[PATCH v5 00/10] crypto: Provide a function for zeroizing crypto_aes_ctx

From: Thomas Huth

Date: Mon Aug 10 2026 - 05:30:50 EST


Several crypto drivers need to zeroize their local crypto_aes_ctx
structures after use to avoid leaking key material on the stack.
Currently some call sites do this with their own memzero_explicit()
call, which is error-prone since it is easy to miss a return path
(what already happened in a driver). Some other call sites miss
to clear crypto_aes_ctx completely.

To improve this situation, the first patch introduces an aes_zeroize_ctx()
helper that can be used with __cleanup() to automatically zeroize the
context when it goes out of scope. The following 6 patches add this
__cleanup() to spots in the code where this has been forgotten so far.
The final patches change some files to do the zeroization with
the new __cleanup() way instead of calling memzero_explicit() manually.

v5:
- Use aes_check_keylen() in the eip93 patch and in the 1st safexcel patch

v4:
- Updated the function description in the first patch
- Fixed "return err" bug in the "safexcel - Rework cleanup..." patch

v3:
- Renamed aes_clear_ctx() to aes_zeroize_ctx()
- Split up the safeexcel patch to rework safexcel_aead_setkey in a
separate patch
- Removed goto in the padlock patch

v2:
- Rebased onto cryptodev master branch, updated the "qat" patch accordingly

Thomas Huth (10):
crypto: Provide a wrapper function for zeroizing crypto_aes_ctx
crypto: aspeed - clear the crypto_aes_ctx when done
crypto: padlock-aes - clear the crypto_aes_ctx when done
crypto: sa2ul - clear the crypto_aes_ctx when done
crypto: arm/aes-neonbs - clear the crypto_aes_ctx when done
crypto: arm64/aes-neonbs - clear the crypto_aes_ctx when done
crypto: qat - zeroize crypto_aes_ctx with __cleanup(aes_zeroize_ctx)
crypto: safexcel - Simplify the check for a valid AES key
crypto: safexcel - zeroize crypto_aes_ctx with
__cleanup(aes_zeroize_ctx)
crypto: eip93 - Simplify the check for a valid AES key

arch/arm/crypto/aes-neonbs-glue.c | 2 +-
arch/arm64/crypto/aes-neonbs-glue.c | 2 +-
drivers/crypto/aspeed/aspeed-hace-crypto.c | 3 +--
.../crypto/inside-secure/eip93/eip93-aead.c | 3 +--
.../crypto/inside-secure/safexcel_cipher.c | 16 +++++---------
drivers/crypto/inside-secure/safexcel_hash.c | 3 +--
.../crypto/intel/qat/qat_common/qat_algs.c | 3 +--
drivers/crypto/padlock-aes.c | 22 +++++++++----------
drivers/crypto/sa2ul.c | 2 +-
include/crypto/aes.h | 13 +++++++++++
10 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 34 deletions(-)

--
2.55.0