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doc: warn about using strings as inputs in crypto#37248

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tniessen:doc-crypto-warn-about-strings
Feb 9, 2021
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doc: warn about using strings as inputs in crypto#37248
Trott merged 0 commit intonodejs:masterfrom
tniessen:doc-crypto-warn-about-strings

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@tniessen tniessen commented Feb 6, 2021

Passing Unicode strings to cryptographic APIs can negatively affect security and safety due to the way Unicode encoding works. This change adds appropriate warnings.

The bot will label this as crypto but it's probably more appropriate for @nodejs/documentation or @nodejs/buffer.

@tniessen tniessen added the doc Issues and PRs related to the documentations. label Feb 6, 2021
@nodejs-github-bot nodejs-github-bot added the crypto Issues and PRs related to the crypto subsystem. label Feb 6, 2021
@tniessen tniessen force-pushed the doc-crypto-warn-about-strings branch from 44d6475 to 4ebefd3 Compare February 6, 2021 16:05
benjamingr
benjamingr approved these changes Feb 6, 2021
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LGTM (with the marker lint stuff fixed.).

@tniessen tniessen added the author ready PRs that have at least one approval, no pending requests for changes, and a CI started. label Feb 6, 2021
Trott
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tniessen commented Feb 6, 2021

Good point @Trott, fixed.

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We may want to consider eventually deprecating string use on these.

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LGTM although I think the linter is going to want the bottom reference moved because they're in ASCII order so capitalization changes things.

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tniessen commented Feb 6, 2021

We may want to consider eventually deprecating string use on these.

@jasnell I have been in favor of that for certain APIs for a long time. The last time I brought it up, I remember that @bnoordhuis was against that. Strings do make sense in some cases, e.g. for KDFs, but, in my opinion, not for symmetric keys etc. I am working on a PR that deprecates unsafe output encodings (not input encodings).

@tniessen tniessen added wip Issues and PRs that are still a work in progress. and removed wip Issues and PRs that are still a work in progress. labels Feb 6, 2021
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Trott commented Feb 9, 2021 •
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Landed in 01e4228.

@Trott Trott closed this Feb 9, 2021
@Trott Trott force-pushed the doc-crypto-warn-about-strings branch from ba659df to 01e4228 Compare February 9, 2021 00:35
@Trott Trott merged commit 01e4228 into nodejs:master Feb 9, 2021
danielleadams pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Feb 16, 2021
@tniessen @danielleadams
doc: warn about using strings as inputs in crypto
cd50e93 
PR-URL: #37248
Reviewed-By: Benjamin Gruenbaum <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: James M Snell <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Rich Trott <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Filip Skokan <[email protected]>
This was referenced Feb 16, 2021
Closed
Merged
@tniessen tniessen removed the author ready PRs that have at least one approval, no pending requests for changes, and a CI started. label Feb 21, 2021
@tniessen tniessen deleted the doc-crypto-warn-about-strings branch February 21, 2021 11:57
@tniessen tniessen mentioned this pull request Aug 8, 2021
Open
tniessen added a commit to tniessen/node that referenced this pull request May 22, 2023
@tniessen
doc: improve HMAC key recommendations
96feae2 
Add a reference to potential problems with using strings as HMAC keys.
Also advise against exceeding the underlying hash function's block size
when generating HMAC keys from a cryptographically secure source of
entropy.

Refs: nodejs#48052
Refs: nodejs#37248
@tniessen tniessen mentioned this pull request May 22, 2023
Merged
nodejs-github-bot pushed a commit that referenced this pull request May 24, 2023
@tniessen
doc: improve HMAC key recommendations
a0e11d7 
Add a reference to potential problems with using strings as HMAC keys.
Also advise against exceeding the underlying hash function's block size
when generating HMAC keys from a cryptographically secure source of
entropy.

Refs: #48052
Refs: #37248
PR-URL: #48121
Reviewed-By: Marco Ippolito <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Filip Skokan <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Luigi Pinca <[email protected]>
targos pushed a commit that referenced this pull request May 30, 2023
@tniessen @targos
doc: improve HMAC key recommendations
281dfaf 
Add a reference to potential problems with using strings as HMAC keys.
Also advise against exceeding the underlying hash function's block size
when generating HMAC keys from a cryptographically secure source of
entropy.

Refs: #48052
Refs: #37248
PR-URL: #48121
Reviewed-By: Marco Ippolito <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Filip Skokan <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Luigi Pinca <[email protected]>
danielleadams pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Jul 6, 2023
@tniessen @danielleadams
doc: improve HMAC key recommendations
5146a73 
Add a reference to potential problems with using strings as HMAC keys.
Also advise against exceeding the underlying hash function's block size
when generating HMAC keys from a cryptographically secure source of
entropy.

Refs: #48052
Refs: #37248
PR-URL: #48121
Reviewed-By: Marco Ippolito <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Filip Skokan <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Luigi Pinca <[email protected]>
MoLow pushed a commit to MoLow/node that referenced this pull request Jul 6, 2023
@tniessen @MoLow
doc: improve HMAC key recommendations
d14018e 
Add a reference to potential problems with using strings as HMAC keys.
Also advise against exceeding the underlying hash function's block size
when generating HMAC keys from a cryptographically secure source of
entropy.

Refs: nodejs#48052
Refs: nodejs#37248
PR-URL: nodejs#48121
Reviewed-By: Marco Ippolito <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Filip Skokan <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Luigi Pinca <[email protected]>
Ceres6 pushed a commit to Ceres6/node that referenced this pull request Aug 14, 2023
@tniessen @Ceres6
doc: improve HMAC key recommendations
d4838d7 
Add a reference to potential problems with using strings as HMAC keys.
Also advise against exceeding the underlying hash function's block size
when generating HMAC keys from a cryptographically secure source of
entropy.

Refs: nodejs#48052
Refs: nodejs#37248
PR-URL: nodejs#48121
Reviewed-By: Marco Ippolito <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Filip Skokan <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Luigi Pinca <[email protected]>
Ceres6 pushed a commit to Ceres6/node that referenced this pull request Aug 14, 2023
@tniessen @Ceres6
doc: improve HMAC key recommendations
e18d0e7 
Add a reference to potential problems with using strings as HMAC keys.
Also advise against exceeding the underlying hash function's block size
when generating HMAC keys from a cryptographically secure source of
entropy.

Refs: nodejs#48052
Refs: nodejs#37248
PR-URL: nodejs#48121
Reviewed-By: Marco Ippolito <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Filip Skokan <[email protected]>
Reviewed-By: Luigi Pinca <[email protected]>
@Renegade334 Renegade334 mentioned this pull request Oct 15, 2025
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@panva panva panva approved these changes

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