FIPS Module Specification

This is a draft document

Cryptographic Module Specification

A series of security libraries present an application programming interface (API) to client and server applications utilizing NSS. The libraries are compiled and built for specific platforms (see Platform List) and tagged with a release identifier to be published on mozilla.org. The release compliant with FIPS 140-2 is NSS 3.11.5.

The cryptographic module is defined to be a subset of the functions within these libraries. The subset is below the top layer of functions normally called by application programs, but the subset may be called by application programs directly if they so choose. Functions that are being certified include Triple DES(KO 1,2,3 56/112/168), AES(128/192/256), SHS (SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512), HMAC, DSA (512-1024), and RSA (1024-8092).

Module Components

NSS is a software cryptographic implementation. No hardware or firmware components are included. All input to the module is via function arguments; all output is returned to the caller either as return codes or as updated memory objects pointed to by some of the arguments.

Cryptographic Module	Library Name
PKCS #11	libsoftokn3
FREEBL	libfreebl3* (one is selected at run time)

Higher-level NSS libraries use the NSS module. These higher-level libraries are outside the cryptographic boundary.

Higher-level NSS API	Library Name
CRMF	libcrmf
S/MIME	libsmime3
Certificate Management	libnss3
SSL	libssl3
JAR	libjar
PKCS #5	libnss3
PKCS #12	libpkcs12

Filename extensions depend upon the target operating environment. For some CPUs libfreebl3 is distributed in more than one variant. The optimal version is selected at run time.

The Cryptographic Boundary

NSS's PKCS #11 (Cryptoki) implementation forms the cryptographic module. The API itself is considered to define the cryptographic boundary, thus all implementation is considered below the boundary. Also included in this module is the FIPS PKCS #11 token. This is a Cryptoki token designed specifically for FIPS, and allows applications using NSS to operate in a strictly FIPS mode. The diagram below shows the relationship of the layers.

Approved Mode of Operation

In order to run the NSS module in the FIPS approved mode, an attribute must be explicitly set on the module. This can be done programmatically or by running the NSS module utility modutil. An example command line is below.

modutil -fips true -dbdir certdir

The setting is permanent for the NSS module and all subsequent invocations of NSS functions using that cert directory will be in FIPS mode. The module can be taken out of FIPS mode by substituting false for true in the command above. The state of the module can be checked with:

modutil -chkfips true -dbdir certdir