OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS(7ossl)

📦
version 15.1 · 3 versions
, in freebsd 15.1

💅 OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS — the OpenSSL FIPS provider, explained

okay bestie, welcome to OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS(7ossl), literally the manual page for the OpenSSL FIPS provider. this is the girlypop who takes cryptography very seriously. buckle up 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

OSSL_PROVIDER-FIPS — the OpenSSL FIPS provider. that's the whole name, she's lowkey mysterious like that 💜

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so the OpenSSL FIPS provider is this special provider that conforms to the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) specified in FIPS 140-3. think of it as the "module" that contains an approved set of cryptographic algorithms, and that set is validated by an accredited testing laboratory. yes, actual lab validation, not just vibes ✨

🔍 Properties

the implementations in this provider specifically have these properties defined for approved algorithms:

  • "provider=fips"
  • "fips=yes"

you can use those in a property query string with fetching functions such as EVP_MD_fetch(3) or EVP_CIPHER_fetch(3), and also with other functions that take a property query string, like EVP_PKEY_CTX_new_from_name(3). iykyk 💅

🚨 to be FIPS compliant, it is mandatory to include "fips=yes" as part of all property queries. no exceptions, bestie. this ensures that only FIPS approved implementations are used for cryptographic operations. periodt.

the "fips=yes" query may also include other non-crypto support operations that are not in the FIPS provider, such as asymmetric key encoders — see "Asymmetric Key Management" in OSSL_PROVIDER-default(7).

it is not mandatory to include "provider=fips" as part of your property query. but including "provider=fips" in your property query guarantees that the OpenSSL FIPS provider is used for cryptographic operations rather than other FIPS capable providers. so like, it's optional but it's giving main character energy 👑

✅ Approved algorithms

plot twist: algorithms that are fetched using "fips=yes" may still be unapproved if certain conditions are not met 😭 see "FIPS indicators" in fips_module(7) for additional information.

⚙️ Provider parameters

see "Provider parameters" in provider-base(7) for a list of base parameters. the OpenSSL FIPS provider also handles FIPS indicator related parameters as specified by "FIPS indicator options" in fips_config(5). yes she's thorough, we love that 🫶

🔥 OPERATIONS AND ALGORITHMS 🔥

the OpenSSL FIPS provider supports these operations and algorithms — this is the whole roster, no cap:

🧮 Hashing Algorithms / Message Digests

🔐 Symmetric Ciphers

🏷️ Message Authentication Code (MAC)

🌱 Key Derivation Function (KDF)

🤝 Key Exchange

✍️ Asymmetric Signature

🔒 Asymmetric Cipher

📦 Asymmetric Key Encapsulation

🗝️ Asymmetric Key Management

🎲 Random Number Generation

💖 SELF TESTING 💖

Okay so a requirement of FIPS modules is to run cryptographic algorithm self tests. FIPS 140-3 requires known answer tests to be run on startup as well as conditional tests that run during cryptographic operations. No cap, this is mandatory behavior.

An optional callback mechanism is available to return information to the user using OSSL_SELF_TEST_set_callback(3).

The parameters passed to the callback are described in OSSL_SELF_TEST_new(3).

The OpenSSL FIPS module uses the following mechanism to provide information about the self tests as they run. This is useful for debugging if a self test is failing. The callback also allows forcing any self test to fail, in order to check that it operates correctly on failure. Note that all self tests run even if a self test failure occurs. Like, every single one — no skipping.

The FIPS module passes the following type(s) to OSSL_SELF_TEST_onbegin().

  • "Module_Integrity" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_MODULE_INTEGRITY) — uses HMAC SHA256 on the module file to validate that the module has not been modified. The integrity value is compared to a value written to a configuration file during installation.
  • "KAT_Integrity" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_INTEGRITY) — used during the Module Integrity test to perform a known answer test on HMAC SHA256 prior to using it.
  • "KAT_Cipher" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_CIPHER) — known answer test for a symmetric cipher.
  • "KAT_AsymmetricCipher" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_ASYM_CIPHER) — known answer test for an asymmetric cipher.
  • "KAT_Digest" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_DIGEST) — known answer test for a digest.
  • "KAT_AsymmetricKeyGeneration" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_ASYM_KEYGEN) — known answer test for asymmetric key generation.
  • "KAT_Signature" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_SIGNATURE) — known answer test for a signature.
  • "PCT_Signature" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_PCT_SIGNATURE) — Pairwise Consistency check for a signature.
  • "KAT_KDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_KDF) — known answer test for a key derivation function.
  • "KAT_KA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_KA) — known answer test for key agreement.
  • "KAT_KEM" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_KAT_KEM) — known answer test for key encapsulation.
  • "DRBG" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_DRBG) — known answer test for a Deterministic Random Bit Generator.
  • "Conditional_PCT" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_PCT) — conditional test that is run during the generation of key pairs.
  • "Import_PCT" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_PCT_IMPORT) — conditional test that is run during the import of key pairs.
  • "Conditional_KAT" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_PCT_KAT) — conditional test run during generation that derives the public key from the private key and checks that the public key matches. This is a SP 800-56A requirement.
  • "Continuous_RNG_Test" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_CRNG) — continuous random number generator test.
  • "Install_Integrity" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_TYPE_INSTALL_INTEGRITY) — this one is deprecated. The option is no longer used since FIPS 140-3 requires self tests to always run on startup. Previous FIPS 140-2 validations allowed the self tests to be run just once.

The FIPS module passes the following descriptions(s) to OSSL_SELF_TEST_onbegin().

  • "HMAC" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_INTEGRITY_HMAC) — "Module_Integrity" uses this.
  • "RSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_RSA_PKCS1)
  • "RSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_RSA)
  • "ECDSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_ECDSA)
  • "EDDSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_EDDSA)
  • "DSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_DSA)
  • "ML-DSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_ML_DSA)
  • "ML-KEM" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_ML_KEM)
  • "SLH-DSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_PCT_SLH_DSA)

These are key generation tests used with the "Pairwise_Consistency_Test" type.

  • "RSA_Encrypt" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_ASYM_RSA_ENC)
  • "RSA_Decrypt" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_ASYM_RSA_DEC)

"KAT_AsymmetricCipher" uses this to indicate an encrypt or decrypt KAT.

  • "ML-DSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KEYGEN_ML_DSA)
  • "ML-KEM" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KEYGEN_ML_KEM)
  • "SLH-DSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KEYGEN_SLH_DSA)

"KAT_AsymmetricKeyGeneration" uses this to indicate a key generation KAT.

  • "AES_GCM" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_CIPHER_AES_GCM)
  • "AES_ECB_Decrypt" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_CIPHER_AES_ECB)
  • "TDES" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_CIPHER_TDES)

Symmetric cipher tests used with the "KAT_Cipher" type.

  • "SHA1" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA1)
  • "SHA2" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA2)
  • "SHA3" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA3)

Digest tests used with the "KAT_Digest" type.

  • "DSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_DSA)
  • "RSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_RSA)
  • "ECDSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_ECDSA)
  • "EDDSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_EDDSA)
  • "ML-DSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_ML_DSA)
  • "SLH-DSA" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_SIGN_SLH_DSA)

Signature tests used with the "KAT_Signature" type.

  • "ECDH" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KA_ECDH)
  • "DH" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KA_DH)

Key agreement tests used with the "KAT_KA" type.

  • "HKDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_HKDF)
  • "TLS13_KDF_EXTRACT" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_TLS13_EXTRACT)
  • "TLS13_KDF_EXPAND" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_TLS13_EXPAND)
  • "SSKDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_SSKDF)
  • "X963KDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_X963KDF)
  • "X942KDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_X942KDF)
  • "PBKDF2" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_PBKDF2)
  • "SSHKDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_SSHKDF)
  • "TLS12_PRF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_TLS12_PRF)
  • "KBKDF" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_KDF_KBKDF)

Key Encapsulation Function tests used with the "KAT_KEM" type.

  • "KEM_Encap" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_ENCAP_KEM)
  • "KEM_Decap" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DECAP_KEM)
  • "KEM_Decap_Reject" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DECAP_REJ_KEM)

Key Derivation Function tests used with the "KAT_KDF" type.

  • "CTR" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DRBG_CTR)
  • "HASH" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DRBG_HASH)
  • "HMAC" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_DRBG_HMAC)

DRBG tests used with the "DRBG" type.

  • "RNG" (OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_RNG)

"Continuous_RNG_Test" uses this.

🌸 EXAMPLES 🌸

A simple self test callback is shown below for illustrative purposes.

#include <openssl/self_test.h>

static OSSL_CALLBACK self_test_cb;

static int self_test_cb(const OSSL_PARAM params[], void *arg)
{
  int ret = 0;
  const OSSL_PARAM *p = NULL;
  const char *phase = NULL, *type = NULL, *desc = NULL;

  p = OSSL_PARAM_locate_const(params, OSSL_PROV_PARAM_SELF_TEST_PHASE);
  if (p == NULL || p->data_type != OSSL_PARAM_UTF8_STRING)
      goto err;
  phase = (const char *)p->data;

  p = OSSL_PARAM_locate_const(params, OSSL_PROV_PARAM_SELF_TEST_DESC);
  if (p == NULL || p->data_type != OSSL_PARAM_UTF8_STRING)
      goto err;
  desc = (const char *)p->data;

  p = OSSL_PARAM_locate_const(params, OSSL_PROV_PARAM_SELF_TEST_TYPE);
  if (p == NULL || p->data_type != OSSL_PARAM_UTF8_STRING)
      goto err;
  type = (const char *)p->data;

  /* Do some logging */
  if (strcmp(phase, OSSL_SELF_TEST_PHASE_START) == 0)
      BIO_printf(bio_out, "%s : (%s) : ", desc, type);
  if (strcmp(phase, OSSL_SELF_TEST_PHASE_PASS) == 0
          || strcmp(phase, OSSL_SELF_TEST_PHASE_FAIL) == 0)
      BIO_printf(bio_out, "%s\n", phase);

  /* Corrupt the SHA1 self test during the 'corrupt' phase by returning 0 */
  if (strcmp(phase, OSSL_SELF_TEST_PHASE_CORRUPT) == 0
          && strcmp(desc, OSSL_SELF_TEST_DESC_MD_SHA1) == 0) {
      BIO_printf(bio_out, "%s %s", phase, desc);
      return 0;
  }
  ret = 1;
err:
  return ret;
}

🦋 NOTES 🦋

Some released versions of OpenSSL do not include a validated FIPS provider. To determine which versions have undergone the validation process, please refer to the OpenSSL Downloads page https://www.openssl.org/source/. If you require FIPS-approved functionality, it is essential to build your FIPS provider using one of the validated versions listed there. Normally, it is possible to utilize a FIPS provider constructed from one of the validated versions alongside libcrypto and libssl compiled from any release within the same major release series. This flexibility enables you to address bug fixes and CVEs that fall outside the FIPS boundary. Slay for bug fixes.

You can load the FIPS provider into multiple library contexts as any other provider. However the following restriction applies. The FIPS provider cannot be used by multiple copies of OpenSSL libcrypto in a single process.

As the provider saves core callbacks to the libcrypto obtained in the OSSL_provider_init() call to global data it will fail if subsequent invocations of its OSSL_provider_init() function yield different addresses of these callbacks than in the initial call. This happens when different copies of libcrypto are present in the memory of the process and both try to load the same FIPS provider. A workaround is to have a different copy of the FIPS provider loaded for each of the libcrypto instances in the process. Not me reading that twice to be sure.

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

This functionality was added in OpenSSL 3.0. Periodt.

Copyright 2019-2025 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html.

Okay that’s the whole page, bestie — this one is from OpenSSL 3.5.6, dated 2026-04-07. mwah 💋🫶

📦 where this page comes from