OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS(7SSL) OpenSSL OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS(7SSL)
NAME
OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS - OpenSSL FIPS provider
DESCRIPTION
The OpenSSL FIPS provider is a special provider that conforms to the
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) specified in FIPS
140-2. This 'module' contains an approved set of cryptographic
algorithms that is validated by an accredited testing laboratory.
Properties
The implementations in this provider specifically have these properties
defined:
"provider=fips"
"fips=yes"
It may be used in a property query string with fetching functions such
as EVP_MD_fetch(3) or EVP_CIPHER_fetch(3), as well as with other
functions that take a property query string, such as
EVP_PKEY_CTX_new_from_name(3).
It isn't mandatory to query for any of these properties, except to make
sure to get implementations of this provider and none other.
The "fips=yes" property can be use to make sure only FIPS approved
implementations are used for crypto operations. This may also include
other non-crypto support operations that are not in the FIPS provider,
such as asymmetric key encoders, see "Asymmetric Key Management" in
OSSL_PROVIDER-default(7).
OPERATIONS AND ALGORITHMS
The OpenSSL FIPS provider supports these operations and algorithms:
Hashing Algorithms / Message Digests
SHA1, see EVP_MD-SHA1(7)
SHA2, see EVP_MD-SHA2(7)
SHA3, see EVP_MD-SHA3(7)
KECCAK-KMAC, see EVP_MD-KECCAK-KMAC(7)
Symmetric Ciphers
AES, see EVP_CIPHER-AES(7)
DES-EDE3 (TripleDES), see EVP_CIPHER-DES(7)
Message Authentication Code (MAC)
CMAC, see EVP_MAC-CMAC(7)
GMAC, see EVP_MAC-GMAC(7)
HMAC, see EVP_MAC-HMAC(7)
KMAC, see EVP_MAC-KMAC(7)
Key Derivation Function (KDF)
HKDF, see EVP_KDF-HKDF(7)
TLS13-KDF, see EVP_KDF-TLS13_KDF(7)
SSKDF, see EVP_KDF-SS(7)
PBKDF2, see EVP_KDF-PBKDF2(7)
SSHKDF, see EVP_KDF-SSHKDF(7)
TLS1-PRF, see EVP_KDF-TLS1_PRF(7)
KBKDF, see EVP_KDF-KB(7)
X942KDF-ASN1, see EVP_KDF-X942-ASN1(7)
X942KDF-CONCAT, see EVP_KDF-X942-CONCAT(7)
X963KDF, see EVP_KDF-X963(7)
Key Exchange
DH, see EVP_KEYEXCH-DH(7)
ECDH, see EVP_KEYEXCH-ECDH(7)
X25519, see EVP_KEYEXCH-X25519(7)
X448, see EVP_KEYEXCH-X448(7)
Asymmetric Signature
RSA, see EVP_SIGNATURE-RSA(7)
X25519, see EVP_SIGNATURE-ED25519(7)
X448, see EVP_SIGNATURE-ED448(7)
HMAC, see EVP_SIGNATURE-HMAC(7)
CMAC, see EVP_SIGNATURE-CMAC(7)
Asymmetric Cipher
RSA, see EVP_ASYM_CIPHER-RSA(7)
Asymmetric Key Encapsulation
RSA, see EVP_KEM-RSA(7)
Asymmetric Key Management
DH, see EVP_KEYMGMT-DH(7)
DHX, see EVP_KEYMGMT-DHX(7)
DSA, see EVP_KEYMGMT-DSA(7)
RSA, see EVP_KEYMGMT-RSA(7)
EC, see EVP_KEYMGMT-EC(7)
X25519, see EVP_KEYMGMT-X25519(7)
X448, see EVP_KEYMGMT-X448(7)
Random Number Generation
CTR-DRBG, see EVP_RAND-CTR-DRBG(7)
HASH-DRBG, see EVP_RAND-HASH-DRBG(7)
HMAC-DRBG, see EVP_RAND-HMAC-DRBG(7)
TEST-RAND, see EVP_RAND-TEST-RAND(7)
TEST-RAND is an unapproved algorithm.
SELF TESTING
One of the requirements for the FIPS module is self testing. An
optional callback mechanism is available to return information to the
user using OSSL_SELF_TEST_set_callback(3).
The parameters passed to the callback are described in
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().
"Module_Integrity" (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.
"Install_Integrity" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_INSTALL_INTEGRITY)
Uses HMAC SHA256 on a fixed string to validate that the
installation process has already been performed and the self test
KATS have already been tested, The integrity value is compared to a
value written to a configuration file after successfully running
the self tests during installation.
"KAT_Cipher" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_CIPHER)
Known answer test for a symmetric cipher.
"KAT_AsymmetricCipher" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_ASYM_CIPHER)
Known answer test for a asymmetric cipher.
"KAT_Digest" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_DIGEST)
Known answer test for a digest.
"KAT_Signature" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_SIGNATURE)
Known answer test for a signature.
"PCT_Signature" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_PCT_SIGNATURE)
Pairwise Consistency check for a signature.
"KAT_KDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_KDF)
Known answer test for a key derivation function.
"KAT_KA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_KA)
Known answer test for key agreement.
"DRBG" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_DRBG)
Known answer test for a Deterministic Random Bit Generator.
"Conditional_PCT" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_PCT)
Conditional test that is run during the generation of key pairs.
"Continuous_RNG_Test" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_CRNG)
Continuous random number generator test.
The "Module_Integrity" self test is always run at startup. The
"Install_Integrity" self test is used to check if the self tests have
already been run at installation time. If they have already run then
the self tests are not run on subsequent startups. All other self test
categories are run once at installation time, except for the
"Pairwise_Consistency_Test".
There is only one instance of the "Module_Integrity" and
"Install_Integrity" self tests. All other self tests may have multiple
instances.
The FIPS module passes the following descriptions(s) to
OSSL_SELF_TEST_onbegin().
"HMAC" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_INTEGRITY_HMAC)
"Module_Integrity" and "Install_Integrity" use this.
"RSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_RSA_PKCS1)
"ECDSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_ECDSA)
"DSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_DSA)
Key generation tests used with the "Pairwise_Consistency_Test"
type.
"RSA_Encrypt" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_ASYM_RSA_ENC)
"RSA_Decrypt" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_ASYM_RSA_DEC)
"KAT_AsymmetricCipher" uses this to indicate an encrypt or decrypt
KAT.
"AES_GCM" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_CIPHER_AES_GCM)
"AES_ECB_Decrypt" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_CIPHER_AES_ECB)
"TDES" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_CIPHER_TDES)
Symmetric cipher tests used with the "KAT_Cipher" type.
"SHA1" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA1)
"SHA2" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA2)
"SHA3" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA3)
Digest tests used with the "KAT_Digest" type.
"DSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_DSA)
"RSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_RSA)
"ECDSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_ECDSA)
Signature tests used with the "KAT_Signature" type.
"ECDH" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KA_ECDH)
"DH" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KA_DH)
Key agreement tests used with the "KAT_KA" type.
"HKDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_HKDF)
"TLS13_KDF_EXTRACT" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_TLS13_EXTRACT)
"TLS13_KDF_EXPAND" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_TLS13_EXPAND)
"SSKDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_SSKDF)
"X963KDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_X963KDF)
"X942KDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_X942KDF)
"PBKDF2" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_PBKDF2)
"SSHKDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_SSHKDF)
"TLS12_PRF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_TLS12_PRF)
"KBKDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_KBKDF)
Key Derivation Function tests used with the "KAT_KDF" type.
"CTR" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DRBG_CTR)
"HASH" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DRBG_HASH)
"HMAC" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DRBG_HMAC)
DRBG tests used with the "DRBG" type.
= item "RNG" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_RNG)
"Continuous_RNG_Test" uses this.
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;
}
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 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 libcrypto and 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.
SEE ALSO
openssl-fipsinstall(1), fips_config(5), OSSL_SELF_TEST_set_callback(3),
OSSL_SELF_TEST_new(3), OSSL_PARAM(3), openssl-core.h(7),
openssl-core_dispatch.h(7), provider(7),
<https://www.openssl.org/source/>
HISTORY
This functionality was added in OpenSSL 3.0.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2019-2023 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
<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
3.0.13 2025-09-18 OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS(7SSL)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 14:03:13 CET 2025.