UBSEC(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 UBSEC(4) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the Kernel Interfaces Manual section for ubsec — the Broadcom and BlueSteel uBsec 5x0x crypto accelerator. yes it's a whole mouthful, but she's iconic and we're gonna get through this together 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

so like, you wanna compile this driver into the kernel? drop these lines in your kernel configuration file, no cap:

device crypto
device cryptodev
device ubsec

OR — if you're feeling lowkey lazy and just want it as a module at boot time — put this line in loader.conf(5):

ubsec_load="YES"

slay. that's it. ✨

🚨 DEPRECATION NOTICE 🚨

not me having to deliver bad news 😭 — the ubsec driver is not present in FreeBSD 13.0 and later. and honestly? the majority of crypto algorithms this driver supports are no longer used by the kernel in FreeBSD 13.0. so like… she's retired, bestie. gone. periodt. 💀

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

the ubsec driver supports cards containing Broadcom and BlueSteel uBsec 5x0x crypto accelerator chips. very demure, very crypto. 💅

she registers herself to accelerate DES, Triple-DES, MD5-HMAC, and SHA1-HMAC operations for ipsec(4) and crypto(4). the way that she just… accelerates things?? obsessed.

on those models that contain a public key engine (which is, like, almost all of the more recent ones — main character energy honestly), this feature gets registered with the crypto(4) subsystem. ✨

and on all models except the Bluesteel 5501 and Broadcom 5801, the driver registers itself to provide random data to the random(4) subsystem. so basically she's also a vibe source. 🎀

👑 HARDWARE 👑

okay so the ubsec driver supports cards containing any of these chips, and I'm listing every single one because they all deserve their moment:

  • Bluesteel 5501 — the original chipset, no longer made. this extremely rare unit was not very fast, lacked an RNG, and had a number of other bugs. 🙈 she was trying her best, okay?
  • Bluesteel 5601 — a faster and fixed version of the original, with a random number unit and large number engine added. glow-up of the century honestly 💖
  • Broadcom BCM5801 — a BCM5805 without public key engine or random number generator. stripped down, no extras. minimalist queen.
  • Broadcom BCM5802 — a slower version of the BCM5805. she's taking her time, and that's valid. 🦋
  • Broadcom BCM5805 — faster version of Bluesteel 5601. ate that upgrade fr fr 🔥
  • Broadcom BCM5820 — 64 bit version of the chip, and significantly more advanced. she's giving evolved. ⭐
  • Broadcom BCM5821 — faster version of the BCM5820. this is the chip found on the Sun Crypto Accelerator 1000. iykyk 👑
  • Broadcom BCM5822 — faster version of the BCM5820. yep, another glow-up of the same queen. 🌈
  • Broadcom BCM5823 — a BCM5822 with AES capability. AES!! fancy!! ✨
  • Broadcom BCM5825 — faster version of the BCM5823. and the lineage continues. 💜

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

go read those too, bestie, they're all part of the same friend group 💅

📜 HISTORY 📜

the ubsec device driver appeared in OpenBSD 2.8. and then — plot twist — the ubsec device driver was imported to FreeBSD 5.0. a whole cross-platform journey, we love to see it. 🧚

🐛 BUGS 🐛

okay so the tea: the BCM5801 and BCM5802 have not actually been tested. like, at all. 😭

and the AES capability of the BCM5823 is not yet supported — she's just awaiting public disclosure of programming information from Broadcom. so if you were hoping for that AES goodness, nope, not yet, bestie. 💀

and that's the whole page, fr fr! this one came to you from the Debian folks, dated May 14, 2020, and yeah — UBSEC(4) is officially wrapped. stay encrypted, stay iconic, mwah 💋💖✨

📦 where this page comes from