wolfSSL Version 3.9.6 Released!

Many new additions and updates have been introduced in wolfSSL 3.9.6. For IoT and embedded SSL/TLS there was the addition of embOS and uTasker ports, each of these ports allowing for easily building wolfSSL on the respective environments. Updates were also done to STM32 crypto for using AES-GCM and AES-CCM, and updates were made to the MDK5 projects.

AES-NI saw an update for AES-CBC decrypt with wolfSSL version 3.9.6. This update decrypts 6 or 8 blocks at a time, greatly speeding up decryption times while using AES-NI. Additions that overlap both IoT and desktop platforms were also added like the addition of static memory. Compiling wolfSSL with –enable-staticmemory allows for using no dynamic memory while creating a SSL/TLS connection. This is useful for applications that wish to have a fixed amount of memory ahead of time and want more control over memory management. In addition to using static memory, compiling with –enable-sessionexport allows for serializing and exporting DTLS session information after the handshake is completed – giving the option of performing DTLS handshakes on one device and then sending that connection over to another device to handle throughput.

wolfSSL`s wrapper and OpenSSL compatibility layer were both expanded with the recent release. Version 3.9.6 introduced Python wrappers for crypto operations, allowing for integrating wolfSSL in Python projects. This easy to build wrapper is found in the directory “wolfssl-3.9.6/wrapper/python” along with a set of instructions for building it. Expansion to the OpenSSL compatibility layer was made with the introduction of dynamic session tickets. This makes it even easier for plug and replace when switching to use wolfSSL.

Furthering the progressiveness of wolfSSL, there was the addition of using the netRandom quantum random number generator from Whitewood. Now a quantum resistant cipher suite using NTRU can also be using a quantum random number generator. Making wolfSSL an excellent choice for quantum resistant security.

If looking to gain more speed with SSL/TLS connections operating in parallel to each other, check out the asynchronous operations addition to wolfSSL with this version. This keeps wolfSSL from blocking on SSL/TLS operations, such as RSA for example, in addition to non blocking on socket read/writes. If interested in using the new asynchronous features of wolfSSL please contact facts@wolfssl.com.

Along with all the additions and updates, some fixes were made to wolfSSL code with release 3.9.6. One fix was some edge case bugs with ECC when using ALT_ECC_SIZE and with key sizes over 256 bits. Additional code and comments on these ECC fixes can be found on our github page with pull requests #411, #416, and #428. The following list shows highlighted feature additions, updates and fixes.

Expanded list of release 3.9.6 for wolfSSL including new features and bug fixes:

– Add staticmemory feature, for using no dynamic memory allocation with wolfSSL
– Add public wc_GetTime API with base64encode feature
– Add AES CMAC algorithm, enabled using –enable-cmac
– Add DTLS sessionexport feature to serialize and send connection information. This allows for another system to take up the connection after the DTLS handshake has been performed
– Add python wolfCrypt wrapper. Located in directory wolfssl-3.9.6/wrapper/python.
– Add ECC encrypt/decrypt benchmarks. Can be ran with “./configure –enable-eccencrypt –enable-hkdf && make && ./wolfcrypt/benchmark/benchmark”
– Add dynamic session tickets to be used with openSSL compatibility
– Add eccshamir to configure.ac giving the option to compile without using ECC_SHAMIR. Can be used with ./configure –disable-eccshamir
– Add quantum RNG support with Whitewood netRandom, –with-wnr
– Add embOS port. Located in the directory wolfssl-3.9.6/IDE/IAR-EWARM/embOS
– Add minimum key size checks for RSA and ECC during TLS connection
– Add STARTTLS support to example client with ‘-M’ argument
– Add uTasker port. Macro define for uTasker can be found in wolfssl-3.9.6/wolfssl/wolfcrypt/settings.h
– Add asynchronous crypto and wolf event support
– Add compile check for misc.c with inline, this helps developers working in IDEs to not compile misc.c when not needed
– Add RNG benchmark to wolfcrypt/benchmark/benchmark.c
– Add reduction to stack usage with hash-based RNG
– Update STM32F2_CRYPTO port with additional algorithms supported, AES-GCM and AES-CCM
– Update MDK5 projects
– Update AES-NI to allow decrypting AES-CBC by 6 and 8 blocks at a time
– Fix for STM32 missing wc_ShaUdate return code with STM32F2_HASH defined
– Fix for function visibility warnings when building with MinGw
– Fix ECC math bugs with ALT_ECC_SIZE and key sizes over 256 bit. Code changes for ECC fix can be found at pull requests #411, #416, and #428
– Fix mismatch of certificate buffers to certificate files, github issue #422
– Fix decrypt max size with RSA OAEP. Previously in the case that the max message size allowed was being decrypted a bad padding error was returned
– Fix DTLS sanity check with DTLS timeout notification
– Fix free of WOLFSSL_METHOD on failure to create CTX
– Fix potential memory leak in failure case with wc_RsaFunction. Builds using RSA with using normal math and not RSA_LOW_MEM should update

Note: the tag v3.9.6w is for a simple port value fix with the echo server on a windows OS. This is with using Visual Studio as a development and testing environment.

For more information about any of the items on this list or information in general about wolfSSL contact us at facts@wolfssl.com