Update documentation regarding required output buffer memory size

[openssl.git] / doc / man3 / RSA_public_encrypt.pod

diff --git a/doc/man3/RSA_public_encrypt.pod b/doc/man3/RSA_public_encrypt.pod
index 4e3c119c25fc3dcbca6789782b1cf3e1fe346f8b..9c75944cae8c2fc1f3a73f3423b065fe7a8d92a0 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/man3/RSA_public_encrypt.pod
+++ b/doc/man3/RSA_public_encrypt.pod
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ RSA_public_encrypt, RSA_private_decrypt - RSA public key cryptography
 
  #include <openssl/rsa.h>
 
- int RSA_public_encrypt(int flen, unsigned char *from,
+ int RSA_public_encrypt(int flen, const unsigned char *from,
                         unsigned char *to, RSA *rsa, int padding);
 
- int RSA_private_decrypt(int flen, unsigned char *from,
+ int RSA_private_decrypt(int flen, const unsigned char *from,
                          unsigned char *to, RSA *rsa, int padding);
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ B<padding> denotes one of the following modes:
 =item RSA_PKCS1_PADDING
 
 PKCS #1 v1.5 padding. This currently is the most widely used mode.
+However, it is highly recommended to use RSA_PKCS1_OAEP_PADDING in
+new applications. SEE WARNING BELOW.
 
 =item RSA_PKCS1_OAEP_PADDING
 
@@ -46,23 +48,35 @@ Encrypting user data directly with RSA is insecure.
 
 =back
 
-B<flen> must be less than RSA_size(B<rsa>) - 11 for the PKCS #1 v1.5
-based padding modes, less than RSA_size(B<rsa>) - 41 for
+B<flen> must not be more than RSA_size(B<rsa>) - 11 for the PKCS #1 v1.5
+based padding modes, not more than RSA_size(B<rsa>) - 42 for
 RSA_PKCS1_OAEP_PADDING and exactly RSA_size(B<rsa>) for RSA_NO_PADDING.
-The random number generator must be seeded prior to calling
-RSA_public_encrypt().
+When a padding mode other than RSA_NO_PADDING is in use, then
+RSA_public_encrypt() will include some random bytes into the ciphertext
+and therefore the ciphertext will be different each time, even if the
+plaintext and the public key are exactly identical.
+The returned ciphertext in B<to> will always be zero padded to exactly
+RSA_size(B<rsa>) bytes.
+B<to> and B<from> may overlap.
 
 RSA_private_decrypt() decrypts the B<flen> bytes at B<from> using the
-private key B<rsa> and stores the plaintext in B<to>. B<to> must point
-to a memory section large enough to hold the decrypted data (which is
-smaller than RSA_size(B<rsa>)). B<padding> is the padding mode that
-was used to encrypt the data.
+private key B<rsa> and stores the plaintext in B<to>. B<flen> should
+be equal to RSA_size(B<rsa>) but may be smaller, when leading zero
+bytes are in the ciphertext. Those are not important and may be removed,
+but RSA_public_encrypt() does not do that. B<to> must point
+to a memory section large enough to hold the maximal possible decrypted
+data (which is equal to RSA_size(B<rsa>) for RSA_NO_PADDING,
+RSA_size(B<rsa>) - 11 for the PKCS #1 v1.5 based padding modes and
+RSA_size(B<rsa>) - 42 for RSA_PKCS1_OAEP_PADDING).
+B<padding> is the padding mode that was used to encrypt the data.
+B<to> and B<from> may overlap.
 
 =head1 RETURN VALUES
 
 RSA_public_encrypt() returns the size of the encrypted data (i.e.,
 RSA_size(B<rsa>)). RSA_private_decrypt() returns the size of the
-recovered plaintext.
+recovered plaintext. A return value of 0 is not an error and
+means only that the plaintext was empty.
 
 On error, -1 is returned; the error codes can be
 obtained by L<ERR_get_error(3)>.
@@ -85,7 +99,7 @@ L<RSA_size(3)>
 
 =head1 COPYRIGHT
 
-Copyright 2000-2016 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
+Copyright 2000-2019 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
 
 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License").  You may not use
 this file except in compliance with the License.  You can obtain a copy