[PATCH] crypto: pcrypt - Remove pcrypt
From: Eric Biggers
Date: Sun Jul 12 2026 - 23:27:10 EST
pcrypt was originally intended to improve IPsec performance. However,
it's no longer useful for that. Reports from the rare cases that anyone
has actually tried to use it over the years indicate that it actually
reduces IPsec performance, e.g.:
* https://github.com/libreswan/libreswan/wiki/Internals:-Cryptographic-Acceleration#obsoleted-ipsec-accelerations
* https://users.strongswan.narkive.com/liqTaTq8/strongswan-problem-with-pcrypt
* https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/594336/ipsec-multithreading-via-pcrypt-worse-than-single-thread
It's also undocumented and quite difficult to actually use. Its design
is also broken, in that any unprivileged program can enable pcrypt
systemwide at any time (by instantiating it using AF_ALG).
Meanwhile, pcrypt has been a regular source of bugs, including at least
four that have received CVEs.
Let's just remove it. No one seems to care about it anymore other than
people looking for vulnerabilities.
Cc: Steffen Klassert <steffen.klassert@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
This patch is targeting cryptodev/master
Documentation/core-api/padata.rst | 6 +-
MAINTAINERS | 7 -
arch/loongarch/configs/loongson32_defconfig | 1 -
arch/loongarch/configs/loongson64_defconfig | 1 -
arch/s390/configs/debug_defconfig | 1 -
arch/s390/configs/defconfig | 1 -
crypto/Kconfig | 10 -
crypto/Makefile | 1 -
crypto/pcrypt.c | 394 --------------------
include/crypto/pcrypt.h | 39 --
tools/crypto/tcrypt/tcrypt_speed_compare.py | 7 +-
11 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 463 deletions(-)
delete mode 100644 crypto/pcrypt.c
delete mode 100644 include/crypto/pcrypt.h
diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/padata.rst b/Documentation/core-api/padata.rst
index 05b73c6c105f..b50df9768a5d 100644
--- a/Documentation/core-api/padata.rst
+++ b/Documentation/core-api/padata.rst
@@ -55,9 +55,9 @@ processors are allowed to be used as the serialization callback processor.
cpumask specifies the new cpumask to use.
There may be sysfs files for an instance's cpumasks. For example, pcrypt's
-live in /sys/kernel/pcrypt/<instance-name>. Within an instance's directory
-there are two files, parallel_cpumask and serial_cpumask, and either cpumask
-may be changed by echoing a bitmask into the file, for example::
+used to live in /sys/kernel/pcrypt/<instance-name>. Within an instance's
+directory there are two files, parallel_cpumask and serial_cpumask, and either
+cpumask may be changed by echoing a bitmask into the file, for example::
echo f > /sys/kernel/pcrypt/pencrypt/parallel_cpumask
diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index d1dbf2f07104..803c8d719ed2 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -21084,13 +21084,6 @@ L: netdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
S: Maintained
F: drivers/net/ethernet/amd/pcnet32.c
-PCRYPT PARALLEL CRYPTO ENGINE
-M: Steffen Klassert <steffen.klassert@xxxxxxxxxxx>
-L: linux-crypto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-S: Maintained
-F: crypto/pcrypt.c
-F: include/crypto/pcrypt.h
-
PDS DSC VIRTIO DATA PATH ACCELERATOR
R: Brett Creeley <brett.creeley@xxxxxxx>
F: drivers/vdpa/pds/
diff --git a/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson32_defconfig b/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson32_defconfig
index 7c8f01513ed2..cf97f4493573 100644
--- a/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson32_defconfig
+++ b/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson32_defconfig
@@ -1063,7 +1063,6 @@ CONFIG_SECURITY_YAMA=y
CONFIG_DEFAULT_SECURITY_DAC=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_USER=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_SELFTESTS=y
-CONFIG_CRYPTO_PCRYPT=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_CRYPTD=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_ANUBIS=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_BLOWFISH=m
diff --git a/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson64_defconfig b/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson64_defconfig
index 8e3906d3bd70..d0ece7920f21 100644
--- a/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson64_defconfig
+++ b/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson64_defconfig
@@ -1096,7 +1096,6 @@ CONFIG_SECURITY_YAMA=y
CONFIG_DEFAULT_SECURITY_DAC=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_USER=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_SELFTESTS=y
-CONFIG_CRYPTO_PCRYPT=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_CRYPTD=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_ANUBIS=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_BLOWFISH=m
diff --git a/arch/s390/configs/debug_defconfig b/arch/s390/configs/debug_defconfig
index 54637be87fb7..15f51cb924db 100644
--- a/arch/s390/configs/debug_defconfig
+++ b/arch/s390/configs/debug_defconfig
@@ -765,7 +765,6 @@ CONFIG_CRYPTO_USER=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_SELFTESTS=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_SELFTESTS_FULL=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_NULL=y
-CONFIG_CRYPTO_PCRYPT=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_CRYPTD=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_BENCHMARK=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_DH=m
diff --git a/arch/s390/configs/defconfig b/arch/s390/configs/defconfig
index 5f5114a253cf..88257ff3c2c6 100644
--- a/arch/s390/configs/defconfig
+++ b/arch/s390/configs/defconfig
@@ -749,7 +749,6 @@ CONFIG_CRYPTO_FIPS=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_USER=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_SELFTESTS=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_NULL=y
-CONFIG_CRYPTO_PCRYPT=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_CRYPTD=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_BENCHMARK=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_DH=m
diff --git a/crypto/Kconfig b/crypto/Kconfig
index f1e372195273..228a7ac9f063 100644
--- a/crypto/Kconfig
+++ b/crypto/Kconfig
@@ -201,16 +201,6 @@ config CRYPTO_NULL
help
These are 'Null' algorithms, used by IPsec, which do nothing.
-config CRYPTO_PCRYPT
- tristate "Parallel crypto engine"
- depends on SMP
- select PADATA
- select CRYPTO_MANAGER
- select CRYPTO_AEAD
- help
- This converts an arbitrary crypto algorithm into a parallel
- algorithm that executes in kernel threads.
-
config CRYPTO_CRYPTD
tristate "Software async crypto daemon"
select CRYPTO_AEAD
diff --git a/crypto/Makefile b/crypto/Makefile
index 8386d55a9755..2e487c946e63 100644
--- a/crypto/Makefile
+++ b/crypto/Makefile
@@ -120,7 +120,6 @@ CFLAGS_aegis128-neon-inner.o += $(aegis128-cflags-y)
aegis128-$(CONFIG_CRYPTO_AEGIS128_SIMD) += aegis128-neon.o aegis128-neon-inner.o
endif
-obj-$(CONFIG_CRYPTO_PCRYPT) += pcrypt.o
obj-$(CONFIG_CRYPTO_CRYPTD) += cryptd.o
obj-$(CONFIG_CRYPTO_DES) += des_generic.o
obj-$(CONFIG_CRYPTO_BLOWFISH) += blowfish_generic.o
diff --git a/crypto/pcrypt.c b/crypto/pcrypt.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 9f372442981e..000000000000
--- a/crypto/pcrypt.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,394 +0,0 @@
-// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
-/*
- * pcrypt - Parallel crypto wrapper.
- *
- * Copyright (C) 2009 secunet Security Networks AG
- * Copyright (C) 2009 Steffen Klassert <steffen.klassert@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- */
-
-#include <crypto/algapi.h>
-#include <crypto/internal/aead.h>
-#include <linux/atomic.h>
-#include <linux/err.h>
-#include <linux/init.h>
-#include <linux/module.h>
-#include <linux/slab.h>
-#include <linux/kobject.h>
-#include <linux/cpu.h>
-#include <crypto/pcrypt.h>
-
-static struct padata_instance *pencrypt;
-static struct padata_instance *pdecrypt;
-static struct kset *pcrypt_kset;
-
-struct pcrypt_instance_ctx {
- struct crypto_aead_spawn spawn;
- struct padata_shell *psenc;
- struct padata_shell *psdec;
- atomic_t tfm_count;
-};
-
-struct pcrypt_aead_ctx {
- struct crypto_aead *child;
- unsigned int cb_cpu;
-};
-
-static inline struct pcrypt_instance_ctx *pcrypt_tfm_ictx(
- struct crypto_aead *tfm)
-{
- return aead_instance_ctx(aead_alg_instance(tfm));
-}
-
-static int pcrypt_aead_setkey(struct crypto_aead *parent,
- const u8 *key, unsigned int keylen)
-{
- struct pcrypt_aead_ctx *ctx = crypto_aead_ctx(parent);
-
- return crypto_aead_setkey(ctx->child, key, keylen);
-}
-
-static int pcrypt_aead_setauthsize(struct crypto_aead *parent,
- unsigned int authsize)
-{
- struct pcrypt_aead_ctx *ctx = crypto_aead_ctx(parent);
-
- return crypto_aead_setauthsize(ctx->child, authsize);
-}
-
-static void pcrypt_aead_serial(struct padata_priv *padata)
-{
- struct pcrypt_request *preq = pcrypt_padata_request(padata);
- struct aead_request *req = pcrypt_request_ctx(preq);
-
- aead_request_complete(req->base.data, padata->info);
-}
-
-static void pcrypt_aead_done(void *data, int err)
-{
- struct aead_request *req = data;
- struct pcrypt_request *preq = aead_request_ctx(req);
- struct padata_priv *padata = pcrypt_request_padata(preq);
-
- if (err == -EINPROGRESS)
- return;
-
- padata->info = err;
-
- padata_do_serial(padata);
-}
-
-static void pcrypt_aead_enc(struct padata_priv *padata)
-{
- struct pcrypt_request *preq = pcrypt_padata_request(padata);
- struct aead_request *req = pcrypt_request_ctx(preq);
- int ret;
-
- ret = crypto_aead_encrypt(req);
-
- if (ret == -EINPROGRESS || ret == -EBUSY)
- return;
-
- padata->info = ret;
- padata_do_serial(padata);
-}
-
-static int pcrypt_aead_encrypt(struct aead_request *req)
-{
- int err;
- struct pcrypt_request *preq = aead_request_ctx(req);
- struct aead_request *creq = pcrypt_request_ctx(preq);
- struct padata_priv *padata = pcrypt_request_padata(preq);
- struct crypto_aead *aead = crypto_aead_reqtfm(req);
- struct pcrypt_aead_ctx *ctx = crypto_aead_ctx(aead);
- u32 flags = aead_request_flags(req);
- struct pcrypt_instance_ctx *ictx;
-
- ictx = pcrypt_tfm_ictx(aead);
-
- memset(padata, 0, sizeof(struct padata_priv));
-
- padata->parallel = pcrypt_aead_enc;
- padata->serial = pcrypt_aead_serial;
-
- aead_request_set_tfm(creq, ctx->child);
- aead_request_set_callback(creq, flags & ~CRYPTO_TFM_REQ_MAY_SLEEP,
- pcrypt_aead_done, req);
- aead_request_set_crypt(creq, req->src, req->dst,
- req->cryptlen, req->iv);
- aead_request_set_ad(creq, req->assoclen);
-
- err = padata_do_parallel(ictx->psenc, padata, &ctx->cb_cpu);
- if (!err)
- return -EINPROGRESS;
- if (err == -EBUSY) {
- /* try non-parallel mode */
- aead_request_set_callback(creq, flags, req->base.complete,
- req->base.data);
- return crypto_aead_encrypt(creq);
- }
-
- return err;
-}
-
-static void pcrypt_aead_dec(struct padata_priv *padata)
-{
- struct pcrypt_request *preq = pcrypt_padata_request(padata);
- struct aead_request *req = pcrypt_request_ctx(preq);
- int ret;
-
- ret = crypto_aead_decrypt(req);
-
- if (ret == -EINPROGRESS || ret == -EBUSY)
- return;
-
- padata->info = ret;
- padata_do_serial(padata);
-}
-
-static int pcrypt_aead_decrypt(struct aead_request *req)
-{
- int err;
- struct pcrypt_request *preq = aead_request_ctx(req);
- struct aead_request *creq = pcrypt_request_ctx(preq);
- struct padata_priv *padata = pcrypt_request_padata(preq);
- struct crypto_aead *aead = crypto_aead_reqtfm(req);
- struct pcrypt_aead_ctx *ctx = crypto_aead_ctx(aead);
- u32 flags = aead_request_flags(req);
- struct pcrypt_instance_ctx *ictx;
-
- ictx = pcrypt_tfm_ictx(aead);
-
- memset(padata, 0, sizeof(struct padata_priv));
-
- padata->parallel = pcrypt_aead_dec;
- padata->serial = pcrypt_aead_serial;
-
- aead_request_set_tfm(creq, ctx->child);
- aead_request_set_callback(creq, flags & ~CRYPTO_TFM_REQ_MAY_SLEEP,
- pcrypt_aead_done, req);
- aead_request_set_crypt(creq, req->src, req->dst,
- req->cryptlen, req->iv);
- aead_request_set_ad(creq, req->assoclen);
-
- err = padata_do_parallel(ictx->psdec, padata, &ctx->cb_cpu);
- if (!err)
- return -EINPROGRESS;
- if (err == -EBUSY) {
- /* try non-parallel mode */
- aead_request_set_callback(creq, flags, req->base.complete,
- req->base.data);
- return crypto_aead_decrypt(creq);
- }
-
- return err;
-}
-
-static int pcrypt_aead_init_tfm(struct crypto_aead *tfm)
-{
- int cpu_index;
- struct aead_instance *inst = aead_alg_instance(tfm);
- struct pcrypt_instance_ctx *ictx = aead_instance_ctx(inst);
- struct pcrypt_aead_ctx *ctx = crypto_aead_ctx(tfm);
- struct crypto_aead *cipher;
-
- cpu_index = (unsigned int)atomic_inc_return(&ictx->tfm_count) %
- cpumask_weight(cpu_online_mask);
-
- ctx->cb_cpu = cpumask_nth(cpu_index, cpu_online_mask);
- cipher = crypto_spawn_aead(&ictx->spawn);
-
- if (IS_ERR(cipher))
- return PTR_ERR(cipher);
-
- ctx->child = cipher;
- crypto_aead_set_reqsize(tfm, sizeof(struct pcrypt_request) +
- sizeof(struct aead_request) +
- crypto_aead_reqsize(cipher));
-
- return 0;
-}
-
-static void pcrypt_aead_exit_tfm(struct crypto_aead *tfm)
-{
- struct pcrypt_aead_ctx *ctx = crypto_aead_ctx(tfm);
-
- crypto_free_aead(ctx->child);
-}
-
-static void pcrypt_free(struct aead_instance *inst)
-{
- struct pcrypt_instance_ctx *ctx = aead_instance_ctx(inst);
-
- crypto_drop_aead(&ctx->spawn);
- padata_free_shell(ctx->psdec);
- padata_free_shell(ctx->psenc);
- kfree(inst);
-}
-
-static int pcrypt_init_instance(struct crypto_instance *inst,
- struct crypto_alg *alg)
-{
- if (snprintf(inst->alg.cra_driver_name, CRYPTO_MAX_ALG_NAME,
- "pcrypt(%s)", alg->cra_driver_name) >= CRYPTO_MAX_ALG_NAME)
- return -ENAMETOOLONG;
-
- memcpy(inst->alg.cra_name, alg->cra_name, CRYPTO_MAX_ALG_NAME);
-
- inst->alg.cra_priority = alg->cra_priority + 100;
- inst->alg.cra_blocksize = alg->cra_blocksize;
- inst->alg.cra_alignmask = alg->cra_alignmask;
-
- return 0;
-}
-
-static int pcrypt_create_aead(struct crypto_template *tmpl, struct rtattr **tb,
- struct crypto_attr_type *algt)
-{
- struct pcrypt_instance_ctx *ctx;
- struct aead_instance *inst;
- struct aead_alg *alg;
- u32 mask = crypto_algt_inherited_mask(algt);
- int err;
-
- inst = kzalloc(sizeof(*inst) + sizeof(*ctx), GFP_KERNEL);
- if (!inst)
- return -ENOMEM;
-
- err = -ENOMEM;
-
- ctx = aead_instance_ctx(inst);
- ctx->psenc = padata_alloc_shell(pencrypt);
- if (!ctx->psenc)
- goto err_free_inst;
-
- ctx->psdec = padata_alloc_shell(pdecrypt);
- if (!ctx->psdec)
- goto err_free_inst;
-
- err = crypto_grab_aead(&ctx->spawn, aead_crypto_instance(inst),
- crypto_attr_alg_name(tb[1]), 0, mask);
- if (err)
- goto err_free_inst;
-
- alg = crypto_spawn_aead_alg(&ctx->spawn);
- err = pcrypt_init_instance(aead_crypto_instance(inst), &alg->base);
- if (err)
- goto err_free_inst;
-
- inst->alg.base.cra_flags |= CRYPTO_ALG_ASYNC;
-
- inst->alg.ivsize = crypto_aead_alg_ivsize(alg);
- inst->alg.maxauthsize = crypto_aead_alg_maxauthsize(alg);
-
- inst->alg.base.cra_ctxsize = sizeof(struct pcrypt_aead_ctx);
-
- inst->alg.init = pcrypt_aead_init_tfm;
- inst->alg.exit = pcrypt_aead_exit_tfm;
-
- inst->alg.setkey = pcrypt_aead_setkey;
- inst->alg.setauthsize = pcrypt_aead_setauthsize;
- inst->alg.encrypt = pcrypt_aead_encrypt;
- inst->alg.decrypt = pcrypt_aead_decrypt;
-
- inst->free = pcrypt_free;
-
- err = aead_register_instance(tmpl, inst);
- if (err) {
-err_free_inst:
- pcrypt_free(inst);
- }
- return err;
-}
-
-static int pcrypt_create(struct crypto_template *tmpl, struct rtattr **tb)
-{
- struct crypto_attr_type *algt;
-
- algt = crypto_get_attr_type(tb);
- if (IS_ERR(algt))
- return PTR_ERR(algt);
-
- switch (algt->type & algt->mask & CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_MASK) {
- case CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_AEAD:
- return pcrypt_create_aead(tmpl, tb, algt);
- }
-
- return -EINVAL;
-}
-
-static int pcrypt_sysfs_add(struct padata_instance *pinst, const char *name)
-{
- int ret;
-
- pinst->kobj.kset = pcrypt_kset;
- ret = kobject_add(&pinst->kobj, NULL, "%s", name);
- if (!ret)
- kobject_uevent(&pinst->kobj, KOBJ_ADD);
-
- return ret;
-}
-
-static int pcrypt_init_padata(struct padata_instance **pinst, const char *name)
-{
- int ret = -ENOMEM;
-
- *pinst = padata_alloc(name);
- if (!*pinst)
- return ret;
-
- ret = pcrypt_sysfs_add(*pinst, name);
- if (ret)
- padata_free(*pinst);
-
- return ret;
-}
-
-static struct crypto_template pcrypt_tmpl = {
- .name = "pcrypt",
- .create = pcrypt_create,
- .module = THIS_MODULE,
-};
-
-static int __init pcrypt_init(void)
-{
- int err = -ENOMEM;
-
- pcrypt_kset = kset_create_and_add("pcrypt", NULL, kernel_kobj);
- if (!pcrypt_kset)
- goto err;
-
- err = pcrypt_init_padata(&pencrypt, "pencrypt");
- if (err)
- goto err_unreg_kset;
-
- err = pcrypt_init_padata(&pdecrypt, "pdecrypt");
- if (err)
- goto err_deinit_pencrypt;
-
- return crypto_register_template(&pcrypt_tmpl);
-
-err_deinit_pencrypt:
- padata_free(pencrypt);
-err_unreg_kset:
- kset_unregister(pcrypt_kset);
-err:
- return err;
-}
-
-static void __exit pcrypt_exit(void)
-{
- crypto_unregister_template(&pcrypt_tmpl);
-
- padata_free(pencrypt);
- padata_free(pdecrypt);
-
- kset_unregister(pcrypt_kset);
-}
-
-module_init(pcrypt_init);
-module_exit(pcrypt_exit);
-
-MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
-MODULE_AUTHOR("Steffen Klassert <steffen.klassert@xxxxxxxxxxx>");
-MODULE_DESCRIPTION("Parallel crypto wrapper");
-MODULE_ALIAS_CRYPTO("pcrypt");
diff --git a/include/crypto/pcrypt.h b/include/crypto/pcrypt.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 234d7cf3cf5e..000000000000
--- a/include/crypto/pcrypt.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only */
-/*
- * pcrypt - Parallel crypto engine.
- *
- * Copyright (C) 2009 secunet Security Networks AG
- * Copyright (C) 2009 Steffen Klassert <steffen.klassert@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- */
-
-#ifndef _CRYPTO_PCRYPT_H
-#define _CRYPTO_PCRYPT_H
-
-#include <linux/container_of.h>
-#include <linux/crypto.h>
-#include <linux/padata.h>
-
-struct pcrypt_request {
- struct padata_priv padata;
- void *data;
- void *__ctx[] CRYPTO_MINALIGN_ATTR;
-};
-
-static inline void *pcrypt_request_ctx(struct pcrypt_request *req)
-{
- return req->__ctx;
-}
-
-static inline
-struct padata_priv *pcrypt_request_padata(struct pcrypt_request *req)
-{
- return &req->padata;
-}
-
-static inline
-struct pcrypt_request *pcrypt_padata_request(struct padata_priv *padata)
-{
- return container_of(padata, struct pcrypt_request, padata);
-}
-
-#endif
diff --git a/tools/crypto/tcrypt/tcrypt_speed_compare.py b/tools/crypto/tcrypt/tcrypt_speed_compare.py
index f3f5783cdc06..0bf38c073dbc 100755
--- a/tools/crypto/tcrypt/tcrypt_speed_compare.py
+++ b/tools/crypto/tcrypt/tcrypt_speed_compare.py
@@ -28,19 +28,16 @@ num_mb=8
mode=211
# base speed test
-lsmod | grep pcrypt && modprobe -r pcrypt
dmesg -C
-modprobe tcrypt alg="pcrypt(rfc4106(gcm(aes)))" type=3
+modprobe tcrypt alg="rfc4106(gcm(aes))" type=3
modprobe tcrypt mode=${mode} sec=${sec} num_mb=${num_mb}
dmesg > ${seq_num}_base_dmesg.log
# new speed test
-lsmod | grep pcrypt && modprobe -r pcrypt
dmesg -C
-modprobe tcrypt alg="pcrypt(rfc4106(gcm(aes)))" type=3
+modprobe tcrypt alg="rfc4106(gcm(aes))" type=3
modprobe tcrypt mode=${mode} sec=${sec} num_mb=${num_mb}
dmesg > ${seq_num}_new_dmesg.log
-lsmod | grep pcrypt && modprobe -r pcrypt
tools/crypto/tcrypt/tcrypt_speed_compare.py \
${seq_num}_base_dmesg.log \
base-commit: e264401ce4776a288524e5b87593d4d864147115
--
2.55.0