max key size 56?

[codeorganic]

Why is the max key size 56?

[jashandeep-sohi]

Because that's what the spec say: "between 32 and 448 bits". So, that's between 4 and 56 bytes.

Now, if you are asking a deeper question of why cryptographically it is limited to 56 bytes, you might find the answer in the Blowfish paper at https://www.schneier.com/paper-blowfish-fse.html

[codeorganic]

Perfect! Thanks for that URL it makes a lot of sense. The 56 threw me off guard because many of the other libraries outside of python do not have this requirement in place.