PKCS#11 3.2 support

[vesajaaskelainen]

OASIS has provided new PKCS#11 Specification Version 3.2 draft for comments:

https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-spec/v3.2/csd01/pkcs11-spec-v3.2-csd01.html
https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-profiles/v3.2/csd01/pkcs11-profiles-v3.2-csd01.html

How to Provide Feedback
OASIS and the PKCS #11 value your feedback. We solicit input from developers, users and others, whether OASIS members or not, for the sake of
improving the interoperability and quality of its technical work.
The public review is now open and ends 29 July 2025 at 23:59 UTC.

Most notable change there are:

• Post quantum cryptography support
  • FIPS 203, Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism Standard (ML-KEM)
  • FIPS 204, Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Standard (ML-DSA)
  • FIPS 205, Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Standard (SLH-DSA)
• Combined operations support (i.e. calculate hash during the signing operation)

Related activities:

• PKCS#11 provider support: Add PKCS#11 3.2 support openssl-projects/pkcs11-provider#590
• PKCS#11 software implementation: https://github.com/latchset/kryoptic
• openssl 3.5 brings (direct) post quantum support: https://openssl-foundation.org/post/2025-04-22-pqc/

I suppose the major problems to solve are at least:

• GlobalPlatform support for the operations
• Crypto library support for the operations
• Final release for the PKCS#11 3.2 specification

If there is any feedback for the specification now would be good time :)

[vesajaaskelainen]

I don't have visibility for GlobalPlatform activities public side has been a bit silent for a while -- perhaps there is already something brewing?

[vesajaaskelainen]

Could someone mark this as enhancement?

[jforissier]

Hi @vesajaaskelainen,

Thanks for creating this issue.
Regarding the GlobalPlatform support for the PQC operations: it will be part of the TEE Internal Core API 1.4.0 specification. AFAIK, the document is technically ready for public review and GP is doing editorial work. So publication should happen soon(ish) although I don't know when exactly. ML-KEM, ML-DSA and SLH-DSA are part of that spec. All the PQC algorithms are optional. This means that we probably should implement the algos in the TEE Core and have the PKCS#11 TA access them via the GP APIs, like we did for all (almost all?) the traditional algorithms.

[embetrix]

mbedtls & libtomcrypt have no timeline yet to integrate PQC algorithms:

Mbed-TLS/mbedtls#9803

libtom/libtomcrypt#461

Maybe use liboqs with minimal static build directly into Optee to make use of PQC ?

[jenswikl]

Yes, perhaps. I guess we'll use a custom configuration with only the parts we need.

[vesajaaskelainen]

Is there any knowledge has the needed API's been released with PQC support?

I suppose new pkcs#11 standard is not yet ready (in finalization phases AFAIK) -- but if GP API is ready then that work could in theory start.

What crypto to use I cannot recommend anything over something. liboqs states that it is not production ready.

[jenswikl]

The 1.4 GP spec has just been released.
https://globalplatform.org/specs-library/tee-internal-core-api-specification/

I haven't checked in detail what it covers, but the list was quite long.

[vesajaaskelainen]

The 1.4 GP spec has just been released. https://globalplatform.org/specs-library/tee-internal-core-api-specification/

I haven't checked in detail what it covers, but the list was quite long.

Here is the extract for "release notes":

Added PQC optional algorithm support.
TEE_TYPE_MLKEM
TEE_TYPE_MLDSA
TEE_TYPE_FALCON
TEE_TYPE_SLHDSA
TEE_TYPE_LMOTS
TEE_TYPE_LMS
TEE_TYPE_XMSS
TEE_TYPE_WOTS
TEE_TYPE_FRODOKEM
TEE_TYPE_NTRU

But that being said -- they also seem to have some other changes that sounds that they would need tree wide update.

I hope that they have synched with PKCS#11 working group ;)

[jenswikl]

We don't need to do a full upgrade in one go. We can start with the pieces we need first. Once we have all the mandatory things in place, we can update the version to 1.4.

I hope that they have synched with PKCS#11 working group ;)

Yeah, to me it looks like they couldn't decide what to pick, so they took it all. :-)

[embetrix]

Hi, I discovered this PQC lib recently:

https://leancrypto.org/

It looks like it's more mature that liboqs and already made it to GnuTLS project:

smuellerDD/leancrypto#49

[dhanajit]

Hello,

Any new information on getting PQC support (ML-DSA, ML-KEM) into OP-TEE?

The Mbed TLS roadmap shows ML-DSA initial support in 2026 CQ2, with ML-KEM still undated. Is the plan to wait for mbedtls, or is there interest in integrating an alternative like liboqs/leancrypto to get PQC sooner?

Thank you!

[embetrix]

Note that leancrypto made it to Linux kernel 7.0:

https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/11/30/5