What the ...?

Cryptsetup is a utility used to conveniently set up disk encryption based on the DMCrypt kernel module.

These include plain dm-crypt volumes, LUKS volumes, loop-AES, TrueCrypt (including VeraCrypt extension) and BitLocker formats.

The project also includes a veritysetup utility used to conveniently setup DMVerity block integrity checking kernel module and integritysetup to setup DMIntegrity block integrity kernel module.

LUKS Design

LUKS is the standard for Linux hard disk encryption. By providing a standard on-disk-format, it does not
only facilitate compatibility among distributions, but also provides secure management of multiple user passwords.
LUKS stores all necessary setup information in the partition header, enabling to transport or migrate data seamlessly.

Specifications

Last version of the LUKS2 format specification is available here.

Last version of the LUKS1 format specification is available here.

Why LUKS?

• compatibility via standardization,
• secure against low entropy attacks,
• support for multiple keys,
• effective passphrase revocation,
• free.

Project home page.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Download

All release tarballs and release notes are hosted on kernel.org.

The latest stable cryptsetup version is 2.5.0

• cryptsetup-2.5.0.tar.xz
• Signature cryptsetup-2.5.0.tar.sign (You need to decompress file first to check signature.)
• Cryptsetup 2.5.0 Release Notes.

Previous versions

• Version 2.4.3 - Signature - Release Notes.
• Version 1.7.5 - Signature - Release Notes.

Source and API docs

For development version code, please refer to source page, mirror on kernel.org or GitHub.

For libcryptsetup documentation see libcryptsetup API page.

The libcryptsetup API/ABI changes are tracked in compatibility report.

NLS PO files are maintained by TranslationProject.

Required packages

All distributions provide cryptsetup as distro package. If you need to compile cryptsetup yourself, some packages are required for compilation. Please always prefer distro specific build tools to manually configuring cryptsetup.

Here is the list of packages needed for the compilation of project for particular distributions:

• For Fedora: git gcc make autoconf automake gettext-devel pkgconfig openssl-devel popt-devel device-mapper-devel libuuid-devel json-c-devel libblkid-devel findutils libtool libssh-devel tar. Optionally libargon2-devel libpwquality-devel. To run the internal testsuite you also need to install sharutils device-mapper jq vim-common expect keyutils netcat shadow-utils openssh-clients openssh sshpass.

• For Debian and Ubuntu: git gcc make autoconf automake autopoint pkg-config libtool gettext libssl-dev libdevmapper-dev libpopt-dev uuid-dev libsepol1-dev libjson-c-dev libssh-dev libblkid-dev tar. Optionally libargon2-0-dev libpwquality-dev. To run the internal testsuite you also need to install sharutils dmsetup jq xxd expect keyutils netcat passwd openssh-client sshpass

Note that the list could change as the distributions evolve.

Compilation

The cryptsetup project uses automake and autoconf system to generate all needed files for compilation. If you check it from the git snapshot, use ./autogen.sh && ./configure && make to compile the project. If you use downloaded released *.tar.xz archive, the configure script is already pre-generated (no need to run autoconf.sh). See ./configure --help and use --disable-* and --enable-* options.

For running the test suite that come with the project, type make check. Note that most tests will need root user privileges and run many dangerous storage fail simulations. Do not run tests with root privilege on production systems! Some tests will need scsi_debug kernel module to be available.

For more details, please refer to automake and autoconf manuals.

Help!

Documentation

Please read the following documentation before posting questions in the mailing list. You will be able to ask better questions and better understand the answers.

• FAQ
• LUKS Specifications
• manuals (aka man page, man pages, man-page)

The FAQ is online and in the source code for the project. The Specifications are referenced above in this document. The man pages are in source and should be available after installation using standard man commands. e.g. man cryptsetup

Mailing List

For cryptsetup and LUKS related questions, please use the cryptsetup mailing list cryptsetup@lists.linux.dev, hosted at kernel.org subspace. To subscribe send an empty mail to cryptsetup+subscribe@lists.linux.dev.

You can also browse and/or search the mailing list archive. News (NNTP), Atom feed and git access to public inbox is available through lore.kernel.org service.

The former dm-crypt list archive is also available.