On Fri, Jan 15, 2021 at 04:14:40PM -0800, Dey, Megha wrote:
> > Hello Megha,
> >
> > What is the purpose of this separate GHASH module? GHASH is only used
> > in combination with AES-CTR to produce GCM, and this series already
> > contains a GCM driver.
> >
> > Do cores exist that implement PCLMULQDQ but not AES-NI?
> >
> > If not, I think we should be able to drop this patch (and remove the
> > existing PCLMULQDQ GHASH driver as well)
>
> AFAIK, dm-verity (authenticated but not encrypted file system) is one use
> case for authentication only.
>
> Although I am not sure if GHASH is specifically used for this or SHA?
>
> Also, I do not know of any cores that implement PCLMULQDQ and not AES-NI.
>
dm-verity only uses unkeyed hash algorithms. So no, it doesn't use GHASH.
- Eric
On 1/15/2021 5:43 PM, Eric Biggers wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 15, 2021 at 04:14:40PM -0800, Dey, Megha wrote:
>>> Hello Megha,
>>>
>>> What is the purpose of this separate GHASH module? GHASH is only used
>>> in combination with AES-CTR to produce GCM, and this series already
>>> contains a GCM driver.
>>>
>>> Do cores exist that implement PCLMULQDQ but not AES-NI?
>>>
>>> If not, I think we should be able to drop this patch (and remove the
>>> existing PCLMULQDQ GHASH driver as well)
>> AFAIK, dm-verity (authenticated but not encrypted file system) is one use
>> case for authentication only.
>>
>> Although I am not sure if GHASH is specifically used for this or SHA?
>>
>> Also, I do not know of any cores that implement PCLMULQDQ and not AES-NI.
>>
> dm-verity only uses unkeyed hash algorithms. So no, it doesn't use GHASH.
Hmm, I see. If that is the case, I am not aware of any other use case
apart from GCM.
I see that the existing GHASH module in the kernel from 2009. I am not
sure if there was a use case then, which now is no longer valid.
There many be out-of-tree kernel modules which may be using it but again
its only speculation.
So, in the next version should I remove the existing GHASH module? (And
of course remove this patch as well?)
-Megha
>
> - Eric