OSSL_PROVIDER-DEFAULT(7ossl)

📦
version 3.5.9 · 8 versions
, in alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24

💖 OSSL_PROVIDER-DEFAULT 💖

okay so this is the 7ossl manual page for the OpenSSL default provider, and honestly bestie, it's kind of a big deal — it's the provider that does basically Everything. Let's get into it. 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

OSSL_PROVIDER-default — the OpenSSL default provider. that's it, that's the name, she's iconic 👑

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

The OpenSSL default provider supplies the majority of OpenSSL's diverse algorithm implementations. Like, the majority. She's carrying the whole team on her back, no cap. 💅

If an application doesn't specify anything else explicitly (e.g. in the application or via config), then this is the provider that will be used as fallback. It gets loaded automatically the first time that an algorithm is fetched from a provider, or a function acting on providers is called and no other provider has been loaded yet.

Now listen closely bestie, this is the part people mess up 😭:

  • If an attempt to load a provider has already been made (whether successful or not), then the default provider won't be loaded automatically. so even a failed attempt counts, yes really, she's got boundaries.
  • Therefore, if the default provider is to be used in conjunction with other providers, then it must be loaded explicitly.
  • Automatic loading of the default provider only occurs a maximum of once. if the default provider is explicitly unloaded, then the default provider will not be automatically loaded again. periodt. 💀

🎀 Properties 🎀

The implementations in this provider specifically have this property defined:

"provider=default"

It may be used in a property query string with fetching functions such as EVP_MD_fetch(3) or EVP_CIPHER_fetch(3), as well as with other functions that take a property query string, such as EVP_PKEY_CTX_new_from_name(3).

It isn't mandatory to query for this property — except like, if you wanna make sure to get implementations of this provider and none other. iykyk. 👀

Some implementations may define additional properties. Exact information is listed below.

🔥 OPERATIONS AND ALGORITHMS 🔥

The OpenSSL default provider supports these operations and algorithms:

🧚 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

lowkey obsessed with how the three MK-KEM-* entries are spelled there — that's exactly how the page has them, so we're keeping them, no editing bestie 🫶

🎲 Random Number Generation

In addition to this provider, the "SEED-SRC" and "JITTER" algorithms are also available in the base provider.

🌟 Asymmetric Key Encoder

  • RSA
  • RSA-PSS
  • DH
  • DHX
  • DSA
  • EC
  • ED25519
  • ED448
  • X25519
  • X448
  • SM2
  • ML-DSA-44
  • ML-DSA-65
  • ML-DSA-87
  • ML-KEM-512
  • ML-KEM-768
  • ML-KEM-1024
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-192s
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-192f
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-256s
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-256f
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128f
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-192s
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-192f
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-256s
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-256f

In addition to this provider, all of these encoding algorithms are also available in the base provider. Some of these algorithms may be used in combination with the FIPS provider.

💫 Asymmetric Key Decoder

  • RSA
  • RSA-PSS
  • DH
  • DHX
  • DSA
  • EC
  • ED25519
  • ED448
  • X25519
  • X448
  • SM2
  • ML-DSA-44
  • ML-DSA-65
  • ML-DSA-87
  • ML-KEM-512
  • ML-KEM-768
  • ML-KEM-1024
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-192s
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-192f
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-256s
  • SLH-DSA-SHA2-256f
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128s
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128f
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-192s
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-192f
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-256s
  • SLH-DSA-SHAKE-256f

In addition to this provider, all of these decoding algorithms are also available in the base provider. Some of these algorithms may be used in combination with the FIPS provider.

🧸 Stores

In addition to this provider, all of these store algorithms are also available in the base provider.

💀 SEE ALSO 💀

openssl-core.h(7), openssl-core_dispatch.h(7), provider(7), OSSL_PROVIDER-base(7)

🕰️ HISTORY 🕰️

The RIPEMD160 digest was added to the default provider in OpenSSL 3.0.7.

All other functionality was added in OpenSSL 3.0.

Copyright 2020-2025 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>.

and that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 🫶 this lil beauty is version 3.5.9, dated 2026-09-29, filed under OSSL_PROVIDER-DEFAULT(7ossl) — go forth and fetch algorithms responsibly 💖✨

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