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Date:      Sat, 15 Sep 2018 20:18:19 +0100
From:      RW <rwmaillists@googlemail.com>
To:        freebsd-geom@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: geli - why do I need a keyfile
Message-ID:  <20180915201819.50ac10a3@gumby.homeunix.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAFPNf588xqRYZRoCACr2n_NyfMsMvrXPR4_DjWy4evBY_1HaAQ@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <CAFPNf588xqRYZRoCACr2n_NyfMsMvrXPR4_DjWy4evBY_1HaAQ@mail.gmail.com>

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On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 17:55:58 -0700
Lee Brown wrote:

> I want to create a geli provider as authentication only, no password,
> no encryption.  I do:
...
> Instead:
> # echo " " > /tmp/key
> solves that issue, but I still don't get why I even need a key file
> with -e NULL?

Because HMAC itself needs an encrypted secret key, otherwise anyone
could write to the device without it being detectable. 

Without a securely entered passphase, or a passfile on removable media,
HMAC doesn't provide any authentication, it just detects bitrot and
naive attempts to modify the filesystem. 





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