSA_ALG_SHA_256;
psa_hash_operation_t operation;
unsigned char input[] = { 'a', 'b', 'c' };
unsigned char actual_hash[PSA_HASH_MAX_SIZE];
size_t actual_hash_len;
/* Compute hash of message */
psa_hash_setup(&operation, alg);
psa_hash_update(&operation, input, sizeof(input));
psa_hash_finish(&operation, actual_hash, sizeof(actual_hash), &actual_hash_len);
/* Clean up hash operation context */
psa_hash_abort(&operation);
Verify the SHA-256 hash of a message:
psa_algorithm_t alg = PSA_ALG_SHA_256;
psa_hash_operation_t operation;
unsigned char input[] = { 'a', 'b', 'c' };
unsigned char expected_hash[] = {
0xba, 0x78, 0x16, 0xbf, 0x8f, 0x01, 0xcf, 0xea, 0x41, 0x41, 0x40, 0xde,
0x5d, 0xae, 0x22, 0x23, 0xb0, 0x03, 0x61, 0xa3, 0x96, 0x17, 0x7a, 0x9c,
0xb4, 0x10, 0xff, 0x61, 0xf2, 0x00, 0x15, 0xad
};
size_t expected_hash_len = PSA_HASH_SIZE(alg);
/* Verify message hash */
psa_hash_setup(&operation, alg);
psa_hash_update(&operation, input, sizeof(input));
psa_hash_verify(&operation, expected_hash, expected_hash_len);
The API provides the macro PSA_HASH_SIZE, which returns the expected hash length (in bytes) for the specified algorithm.
Handling hash operation contexts
Once the operation structure has been successfully initialized by a successful call to psa_hash_setup, it's possible to terminate the operation at any time by calling psa_hash_abort. The call to psa_hash_abort frees any resources associated with the operation (except for the operation structure itself).
An implicit call to psa_hash_abort occurs when any of these conditions occur:
- A call to
psa_hash_updatehas failed (returning any status other thanPSA_SUCCESS). - Either a successful or failed call to
psa_hash_finish. - Either a successful or failed call to
psa_hash_verify.
Once psa_hash_abort has been called (either implicitly by the implementation or explicitly by the user), the operation structure is invalidated and may not be reused for the same operation. However, the operation structure may be reused for a different operation by calling psa_hash_setup again.
For an operation that has been initialized successfully (by a successful call to psa_hash_setup) it is imperative that at some time psa_hash_abort is called.
Multiple sequential calls to psa_hash_abort on an operation that has already been terminated (either implicitly or explicitly) is safe and has no effect.
Generating a random value
Mbed Crypto can generate random data.
Prerequisites to random generation:
- Initialize the library with a successful call to
psa_crypto_init.
Generate a random, ten-byte piece of data:
- Generate random bytes by calling
psa_generate_random():
psa_status_t status;
uint8_t random[10] = { 0 };
psa_crypto_init();
status = psa_generate_random(random, sizeof(random));
mbedtls_psa_crypto_free();
Deriving a new key from an existing key
Mbed Crypto provides a key derivation API that lets you derive new keys from existing ones. Key derivation is based upon the generator abstraction. A generator must first be initialized and set up (provided with a key and optionally other data) and then derived data can be read from it either to a buffer or directly imported into a key slot.
Prerequisites to working with the key derivation APIs:
- Initialize the library with a successful call to
psa_crypto_init. - Configure the key policy for the key used for derivation (
PSA_KEY_USAGE_DERIVE) - The key type must be
PSA_KEY_TYPE_DERIVE.
Deriving a new AES-CTR 128-bit encryption key into a given key slot using HKDF with a given key, salt and label:
- Set the key policy for key derivation by calling
psa_key_policy_set_usage()withPSA_KEY_USAGE_DERIVEparameter, and the algorithmPSA_ALG_HKDF(PSA_ALG_SHA_256). - Import the key into the key slot by calling
psa_import_key(). You can skip this step and the previous one if the key has already been imported into a known key slot. - Set up the generator using the
psa_key_derivationfunction providing a key slot containing a key that can be used for key derivation and a salt and label (Note: salt and label are optional). - Initiate a key policy to for the derived key by calling
psa_key_policy_set_usage()withPSA_KEY_USAGE_ENCRYPTparameter and the algorithmPSA_ALG_CTR. - Set the key policy to the derived key slot.
- Import a key from generator into the desired key slot using (
psa_generate_derived_key). - Clean up generator.
At this point the derived key slot holds a new 128-bit AES-CTR encryption key derived from the key, salt and label provided:
psa_key_slot_t base_key = 1;
psa_key_slot_t derived_key = 2;
psa_key_policy_t policy = PSA_KEY_POLICY_INIT;
unsigned char key[] = {
0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b,
0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b,
0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b, 0x0b,
0x0b };
unsigned char salt[] = { 0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06,
0x07, 0x08, 0x09, 0x0a, 0x0b, 0x0c };
unsigned char label[] = { 0xf0, 0xf1, 0xf2, 0xf3, 0xf4, 0xf5, 0xf6,
0xf7, 0xf8, 0xf9 };
psa_algorithm_t alg = PSA_ALG_HKDF(PSA_ALG_SHA_256);
psa_key_policy_t policy = PSA_KEY_POLICY_INIT;
psa_crypto_generator_t generator = PSA_CRYPTO_GENERATOR_INIT;
size_t derived_bits = 128;
size_t capacity = PSA_BITS_TO_BYTES(derived_bits);
status = psa_crypto_init();
/* Import a key for use in key derivation, if such a key has already been imported you can skip this part */
psa_key_policy_set_usage(&policy, PSA_KEY_USAGE_DERIVE, alg);
status = psa_set_key_policy(base_key, &policy);
status = psa_import_key(base_key, PSA_KEY_TYPE_DERIVE, key, sizeof(key));
/* Derive a key into a key slot*/
status = psa_key_derivation(&generator, base_key, alg, salt, sizeof(salt),
label, sizeof(label), capacity);
psa_key_policy_set_usage(&policy, PSA_KEY_USAGE_ENCRYPT, PSA_ALG_CTR);
psa_set_key_policy(derived_key, &policy);
psa_generate_derived_key(derived_key, PSA_KEY_TYPE_AES, derived_bits, &generator);
/* Clean up generator and key */
psa_generator_abort(&generator);
/* as part of clean up you may want to clean up the keys used by calling:
* psa_destroy_key( base_key ); or psa_destroy_key( derived_key ); */
mbedtls_psa_crypto_free();
Authenticating and encrypting or decrypting a message
Mbed Crypto provides a simple way for authenticate and encrypt with associated data (AEAD) supporting PSA_ALG_CCM algorithm.
Prerequisites to working with the AEAD ciphers APIs:
- Initialize the library with a successful call to
psa_crypto_init. - The key policy for the key used for derivation must be configured accordingly (
PSA_KEY_USAGE_ENCRYPTorPSA_KEY_USAGE_DECRYPT).
To authenticate and encrypt a message:
int slot = 1;
psa_status_t status;
unsigned char key[] = { 0xC0, 0xC1, 0xC2, 0xC3, 0xC4, 0xC5, 0xC6, 0xC7,
0xC8, 0xC9, 0xCA, 0xCB, 0xCC, 0xCD, 0xCE, 0xCF };
unsigned char nonce[] = { 0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07,
0x08, 0x09, 0x0A, 0x0B };
unsigned char additional_data[] = { 0xEC, 0x46, 0xBB, 0x63, 0xB0, 0x25, 0x20,
0xC3, 0x3C, 0x49, 0xFD, 0x70 };
unsigned char input_data[] = { 0xB9, 0x6B, 0x49, 0xE2, 0x1D, 0x62, 0x17, 0x41,
0x63, 0x28, 0x75, 0xDB, 0x7F, 0x6C, 0x92, 0x43,
0xD2, 0xD7, 0xC2 };
unsigned char *output_data = NULL;
size_t output_size = 0;
size_t output_length = 0;
size_t tag_length = 16;
psa_key_policy_t policy = PSA_KEY_POLICY_INIT;
output_size = sizeof(input_data) + tag_length;
output_data = malloc(output_size);
status = psa_crypto_init();
psa_key_policy_set_usage(&policy, PSA_KEY_USAGE_ENCRYPT, PSA_ALG_CCM);
status = psa_set_key_policy(slot, &policy);
status = psa_import_key(slot, PSA_KEY_TYPE_AES, key, sizeof(key));
status = psa_aead_encrypt(slot, PSA_ALG_CCM,
nonce, sizeof(nonce),
additional_data, sizeof(additional_data),
input_data, sizeof(input_data),
output_data, output_size,
&output_length);
psa_destroy_key(slot);
mbedtls_free(output_data);
mbedtls_psa_crypto_free();
To authenticate and decrypt a message:
int slot = 1;
psa_status_t status;
unsigned char key[] = {
0xC0, 0xC1, 0xC2, 0xC3, 0xC4, 0xC5, 0xC6, 0xC7,
0xC8, 0xC9, 0xCA, 0xCB, 0xCC, 0xCD, 0xCE, 0xCF
};
unsigned char nonce[] = { 0xEC, 0x46, 0xBB, 0x63, 0xB0, 0x25, 0x20, 0xC3,
0x3C, 0x49, 0xFD, 0x70
};
unsigned char additional_data[] = { 0xEC, 0x46, 0xBB, 0x63, 0xB0, 0x25, 0x20,
0xC3, 0x3C, 0x49, 0xFD, 0x70
};
unsigned char input_data[] = { 0xB9, 0x6B, 0x49, 0xE2, 0x1D, 0x62, 0x17, 0x41,
0x63, 0x28, 0x75, 0xDB, 0x7F, 0x6C, 0x92, 0x43,
0xD2, 0xD7, 0xC2
};
unsigned char *output_data = NULL;
size_t output_size = 0;
size_t output_length = 0;
psa_key_policy_t policy = PSA_KEY_POLICY_INIT;
output_size = sizeof(input_data);
output_data = malloc(output_size);
status = psa_crypto_init();
psa_key_policy_set_usage(&policy, PSA_KEY_USAGE_DECRYPT, PSA_ALG_CCM);
status = psa_set_key_policy(slot, &policy);
status = psa_import_key(slot, PSA_KEY_TYPE_AES, key, sizeof(key));
status = psa_aead_decrypt(slot, PSA_ALG_CCM,
nonce, sizeof(nonce),
additional_data, sizeof(additional_data),
input_data, sizeof(input_data),
output_data, output_size,
&output_length);
psa_destroy_key(slot);
mbedtls_free(output_data);
mbedtls_psa_crypto_free();
Generating and exporting keys
Mbed Crypto provides a simple way to generate a key or key pair.
Prerequisites to using key generation and export APIs:
- Initialize the library with a successful call to
psa_crypto_init.
Generate a piece of random 128-bit AES data:
- Set the key policy for key generation by calling
psa_key_policy_set_usage()with thePSA_KEY_USAGE_EXPORTparameter and the algorithmPSA_ALG_GCM. - Generate a random AES key by calling
psa_generate_random_key(). - Export the generated key by calling
psa_export_key():
int slot = 1;
size_t bits = 128;
size_t exported_size = bits;
size_t exported_length = 0;
uint8_t *exported = malloc(exported_size);
psa_key_policy_t policy = PSA_KEY_POLICY_INIT;
psa_crypto_init();
psa_key_policy_set_usage(&policy, PSA_KEY_USAGE_EXPORT, PSA_ALG_GCM);
psa_set_key_policy(slot, &policy);
/* Generate a key */
psa_generate_random_key(slot, PSA_KEY_TYPE_AES, bits);
psa_export_key(slot, exported, exported_size, &exported_length)
psa_destroy_key(slot);
mbedtls_psa_crypto_free();
More about the Mbed Crypto library
More information on Mbed Crypto.
More information on PSA Crypto.