Blog | Lightship Security

What does the new version of the CC mean for me?

Lachlan Turner June 28, 2023 Common Criteria

Short answer: probably not much! For most vendors and users of the CC, things will roll on normally. It will be the national certification schemes, labs and technical communities that must adjust.

Long answer: there are some aspects and circumstances arising from the transition to CC:2022 that you may want to pay attention to. These are:

Assurance Maintenance
Using an old Protection Profile (CCv3.1) with a new Security Target (CC:2022)
Being in the first batch of evaluations using CC:2022

We’ll dig into each of these aspects below.

CMVP Transitions Update (July 2023)

James Ramage June 28, 2023 FIPS 140-3

CMVP algorithm transitions can be a great source of anxiety for vendors who seek to attain or maintain compliance to the FIPS 140-2 and 140-3 standards. A great deal of diligence, patience and persistence are required to continually review and assess product requirements against planned transitions.

Entropy in OpenSSL 3.0

Greg McLearn January 23, 2023 Common Criteria, Entropy, FIPS 140-3

Vendors are increasingly looking to leverage OpenSSL 3.x as their cryptographic module of choice within their products. At the same time, entropy continues to a be a focus in both FIPS 140-3 and Common Criteria projects. For those transitioning from OpenSSL 1.0.2 and the FIPS Object Module 2.0.x, the ways in which entropy can seed the DRBG in OpenSSL 3.0 differs.

Introduction to the Quantum Computing Impact on Cryptography

James Ramage January 10, 2023 Common Criteria, FIPS 140-3

Quantum computing continues to be a hot topic. Within the certification industry, it was most recently covered at the International Common Criteria Conference (ICCC) recently held in Spain. So, what is quantum computing and more importantly, what is the potential impact on computer security and cryptography? The purpose of this post is to provide a brief introduction to post-quantum cryptography – including what changes are planned to algorithm standards to proactively defend against potential security issues and when will cryptography updates come into effect? In addition, what organizations are involved in assessing requirements, proposing updates and then enforcing post-quantum solutions?

What’s the Deal With NDcPP 3.0?

Lachlan Turner December 12, 2022 Common Criteria

This post aims to answer the most common questions we get about NDcPP 3.0:

When is NDcPP 3.0 going to drop?
What’s new in NDcPP 3.0?
What will the transition period be between NDcPP 2.2E and NDcPP 3.0?
What does this mean for current NDcPP projects?
What does Lightship Security recommend for new network device projects?

ACVP Vector Test Harness for OSSL 3.x

Jonathan Plata and Greg McLearn October 25, 2022 ACVP, Tools

Lightship has released, as open source, an ACVP vector test harness for OpenSSL 3.x.

The code can be found in our GitHub repository at https://github.com/lightshipsec/ls-acvp-harness.

The README.md contains the current capabilities which we expect to update and maintain. At the moment, we include most of the typical algorithms and properties that are often claimed or required in FIPS 140-3 and Common Criteria. The full set of supported algorithms, operating modes and properties are described in the README.md. Additional algorithms can be added as needed.

X.509 CA:FALSE Testing

Kenji Yoshino October 20, 2022 Certifications, Common Criteria

Many modern Common Criteria Protection Profiles include X.509 requirements requiring the evaluator to construct a series of certificates designed to verify that a system under test is correctly parsing and validating them. X.509 certificates appear relatively simple on the surface, but digging into the details uncovers a wealth of complexity and nuance in RFC5280, ASN.1, DER, and BER. We’ll explore this testing using a specific example of the basicConstraints:CA flag and show how common X.509 tools can represent — and potentially obscure — some of the requirements as it pertains to Common Criteria conformance testing.

ESV and Me!

James Ramage October 10, 2022 Entropy, FIPS 140-3

As of November 7, 2020, the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) required that all FIPS 140-2 and FIPS 140-3 module validation submissions include documentation justifying conformance of the entropy source to NIST SP 800-90B, if the module is “either generating the entropy itself or it is making a call to request the entropy from a well-defined source”. Compliance documentation would include an Entropy Assessment Report (EAR) and statistical testing of entropy data samples using the NIST 90B Test Tool.

Entropy Validation in FIPS 140-3 (ENT vs ESV)

Ryan Thomas June 6, 2022 Entropy, FIPS 140-3

To get an entropy source approved under FIPS 140-3 there are two options:

ENT (P) or ENT (NP) entry on the FIPS module validation certificate (until October 1st, 2022)
ESV certificate awarded by NIST’s Entropy Source Validation Testing (ESVT)

This blog post will address these entropy validation requirements in FIPS 140-3. We’ll provide details on the differences between the “ENT” validation certificate entry and Entropy Source Validation or “ESV” certificates. Relevant NIST Special Publications (SPs), important Implementation Guidance (IG) and links to templates and other important references will also be provided.

Five Steps to Algorithm (CAVP) Validations at Lightship

Gillian Bedrosian and Dennis Momy March 21, 2022 ACVP, FIPS 140-2, FIPS 140-3

Algorithm validation testing is a critical path issue for FIPS 140-3 validations and for NIAP Protection Profile-based Common Criteria evaluations. Equipment vendors are often surprised at the level of effort and the potential challenges in successfully completing the algorithm testing process.

At Lightship, we have developed a suite of tools to allow us to standardize, simplify and streamline the process to obtain CAVP (Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program) validation.

This post will outline each of the steps in addition to identifying where we will require input from the vendor.