Right.   As I understand this was a potential vulnerability in *some*
implementations.  According to IBM, there's does not, but some partners may
have it disabled.

IMO it is a good idea to submit your requirement to IBM to support AES CTR
mode in ICSF.  CTR mode also has the advantage of being able to
multi-thread encryption of packets, since each packet can be encrypted in
parallel.  There is nothing missing from CPACF instructions that is needed
- if you write directly to CPACF you can easily implement AES-CTR mode.


Kirk Wolf
Dovetailed Technologies
http://dovetail.com


On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 5:05 PM, Steve Finch <[email protected]>wrote:

> Some shops do not allow aes-cbc because of  the 'Padding Oracle Attack'
>  problem, since AES-CBC uses padding. aes-ctr does not use padding
>
> Also FIPS 140-2 was published in 2001 and last updated in 2002
>
> Steve Finch
> Recovery Point
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On
> Behalf Of Mark Jacobs
> Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 11:02 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: aes-ctr vs aes-cbc
>
> We've been trying to migrate our ssh/sftp environment, for both our client
> and server users to only use FIPS-140-2 certified ciphers, and run ICSF in
> FIPS mode. We've had no problems doing so, except with one of our partners
> who states that their security policy will not allow their sftp server to
> accept data transmitted with any CBC cipher.
>
> I tried adding the aes-ctr ciphers to our allowed list, but it doesn't
> look like ICSF can handle it, which is needed for ICSF to execute in FIPS
> mode.
>
> It seems like I'm in a unresolvable problem from a technology standpoint,
> unless our partner changes their policy, which I don't understand why they
> don't allow FIPS-140-2 certified ciphers to be used.
>
> --
> Mark Jacobs
> Time Customer Service
> Tampa, FL
> ----
>
> The quiet ones are the ones that change the universe...
> The loud ones only take the credit.
>
> Londo Mollari - Babylon 5
>
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