[PATCH v2 1/6] crypto: Provide wrapper functions for zeroizing aes_cmac_key and aes_cmac_ctx
From: Thomas Huth
Date: Fri Aug 07 2026 - 08:59:34 EST
From: Thomas Huth <thuth@xxxxxxxxxx>
Code that uses AES-CMAC might need to zeroize their local aes_cmac_key
and/or aes_cmac_ctx structures after use to avoid leaking sensitive
material on the stack.
Provide an aes_cmac_zeroize_key() and an aes_cmac_zeroize_ctx() helper
function that can be used with __cleanup() to automatically clear
the key and context when they go out of scope.
Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
include/crypto/aes-cbc-macs.h | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 34 insertions(+)
diff --git a/include/crypto/aes-cbc-macs.h b/include/crypto/aes-cbc-macs.h
index e61df108b926d..06e8a22f8a0ac 100644
--- a/include/crypto/aes-cbc-macs.h
+++ b/include/crypto/aes-cbc-macs.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
#define _CRYPTO_AES_CBC_MACS_H
#include <crypto/aes.h>
+#include <linux/string.h>
/**
* struct aes_cmac_key - Prepared key for AES-CMAC or AES-XCBC-MAC
@@ -24,6 +25,19 @@ struct aes_cmac_key {
} k_final[2];
};
+/**
+ * aes_cmac_zeroize_key() - Zeroize an aes_cmac_key structure
+ * @key: The location of the key structure that should be zeroized
+ *
+ * Explicitly fills the aes_cmac_key with zeroes. This should be done once
+ * the key is not required anymore to avoid that its contents are leaked
+ * on the stack or heap (if not using kfree_sensitive()).
+ */
+static inline void aes_cmac_zeroize_key(struct aes_cmac_key *key)
+{
+ memzero_explicit(key, sizeof(*key));
+}
+
/**
* struct aes_cmac_ctx - Context for computing an AES-CMAC or AES-XCBC-MAC value
* @key: Pointer to the key struct. A pointer is used rather than a copy of the
@@ -40,6 +54,19 @@ struct aes_cmac_ctx {
u8 h[AES_BLOCK_SIZE];
};
+/**
+ * aes_cmac_zeroize_ctx() - Zeroize an aes_cmac_ctx structure
+ * @ctx: The location of the context that should be zeroized
+ *
+ * Explicitly fills the aes_cmac_ctx with zeroes. This should be done once
+ * the context is not required anymore to avoid that its contents are
+ * leaked on the stack or heap. Only required if not using aes_cmac_final().
+ */
+static inline void aes_cmac_zeroize_ctx(struct aes_cmac_ctx *ctx)
+{
+ memzero_explicit(ctx, sizeof(*ctx));
+}
+
/**
* aes_cmac_preparekey() - Prepare a key for AES-CMAC
* @key: (output) The key struct to initialize
@@ -47,6 +74,10 @@ struct aes_cmac_ctx {
* @key_len: Length of the raw key in bytes. The supported values are
* AES_KEYSIZE_128, AES_KEYSIZE_192, and AES_KEYSIZE_256.
*
+ * On success, the caller should ensure that the prepared key is zeroized
+ * at the end of its lifetime, e.g. by calling aes_cmac_zeroize_key() or
+ * kfree_sensitive().
+ *
* Context: Any context.
* Return: 0 on success or -EINVAL if the given key length is invalid. No other
* errors are possible, so callers that always pass a valid key length
@@ -79,6 +110,9 @@ void aes_xcbcmac_preparekey(struct aes_cmac_key *key,
*
* This supports both AES-CMAC and AES-XCBC-MAC. Which one is done depends on
* whether aes_cmac_preparekey() or aes_xcbcmac_preparekey() was called.
+ *
+ * The caller should ensure that the context is zeroized at the end of its
+ * lifetime, e.g. by calling aes_cmac_final() or aes_cmac_zeroize_ctx().
*/
static inline void aes_cmac_init(struct aes_cmac_ctx *ctx,
const struct aes_cmac_key *key)
--
2.55.0