User Space API General Remarks
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## User Space API General Remarks

The kernel crypto API is accessible from user space. Currently, the following ciphers are accessible:

- Message digest including keyed message digest (HMAC, CMAC)

- Symmetric ciphers

- AEAD ciphers

- Random Number Generators

The interface is provided via socket type using the type AF_ALG. In addition, the setsockopt option type is SOL_ALG. In case the user space header files do not export these flags yet, use the following macros:

    #ifndef AF_ALG
    #define AF_ALG 38
    #endif
    #ifndef SOL_ALG
    #define SOL_ALG 279
    #endif

A cipher is accessed with the same name as done for the in-kernel API calls. This includes the generic vs. unique naming schema for ciphers as well as the enforcement of priorities for generic names.

To interact with the kernel crypto API, a socket must be created by the user space application. User space invokes the cipher operation with the send()/write() system call family. The result of the cipher operation is obtained with the read()/recv() system call family.

The following API calls assume that the socket descriptor is already opened by the user space application and discusses only the kernel crypto API specific invocations.

To initialize the socket interface, the following sequence has to be performed by the consumer:

1. Create a socket of type AF_ALG with the struct sockaddr_alg parameter specified below for the different cipher types.

2. Invoke bind with the socket descriptor

3. Invoke accept with the socket descriptor. The accept system call returns a new file descriptor that is to be used to interact with the particular cipher instance. When invoking send/write or recv/read system calls to send data to the kernel or obtain data from the kernel, the file descriptor returned by accept must be used.

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