Linux Enhances Kernel Crypto Functions with RISC-V Vector Extensions

Patches have been posted by SiFive for the Linux kernel that provide cryptographic implementations of various functions within the kernel using the RISC-V processor ISA’s vector crypto extensions. These patches aim to accelerate various Linux kernel crypto operations by utilizing the vector instructions with the RISC-V Cryptography Extensions. The vector instructions for these extensions can be found in the riscv-crypto repository.

In total, twelve patches have been posted this week that improve the performance of several cryptographic functions. These include the acceleration of AES cipher, AES with CBC/CTR/ECB/XTS block modes, ChaCha20 stream cipher, GHASH for GCM, SHA-224/256 and SHA-384/512 hash, SM3 hash, and SM4 cipher.

For those interested in this work and the details of how it speeds up kernel crypto operations with the RISC-V Crypto Vector instructions, the patch series can be found here.

Source: Phoronix.