phc-discussions - Re: [PHC] The PHS API

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Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2015 16:06:08 +0100
From: Krisztián Pintér <pinterkr@...il.com>
To: "discussions@...sword-hashing.net" <discussions@...sword-hashing.net>
Subject: Re: [PHC] The PHS API

On Thu, Mar 5, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Sascha Schmidt
<sascha.schmidt@...-weimar.de> wrote:

> I think that the wish for a standard API, as brought up by Marsh Ray,
> makes it necessary to discuss the PHS API.

i have said that already, but maybe worth repeating. i would advise
against allocating memory or using the stack to store secret-dependant
data. rationale: there might be a way on the platform that allows a
more secure allocation of memory. for example the operating system
might support non-swappable memory, while obviously the heap does not.
for this reason, it might be a good idea to separate the API to two
layers:

layer 1 would take every buffer as parameter:

void lowlevelPHS(char* pwd, int pwdlen, char* mem, int memlen, ...

layer 2 would be a helper that calls the layer 1 function with malloc
(or some smarter) allocated buffers.

obviously, layer 1 must be public as well. in some cases, layer 2 can
even be omitted.