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Add caveats section in the doc of crypto #3479

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e4ef21e
doc: add caveats of algs and key size in crypto
Jul 27, 2015
875f6ab
change "more than" to "at least"
thinred Jul 27, 2015
3db5f4f
update getDiffieHellman docs
thinred Jul 27, 2015
bbe1076
docs: remove md5 and sha1 in crypto example
Jul 27, 2015
220a635
sha1 -> sha265
thinred Jul 27, 2015
a152cd9
revise the doc according to jasnell's comments
Oct 22, 2015
db5b6e2
revise the doc according to 2nd jasnell's comments
Oct 22, 2015
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doc: add caveats of algs and key size in crypto 
Add description of user responsibility in the choice of cypto
algorithms and its key length. Some of recommendations for the safer
use are also described.
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Shigeki Ohtsu committed Oct 22, 2015
commit e4ef21ee1c610b1a08ddb6dbbaf6af3ebf19ba9a
20 changes: 20 additions & 0 deletions doc/api/crypto.markdown
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Expand Up @@ -768,6 +768,25 @@ default, set the `crypto.DEFAULT_ENCODING` field to 'binary'. Note
that new programs will probably expect buffers, so only use this as a
temporary measure.

## Caveats

The crypto module still supports some algorithms which are already
compromised. And the API also allows to use ciphers and hashes with a
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@jasnell jasnell Oct 22, 2015

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"And the API also allows the use of ciphers and hashes with a" (replace to with the)

small key size that are consider to be weak for a safe use.
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@jasnell jasnell Oct 22, 2015

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"... that are considered to be too weak for safe use."


Users should take full responsibility for selecting the crypto
algorithm and its key size according to their security requirements.
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@jasnell jasnell Oct 22, 2015

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"algorithm and key size..." (remove its)


The following descriptions only show some of recommendations to use
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@jasnell jasnell Oct 22, 2015

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This sentence is a bit awkward. Should rework it a bit.

crypto module. See [NIST SP 800-131A] for details.

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@jasnell jasnell Oct 22, 2015

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Perhaps something like, "Based on the recommendations of [NIST SP 800-131A]:" instead?

- MD5 and SHA-1 are no longer acceptable where collision resistance is
required such as digital signatures.
- The key size of RSA, DSA and DH is recommended to use more than 2048
bits and that of the curve of ECDSA and ECDH is more than 224 bits to
be safe to use for several years.
- The DH groups of `modp1`, `modp2` and `modp5` have a small key size
less than 2048 bits so they are not recommended.

[createCipher()]: #crypto_crypto_createcipher_algorithm_password
[createCipheriv()]: #crypto_crypto_createcipheriv_algorithm_key_iv
Expand All @@ -779,3 +798,4 @@ temporary measure.
[RFC 3526]: http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3526.txt
[crypto.pbkdf2]: #crypto_crypto_pbkdf2_password_salt_iterations_keylen_digest_callback
[EVP_BytesToKey]: https://www.openssl.org/docs/crypto/EVP_BytesToKey.html
[NIST SP 800-131A]: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-131A/sp800-131A.pdf