NFD » ndn-cxx

I plan to introduce ndnsec export --passout and ndnsec import --passin options. The syntax will be a subset of openssl pass phrase options:

• pass:password sets the passphrase to the given string. This option is insecure.
• env:var sets the passphrase to the environment variable. This option is insecure.
• fd:number reads the passphrase from the given file descriptor using C API. This option is secure.
• file:pathname and stdin are not supported.

The programs would not attempt to cleanse the memory used by command line option or environment variable.

All passphrase entry facilities, including existing getpass, will be encapsulated into src/util/passphrase.hpp. Its API looks like:

class PassPhrase
{
public:
  static optional<PassPhrase> prompt(const std::string& command_line_option, const std::string& prompt_for_getpass);
  // does not include "confirm" step; return nullopt if failure; blank password is allowed

  ~PassPhrase(); // cleanse

  const char* get() const;

  size_t size() const;
};

Passphrases are limited to 255 chars excluding NUL terminator. I believe this is a reasonable limit.

I don't think Junxiao is working on this. I suggest you find another assignee or implement it yourself :)

https://gerrit.named-data.net/c/ndn-cxx/+/4804

Junxiao Shi wrote in #note-9:

https://gerrit.named-data.net/c/ndn-cxx/+/4804

It’s a partial solution. I do intend to work on the full note-1 solution at some point, so reassign this issue to me once that change merges.

Plan canceled.