1OpenSSL FIPS support
2====================
3
4This release of OpenSSL includes a cryptographic module that is intended to be
5FIPS 140-2 validated. The module is implemented as an OpenSSL provider.
6A provider is essentially a dynamically loadable module which implements
7cryptographic algorithms, see the [README-PROVIDERS](README-PROVIDERS.md) file
8for further details.
9
10The OpenSSL FIPS provider comes as shared library called `fips.so` (on Unix)
11resp. `fips.dll` (on Windows). The FIPS provider does not get built and
12installed automatically. To enable it, you need to configure OpenSSL using
13the `enable-fips` option.
14
15Installing the FIPS module
16==========================
17
18If the FIPS provider is enabled, it gets installed automatically during the
19normal installation process. Simply follow the normal procedure (configure,
20make, make test, make install) as described in the [INSTALL](INSTALL.md) file.
21
22For example, on Unix the final command
23
24    $ make install
25
26effectively executes the following install targets
27
28    $ make install_sw
29    $ make install_ssldirs
30    $ make install_docs
31    $ make install_fips     # for `enable-fips` only
32
33The `install_fips` make target can also be invoked explicitly to install
34the FIPS provider independently, without installing the rest of OpenSSL.
35
36The Installation of the FIPS provider consists of two steps. In the first step,
37the shared library is copied to its installed location, which by default is
38
39    /usr/local/lib/ossl-modules/fips.so                  on Unix, and
40    C:\Program Files\OpenSSL\lib\ossl-modules\fips.dll   on Windows.
41
42In the second step, the `openssl fipsinstall` command is executed, which completes
43the installation by doing the following two things:
44
45- Runs the FIPS module self tests
46- Generates the so-called FIPS module configuration file containing information
47  about the module such as the self test status, and the module checksum.
48
49The FIPS module must have the self tests run, and the FIPS module config file
50output generated on every machine that it is to be used on. You must not copy
51the FIPS module config file output data from one machine to another.
52
53On Unix the `openssl fipsinstall` command will be invoked as follows by default:
54
55    $ openssl fipsinstall -out /usr/local/ssl/fipsmodule.cnf -module /usr/local/lib/ossl-modules/fips.so
56
57If you configured OpenSSL to be installed to a different location, the paths will
58vary accordingly. In the rare case that you need to install the fipsmodule.cnf
59to non-standard location, you can execute the `openssl fipsinstall` command manually.
60
61Using the FIPS Module in applications
62=====================================
63
64Documentation about using the FIPS module is available on the [fips_module(7)]
65manual page.
66
67 [fips_module(7)]: https://www.openssl.org/docs/manmaster/man7/fips_module.html
68