Why don't you enable ICSF?  It doesn't require CEX# cards anymore.  Of
course if CFB functionality supported by ICSF depends on the CEX# card,
then you will still be out of luck.  I haven't really researched this.. but
maybe you could use an ICSF exit(s) to provide a CFB function?  It
certainly wouldn't be for the faint of heart.  It might just be cheaper to
by the CEX# feature.

Rob Schramm

On Tue, Sep 29, 2015 at 9:33 AM Dazzo, Matt <
[email protected]> wrote:

> Greg, we are told by a third party vendor that their program uses CFB if
> available and will have a marked performance improvement. I sent them job
> listing and they are telling me that only CBC is being used and that CFB
> may not be enabled. Is it possible that CFB is not enabled? No where can I
> find a procedure to configure CFB. We do not have ICSF but have CPACF #3863.
>  Tks Matt
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On
> Behalf Of Greg Boyd
> Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2015 11:57 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: CP Assist for Cryptographic Functions (CPACF)
>
> Cipher Feedack Mode in the hardware was introduced with MSA-4 which came
> with the z196/z114 machines.  That means that these machines (and later)
> support new assembler instructions that prefrom chaining operations:  KMF
> (Cipher Message with CFB (Cipher Feedback Mode)), KMCTR (Cipher Message
> with Counter) and KMO (Cipher Message with OFB (Output Feedback Mode)).
>
> You can read more about these instructions in the Principles of Operations
> manuals.  I don't remember whether these instructions were retrofitted to
> the z10 CPACF hardware.  Although according to IBM's TechDoc 'Cryptographic
> Support for for z/OS V1R10-V1R12 (HCR7780)' at
> https://www.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/FLASH10716,
> similar support was retrofitted to the CEX3C on the z10.
>
> Prior to this hardware technology being available, ICSF supported cipher
> feedback mode.  That is, by specifying the appropriate parm in the rule
> array, ICSF would handle the chaining while using the KM and KMC
> instructions to perform the encryption.  The new instructions provided a)
> better performance by doing the work in hardware instead of relying on
> software to do the chaining and b) some new chaining options.
>
> All that said, do you want to use CFB in your app (using the new
> instructions)? or in an app using the ICSF APIs? or with System SSL (since
> you reference the SSL messages)?  If you want to use the native
> instructions on a z10, I'd try coding a simpler assembler routine to
> perform a KMF instruction and see if you get an OC1.  If you want to use
> the APIs, that should also work, even if the hardware support isn't there.
>
> However, if your concern is about System SSL support, then you have to
> refer the System SSL manuals.  I just did a quick search in both the z/OS
> 1.13 and z/OS 2.1 System SSL Programming manuals and found no reference to
> 'Cipher Feedback'.  I found one reference, in a message, about 'Cipher
> Block Chaining'.  And https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5246.txt, the RFC for
> TLS Protocol V1.2, says 'All block cipher encryption is done in CBC (Cipher
> Block Chaining) mode ...'.  So I don't think CFB is even supported by the
> SSL protocol.
>
> Greg Boyd
> Mainframe Crypto
> www.mainframecrypto.com
>
>
> On Thu, 24 Sep 2015 10:17:13 -0400, Dazzo, Matt <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >I have searched the archives but not finding the specific answer I need.
> We have feature CPACF (#3863) on our z10-BC 2098 (zos1.13) but I am told
> that  CFB (Cipher FeedBack) is not enabled on our CPACF. I looked at out
> HMC Activation profiles and can't determine if CFB feature is enabled but
> appears crypto is enabled. Can one point me in the right direction to get
> the info? How is CFB enabled? And how do you determine if it's enabled or
> not?
> >
> >I do see this in the TN3270 start up.
> >
> >System SSL: SHA-1 crypto assist is available System SSL: SHA-224 crypto
> >assist is available System SSL: SHA-256 crypto assist is available
> >System SSL: SHA-384 crypto assist is available System SSL: SHA-512
> >crypto assist is available System SSL: DES crypto assist is available
> >System SSL: DES3 crypto assist is available System SSL: AES 128-bit
> >crypto assist is available System SSL: AES 256-bit crypto assist is
> >available System SSL: ICSF services are not available
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Matt Dazzo
> >Senior Systems Programmer
> >Publishers Clearing House
> >
> >
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