in-kernel user of ecdsa

[Tudor Ambarus]

On 03/12/2018 07:07 PM, Tudor Ambarus wrote:

> Would you consider using ECDSA in the kernel module signing facility?

Any feedback is good. I can invest some time to make this happen, if
needed.

> When compared with RSA, ECDSA has shorter keys, the key generation
> process is faster, the sign operation is faster, but the verify
> operation is slower than with RSA.
> 
> Smaller key sizes imply reduced memory footprint and bandwidth that are
> especially attractive for memory constrained devices. I'm working with
> such a device, capable of generating ecc keys, secure key storage and
> ecdsa/ecdh crypto acceleration. I'm trying to find an in-kernel user of
> ecdsa.
> 
> 
> ECDSA and RSA comparison
> ------------------------
> -> ECDSA requires a much smaller key length in order to provide the same
> security strength as RSA [1]:
> 
> Security Strength    RSA (bits)        ECDSA (bits)
> 112                   2048             224 - 255
> 128                   3072             256 - 383
> 192                   7680             384 - 511
> 256                  15360             512+
> 
> 7680 and 15360  keys are not included in the NIST standards for
> interoperability and efficiency reasons, the keys are just too big.
> 
> -> key generation: ECC key generation is faster than IFC (Integer -
> Factorization Cryptography). RSA private key is based on large prime
> numbers, while for ECDSA any positive integer less than n is a valid
> private key.
> 
> -> ECDSA sign operations are faster than RSA, but verify operations are
> slower. Here's an openssl speed test that I've run on my computer:
> 
>                    sign    verify    sign/s verify/s
> rsa 2048 bits 0.000604s 0.000018s   1656.3  56813.7
> rsa 4096 bits 0.004027s 0.000062s    248.3  16052.5
> 
>                               sign    verify    sign/s verify/s
> 256 bit ecdsa (nistp256)   0.0000s   0.0001s  28986.4  13516.3
> 384 bit ecdsa (nistp384)   0.0002s   0.0008s   5541.0   1322.2
> 521 bit ecdsa (nistp521)   0.0003s   0.0006s   3104.2   1756.2
> 
> Best,
> ta
> 
> [1] NIST SP 800-57 Pt. 1 Rev. 4, Recommendation for key management
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