- Revision History
- Overview
- Features
- Insecure Algorithms
- Deprecated Features & Planned Deprecations
- Setup
- Supported Devices
- Limitations
- Environmental Assumptions
- Examples
- Open Issues
- Resolved Issues
- Licensing
- Legal
- Terminology
| Date | Doc Revision | Version | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2023 | 010 | 23.08 | - Removal of following insecure algorithms: Diffie-Hellman and Elliptic curves less than 256-bits. - Additional configuration profiles, including sym which facilitates improved symmetric crypto performance. - DC Chaining (Hash then compress) - Bug Fixes. See Resolved Issues. |
| February 2023 | 009 | 23.02 | - Added configuration option --enable-legacy-algorithms to use these insecure crypto algorithms and disabled them by default (AES-ECB, SHA-1, SHA2-224, SHA3-224, RSA512/1024/1536, DSA) - Refactored code in quickassist/utilities/libusdm_drv - Bugfixes - Updated documentation with configuration and tuning information |
| November 2022 | 008 | 22.07.2 | - Changed from yasm to nasm for assembly compilation - Added configuration option to use C implementation of soft CRC implementation instead of asm - Added support for pkg-config - Added missing lock around accesses to some global data in qatmgr |
| October 2022 | 007 | 22.07.1 | - Fix for QATE-86605 |
| July 2022 | 006 | 22.07 | - Added support for lz4/lz4s compression algorithms - Added support for Compression End-to-end (E2E) integrity check - Added support for PKE generic point multiply - Updated QAT APIs - Enabled CPM2.0b - Split rpm package |
| November 2021 | 005 | 21.11 | - Added qatlib-tests rpm package - Added option to configure script to skip building sample code |
| August 2021 | 004 | 21.08 | - Added support for deflate compression - Compress and Verify (CnV) and Compress and Verify and Recover (CnVnR) - Added Physical Function to Virtual Function (PFVF) communication support |
| May 2021 | 003 | 21.05 | - Added support for AES-CCM 192/265 - Added support for SHA3-224/384/512 (no partials support) - Added support for ChaCha20-Poly1305 - Added support for PKE 8K (RSA, DH, ModExp, ModInv) - Fixed device enumeration on different nodes - Fixed pci_vfio_set_command for 32 bit builds |
| November 2020 | 002 | 20.10 | - Fixed service stopping during uninstallation - Fixed "Cannot open /sys/kernel/iommu_groups/vfio/devices/" error - Fixes based on static code analysis - Fixes based on secure code reviews - Refactored logging mechanism - Updated library versioning scheme - Improvements to make install target - Fix so service file installed in /usr/lib64 can be properly detected - Remove execute permissions from non-executable files - Clarified documentation of licensing - Removed libudev dependency from the package - Removed OpenSSL/libcrypto extracts, instead link against system OpenSSL/libcrypto |
| August 2020 | 001 | 20.08 | - Initial Release |
Intel(R) QuickAssist Technology (Intel(R) QAT) provides hardware acceleration for offloading security, authentication and compression services from the CPU, thus significantly increasing the performance and efficiency of standard platform solutions.
Its services include symmetric encryption and authentication, asymmetric encryption, digital signatures, RSA, DH and ECC, and lossless data compression.
This package provides user space libraries that allow access to Intel(R) QuickAssist devices and expose the Intel(R) QuickAssist APIs and sample codes.
The following services are available in qatlib via the QuickAssist API:
- Symmetric (Bulk) Cryptography
- Ciphers (AES-ECB, AES-CBC, AES-CTR (no partials support), AES-XTS (no partials support), AES-GCM, AES-CCM (192/256)
- Message digest/hash (SHA1, SHA2 (224/256/384/512), SHA3 (224/256/384/512) (no partials support) and authentication (AES-CBC-MAC, AES-XCBC-MAC)
- Algorithm chaining (one cipher and one hash in a single operation)
- Authenticated encryption (CCM-128 (no partials support), GCM (128/192/256) (no partials support), GMAC (no partials support) and ChaCha20-Poly1305)
- KeyGen
- TLS1.2
- TLS1.3
- HKDF
- MGF1
- Asymmetric (Public Key) Cryptography
- Modular exponentiation and modular inversion up to 8192 bits
- Diffie-Hellman (DH) key generation phase 1 and 2 up to 8192 bits
- RSA key generation, encryption/decryption and digital signature generation/verification up to 8192 bits
- DSA parameter generation and digital signature generation/verification
- Elliptic Curve Cryptography: ECDSA, ECDHE, Edwards Montgomery curves
- Generic point multiply
- Compression
- Deflate
- lz4/lz4s
- Compress and Verify (CnV)
- Compress and Verify and Recover (CnVnR)
- End-to-end (E2E) integrity check
- Compression Chaining (Deflate only)
- Hash then compress
This package includes:
- libqat: user space library for QAT devices exposed via the vfio kernel driver
- libusdm: user space library for memory management
- qatmgr: user space daemon for device management
- Sample codes: applications to demo usage of the libs
The following algorithms are considered insecure and are disabled by default.
- AES-ECB
- SHA-1
- SHA2-224
- SHA3-224
- RSA512/1024/1536
- DSA
- Diffie-Helman
- Elliptic Curve Cryptography algorithms with less 256 bits
To enable these algorithms, use the following configuration option:
--enable-legacy-algorithms
- The following configuration option will be deprecated after 2023:
--enable-legacy-lib-names
Please refer to INSTALL for details on installing the library.
- 4xxx (QAT gen 4 devices)
Earlier generations of QAT devices (e.g. c62x, dh895xxcc, etc.) are not supported.
- If an error occurs on the host driver (Heartbeat, Uncorrectable error) it will not be communicated to the library.
The following features are not currently supported:
- Dynamic instances
- Intel® Key Protection Technology (KPT)
- Event driven polling
- More than 16 processes per end point (16 is the maximum)
- accumulateXXHash when combined with autoSelectBestHuffmanTree
- accumulateXXHash in Decompression or Combined sessions
- integrityCrcCheck for Compression direction requests
The following assumptions are made concerning the deployment environment:
- Users within the same processing domain must be trusted, i.e.: on the same host or within the same virtual machine, users must trust each other.
- The library can be used by unprivileged users if those users are included in the 'qat' group.
- DRAM is considered to be inside the trust boundary. The typical memory protection schemes provided by the Intel architecture processor and memory controller, and by the operating system, prevent unauthorized access to these memory regions.
- A QuickAssist kernel driver for the supported device is installed, which has discovered and initialized the device, exposing the VFs. This driver is included in the Linux kernel, see INSTALL for information about which kernel to use.
- The library can be used by unprivileged users if that user is included in the 'qat' group.
Example applications that showcase usage of the QAT APIs are included in the package (quickassist/lookaside/access_layer/src/sample_code). Please refer to Intel® QuickAssist Technology API Programmer's Guide.
Known issues relating to the Intel® QAT software are described in this section.
Issue titles follow the pattern:
<Component> [Stepping] - Description of issue
where: <Component> is one of the following:
- CY - Cryptographic
- DC - Compression
- EP - Endpoint
- GEN - General
- SYM DP - Symmetric Cryptography on Data Plane
- SR-IOV - Single Root I/O Virtualization
- FW - Firmware
- PERF - Performance
[Stepping] is an optional qualifier that identifies if the errata applies to a specific device stepping
| Title | CY - cpaCySymPerformOp when used with parameter checking may reveal the amount of padding. |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-3241 |
| Description | When Performing a CBC Decryption as a chained request using cpaCySymPerformOp it is necessary to pass a length of the data to MAC (messageLenToHashInBytes). With ICP_PARAM_CHECK enabled, this checks the length of data to MAC is valid and, if not, it aborts the whole operation and outputs an error on stderr. |
| Implication | The length of the data to MAC is based on the amount of padding. This should remain private and not be revealed. The issue is not observed when the length is checked in constant time before passing the value to the API. This is done by OpenSSL. |
| Resolution | 1. Build without ICP_PARAM_CHECK, but this opens the risk of buffer overrun. 2. Validate the length before using the API. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | CPM-IA - Crypto |
| Title | CY - Incorrect digest returned when performing a plain hash operation on input data of size 4GB or larger. |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-41707 |
| Description | When performing a plain hash operation on input data size of 4GB or larger, incorrect digest is returned. |
| Implication | Incorrect digest is returned from a plane hash operation. |
| Resolution | There is no fix available. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | CPM-IA - Crypto |
| Title | GEN - If PF device configuration is modified without restarting qatmgr, undefined behavior may occur. |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-76073 |
| Description | When qatmgr is initialized, it reads the current configuration of the PF device. If the PF device configuration is modified without restarting the qatmgr, the updated device configuration is not comprehended by qatmgr. |
| Implication | Undefined behavior may occur. |
| Resolution | If PF device is reconfigured and reloaded, ensure to stop and start the qatmgr. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | CPM-IA - General |
| Title | GEN - Multi-process applications running in guest will fail when running with default Policy settings. |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-76698 |
| Description | The default Policy setting results in process receiving all available VFs allocated to guest operating system. In the case of a multi-process application, failures will be observed as all available QAT resources are consumed by the first process. |
| Implication | Multi-process applications running in guest OS will fail with default Policy settings. |
| Resolution | If more than 1 process is needed in a guest OS, set POLICY=n (where n>0) in /etc/sysconfig/qat and restart qatmgr. The process will then receive n VFs. See RUNNING IN A VIRTUAL MACHINE / GUEST section of INSTALL for details. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | CPM-IA - General |
| Title | GEN - Compression services not detected when crypto-capable VFs are also added to VM. |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-94286 |
| Description | When configuring a system with different services on different QAT end-points, e.g. asym;sym on one and dc on another, and exposing only one of those Virtual Function (VF) types to the Virtual Machine (VM), the application works as expected. However, when VFs of more than one type are passed to the same VM, the application may only recognize one service-type, e.g. it may detect crypto instances, but not compression instances. There is an assumption that all VFs provide the same services if they come from the same PF. However, detecting which PF they come from is based on domain+bus, which is not always a valid assumption on a VM. |
| Implication | This issue prevents the detection of compression services in a virtualized environment when the default kernel configuration is used, and crypto and dc VFs are passed to the VM, potentially impacting the proper functioning of the system. |
| Resolution | When passing VFs to a guest, the BDFs on the guest should facilitate qatlib recognizing whether VFs are from the same PF or not. See RUNNING IN A VIRTUAL MACHINE / GUEST section of INSTALL for details. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | CPM-IA - General |
| Title | GEN - SELinux Preventing QAT Service Startup |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-94286 |
| Description | The qat service fails to start due to SELinux preventing the qat_init.sh script and qatmgr from accessing resources. The issue occurs when the system is running with SELinux enabled, causing insufficient permissions for the qat_init.sh script and qatmgr to function correctly. |
| Implication | This issue affects the proper functioning of the qat service on systems with SELinux enabled, potentially preventing QAT virtual functions (VFs) from functioning. |
| Resolution | None available. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | QAT Linux Upstream - User |
Resolved issues relating to the Intel® QAT software are described in this section.
| Title | GEN - QAT service fails to start, issue #38 |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-90845 |
| Description | QAT service fails to start. The qat service may fail if the kernel driver's initialization is not fully finished when the service starts. See issue 38. |
| Implication | The qatmgr may not detect any or all of the vfio devices. |
| Resolution | Fixed in 23.08. The service waits until the kernel driver has completed initialization of all PFs before starting the service. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | CPM-IA - General |
| Title | GEN - sample_code potential seg-fault, issue #46 |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-93278 |
| Description | cpa_dc_stateless_multi_op_checksum_sample.c missed checking the return value of a memory allocation. See issue 46. |
| Implication | In a low memory system, if the memory allocation fails, the process could crash. |
| Resolution | Fixed in qatlib 23.08. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | CPM-IA - General |
| Title | GEN - Forking and re-initializing use-cases do not work |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-76846 |
| Description | Forking and re-initializing use-cases do not work: -icp_sal_userStart()/icp_sal_userStop()/icp_sal_userStart() in single process -icp_sal_userStart()/fork()/icp_sal_userStart() in child. This is the use case in openssh + QAT_Engine. |
| Implication | The process will have undefined behavior in these use-cases. |
| Resolution | This issue is resolved with the 21.08 release. If using release prior to this release and using these flows, call qaeMemDestroy() immediately after icp_sal_userStop() to prevent this issue. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | CPM-IA - General |
| Title | DC - cpaDcDeflateCompressBound API returns incorrect output buffer size when input size exceeds 477218588 bytes. |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-74786 |
| Description | When cpaDcDeflateCompressBound API is called with input size > 477218588 bytes incorrect buffer size is returned. For any buffer input size, the API should not produce output buffer size greater than the max limit (4 GB). |
| Implication | Incorrect output buffer size is returned instead of error. |
| Resolution | The issue is not present in qatlib. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | CPM-IA - Data Compression |
| Title | CY - TLS1.2 with secret key lengths greater than 64 are not supported |
|---|---|
| Reference # | QATE-12241 |
| Description | Algorithms, as with Diffie-Hellman using 8K parameters that can use a secret key length greater than 64 bytes is not supported. |
| Implication | Key generation would fail for TLS1.2 algorithms that use more than 64 bytes secret length keys. |
| Resolution | This is resolved with the 22.07 release. |
| Affected OS | Linux |
| Driver/Module | CPM-IA - Crypto |
- This product is released under the BSD-3-Clause.
Intel, Intel Atom, and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
Copyright © 2016-2022, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| API | Application Programming Interface |
| BIOS | Basic Input/Output System |
| BSD | Berkeley Standard Distribution |
| CY | Cryptographic |
| CnV | Compress and Verify |
| CnVnR | Compress and Verify and Recover |
| DC | Compression |
| DMA | Direct Memory Access |
| EFI | Extensible Firmware Interface |
| FW | Firmware |
| GPL | General Public License |
| HKDF | HMAC-based Extract-and-Expand Key Derivation Function |
| Intel® QAT | Intel® QuickAssist Technology |
| OS | Operating System |
| SR-IOV | Single-root Input/Output Virtualization |
| TLS | Transport Layer Security |
| VFs | Virtual Functions |