From 0c9b826ef887122cd618045565c8058c4a413631 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jonathan Buhacoff Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2020 08:30:42 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] doc: update function description for `decipher.setAAD` MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit According to the [NodeJS CCM example](https://nodejs.org/docs/latest-v14.x/api/crypto.html#crypto_ccm_mode], when decrypting the `plaintextLength` parameter actually refers to the ciphertext length, not the plaintext length: ``` decipher.setAAD(aad, { plaintextLength: ciphertext.length }); ``` The same can be seen in the [OpenSSL docs](https://wiki.openssl.org/index.php/EVP_Authenticated_Encryption_and_Decryption) where a call to `EVP_DecryptUpdate` passes the ciphertext length: ``` /* Provide the total ciphertext length */ if(1 != EVP_DecryptUpdate(ctx, NULL, &len, NULL, ciphertext_len)) handleErrors(); ``` This parameter probably should have been called `inputLength` or `bufferLength` instead of `plaintextLength`, so that it makes sense both when encrypting and decrypting, but at least we can correct the sentence in the documentation for now to refer to the correct value. PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/33095 Reviewed-By: Ujjwal Sharma Reviewed-By: Tobias Nießen Reviewed-By: Colin Ihrig --- doc/api/crypto.md | 9 +++++++-- 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/doc/api/crypto.md b/doc/api/crypto.md index b777275acd4102..6d6d75e3335778 100644 --- a/doc/api/crypto.md +++ b/doc/api/crypto.md @@ -493,7 +493,7 @@ _additional authenticated data_ (AAD) input parameter. The `options` argument is optional for `GCM`. When using `CCM`, the `plaintextLength` option must be specified and its value must match the length -of the plaintext in bytes. See [CCM mode][]. +of the ciphertext in bytes. See [CCM mode][]. The `decipher.setAAD()` method must be called before [`decipher.update()`][]. @@ -3088,7 +3088,12 @@ mode must adhere to certain restrictions when using the cipher API: mode might fail as CCM cannot handle more than one chunk of data per instance. * When passing additional authenticated data (AAD), the length of the actual message in bytes must be passed to `setAAD()` via the `plaintextLength` - option. This is not necessary if no AAD is used. + option. + Many crypto libraries include the authentication tag in the ciphertext, + which means that they produce ciphertexts of the length + `plaintextLength + authTagLength`. Node.js does not include the authentication + tag, so the ciphertext length is always `plaintextLength`. + This is not necessary if no AAD is used. * As CCM processes the whole message at once, `update()` can only be called once. * Even though calling `update()` is sufficient to encrypt/decrypt the message,