aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorMattias Andrée <maandree@kth.se>2016-06-19 01:54:49 +0200
committerMattias Andrée <maandree@kth.se>2016-06-19 01:54:49 +0200
commit7132e2b0f31ca0520465baf3caa75650c5b1bf2f (patch)
treeaf2c13f79f13e8b566cbbeda37e6367c993fea10
parentManual: on bsdnt (diff)
downloadlibzahl-7132e2b0f31ca0520465baf3caa75650c5b1bf2f.tar.gz
libzahl-7132e2b0f31ca0520465baf3caa75650c5b1bf2f.tar.bz2
libzahl-7132e2b0f31ca0520465baf3caa75650c5b1bf2f.tar.xz
doc: vulnerabilities concerning cryptographic applications
Signed-off-by: Mattias Andrée <maandree@kth.se>
-rw-r--r--doc/what-is-libzahl.tex19
-rw-r--r--man/libzahl.78
2 files changed, 22 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/doc/what-is-libzahl.tex b/doc/what-is-libzahl.tex
index 2a020df..e09d0bd 100644
--- a/doc/what-is-libzahl.tex
+++ b/doc/what-is-libzahl.tex
@@ -174,10 +174,21 @@ division: {\tt mpz\_tdiv\_q}, {\tt mpz\_tdiv\_r} and
\label{sec:Limitations}
libzahl is not recommended for cryptographic
-applications, it is not mature enough, and its author
-does not have the necessary expertise. And in
-particular, it does not implement constant time
-operations. Additionally, libzahl is not thread-safe.
+applications, it is not mature enough, and its
+author does not have the necessary expertise.
+And in particular, it does not implement constant
+time operations, and it does not clear pooled
+memory. Using libzahl in cryptographic application
+is insecure; your application may become susceptible
+attacks such as timing attacks, power-monitoring
+attacks, electromagnetic attacks, acoustic
+cryptanalysis, and data remanence attacks. libzahl
+is known to be susceptible to timing attacks
+(due to lack of constant time operations) and
+data remanence attacks (due to pooling memory
+for reuse without clearing the content of the
+memory allocations.) Additionally, libzahl is not
+thread-safe.
libzahl is also only designed for POSIX systems.
It will probably run just fine on any modern
diff --git a/man/libzahl.7 b/man/libzahl.7
index 66208b9..c57800d 100644
--- a/man/libzahl.7
+++ b/man/libzahl.7
@@ -53,6 +53,12 @@ You are strongly discouraged from using
.B libzahl
for cryptographic applications. Instead, use a library
specifically targeting cryptography, otherwise, your
-program may be subject to side-channel attacks.
+program may be subject to side-channel attacks such as
+timing attacks, power-monitoring attacks, electromagnetic
+attacks, acoustic cryptanalysis, and data remanence
+attacks.
+.B libzahl
+is known to be susceptible to timing attacks and data
+remanence attacks.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR zsetup (3)