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Disk Encryption HOWTO
David Braun
<cruhmoz602 [at] sneakemale [period] com (rewrite 'male' as 'mail')>
Copyright © 2004 David Braun
2004-11-17
Revision History
Revision 1.5 2004-11-17 Revised by: DB
added warning about dm-crypt
Revision 1.4 2004-08-17 Revised by: DB
bug fixes, hints toward plausible deniability and dm-crypt
Revision 1.3 2003-12-18 Revised by: DB
added link to Diceware
Revision 1.2 2003-10-09 Revised by: DB
added idle logout and Gentoo instructions
Revision 1.1 2003-09-13 Revised by: DB
added step to zero out keychain
Revision 1.0 2003-08-28 Revised by: tmm
Initial release, reviewed by LDP
Revision 0.92 2003-08-27 Revised by: DB
first submission to LDP
A method is described for encrypting a hard disk, either in whole or in part,
with the encryption key stored on an external medium for increased security.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Technical Summary
1.2. Copyright and License
1.3. Disclaimer
1.4. Acknowledgments
1.5. Feedback
1.6. Approaches
1.7. Threat Model
1.8. Caveats
1.9. Requirements
1.10. Looking to the Future
2. Procedure
2.1. Prepare the Keychain
2.2. Prepare the Asset
2.3. Scripts
2.4. Testing and Backup
2.5. Rescue Disk
2.6. Installing Linux
3. More Information
Glossary
A. GNU Free Documentation License
A.1. PREAMBLE
A.2. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
A.3. VERBATIM COPYING
A.4. COPYING IN QUANTITY
A.5. MODIFICATIONS
A.6. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
A.7. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
A.8. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
A.9. TRANSLATION
A.10. TERMINATION
A.11. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
A.12. ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
1. Introduction
I've got a laptop computer running Linux and I don't want to worry about
someone reading the personal information it contains, in case it gets lost or
stolen. My log on password may stop someone from booting it, but it won't
prevent an attacker from removing the hard disk and reading its data. I need
stronger protection.
Fortunately, it's relatively easy to use encryption so the hard disk data
would be unreadable if it were to fall into the wrong hands. Encryption's not
only useful for portable computers like laptops??it can be used to protect
any computer with personal information. I protect my computer's files with
encryption for the same reason I lock my filing cabinet at home. For further
motivation, you may be interested in reading Michael Crawford's [http://
www.goingware.com/encryption/] Why You Should Use Encryption.
I could encrypt only certain files, such as those in my home directory. This
would protect the files but then I'd have to worry about information leaking
out of them to other, unencrypted places on the disk. Instead I encrypt the
whole disk so I don't have to manage this problem.
There are many encryption algorithms to choose from. I chose [http://
csrc.nist.gov/CryptoToolkit/aes/] AES because it has been approved by the US
government's National Institute of Standards and Technology and is well
regarded by the cryptography community. I want my use of it to be resistant
to dictionary attacks, so I use a long, randomly generated key. There's no
way I'm going to memorize such a key so I keep it in a form I can carry with
me easily: on a USB flash drive on my keychain. I encrypt the key with a
passphrase so my data is protected in two ways: by a) what I have (the USB
flash drive) and b) what I know (the passphrase). I can even give a friend
access to my computer without giving away my passphrase??she uses her own USB
flash drive and her own passphrase.
The operating system keeps the data encrypted on the disk at all times and
decrypts it in RAM only as it's used. This way if the computer loses power
suddenly the data will remain protected. The decryption key is loaded into
RAM at boot time and kept there while the computer is on, so I don't need to
keep the USB flash drive plugged in after starting the computer.
The procedure outlined in this HOWTO is written for version 2.4 of the Linux
kernel. It will become less complicated with the release of Linux 2.6, which
will have built-in support for encryption and do a better job of managing
partitions within loopback devices.
This document assumes the reader has a moderate level of experience with
Linux (you should be comfortable patching and compiling kernels as well as
partitioning, mounting, and unmounting disks).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1. Technical Summary
The encryption is implemented through a special kind of loopback device. A
loopback device doesn't store any data itself; instead it takes all the data
storage and retrieval requests it receives and passes them along to a real
storage device, such as a disk or a file. As the data passes through, it can
be filtered, and in our case the filter used is encryption.
When the system is deployed, a removable medium (USB flash drive) boots using
GRUB, a kernel, and an initrd. Both the key and the kernel are selected from
the GRUB menu, allowing a single removable medium to be used with multiple
computers. The initrd contains just enough tools to ask for a passphrase, set
up an encrypted loopback device, and mount it. After mounting, pivot_root is
used to resume the boot process from the encrypted device. Loopback device
offsets are used, instead of partitions, to access separate swap and root
file system spaces within the encrypted loopback device because the 2.4
kernel doesn't provide access to partitions within loopback devices. The
offset method does not generalize to multiple partitions (unfortunately)
because the maximum offset understood by losetup is 2GB.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2. Copyright and License
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under
the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the
license is included in Appendix A.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.®
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.3. Disclaimer
No liability for the contents of this document can be accepted. Use the
concepts, examples and information at your own risk. There may be errors and
inaccuracies that could be damaging to your system and you may lose important
data. Proceed with caution, and although this is highly unlikely, the author
does not take any responsibility.
All copyrights are held by their by their respective owners, unless
specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be
regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Naming
of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.
I know you hate reading directions and want to skip to the meaty bit right
away, but I advise you to read the whole document first before touching
anything. I know all the HOWTOs say that, but I really mean it for this one.
It's worth it; trust me. You may also want to run through the procedure first
on a test system before tackling a production system.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4. Acknowledgments
Thanks to Linus Torvalds, Jari Ruusu, and all the developers who contributed
to their software, without which this HOWTO would have been impossible.
Thanks to the National Institute of Standards and Technology for carefully
selecting a strong, open encryption algorithm.
Thanks to Mark Garboden and others on the [http://mail.nl.linux.org/
linux-crypto/] linux-crypto mailing list and The Linux Documentation Project
mailing lists who took the time to critique my writing and offer suggestions.
Thanks to alert readers Ladislao Bastetti and Norris Pouhovitch for
struggling through unusual hardware configurations, finding mistakes in the
HOWTO, and suggesting good ideas.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.5. Feedback
Feedback is solicited for this document. Please send additions, comments, and
criticisms to the author.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.6. Approaches
There are three different approaches we can take to encrypt the disk: encrypt
the whole thing, a single partition, or a single file. I strongly recommend
the first approach for best security. The first two approaches assume you'll
be booting from removable media, such as a USB flash drive or a business card
size CD-ROM. If you don't want to do this, you may modify the method to boot
from the disk instead by making a small, unencrypted boot partition. If you
want to use a USB flash drive to boot your computer, be sure your motherboard
can do it first. At the time of this writing many cannot.
To avoid having to enumerate all three approaches everywhere I'm going to
refer to what you're protecting as the asset. I will refer to the removable
medium used to store the key as the keychain. I call it the keychain instead
of the key because we can store lots of keys, each for different computers,
on the same medium.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.6.1. Whole Disk
A problem with keeping data secret with encryption is that the data likes to
move around. Imagine the encryption is like a fence around your data. While
the data's inside the fence, it's safe. To be most useful, however, data
likes to be transmitted on networks, put on removable disks like CD-ROMs, and
shared with friends. Any time your data leaves the fenced area it's
unprotected. We can't put an encryption fence around all possible locations
where our data might play but we do want to make the fence as large as
practical. By putting the encryption fence around your whole hard disk, you
won't have to worry about data becoming unprotected if it jumps to another
part of the disk.
Warning In this approach, we create one swap space and one root file system.
Some people want more than a single encrypted partition for the root
file system. Unfortunately, the method detailed here relies on the
offset parameter of losetup to create "subpartitions" within the
asset. The offset parameter is limited to a maximum value of 2GB,
limiting the size of all but the last partition to 2GB. This works
nicely for swap, which is already limited to 2GB on the i386
architecture, but I'm guessing it won't be practical for other uses.
Using it to create multiple partitions smaller than 2GB is left as an
exercise for the reader.
Another way to handle multiple partitions is to encrypt each
partition separately (using the same key) to avoid the technical
limitation above. This isn't secure as encrypting the whole disk
because the partition table is exposed. When an attacker attempts to
break encryption, the first thing he does is try to figure out what
it's encrypting. A partition table listing Linux partitions is a big
hint. For this reason I discourage encrypting multiple partitions
separately, but arguably it's a good compromise for getting around
the current losetup limitation. Another option is simply to wait for
the release of Linux 2.6 because it is expected to make the offset
parameter unnecessary.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.6.2. Partition (for multiboot systems)
Encrypting the whole disk is fine if Linux is the only operating system on
it, but this won't work for people who have set up their computer to boot
multiple operating systems, e.g., [http://www.kernel.org] Linux, [http://
www.netbsd.org/] NetBSD, and [http://developer.apple.com/darwin/] Darwin. In
this case we can encrypt just the Linux partition and leave the others alone.
Since we're booting from a removable medium, we won't even need to include
the Linux partition in the multiboot menu with the others. To see why this
isn't as secure as encrypting the whole disk, read Table 1.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.6.3. File (for home directories)
You may want to encrypt only a file on a file system. Once you've encrypted
it you can put into it whatever you want, including other file systems. You
might want to use this approach to encrypt only your home directory, for
example. This is the least secure of the three approaches and not
recommended. If you choose this approach you will notice instructions below
to skip whole sections. This is because I'm assuming you've already booted an
operating system and have your swap issues handled, so those sections don't
apply to you. This HOWTO may be overkill for your needs and you can probably
get away with just reading the fine [http://loop-aes.sourceforge.net/
loop-AES.README] README that comes with [http://sourceforge.net/projects/
loop-aes/] loop-AES. If you do, be sure to read Section 1.7 before you finish
here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.7. Threat Model
In order to protect our asset well, we must first understand what we're
protecting it against. The general idea is that you've got a laptop which is
vulnerable to being stolen or lost, and have a USB flash drive on your
keychain that isn't, so this system is designed to handle the case that your
laptop is stolen. I'm guessing your keychain won't be as easily stolen
because it's in your pocket, and because an attacker won't know that it's
important. If you pull your USB flash drive out of your pocket and someone
non-technical exclaims, "What's that?", tell them it's a [http://www.pez.com
/] Pez dispenser.
Note This system falls short when it comes to plausible deniability, which
means there's no way to hide the fact that your personal data is
encrypted. This is like locking your jewels in a safe and keeping the
safe in plain sight in the middle of your living room. Only you can open
the safe, but a man with a gun can tell you to open the safe for him. So
if you're worried about your computer being subpoenaed and being told to
hand over your laptop, keychain, and passphrase, you'd better look at
other solutions such as [http://stegfs.sourceforge.net/] StegFS.
The following solution to the deniability problem has been suggested by
Norris Pouhovitch. It should be possible to install a minimal Windows
partition at the front of the disk and to encrypt the remainder. When
the computer is turned on without the keychain, it boots Windows
normally. When the keychain is booted, it skips the Windows partition,
decrypts the remainder of the disk, and boots Linux.
The advantage of this scheme is that if the laptop is stolen and turned
on, it will look like what a casual attacker is expecting to see (a
Windows computer). On the other hand, a serious attacker could notice
the unusually small partition and become suspicious. I will flesh out
this idea further in a future version of the HOWTO.
Table 1. Attack Tree
+----------------------------------------------+----------+-----------------+
| Attack | Reaction | Notes |
+-----------+----------------------------------+----------+-----------------+
|attacker |while it is on | SOL |The asset is |
|steals | | |unprotected while|
|laptop | | |the computer is |
| | | |running because |
| | | |the encryption |
| | | |key is in RAM. |
| | | |You can lower the|
| | | |risk by using an |
| | | |idle logout ( |
| | | |Section 2.6.3), |
| | | |but if you think |
| | | |your laptop is |
| | | |about to be |
| | | |stolen, turn off |
| | | |the power |
| | | |immediately and |
| | | |quickly read the |
| | | |[http:// |
| | | |www.aikidofaq.com|
| | | |/] Aikido HOWTO. |
| +----------+-----------------------+----------+-----------------+
| |while it |attacker doesn't steal | new key |  |
| |is off |keychain | | |
| | +-----------+-----------+----------+-----------------+
| | |attacker |attacker | SOL |  |
| | |steals |knows your | | |
| | |keychain |passphrase | | |
| | | +-----------+----------+-----------------+
| | | |attacker | new key |  |
| | | |doesn't | | |
| | | |know your | | |
| | | |passphrase | | |
+-----------+----------+-----------+-----------+----------+-----------------+
|attacker |attacker knows passphrase | new key |Your asset is at |
|steals | | |risk because the |
|keychain | | |attacker can |
|but doesn't| | |decrypt it. |
|have laptop+----------+-----------------------+----------+-----------------+
| |attacker |you're feeling lazy or | new |You're probably |
| |doesn't |you're convinced the |passphrase|OK without |
| |know |keychain was lost, not | |changing the |
| |passphrase|stolen | |asset key because|
| | | | |the attacker |
| | | | |can't decrypt the|
| | | | |asset without the|
| | | | |passphrase. |
| | +-----------------------+----------+-----------------+
| | |you're feeling paranoid| new key |  |
+-----------+----------+-----------------------+----------+-----------------+
|attacker convinces you to send data over | SOL |  |
|network | | |
+----------------------------------------------+----------+-----------------+
|attacker convinces you to copy data to | SOL |  |
|removable medium | | |
+----------------------------------------------+----------+-----------------+
|you encrypt only a partition and a process | SOL |  |
|writes data to a different partition | | |
+----------------------------------------------+----------+-----------------+
|you encrypt only a file and a process copies | SOL |  |
|data from RAM to the unencrypted swap, or to a| | |
|file in /tmp, or elsewhere on the unencrypted | | |
|disk | | |
+----------------------------------------------+----------+-----------------+
|attacker demands you hand over laptop, | SOL |There is no |
|keychain, and passphrase while waving a rubber| |plausible |
|hose menacingly | |deniability built|
| | |into the system. |
+----------------------------------------------+----------+-----------------+
new passphrase
Restore the keychain backup and choose a new passphrase.
new key
Generate a new random key to re-encrypt the asset, choose a new
passphrase, and restore the asset backup.
SOL
Sorry Over your Loss
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.8. Caveats
  * This method won't work (yet) with Software Suspend for Linux.
  * Encrypting the disk will undoubtedly slow it down. I don't know by how
much. If anyone has done some benchmarks, please send them to me.
  * There is nothing in this method to support plausible deniability (see
Section 1.7).
  * It won't prevent information leaks via networks and removable disks.
  * Encrypting backups is beyond the scope of this HOWTO.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.9. Requirements
  * a computer with an easily accessible removable medium reader (such as a
USB port or a CD-ROM drive)
  * a motherboard which supports booting from removable media (check
carefully for USB, not all do)
  * removable medium (such as a USB flash drive) to be used as the keychain
  * [http://www.kernel.org/] Linux 2.4
  * [http://sourceforge.net/projects/loop-aes/] loop-AES
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.9.1. A Digression about USB Flash Drives
There are many choices on the market. When I bought mine, I found one which
fit the following requirements:
  * physically small (I carry it on my physical keychain)
  * supports USB 2.0 at full speed
  * has a write-protect switch, so I don't clobber my encryption keys by
accident
You might be tempted to get one with a fingerprint reader. I strongly
encourage you not to. It might initially seem like a good idea, because by
adding the biometric, your security protection expands to:
  * something you have (the USB flash drive)
  * something you know (the passphrase)
  * something you are (your fingerprint, or whatever)
However, suppose something goes wrong. If you are now asking yourself, "What
could go wrong?", then why are you reading this HOWTO? If something goes
wrong, you make a change (see Corrective Reactions):
  * Change what you have by using a different USB flash drive.
  * Change what you know by learning a new passphrase.
  * You can't change what you are.
Stop and ponder that last line for a while.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.10. Looking to the Future
I wrote this document while using the 2.4 kernel. Linux 2.6 introduces the
[http://sources.redhat.com/dm/] Device-mapper which we will be able to use to
avoid playing games with losetup offsets. Linux 2.6 also introduces [http://
www.saout.de/misc/dm-crypt/] dm-crypt, an encryption layer for the
Device-mapper which looks quite elegant. Unfortunately, [http://mareichelt.de
/pub/texts.cryptoloop.php] it's not safe! Hopefully someday it will be fixed,
but in the mean time the best course is to stick with loop-AES.
A future version of this HOWTO will explain how to use the Device-mapper with
Linux 2.6.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Procedure
This method is designed to erase the contents of the asset before encrypting
it. If you already have data on the disk you intend to encrypt, you should
copy it somewhere else temporarily and then move it back once the encryption
is set up. It is possible to encrypt data in place, but for now I consider
such magic too advanced for this HOWTO. See [http://sourceforge.net/projects/
loop-aes/] loop-AES's [http://loop-aes.sourceforge.net/loop-AES.README]
README for more details if you're interested in that method.
To do the following operations you will need to be running a system which has
a [http://sourceforge.net/projects/loop-aes/] loop-AES capable kernel. If you
don't have one already, I recommend using [http://www.knoppix.com/] KNOPPIX.
It boots off a CD-ROM and doesn't need to be installed, so it's very little
hassle.
For simplicity these instructions assume you'll be preparing the keychain and
the asset on the same computer, but this needn't be the case. Adapt the
instructions to whatever's convenient for you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1. Prepare the Keychain
If you're taking the approach of encrypting only a file instead of a disk or
a partition, you may skip this section and proceed directly to Section 2.2.
In the ideal setup you will use a bootable keychain device, such as a USB
flash drive or a business card size CD-ROM. This is because we want to expose
as little of your disk as possible, but we're going to have to expose a
minimal boot process or the computer will never start. Since the boot process
will be necessarily unencrypted, it's better to have it away from your
computer (on your keychain). If you can't or don't want to use a bootable
keychain for some reason, then follow these instructions anyway but instead
apply them to a small boot partition on your disk instead of the keychain.
In the following example the keychain shows up as the first SCSI drive /dev/
sda. Replace /dev/sda with the device for your drive as appropriate.
The first step??zeroing out the keychain??is technically unnecessary, but it
will make the keychain backup smaller if you back it up as an image as I
suggest in Section 2.4.
bash# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
Next, partition the keychain as you would any bootable disk. See the Linux
Partition HOWTO if you need help with partitioning.
bash# cfdisk /dev/sda
Put a file system on the first partition.
bash# mkfs /dev/sda1
Mount the keychain.
bash# mkdir /tmp/keychain
bash# mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/keychain
bash# cd /tmp/keychain
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1.1. Build the Kernel
If you use the keychain with multiple computers you may want to build a
different kernel for each one.
You probably need to build a custom kernel for your keychain so you can
ensure two things:
  * It has been patched correctly with [http://sourceforge.net/projects/
loop-aes/] loop-AES and encryption support is turned on.
  * All the device drivers necessary to boot your computer and make the asset
accessible have been compiled in instead of loaded as modules.
You can load device drivers as modules, since we're using an initrd, but I
chose to compile them into the kernel in order to keep the boot disk as
simple as possible. Feel free to do differently.
For help building a custom kernel read The Linux Kernel HOWTO. Be sure to set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM in the kernel configuration so it can boot using an
initrd.
Follow the directions that come with [http://sourceforge.net/projects/
loop-aes/] loop-AES to build the new loop driver. Also follow the directions
to rebuild the [http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/] util-linux
tools, some of which we'll copy to the keychain later. Your distribution may
have already built them for you (e.g., see the loop-aes-utils and
loop-aes-source packages in Debian).
Once you've built the kernel, copy it to the keychain.
bash# mkdir boot
bash# cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage boot/vmlinuz-laptop
Install [http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub.html] GRUB or your favorite
boot loader.
bash# grub-install --root-directory=. /dev/sda
Here is a sample menu.lst for GRUB. It has entries for two computers named
laptop and desktop.
Important It is required to pass the name of the key (I suggest you name it
after the computer) as the first parameter to linuxrc.
Example 1. /tmp/keychain/boot/grub/menu.lst
title laptop
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-laptop root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc laptop
initrd /boot/initrd
title desktop
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-desktop root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc desktop
initrd /boot/initrd.old
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1.2. Make the initrd
We boot the keychain using an initrd so we can remove it after the boot
process starts (who wants a USB flash drive hanging out of their laptop while
trying to look cool in a café?). To gain access to the asset we create a
loopback device attached to the initrd's /dev/loop0. Putting the device file
on the initrd means the initrd will have to stay mounted while the asset is
mounted (not a big deal).
To learn all about making initial RAM disks you're welcome to read The Linux
Bootdisk HOWTO and Linux's Documentation/initrd.txt, or don't bother and just
follow along.
We start by choosing 4MB for the size of the initial RAM disk, all of which
we won't need, but it's the conventional maximum size (and it won't hurt) so
that's one less decision to make.
bash# head -c 4m /dev/zero > boot/initrd
bash# mke2fs -F -m0 -b 1024 boot/initrd
Mount the initrd so we can work on it.
bash# mkdir /tmp/initrd
bash# mount -o loop=/dev/loop3 boot/initrd /tmp/initrd
bash# cd /tmp/initrd
Create the minimal directory structure we'll need.
bash# mkdir -p {bin,dev,lib,mnt/{keys,new-root},usr/sbin,sbin}
Create the minimal set of devices we'll need. Note that tty is necessary for
the password prompt. This command assumes your asset is the drive /dev/hda.
Change it as appropriate.
bash# cp -a /dev/{console,hda,loop0,loop1,tty} dev
We'll copy the six programs we'll need.
Tip You can use which to find a program's full pathname, e.g.:
bash# which mount
/bin/mount
Copy the programs:
bash# cp /bin/{mount,sh,umount} bin
bash# cp /sbin/{losetup,pivot_root} sbin
bash# cp /usr/sbin/chroot usr/sbin
Use ldd to find out which shared libraries are used by each program:
bash# ldd /bin/{mount,sh,umount} /sbin/{losetup,pivot_root} /usr/sbin/chroot
/bin/mount:
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x40023000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)
/bin/sh:
libncurses.so.5 => /lib/libncurses.so.5 (0x40020000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x4005c000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x4005f000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)
/bin/umount:
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x40023000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)
/sbin/losetup:
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x40023000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)
/sbin/pivot_root:
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x40023000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)
/usr/sbin/chroot:
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x40023000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)
Copy the libraries. On my system I copied these libraries (yours may be
different):
bash# cp /lib/{ld-linux.so.2,libc.so.6,libdl.so.2,libncurses.so.5} lib
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2. Prepare the Asset
It's possible to repeat these steps as many times as you want to handle
multiple computers using the same keychain. Each computer will have its own
key and probably its own kernel. The instructions here assume the computer's
name is laptop; substitute the name of the computer you're working with each
time you repeat the steps.
First, back up your data. See the Linux Complete Backup and Recovery HOWTO.
No, stop, listen to me. Back up your data. Really. It's no fun to have an
encrypted hard disk if you can't decrypt it because of some mistake you made.
These tools are powerful magic; if you blow it you can't just call up
Computer Gurus Are Us and expect them to get your data back for you. That's
the whole point of this exercise.
If you are encrypting your whole disk (recommended), replace /dev/hda with
the device for your disk.
bash# ln -s /dev/hda /tmp/asset
If you are encrypting a partition (multiboot case), replace /dev/hda3 with
the device for your partition.
bash# ln -s /dev/hda3 /tmp/asset
If you are encrypting a file only, replace ~/encrypted with the name of the
file and create a link named /tmp/keychain that points to where you decide to
store your key file (an already prepared removable medium, e.g., /mnt/cf).
bash# ln -s ~/encrypted /tmp/asset
bash# ln -s /mnt/cf /tmp/keychain
Initialize the asset with random data. This will make it less obvious to the
attacker which parts are free space.
bash# shred -n 1 -v /tmp/asset
Here we create an encrypted file system to hold the keys. More encryption,
you say? Yes, in case your keychain is stolen (see Table 1), you don't want
your keys to be exposed. I chose one megabyte as the size of the file system
because it's a round number. There's no way we're going to need that much
space for keys so feel free to chose a smaller size if you like (each key
file will be 61 bytes long).
Again, initialize with random data.
bash# cd /tmp/initrd
bash# head -c 1m /dev/urandom > keys
To make the passphrase resistant to dictionary attacks we'll generate a seed.
Whenever you see the symbol <seed> be sure to replace it with the one you
generated. The following command will display a random seed on the screen.
bash# head -c 15 /dev/random | uuencode -m - | head -2 | tail -1
Set up the loopback device using the seed. This is where you choose your
passphrase, which must be at least 20 characters in length. Choose one with
care that you know you won't forget. You may want to use the [http://
world.std.com/~reinhold/diceware.html] Diceware method for choosing a secure
passphrase.
bash# losetup -e AES128 -C 100 -S <seed> -T /dev/loop1 keys
Format and mount the keys file system (the decrypt.sh script assumes you use
the ext2 file system here).
bash# mke2fs /dev/loop1
bash# mkdir /tmp/keys
bash# mount /dev/loop1 /tmp/keys
Now for the actual asset key, 45 bytes as random as your computer can make
them. Try a dictionary attack against that, attacker! Ha! We name the key
after the computer with which it will be used (laptop). Substitute the name
of your computer instead.
bash# head -c 45 /dev/random | uuencode -m - | head -2 | tail -1 > /tmp/keys/laptop
Set up a loopback device with the key for encrypted access to the asset.
bash# losetup -e AES128 -p 0 /dev/loop0 /tmp/asset < /tmp/keys/laptop
Unmount the keys file system.
bash# umount /tmp/keys
bash# losetup -d /dev/loop1
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2.1. Swap Partition
Skip this section if you're encrypting only a file.
It's critical to give mkswap a size parameter here because we're not handing
it a dedicated partition. Choose whatever size you want; I chose 2GB.
bash# mkswap /dev/loop0 $((2*1024*1024))
mkswap: warning: truncating swap area to 2097144kB
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 2147471360 bytes
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2.2. Root File System
If you're encrypting only a file, format it with a file system like this and
skip to Section 2.3.
bash# mkfs /dev/loop0
We'll create the root "partition" after the swap space. I put the word
'partition' in quotes because it's not a real partition. We're faking it
using the offset argument of losetup.
Notice how mkswap told us the actual size of the swapspace, which is not
necessarily the size requested. Use the actual size (which was 2147471360 in
the above example) when specifying the offset to begin the root file system.
bash# losetup -o <root offset> /dev/loop1 /dev/loop0
If the asset is the whole disk or the last partition on the disk, then we
needn't worry about specifying a size for the file system. If this applies to
you, do the following and skip to Section 2.2.2.1.
bash# mkfs /dev/loop1
Since the asset isn't the last partition on the disk, we must give mkfs a
size limitation or it will write all over whatever partitions are between
this one and the end of the disk. I repeat, if you don't give mkfs the
correct size parameter here, you may lose data. mkfs is actually just a front
end, so to be as careful as possible we'll choose an actual file system
maker, in this case mke2fs.
It's possible to limit the size of the file system by specifying its size in
blocks, but mke2fs chooses the block size based on the size of the file
system. A classic Catch-22! We can ask it to do a dry run on the rest of the
disk (more than we want) to see what block size it would chose.
bash# mke2fs -n -j /dev/loop1
mke2fs 1.34-WIP (21-May-2003)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
9781248 inodes, 19544448 blocks
977222 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
597 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000, 7962624, 11239424
In this case it chose 4096. Whatever it chooses is probably close enough for
our file system. Calculate the correct size in blocks.
file system size = (size of partition ?? size of swap space) ÷ block size
Suppose the size of the partition is 10GB and the size of the swap is 2GB.
The correct size for mke2fs is (10 ?? 2) × 230 ÷ 4096 = 2097152. Don't get
this wrong! Make backups! Measure twice, cut once!
bash# mke2fs -j /dev/loop1 2097152
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2.2.1. initrd Mount Point
Mount the new root file system and create the initrd mount point. This is
necessary for the linuxrc script's call to pivot_root.
bash# mount /dev/loop1 mnt/new-root
bash# mkdir mnt/new-root/initrd
bash# umount mnt/new-root
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.3. Scripts
We have enough information to create the decryption script. Change the
variables at the beginning to reflect your setup (including the seed you
generated earlier).
If you're encrypting the whole disk or a partition, set ROOT_OFFSET to the
size you got from mkswap. Put the script in /tmp/initrd and name it
decrypt.sh.
If you're encrypting only a file then this script can live anywhere. In this
case be sure to set ROOT_OFFSET to zero and set MOUNT to a convenient mount
point (probably not /mnt/new-root).
Figure 1. /tmp/initrd/decrypt.sh
#!/bin/sh
SEED=<seed>
ASSET=/dev/hda
ROOT_OFFSET=<root offset>
ROOT_TYPE=ext3
MOUNT=/mnt/new-root
KEY="$1"
# Ask for a passphrase to open the keys (this prevents exposure of the keys in
# case the owner loses the keychain). Give the user three tries to get the
# passphrase right.
for ((FAILED=1, TRY=1; ($FAILED != 0) && (TRY <= 3); TRY++))
do
mount -n -t ext2 -o loop=/dev/loop1,encryption=AES128,itercountk=100,pseed=$SEED keys /mnt/keys
FAILED=$?
done
if [ $FAILED -ne 0 ]; then
echo "Sorry, you get only three attempts to guess the password."
exit 1
fi
# Use the key to decrypt the asset.
losetup -e AES128 -p 0 /dev/loop0 $ASSET < "/mnt/keys/$KEY"
# Close the keys.
umount -n /mnt/keys
losetup -d /dev/loop1
# Set up the root "partition" device.
losetup -o $ROOT_OFFSET /dev/loop1 /dev/loop0
# Mount the root file system (read-only, so it can be checked with fsck).
mount -n -r -t $ROOT_TYPE /dev/loop1 $MOUNT
Make the script executable.
bash# chmod +x decrypt.sh
If you're encrypting only a file, skip to Section 2.4. Otherwise, save the
following boot script as linuxrc and place it in /tmp/initrd.
Figure 2. /tmp/initrd/linuxrc
#!/bin/sh
# Decrypt the asset
source decrypt.sh "$1"
# Pivot to the asset's root file system.
cd $MOUNT
/sbin/pivot_root . initrd
# Pass control to init.
shift 1
exec chroot . /sbin/init $* <dev/console >dev/console 2>&1
Make the script executable.
bash# chmod +x linuxrc
Okay, the keychain and asset are now ready. Unmount everything.
bash# umount /tmp/{initrd,keychain}
You now have an empty, encrypted file system. Hurray!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.4. Testing and Backup
Test your system by booting the keychain or executing the decrypt.sh script
as appropriate (give it the name of the key you want to use as a parameter).
After booting there may be a complaint about a nonexistent /sbin/init but
that's okay for now.
Check to make sure your root file system mounted successfully. When you're
confident everything is working, back up your keychain. In fact, make lots of
backups. You might ask, "But isn't it insecure to have a copy of my keychain
somewhere?" The answer is yes, it is, but not as insecure as losing your only
keychain, if you define security as also meaning "securing access to my
data".
Because my keychain is small I decided to back up the whole image so it's
easy to restore:
bash# bzip2 -c /dev/sda > keychain.img.bz2
If you're encrypting only a file, you can pat yourself on your back at this
point because you've finished.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.5. Rescue Disk
Rescue disks are useful when a system isn't behaving properly and/or refuses
to boot. Check to make sure your rescue disk has [http://sourceforge.net/
projects/loop-aes/] loop-AES support in its kernel and has the correctly
patched [http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/] util-linux tools
such as losetup and mount, otherwise it will be worthless with your newly
encrypted asset. In the future, all rescue disks will include this support
because it will come standard with the 2.6 kernel. In the meantime, [http://
www.knoppix.com/] KNOPPIX (for example) already has all the necessary support
and can be used as a rescue disk.
After booting an appropriate rescue disk, mount your keychain and execute the
decrypt.sh script.
bash# mkdir /tmp/{keychain,initrd}
bash# mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/keychain
bash# mount -o loop=/dev/loop3 /tmp/keychain/boot/initrd /tmp/initrd
bash# pushd /tmp/initrd
bash# ./decrypt.sh laptop
bash# popd
bash# umount /tmp/{initrd,keychain}
You can now access your asset through the mount point you specified in
decrypt.sh.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.6. Installing Linux
Your final task is to install Linux to your new encrypted file system. As you
do this make sure the entries in your /etc/fstab for the root and swap look
like those below:
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
/dev/loop0 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/loop1 / ext3 errors=remount-ro 0 1
If you already have an installation elsewhere, read the Hard Disk Upgrade
Mini How-To to learn how to copy it over.
The procedure for a fresh installation of Linux is different for each
distribution. Please send me instructions for distributions not listed below
and I will include them here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.6.1. [http://www.debian.org] Debian
1. Boot from a rescue disk by following the instructions in Section 2.5.
2. Install using the method 3.7 Installing Debian GNU/Linux from a Unix/
Linux System.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.6.2. [http://www.gentoo.org/] Gentoo
1. Boot from a rescue disk (Gentoo's Live CD 1.4 won't work) by following
the instructions in Section 2.5.
2. Activate the swap partition if you created one.
bash# swapon /dev/loop0
3. Point /mnt/gentoo to the root file system.
bash# ln -s new-root /mnt/gentoo
4. Skip to [http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86-install.xml#doc_chap8]
Chapter 8. Stage tarballs and chroot in the [http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en
/gentoo-x86-install.xml] Gentoo Linux 1.4 Installation Instructions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.6.3. Idle Logout
Once your system is up and running, consider configuring it to log out
automatically after a period of inactivity. This will lessen (but not
eliminate) the risk of exposing your asset if the laptop is stolen while on
(see Table 1).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. More Information
  * The [http://loop-aes.sourceforge.net/loop-AES.README] README that comes
with [http://sourceforge.net/projects/loop-aes/] loop-AES explains how to
use it in multiple scenarios.
  * [http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Encrypted-Root-Filesystem-HOWTO/] Encrypted
Root Filesystem HOWTO
  * The [http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/hardened/] Hardened Gentoo Project's
[http://www.sdc.org/~leila/usb-dongle/readme.html] A Structured Approach
to Hard Disk Encryption is more comprehensive and is targeted to [http://
www.gentoo.org/] Gentoo users.
Glossary
[http://csrc.nist.gov/CryptoToolkit/aes/] AES
Advanced Encryption Standard, a strong, well-regarded encryption
algorithm chosen by the United States National Institute of Standards and
Technology
asset
the data being protected by encryption??either a disk, partition, or a
file
encryption
a mathematical means of scrambling data so that it's unintelligible
unless decrypted using a specific key
key
the small piece of data necessary to make encrypted data intelligible
keychain
the physical medium (such as a USB flash drive) used to hold the
encryption key (and possibly the beginning of the boot process)
loopback device
a Linux block device which appears to store data (by using another
device)
[http://sourceforge.net/projects/loop-aes/] loop-AES
software written by Jari Ruusu that implements the AES algorithm using a
loopback device
plausible deniability
a means to avoid being coerced into decrypting one's own data for an
attacker
USB flash drive
a small electronic device containing a memory chip and a USB interface
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. GNU Free Documentation License
Version 1.2, November 2002
Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple
Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA Everyone is permitted to copy
and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it
is not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in the
aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of
the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire
aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket
the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if
the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed
covers that bracket the whole aggregate.
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A.9. TRANSLATION
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute
translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing
Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their
copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant
Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections.
You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in
the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include
the original English version of this License and the original versions of
those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the
translation and the original version of this License or a notice or
disclaimer, the original version will prevail.
If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements", "Dedications",
or "History", the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1)
will typically require changing the actual title.
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A.10. TERMINATION
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as
expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify,
sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will automatically
terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received
copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses
terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.
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A.11. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU
Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be
similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address
new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.
Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the
Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License "or any
later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and
conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has
been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the
Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose
any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.
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A.12. ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the
License in the document and put the following copyright and license notices
just after the title page:
Copyright (c) YEAR YOUR NAME. Permission is granted to copy, distribute
and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software
Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no
Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section
entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts,
replace the "with...Texts." line with this:
with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with the Front-Cover
Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts being LIST.
If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination
of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.
If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend
releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software
license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free
software.