xref: /openbsd/lib/libcrypto/man/RC4.3 (revision 73471bf0)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: RC4.3,v 1.8 2020/03/29 17:05:02 schwarze Exp $
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51.Dd $Mdocdate: March 29 2020 $
52.Dt RC4 3
53.Os
54.Sh NAME
55.Nm RC4_set_key ,
56.Nm RC4
57.Nd RC4 encryption
58.Sh SYNOPSIS
59.In openssl/rc4.h
60.Ft void
61.Fo RC4_set_key
62.Fa "RC4_KEY *key"
63.Fa "int len"
64.Fa "const unsigned char *data"
65.Fc
66.Ft void
67.Fo RC4
68.Fa "RC4_KEY *key"
69.Fa "unsigned long len"
70.Fa "const unsigned char *indata"
71.Fa "unsigned char *outdata"
72.Fc
73.Sh DESCRIPTION
74This library implements the alleged RC4 cipher, which is described for
75example in
76.Qq Applied Cryptography .
77It is believed to be compatible with RC4[TM], a proprietary cipher of
78RSA Security Inc.
79.Pp
80RC4 is a stream cipher with variable key length.
81Typically, 128-bit (16-byte) keys are used for strong encryption, but
82shorter insecure key sizes have been widely used due to export
83restrictions.
84.Pp
85RC4 consists of a key setup phase and the actual encryption or
86decryption phase.
87.Pp
88.Fn RC4_set_key
89sets up the
90.Vt RC4_KEY
91.Fa key
92using the
93.Fa len
94bytes long key at
95.Fa data .
96.Pp
97.Fn RC4
98encrypts or decrypts the
99.Fa len
100bytes of data at
101.Fa indata
102using
103.Fa key
104and places the result at
105.Fa outdata .
106Repeated
107.Fn RC4
108calls with the same
109.Fa key
110yield a continuous key stream.
111.Pp
112Since RC4 is a stream cipher (the input is XOR'ed with a pseudo-random
113key stream to produce the output), decryption uses the same function
114calls as encryption.
115.Sh SEE ALSO
116.Xr blowfish 3 ,
117.Xr EVP_EncryptInit 3 ,
118.Xr EVP_rc4 3
119.Sh HISTORY
120.Fn RC4_set_key
121and
122.Fn RC4
123appeared in SSLeay 0.4 or earlier and have been available since
124.Ox 2.4 .
125.Sh BUGS
126This cipher is broken and should no longer be used.
127