1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
|
=pod
=head1 NAME
openssl-glossary - An OpenSSL Glossary
=head1 DESCRIPTION
=for comment Please keep the items in case-insensitive alphabetical order
=over 4
=item Algorithm
Cryptograpic primitives such as the SHA256 digest, or AES encryption are
referred to in OpenSSL as "algorithms". There can be more than one
implementation for any given algorithm available for use.
L<crypto(7)>
=item ASN.1, ASN1
ASN.1 ("Abstract Syntax Notation One") is a notation for describing abstract
types and values. It is defined in the ITU-T documents X.680 to X.683:
L<https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-X.680>,
L<https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-X.681>,
L<https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-X.682>,
L<https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-X.683>
=item Base Provider
An OpenSSL Provider that contains encoders and decoders for OpenSSL keys. All
the algorithm implementations in the Base Provider are also available in the
Default Provider.
L<OSSL_PROVIDER-base(7)>
=item Decoder
A decoder is a type of algorithm used for decoding keys and parameters from some
external format such as PEM or DER.
L<OSSL_DECODER_CTX_new_for_pkey(3)>
=item Default Provider
An OpenSSL Provider that contains the most commmon OpenSSL algorithm
implementations. It is loaded by default if no other provider is available. All
the algorithm implementations in the Base Provider are also available in the
Default Provider.
L<OSSL_PROVIDER-default(7)>
=item DER ("Distinguished Encoding Rules")
DER is a binary encoding of data, structured according to an ASN.1
specification. This is a common encoding used for cryptographic objects
such as private and public keys, certificates, CRLs, ...
It is defined in ITU-T document X.690:
L<https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-X.690>
=item Encoder
An encoder is a type of algorithm used for encoding keys and parameters to some
external format such as PEM or DER.
L<OSSL_ENCODER_CTX_new_for_pkey(3)>
=item Explicit Fetching
Explicit Fetching is a type of Fetching (see Fetching). Explicit Fetching is
where a function call is made to obtain an algorithm object representing an
implementation such as L<EVP_MD_fetch(3)> or L<EVP_CIPHER_fetch(3)>
=item Fetching
Fetching is the process of looking through the available algorithm
implementations, applying selection criteria (via a property query string), and
finally choosing the implementation that will be used.
Also see Explicit Fetching and Implict Fetching.
L<crypto(7)>
=item FIPS Provider
An OpenSSL Provider that contains OpenSSL algorithm implementations that have
been validated according to the FIPS 140-2 standard.
L<OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS(7)>
=item Implicit Fetching
Implicit Fetching is a type of Fetching (see Fetching). Implicit Fetching is
where an algorithm object with no associated implementation is used such as the
return value from L<EVP_sha256(3)> or L<EVP_aes_128_cbc(3)>. With implicit
fetching an implementation is fetched automatically using default selection
criteria the first time the algorithm is used.
=item Legacy Provider
An OpenSSL Provider that contains algorithm implementations that are considered
insecure or are no longer in common use.
L<OSSL_PROVIDER-legacy(7)>
=item Library Context
A Library Context in OpenSSL is represented by the type B<OSSL_LIB_CTX>. It can
be thought of as a scope within which configuration options apply. If an
application does not explicitly create a library context then the "default"
one is used. Many OpenSSL functions can take a library context as an argument.
A NULL value can always be passed to indicate the default library context.
L<OSSL_LIB_CTX(3)>
=item MSBLOB
MSBLOB is a Microsoft specific binary format for RSA and DSA keys, both
private and public. This form is never passphrase protected.
=item Null Provider
An OpenSSL Provider that contains no algorithm implementations. This can be
useful to prevent the default provider from being automatically loaded in a
library context.
L<OSSL_PROVIDER-null(7)>
=item Operation
An operation is a group of OpenSSL functions with a common purpose such as
encryption, or digesting.
L<crypto(7)>
=item PEM ("Privacy Enhanced Message")
PEM is a format used for encoding of binary content into a mail and ASCII
friendly form. The content is a series of base64-encoded lines, surrounded
by begin/end markers each on their own line. For example:
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
MIICdg....
... bhTQ==
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----
Optional header line(s) may appear after the begin line, and their existence
depends on the type of object being written or read.
For all OpenSSL uses, the binary content is expected to be a DER encoded
structure.
This is defined in IETF RFC 1421:
L<https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1421>
=item PKCS#8
PKCS#8 is a specification of ASN.1 structures that OpenSSL uses for storing
or transmitting any private key in a key type agnostic manner.
There are two structures worth noting for OpenSSL use, one that contains the
key data in unencrypted form (known as "PrivateKeyInfo") and an encrypted
wrapper structure (known as "EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo").
This is specified in RFC 5208:
L<https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5208>
=item Property
A property is a way of classifying and selecting algorithm implementations.
A property is a key/value pair expressed as a string. For example all algorithm
implementations in the default provider have the property "provider=default".
An algorithm implementation can have multiple properties defined against it.
Also see Property Query String.
L<property(7)>
=item Property Query String
A property query string is a string containing a sequence of properties that
can be used to select an algorithm implementation. For example the query string
"provider=example,foo=bar" will select algorithms from the "example" provider
that have a "foo" property defined for them with a value of "bar".
Property Query Strings are used during fetching. See Fetching.
L<property(7)>
=item Provider
A provider in OpenSSL is a component that groups together algorithm
implementations. Providers can come from OpenSSL itself or from third parties.
L<provider(7)>
=item PVK
PVK is a Microsoft specific binary format for RSA and DSA private keys.
This form may be passphrase protected.
=item SubjectPublicKeyInfo
SubjectPublicKeyInfo is an ASN.1 structure that OpenSSL uses for storing and
transmitting any public key in a key type agnostic manner.
This is specified as part of the specification for certificates, RFC 5280:
L<https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5280>
=back
=head1 HISTORY
This glossary was added in OpenSSL 3.0.
=head1 COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2020-2021 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
|