Questions tagged [pbkdf-2]
The Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (PBKDF2) is a method of securely deriving encryption keys from a passphrase entered by a user. It features an iteration count that can be deliberately adjusted (key stretching) to slow down brute force password guessing attacks.
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“Work factor” and “iteration count” nomenclature in adaptive functions
In adaptive functions like PBKDF2 / bcrypt I often read people refer to "iteration count" and others refer to "work factor", and they seem to be used interchangeably (even though they're not - the ...
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2answers
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How to validate a PBKDF2 password
I want to encrypt several files correctly with a PBKDF2 generated key (using a password and salt), I am currently doing so but if I enter the wrong password, as expected an exception occurs.
Note: ...
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1answer
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One way hash of data records (PBKDF2?)
I'm looking for a way of one way hash data for multiple records. We have a privacy requirement to anonymise information "after it's used for its intended purpose" which is a little wooly at best.
I'd ...
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1answer
153 views
Why derive keys from a master key instead of generating random keys?
I noticed AWS KMS generates encryption keys based off of a master key, using a key derivation function (HKDF).
What's the practical advantage of deriving keys based on a master key? Isn't it simpler ...
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1answer
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Using a KDF (PBKDF2) properly
I am new to crypto.
I have a password for my user, e.g. &&38:while:HAVE:havana:60&&
I want to encrypt several documents with 10 pages each with AES....
2
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1answer
347 views
Is it safe to split the output of PBKDF2?
I would like to know if splitting a key generated by PBKDF2 to derive two keys is a safe practice.
Concretely, in my system, I need to derive two keys. One for symmetric cipher used in the client ...
2
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3answers
132 views
Deriving a key from a pseudo-random string
I would like to know if deriving a key from a pseudo-random string with a single iteration is secure.
Concretely, I am designing a system where a secret key is derived in the client side, and then ...
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1answer
95 views
How to make my hash more robust to the brute force?
I'm using PBKDF2 SHA 256 with 100 000 iterations to generate a secret.
I want to increase the cost of brute forcing the passphrase I use to generate the secret.
I'm thinking of using scrypt after ...
3
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1answer
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What is the most secure way to check that a given masterkey is valid?
For the purposes of learning, I'm writing a small utility that allows encrypting a list of passwords using a single master key (using AES-256 and PBKDF2)
Before encrypting or decrypting any password ...
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1answer
59 views
How many bits should I request from PBKDF2 to create a strong password?
I'm building a tool which generates passwords by hashing a service name with a master key. PBKDF2 was primarily chosen due to availability in the Web Crypto API.
What would be a secure value for the ...
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2answers
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KDF Salt: How/When is it Okay for it to be public?
Post Structure:
Prior source material studied
Question & Details
Assumed threat model
Example
Assumptions
Clarifications
Prior source material studied
0.1. RFC 2898
0.2. HAC (Handbook of ...
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2answers
67 views
Can one trade off the number of iterations for key length with the PBKDF2?
When using the PBKDF2, is one taking on significant risk if one chooses to lower the number of iterations and choose to have very long keys?
Can I XOR my message with a a very long key (plain-text ...
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1answer
100 views
Does it matter if I append the secret to the salt or pass it in separately?
I'm using PBKDF2, and this is my current call.
key = pbkdf2-hmac-sha256(iterations = 100_000, secret = password ++ salt)
I recently learnt that the function I'm ...
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1answer
68 views
Does having an SHA256 hash compromise PBKDF2 secrecy?
If I have a password pwd, and I hash it with SHA256 and send it to a server for authentication (server will apply ...
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2answers
640 views
Should number of iterations of PBKDF2 stay secret?
Let's say I encrypt my passwords with PBKDF2 and store it somewhere. Now let's say it was stolen and the hacker, who stole it knows it was hashed with PBKDF2.
Does a knowledge of number of iterations ...
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2answers
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Client-side password stretching - danger of the salt being public?
In case of using client-side password stretching (plus a single hash on the server) - the server would need to send the salt before authentication, of course.
Though the salt is not considered a real ...
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2answers
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Are PBKDF2 derived keys related if only the number of iterations is changed?
I'd like to encrypt my disk with a password.
To generate a nice key from a password, I used PBKDF2, which applies a hash function $k$ times to a cleartext and outputs the final result.
When I ...
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2answers
112 views
Does PBKDF2 reveal any knowledge about the salt?
DK = PBKDF2(PRF, Password, Salt, c, dkLen)
When PBKDF2 is used for key derivation (not password hashing), is it possible for an adversary who doesn't know ...
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2answers
418 views
The logic of preferring PBKDF2 over iterative SHA2
I have studied PBKDF2 for the application of hashing passwords, and frankly I don't understand the justification for the complexity of PBKDF2 over iterative hashing with a cryptographic hash function.
...
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1answer
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Create key for AES-256 in Node.JS [closed]
I'm trying to create a strong key for encrypting some data using AES-256 for fun and practice. For my own practice, I want to make this as strong as possible, I don't care how long it takes to ...
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1answer
271 views
Is transporting a salt, IV, ciphertext and HMAC in an encrypted token an acceptable practice?
I’m porting over some crypto code from Mcrypt (deprecated) to OpenSSL. I’m following a process that a former employee implemented, which is as follows:
Create a random salt for use in a PBKDF2 key ...
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1answer
366 views
Is it problematic to use PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 to derive a 512-bit XTS key?
PBKDF2 should only be used to generate a larger output than the hash function it uses if the output is used in such a way that it has a flat keyspace. As far as I am aware, XTS does not have a flat ...
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1answer
260 views
Storing Salt in Ciphertext?
I found the cryptomator encryption documentation online, because I was looking for something to learn about x). I altered the process a bit to fit "my need" / so that I would not have a vault, but a ...
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2answers
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Mechanism of PBKDF in encryption key generation with passphrase
I want to roughly understand how the mechanism works of generating an encryption key from a passphrase, by which we encrypt a volume or file.
I'm familiar with public key encryption, the concept of a ...
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2answers
153 views
Multithreading PBKDF2 or javascript alternative
I'm using PBKDF2 in browser (can't use bcrypt, users are likely to have passwords > 72bytes, or whatever the number was). PBKDF2 is running in a webworker, something like so
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2answers
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Is HMAC a suitable substitute for HKDF?
My PHP version does not include the hash_hkdf() function, and upgrading versions is not worth the trouble for my project (which is for personal pleasure, not for ...
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4answers
627 views
I think PBKDF2 may be better than Scrypt? Looking for someone to point out my logical error
People seem to mostly recommend scrypt these days, but I'm not sure if this should be the case? I'll structure this post by just making an argument for PBKDF2 over Scrypt and then you can reply ...
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4answers
237 views
How many bits of entropy are leaked for every derived password from a master?
Given a master password that has a lot of entropy (similar to Bitcoin HD wallet seed words, 130 bits of entropy or more) how many bits of entropy are lost per leaked generated password?
Let's take an ...
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2answers
140 views
PBKDF2 with longer than native output length - Will hashing the result help?
I've seen it mentioned more than once that PBKDF2 should not be used to create a longer key than the native output (such as 160 bits when used with HMACSHA1). Since an attacker could test only the ...
2
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2answers
627 views
HMACSHA1 vs HMACSHA2 (for PBKDF2)
I need to choose an HMAC function for PBKDF2.
I'm using .net so I don't have the option to use SHA3. At first glance, and according to this answer by Thomas Pornin it seems like SHA512 would be best....
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1answer
358 views
Web Crypto API - deriveKey vs. deriveBits? [closed]
I have some questions about deriveKey and deriveBits for web crypto API.
I am confused about the state of these APIs. I do ...
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1answer
188 views
Does this PBKDF2-SHA1 payload hint at a cryptographic security issue?
Blockchain first 16 encrypted bytes, IV, and iter_count – all encoded in Base64:
Yms6xqrzCfFsQadVZ5gQonMtnQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQJwAA69tYNg==
Does it looks like “...
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2answers
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Password hash that can be upgraded without plaintext password
Most password hashes have a cost parameter that indicates how long the algorithm should take. Is there an algorithm where you can increase that cost for a particular hash, without access to the ...
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1answer
397 views
Is it safe to store both the AES-related data and the PBKDF2-related data (except passwords) in one file?
Assume an "encrypted data package" file format which includes the following data
PBKDF2
algorithm
salt
rounds
keylen
AES
algorithm & mode
IV
ciphertext
where the PBKDF2 salt and AES IV are ...
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2answers
331 views
Argon2id internal iterations vs multiple Argon2id calls ?
TLDR;
Is there a security risk if rather than setting the iteration parameter to 12 (for example), we set it to 3 but call the function 4 times?
I'm asking that for 2 reasons:
Firstly, we use SRP ...
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1answer
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Apple secure notes. How secure?
In terms of cryptography, how secure is Apple Secure Notes? Can one store sensitive information there? The relevant section of the Apple white paper is quoted below:
The Notes app includes a Secure ...
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4answers
864 views
Rehashing PBKDF2 hashes - do iterations stack?
Let's suppose I have a bunch of PBKDF2 hashes in a database. For the sake of keeping this simple, let's say I've used 10 iterations. A few years later I decide to upgrade to 20 iterations. I want to ...
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2answers
142 views
KDF-based password manager
I want to make a password manager that from a single master password generates passwords for my services. For that I thought that HKDF suits my needs, as it is able to generate multiple keys from a ...
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1answer
534 views
HMAC vs PKDBF2 as the first step towards HKDF
I'm implementing an application that from a password has to derive two keys, one for authentication with the server, one for encryption. I'm using Java, with JCA and Bouncy Castle.
So far, to ...
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1answer
133 views
How to generate two different keys out of a single password?
I'm designing a system in which a password is used both for logging in as well as for encrypting some payload.
To encrypt a payload I derive a key from the password. Very straightforward so far.
...
4
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1answer
489 views
Some Questions about the Veracrypt hash functions
Veracrypt has always been my favourite encryption tool since it came out .
But still there are some things about the tool I don't understand .
Why is there the possibility to use sha256 or sha512 .
...
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1answer
1k views
Proper number of salt bytes for Rfc2898DeriveBytes/PBKDF2
I know that .NET's Rfc2898DeriveBytes requires at least 8 bytes of salt, but how many bytes are ideal?
When a user is created, or changes their password, my server stores a new random salt for that ...
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1answer
728 views
What is meant by “KDF2” vs “PBKDF2”?
I see many references to KDF2 here, but all links are broken and Wikipedia does not have an entry for KDF2. Is KDF2 a specific standard for Key Derivation without a password?
Ultimately, I am trying ...
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1answer
713 views
Can pbkdf2 be used with a fixed salt to give a deterministic slow hash?
I need a password hashing function that is deterministic. Correlation attacks are not a concern. The same password must produce the same hash. I just want to protect the password against dictionary ...
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1answer
98 views
Ensuring no unintended leaking before authentication
Assume my authentication system consists of querying an endpoint to get sign in parameters cost and salt, ...
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1answer
112 views
Do PBKDF2 keys generated at a lower iteration count leak information?
Assume the threat model here is that the server is not to be trusted and the client is trusted. A user registers for an account and the client chooses an iteration count of 50,000 to generate a 512 ...
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0answers
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Authenticating PBKDF2 params from the server
In my app, I use PBKDF2 to stretch a user inputted password. I split the result in two: the first half is stored locally as an encryption key (and never sent to the server), and the second half is ...
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1answer
186 views
Generating HMAC-SHA256 - is this procedure secure enough?
I have 256-bit value (call it "{Secret Value}") and I would like to compute HMAC-SHA256 digest of this value to check its ...
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1answer
795 views
Must a key for a HMAC-SHA256 digest kept secure?
I need to check integrity of high secure system value - in this case encryption key(s)
I would like to create HMAC digest of this user encryption key (key is used ...
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1answer
903 views
Argon2i versus Argon2d?
I am planning to use Argon2 in my Android app to encrypt some sensitive info that is only stored on the user's phone (in an SQLite DB) and not exported anywhere else. From documentation I see that ...
