Re: [GNU Crypto] how to deal with weak keys. was: Documentation

[Raif S. Naffah]

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On Thu, 29 May 2003 02:47 am, Casey Marshall wrote:
> On Wed, May 28, 2003 at 08:29:15PM +1000, Raif S. Naffah wrote:
> > ok.  i see the benefit of allowing even weak keys to go through the
> > implementation.  i double checked all the FIPS publications
> > relevant to DES, and couldnt find even a warning about weak keys!
> >
> > here is what i propose; it's similar to what we already do in the
> > PRNG class: use of conditional compilation.
> >
> > * add in each cipher implementation which is known to exhibit weak,
> > or semi-weak keys, a private static final boolean CHECK_WEAK_KEYS
> > with a default value.  in the makeKey() method we add the code to
> > check for weak keys conditioned by the value of CHECK_WEAK_KEYS.
> >
> > * in the code, distinguish the case of weak keys with a new
> > exception that is a subclass of InvalidKeyException.  this way the
> > code will remain backward compatible.
> >
> > * add a warning in the documentation, incl. the README about the
> > set default for CHECK_WEAK_KEYS, and how the user can change it to
> > get the desired effect if it is not set to the appropriate value.
> >
> > how does this sound?
>
> I like the idea of making the check optional, but how about making
> this a property? Perhaps in a global, static property set, somewhat
> akin to the properties contained in java.security.Security?

excellent!  we should probably move all similar flags to there too.  
would the Registry be an appropriate place for this?


cheers;
rsn
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