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Why are export grade ciphers even still a thing. I can't believe that libraries are still shipped with implementations for those. Also, scary that SSH appears

by 0x0 11y ago

Why are export grade ciphers even still a thing. I can't believe that libraries are still shipped with implementations for those. Also, scary that SSH appears to be partially affected(?)

userbinator 11y ago
Why are export grade ciphers even still a thing. Because all the countries still can't get along with each other, and thus export restrictions still exist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_from_the_United_States#Current_status http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_from_the...
- 0x0 11y ago
  Shipping breakable encryption sounds worse than shipping none at all. Especially when over and over again it becomes a source of vulnerabilities :(
  - derefr 11y ago
    > Shipping breakable encryption sounds worse than shipping none at all. Well, yeah, that's the idea—"export-grade cryptography" essentially means means "cryptography we, as a state actor, can win against in a cyberwar."
    - darklajid 11y ago
      But the GP's point seems to be that this seems to turn into "cryptography we, as a state actor, can win against in a cyberwar, but which ultimately will end up being exploited at home as well, since we're all using the same partially broken code base"
      - derefr 11y ago
        Indeed; maybe it would be better named "export-only cryptography"—not for domestic use by order of COMSEC.
- yuhong 11y ago
  Except that most of the export rules that remains that affect browsers are easy to follow nowadays.
whimsy 11y ago
> Also, scary that SSH appears to be partially affected(?) Yeah. Is it sufficient to set ServerKeyBits to 2048?
- nuxi7 11y ago
  That parameter is only for SSHv1 and if you have SSHv1 enabled you've already lost. What they are refering to is the Key Exchange method named "diffie-hellman-group1-sha1" which uses a 1024-bit DH group. You can disable this with use of the KexAlgorithms parameter. Starting with OpenSSH 6.6 it is already disabled on the server side, but still allowed with the client. There are severe interoperability problems with embedded devices if disabled.
- pmontra 11y ago
  You might want to follow these instructions to secure your ssh server and client https://stribika.github.io/2015/01/04/secure-secure-shell.html https://stribika.github.io/2015/01/04/secure-secure-shell.ht... Be careful: not all clients support the newest algorithms. Example: Ubuntu 12.04 ssh client doesn't support curve25519-sha256@libssh.org (I'm still googling how to upgrade to the latest openssh, anybody has the answer?) In general, check that you are still able to connect to your server before closing your last ssh connection to it.

by 0x0 11y ago

Why are export grade ciphers even still a thing. I can't believe that libraries are still shipped with implementations for those. Also, scary that SSH appears to be partially affected(?)

userbinator 11y ago

Why are export grade ciphers even still a thing. Because all the countries still can't get along with each other, and thus export restrictions still exist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_from_the_United_States#Current_status http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_from_the...

0x0 11y ago
Shipping breakable encryption sounds worse than shipping none at all. Especially when over and over again it becomes a source of vulnerabilities :(
- derefr 11y ago
  > Shipping breakable encryption sounds worse than shipping none at all. Well, yeah, that's the idea—"export-grade cryptography" essentially means means "cryptography we, as a state actor, can win against in a cyberwar."
  - darklajid 11y ago
    But the GP's point seems to be that this seems to turn into "cryptography we, as a state actor, can win against in a cyberwar, but which ultimately will end up being exploited at home as well, since we're all using the same partially broken code base"
    - derefr 11y ago
      Indeed; maybe it would be better named "export-only cryptography"—not for domestic use by order of COMSEC.
yuhong 11y ago
Except that most of the export rules that remains that affect browsers are easy to follow nowadays.

whimsy 11y ago

> Also, scary that SSH appears to be partially affected(?) Yeah. Is it sufficient to set ServerKeyBits to 2048?

nuxi7 11y ago
That parameter is only for SSHv1 and if you have SSHv1 enabled you've already lost. What they are refering to is the Key Exchange method named "diffie-hellman-group1-sha1" which uses a 1024-bit DH group. You can disable this with use of the KexAlgorithms parameter. Starting with OpenSSH 6.6 it is already disabled on the server side, but still allowed with the client. There are severe interoperability problems with embedded devices if disabled.
pmontra 11y ago
You might want to follow these instructions to secure your ssh server and client https://stribika.github.io/2015/01/04/secure-secure-shell.html https://stribika.github.io/2015/01/04/secure-secure-shell.ht... Be careful: not all clients support the newest algorithms. Example: Ubuntu 12.04 ssh client doesn't support curve25519-sha256@libssh.org (I'm still googling how to upgrade to the latest openssh, anybody has the answer?) In general, check that you are still able to connect to your server before closing your last ssh connection to it.