Crate boring

Bindings to BoringSSL

This crate provides a safe interface to the BoringSSL cryptography library.

Versioning

Crate versioning

The crate and all the related crates (FFI bindings, etc.) are released simultaneously and all bumped to the same version disregard whether particular crate has any API changes or not. However, semantic versioning guarantees still hold, as all the crate versions will be updated based on the crate with most significant changes.

BoringSSL version

By default, the crate aims to statically link with the latest BoringSSL master branch. Note: any BoringSSL revision bumps will be released as a major version update of all crates.

Compilation and linking options

Environment variables

This crate uses various environment variables to tweak how boring is built. The variables are all prefixed by BORING_BSSL_ for non-FIPS builds, and by BORING_BSSL_FIPS_ for FIPS builds.

Support for pre-built binaries or custom source

While this crate can build BoringSSL on its own, you may want to provide pre-built binaries instead. To do so, specify the environment variable BORING_BSSL{,_FIPS}_PATH with the path to the binaries.

You can also provide specific headers by setting BORING_BSSL{,_FIPS}_INCLUDE_PATH.

Notes: The crate will look for headers in the$BORING_BSSL{,_FIPS}_INCLUDE_PATH/openssl/ folder, make sure to place your headers there.

In alternative a different path for the BoringSSL source code directory can be specified by setting BORING_BSSL{,_FIPS}_SOURCE_PATH which will automatically be compiled during the build process.

Warning: When providing a different version of BoringSSL make sure to use a compatible one, the crate relies on the presence of certain functions.

Building with a FIPS-validated module

Only BoringCrypto module version 853ca1ea1168dff08011e5d42d94609cc0ca2e27, as certified with FIPS 140-2 certificate 4407 is supported by this crate. Support is enabled by this crate’s fips feature.

boring-sys comes with a test that FIPS is enabled/disabled depending on the feature flag. You can run it as follows:

$ cargo test --features fips fips::is_enabled

Linking current BoringSSL version with precompiled FIPS-validated module (bcm.o)

It’s possible to link latest supported version of BoringSSL with FIPS-validated crypto module (bcm.o). To enable this compilation option one should enable fips-link-precompiled compilation feature and provide a BORING_BSSL_FIPS_PRECOMPILED_BCM_O env variable with a path to the precompiled FIPS-validated bcm.o module.

Note that BORING_BSSL_PRECOMPILED_BCM_O is never used, as linking BoringSSL with precompiled non-FIPS module is not supported.

Linking with a C++ standard library

Recent versions of boringssl require some C++ standard library features, so boring needs to link with a STL implementation. This can be controlled using the BORING_BSSL_RUST_CPPLIB variable. If no library is specified, libc++ is used on macOS and iOS whereas libstdc++ is used on other Unix systems.

Optional patches

Raw Public Key

The crate can be compiled with RawPublicKey support by turning on rpk compilation feature.

Experimental post-quantum cryptography

The crate can be compiled with post-quantum cryptography support by turning on post-quantum compilation feature.

Upstream BoringSSL support the post-quantum hybrid key agreement X25519Kyber768Draft00. Most users should stick to that one for now. Enabling this feature, adds a few other post-quantum key agreements:

• X25519MLKEM768 is the successor of X25519Kyber768Draft00. We expect servers to switch before the end of 2024.
• X25519Kyber768Draft00Old is the same as X25519Kyber768Draft00, but under its old codepoint.
• X25519Kyber512Draft00. Similar to X25519Kyber768Draft00, but uses level 1 parameter set for Kyber. Not recommended. It’s useful to test whether the shorter ClientHello upsets fewer middle boxes.
• P256Kyber768Draft00. Similar again to X25519Kyber768Draft00, but uses P256 as classical part. It uses a non-standard codepoint. Not recommended.

Presently all these key agreements are deployed by Cloudflare, but we do not guarantee continued support for them.

Modules

aes

Low level AES IGE and key wrapping functionality

asn1

Defines the format of certificiates

base64

Base64 encoding support.

bn

BigNum implementation

conf

Interface for processing OpenSSL configuration files.

derive

Shared secret derivation.

dh

dsa

Digital Signatures

ec

Elliptic Curve

ecdsa

Low level Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) functions.

error

Errors returned by OpenSSL library.

ex_data

fips

FIPS 140-2 support.

hash

hpkeNon-fips

memcmp

Utilities to safely compare cryptographic values.

nid

A collection of numerical identifiers for OpenSSL objects.

pkcs5

pkcs12

PKCS #12 archives.

pkey

Public/private key processing.

rand

Utilities for secure random number generation.

rsa

Rivest–Shamir–Adleman cryptosystem

sha

The SHA family of hashes.

sign

Message signatures.

srtp

ssl

SSL/TLS support.

stack

string

symm

High level interface to certain symmetric ciphers.

version

x509

The standard defining the format of public key certificates.

Functions

init