This repository contains code to enable quantum-safe cryptography (QSC) in a standard OpenSSL (3.x) distribution by way of implementing a single shared library, the OQS provider.
Currently this provider fully enables quantum-safe cryptography for KEM key establishment in TLS1.3 including management of such keys via the OpenSSL (3.0) provider interface and hybrid KEM schemes. Also, QSC signatures including CMS and CMP functionality are available via the OpenSSL EVP interface. Key persistence is provided via the encode/decode mechanism and X.509 data structures. Starting with OpenSSL 3.2 support for TLS1.3 signature functionality is available and final glitches for CMS have been resolved.
The standards implemented are documented in the separate file STANDARDS.md.
This implementation makes available the following quantum safe algorithms:
- BIKE:
bikel1,p256_bikel1,x25519_bikel1,bikel3,p384_bikel3,x448_bikel3,bikel5,p521_bikel5 - CRYSTALS-Kyber:
kyber512,p256_kyber512,x25519_kyber512,kyber768,p384_kyber768,x448_kyber768,x25519_kyber768,p256_kyber768,kyber1024,p521_kyber1024 - FrodoKEM:
frodo640aes,p256_frodo640aes,x25519_frodo640aes,frodo640shake,p256_frodo640shake,x25519_frodo640shake,frodo976aes,p384_frodo976aes,x448_frodo976aes,frodo976shake,p384_frodo976shake,x448_frodo976shake,frodo1344aes,p521_frodo1344aes,frodo1344shake,p521_frodo1344shake - HQC:
hqc128,p256_hqc128,x25519_hqc128,hqc192,p384_hqc192,x448_hqc192,hqc256,p521_hqc256† - ML-KEM:
mlkem512,p256_mlkem512,x25519_mlkem512,mlkem768,p384_mlkem768,x448_mlkem768,x25519_mlkem768,p256_mlkem768,mlkem1024,p521_mlkem1024
-
CRYSTALS-Dilithium:
dilithium2*,p256_dilithium2*,rsa3072_dilithium2*,dilithium3*,p384_dilithium3*,dilithium5*,p521_dilithium5* -
ML-DSA:
mldsa44*,p256_mldsa44*,rsa3072_mldsa44*,mldsa65*,p384_mldsa65*,mldsa87*,p521_mldsa87* -
Falcon:
falcon512*,p256_falcon512*,rsa3072_falcon512*,falcon1024*,p521_falcon1024* -
SPHINCS-SHA2:
sphincssha2128fsimple*,p256_sphincssha2128fsimple*,rsa3072_sphincssha2128fsimple*,sphincssha2128ssimple*,p256_sphincssha2128ssimple*,rsa3072_sphincssha2128ssimple*,sphincssha2192fsimple*,p384_sphincssha2192fsimple*,sphincssha2192ssimple,p384_sphincssha2192ssimple,sphincssha2256fsimple,p521_sphincssha2256fsimple,sphincssha2256ssimple,p521_sphincssha2256ssimple -
SPHINCS-SHAKE:
sphincsshake128fsimple*,p256_sphincsshake128fsimple*,rsa3072_sphincsshake128fsimple*,sphincsshake128ssimple,p256_sphincsshake128ssimple,rsa3072_sphincsshake128ssimple,sphincsshake192fsimple,p384_sphincsshake192fsimple,sphincsshake192ssimple,p384_sphincsshake192ssimple,sphincsshake256fsimple,p521_sphincsshake256fsimple,sphincsshake256ssimple,p521_sphincsshake256ssimple
As the underlying liboqs
at build time may be configured to not enable all algorithms, it is
advisable to check the possible subset of algorithms actually enabled
via the standard commands, i.e.,
openssl list -signature-algorithms -provider oqsprovider and
openssl list -kem-algorithms -provider oqsprovider.
In addition, algorithms not denoted with "*" above are not enabled for TLS operations. This designation can be changed by modifying the "enabled" flags in the main algorithm configuration file.
In order to support parallel use of classic and quantum-safe cryptography this provider also provides different hybrid algorithms, combining classic and quantum-safe methods: These are listed above with a prefix denoting a classic algorithm, e.g., for elliptic curve: "p256_".
A full list of algorithms, their interoperability code points and OIDs as well as a method to dynamically adapt them, e.g., for interoperability testing are documented in ALGORITHMS.md.
All component builds and testing described in detail below can be executed by
running the scripts scripts/fullbuild.sh and scripts/runtests.sh
respectively (tested on Linux Ubuntu and Mint as well as MacOS).
By default, these scripts always build and test against the current OpenSSL master branch.
These scripts can be configured by setting various variables. Please note that these scripts do not install oqsprovider. This can be facilitated by running cmake --install _build (and following the activation instructions.
The below describes the basic build-test-install cycle using the standard
cmake tooling. Platform-specific notes are available for UNIX
(incl. MacOS and cygwin) and Windows.
All options to configure oqs-provider at build- or run-time are documented
in CONFIGURE.md.
To be able to build oqsprovider, OpenSSL 3.0 and liboqs need to be installed.
It's not important where they are installed, just that they are. If installed
in non-standard locations, these must be provided when running cmake via
the variables "OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR" and "liboqs_DIR". See CONFIGURE.md
for details.
cmake -S . -B _build && cmake --build _build && ctest --test-dir _build && cmake --install _build
Usage of oqsprovider is documented in the separate USAGE.md file.
oqsprovider is written to ensure building on all versions of OpenSSL
supporting the provider concept. However, OpenSSL still is in active
development regarding features supported via the provider interface.
Therefore some functionalities documented above are only supported
with specific OpenSSL versions:
In these versions, CMS functionality implemented in providers is not supported: The resolution of openssl/openssl#17717 has not been not getting back-ported to OpenSSL3.0.
Also not supported in this version are provider-based signature algorithms used during TLS1.3 operations as documented in openssl/openssl#10512.
This version has full support for all TLS1.3 operations using PQ algorithms
when deploying oqsprovider.
A final configuration limitation for provider-based signature algorithms exists as documented in openssl/openssl#22761.
When openssl/openssl#22779 land, the last config-time limitation for provider-based signatures should be gone.
A limitation present in all OpenSSL versions is the number of default groups
supported: At most 44 default groups may be specified
, e.g., passing to SSL_CTX_set1_groups.
Therefore caution is advised activating all KEMs supported by oqsprovider:
This may lead to openssl crashing.
Project governance is documented in GOVERNANCE.md and contribution policy is documented in CONTRIBUTING.md.
The Open Quantum Safe project is led by Douglas Stebila and Michele Mosca at the University of Waterloo.
Contributors to the oqsprovider include:
- Michael Baentsch
- Christian Paquin
- Richard Levitte
- Basil Hess
- Julian Segeth
- Alex Zaslavsky
- Will Childs-Klein
- Thomas Bailleux
Documentation on current and past releases ("code history") is documented in the separate file RELEASE.md.
The oqsprovider project had been supported through the NGI Assure Fund,
a fund established by NLnet with financial
support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme,
under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology
under grant agreement No 957073.
Financial support for the development of Open Quantum Safe had been provided by Amazon Web Services and the Tutte Institute for Mathematics and Computing.
The OQS project would like to make a special acknowledgement to the companies who had dedicated programmer time to contribute source code to OQS, including Amazon Web Services, evolutionQ, Microsoft Research, Cisco Systems, and IBM Research.
Research projects which developed specific components of OQS have been supported by various research grants, including funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); see here and here for funding acknowledgments.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED WITH NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES ARE DISCLAIMED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY AND WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.