Man Linux: Main Page and Category List

NAME

       crypt, mcrypt, mdecrypt - encrypt or decrypt files

SYNOPSIS

       mcrypt  [  -dLFubhvrzp ] [-a algorithm] [-c config_file] [-m mode] [-s keysize]
       [-o keymode] [-k key1 key2 ...]  [-f keyfile] [ filename ...  ]

       mdecrypt  [  -LFusbhvzp  ]  [-a algorithm]  [-c config_file]  [-m mode]
       [-s keysize]  [-o keymode]  [-k key1 key2 ...]  [-f keyfile] [ filename
       ...  ]

DESCRIPTION

       Mcrypt is a simple crypting program, a replacement  for  the  old  unix
       crypt(1).   When encrypting or decrypting a file, a new file is created
       with  the  extension  .nc  and  mode  0600.  The  new  file  keeps  the
       modification date of the original.  The original file may be deleted by
       specifying the -u parameter.  If no files are specified,  the  standard
       input is encrypted to the standard output.

       Mcrypt uses all the symmetric algorithms included in libmcrypt.

       crypt  is  a  small shell wrapper around mcrypt to emulate the old unix
       crypt command.  For more information run crypt --help !

HINTS

       By default, mcrypt , when one of these algorithms is specified, prompts
       something like:
        Enter passphrase: ...
        You  should then enter a passphrase long enough (512 characters is the
       maximum length). Now in order to encrypt the file,  The  passphrase  is
       transformed  using  the  specified  (or  the  default)  key  generation
       algorithm, and a random salt. The produced value is then  used  as  the
       key, which is fed to the algorithm.

       Algorithm  Vulnerability:  Most algorithms today are designed to resist
       in specific attacks.  None of them is proved not to  be  vulnerable  to
       some kind of attack not as yet known.

       Compression:  By  compressing your data before encryption you gain both
       in efficiency (faster encryption) and safety  of  your  data  (language
       redundancy  is  removed).  A drawback is that most compression programs
       will add specific headers in the compressed  file,  thus  making  known
       plaintext  attacks easier.  Compression after encryption is useless and
       may result to compressed files with longer size than the original.

       Error Recovery: There is some error recovery in mcrypt.  If  bytes  are
       removed  or lost from the file or stream in ECB, CBC and OFB modes, are
       impossible to recover, although CFB mode will recover.  If  some  bytes
       are altered then a full block of plaintext is affected in ECB mode, two
       blocks in CBC and CFB modes, but only the  corresponding  byte  in  OFB
       mode.   Mcrypt  uses  a 32 bit CRC to check for errors in the encrypted
       files.

       Extra security: For the very  paranoid,  if  mcrypt  is  executed  with
       superuser priviledges it ensures that no important data (keys etc.) are
       written to disk, as swap  etc.   Keep  in  mind  that  mcrypt  was  not
       designed to be a setuid program, so you shouldn’t make it one.

       Do  not rely on the fact that an algorithm has a large key size, try to
       use long passphrases and try to make them unpredictable.

       All the block algorithms above support these modes of encryption:

       ECB: The Electronic CodeBook mode. It is the simplest mode to use  with
       a block cipher. Encrypts each block independently.

       CBC:  The  Cipher  Block Chaining mode. It is better than ECB since the
       plaintext is XOR’ed with the previous ciphertext.  A  random  block  is
       placed  as the first block so the same block or messages always encrypt
       to something different. (This is the default mode)

       CFB: The Cipher-Feedback Mode (in 8bit). This is  a  self-synchronizing
       stream cipher implemented from a block cipher.

       OFB:  The  Output-Feedback Mode (in 8bit). This is a synchronous stream
       cipher implemented from a block cipher. It is intended for use in noisy
       lines, because corrupted ciphertext blocks do not corrupt the plaintext
       blocks that follow. Insecure when used  to  encrypt  large  amounts  of
       data, so I recommend against using it.

       nOFB: The Output-Feedback Mode (in nbit). n Is the size of the block of
       the algorithm. This is a synchronous stream cipher implemented  from  a
       block  cipher. It is intended for use in noisy lines, because corrupted
       ciphertext blocks do not corrupt the plaintext blocks that follow.

       Encrypted files can be restored to their original form using mcrypt  -d
       or mdecrypt

       mdecrypt  takes  a  list of files on its command line and creates a new
       file for each file whose name ends with .nc by removing the ".nc" or by
       adding ".dc" to the end of the file name if .nc is not in the encrypted
       file’s name.

OPTIONS

       -F --force
              Force output on standard output or input from stdin if that is a
              terminal.   By  default mcrypt will not output encrypted data to
              terminal, nor read encrypted data from it.

       -z --gzip
              Use gzip (if it exists in your system) to compress files  before
              encryption.   If specified at decryption time it will decompress
              these files.

       -p --bzip2
              Use bzip2 (if it exists in your system) to compress files before
              encryption.   If specified at decryption time it will decompress
              these files.

        --openpgp-z INT
              This  option  will  enable  compression  in  OpenPGP   (RFC2440)
              encrypted files.

       -d --decrypt
              Decrypt.

        --help
              Display a help screen and quit.

       -v --version
              Version. Display the version number and quit.

       -L --license
              Display the mcrypts license and quit.

       -o --keymode MODE
              MODE  may  be  one of the keymodes listed by the --list-keymodes
              parameter.  It actually is the convertion to the key  before  it
              is  fed  to the algorithm.  It is recommended to leave it as is,
              if you do not know what it is.  However if you still want to use
              this  option,  you might want to use the ’hex’ mode which allows
              you to specify the  key  in  hex  (and  no  convertion  will  by
              applied).

       -h --hash HASH_ALGORITHM
              HASH_ALGORITHM  may  be  one  of  the  algorithms  listed by the
              --list-hash parameter.  This is the digest that will be appended
              to the file to be encrypted, in order to detect file corruption.
              The default is the CRC32 checksum.

       -s --keysize SIZE
              SIZE is the algorithm’s key size in bytes (not the size  of  the
              passphrase).  It  defaults  to  the maximum key supported by the
              algorithm. The maximum  key  sizes  of  the  algorithms  may  be
              obtained  by the --list parameter. It is safe not to touch this.

       -g --openpgp
              This option will make mcrypt to use the OpenPGP  (RFC2440)  file
              format  for  encrypted  files. This will make files encrypted by
              mcrypt accessible from any OpenPGP compliant application.

       -b --bare
              No important information like the algorithm, mode, the bit  mode
              and  the crc32 of the original file are written in the encrypted
              file.  The security lies on the algorithm not  on  obscurity  so
              this  is  NOT the default. This flag must also be specified when
              decrypting a  bare  encrypted  file.   When  the  bare  flag  is
              specified  decryption  and  encryption  are  faster. This may be
              usefull when using mcrypt to encrypt a link  or  something  like
              that.

       --flush
              Flushes   the  output  (ciphertext  or  plaintext)  immediately.
              Usefull if mcrypt is used with pipes.

       --time Prints some timing information (encryption speed etc.)

       --nodelete
              When this option is specified mcrypt does not delete the  output
              file,  even if decryption failed. This is usefull if you want to
              decrypt a corrupted file.

       -q --quiet
              Suppress some not critical warnings.

       -u --unlink
              Unlink  (delete)  the  input  file  if  the  whole  process   of
              encryption/decryption succeeds. This is not the default in order
              to use an external program to remove sensitive data.

        --list
              Lists all the algorithms currently supported.

        --list-keymodes
              Lists all the key modes currently supported.

        --list-hash
              Lists all the hash algorithms currently supported.

       -r --random
              Use /dev/(s)random instead of /dev/urandom. This may  need  some
              key  input  or  mouse  move to proceed.  If your system does not
              support /dev/random or /dev/urandom, a random gatherer  will  be
              used.

       -k --key KEY1 KEY2 ...
              Enter  the  keyword(s)  via  the command line. The KEY(s) is/are
              then used as keyword instead of prompting for them. Keep in mind
              that  someone  may see the command you are executing and so your
              keyword(s).

       -c --config FILE
              Use the specified configuration file. The default  is  .mcryptrc
              in  your home directory. The format of the configuration file is
              the same as the parameters. An example file is:
               algorithm safer+
               mode cbc
               key a_very_secret_one

       -f --keyfile FILE
              Enter the keyword(s) via a file. One keyword is read  per  line.
              The  first  keyword  read is used for the first file, the second
              for the second file etc. If the keywords are less than the files
              then the last keyword is used for the remaining. A limitation is
              that you cannot use the NULL (\0) and the Newline (\n) character
              in  the  key.   A  solution  to  this  problem is to specify the
              keyword in hex mode.

       -m --mode MODE
              Mode of encryption and decryption.  These  modes  are  currently
              supported:  ECB,  CFB,  OFB,  nOFB,  CBC  and STREAM. CBC is the
              default. Unless the bare flag is specified there is no  need  to
              specify these modes for decryption.  For stream algorithms (like
              WAKE) mode should be STREAM.

       -a --algorithm ALGORITHM
              The algorithm used to encrypt and decrypt. Unless the bare  flag
              is specified there is no need to specify these for decryption.

              The  algorithms  currently  supported  are shown with the --list
              parameter.

EXAMPLES

       For mcrypt to be compatible with  the  solaris  des(1),  the  following
       parameters  are  needed:  "mcrypt  -a des --keymode pkdes --bare --noiv
       filename".

       For mcrypt to be compatible  with  the  unix  crypt(1),  the  following
       parameters  are  needed:  "mcrypt  -a  enigma  --keymode  scrypt --bare
       filename".

       To encrypt a file using a stream algorithm (eg. Arcfour), the following
       parameters are needed: "mcrypt -a arcfour --mode stream filename".

ENVIRONMENT

       Mcrypt uses the following environment variables:

       MCRYPT_KEY: to specify the key

       MCRYPT_ALGO: to specify the algorithm

       MCRYPT_MODE: to specify the algorithm’s mode

       MCRYPT_KEY_MODE: to specify the key mode

       You  can  use  these  instead  of  using  the  command  line  (which is
       insecure), but note that only one key should be used in MCRYPT_KEY.

SEE ALSO

       des_crypt(3)

DIAGNOSTICS

       Exit status is normally 0; if an error occurs, exit status is something
       other than 0.

       Usage:  mcrypt  [-dLFubhvrzp] [-f keyfile] [-k key1 key2 ...] [-m mode]
       [-o keymode] [-a algorithm] [-c config_file] [filename ...]

AUTHORS

       Version   2.6.0   Copyright    (C)    1998,1999,2000,2001,2002    Nikos
       Mavroyanopoulos (nmav@gnutls.org).

       Thanks  to  all  the people who reported problems and suggested various
       improvements for mcrypt; who are too numerous to cite here.