--- name: encryption version: 1.0.0 domain: security/cryptography risk_level: HIGH languages: [python, typescript, rust, go] frameworks: [sqlcipher, cryptography, libsodium] requires_security_review: true compliance: [GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOC2] last_updated: 2025-01-15 --- > **MANDATORY READING PROTOCOL**: Before implementing ANY encryption, read `references/advanced-patterns.md` for key derivation and `references/security-examples.md` for implementation patterns.
Scanned 2/12/2026
Install via CLI
openskills install majiayu000/claude-skill-registry# Encryption Skill
---
name: encryption
version: 1.0.0
domain: security/cryptography
risk_level: HIGH
languages: [python, typescript, rust, go]
frameworks: [sqlcipher, cryptography, libsodium]
requires_security_review: true
compliance: [GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOC2]
last_updated: 2025-01-15
---
> **MANDATORY READING PROTOCOL**: Before implementing ANY encryption, read `references/advanced-patterns.md` for key derivation and `references/security-examples.md` for implementation patterns.
## 1. Overview
### 1.1 Purpose and Scope
This skill provides secure-by-default patterns for implementing encryption in JARVIS AI Assistant, covering:
- **SQLCipher**: Encrypted SQLite database with AES-256-GCM
- **Argon2id**: Memory-hard key derivation function
- **Key Management**: Secure generation, storage, rotation, and destruction
- **Secure Memory**: Protection against memory disclosure attacks
### 1.2 Risk Assessment
**Risk Level**: HIGH
**Justification**:
- Cryptographic failures expose all protected data
- Key compromise leads to complete confidentiality loss
- Implementation errors are catastrophic and often undetectable
- Regulatory violations (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS) carry severe penalties
**Attack Surface**:
- Key derivation weaknesses
- Insecure random number generation
- Timing side-channels
- Memory disclosure (cold boot, crash dumps)
- Key reuse across contexts
## 2. Core Responsibilities
### 2.1 Primary Functions
1. **Encrypt data at rest** using AES-256-GCM with authenticated encryption
2. **Derive keys securely** using Argon2id with appropriate parameters
3. **Manage key lifecycle** including rotation, escrow, and destruction
4. **Protect key material** in memory and during operations
5. **Integrate with OS keychains** for master key storage
### 2.2 Core Principles
1. **TDD First** - Write tests before implementation; test encryption/decryption round-trips, authentication failures, and edge cases
2. **Performance Aware** - Cache derived keys, use streaming for large data, leverage hardware acceleration
3. **Security by Default** - Use authenticated encryption modes, memory-hard KDFs, secure random sources
4. **Defense in Depth** - Multiple layers of protection, fail securely, minimize key exposure
### 2.3 Security Principles
- **NEVER** implement custom cryptographic algorithms
- **NEVER** use ECB mode or unauthenticated encryption
- **ALWAYS** use cryptographically secure random number generators
- **ALWAYS** validate ciphertext authenticity before decryption
- **ALWAYS** use constant-time comparison for authentication tags
## 3. Implementation Workflow (TDD)
### Step 1: Write Failing Test First
```python
import pytest
from cryptography.exceptions import InvalidTag
class TestEncryptionTDD:
"""TDD tests for encryption implementation."""
def test_encrypt_decrypt_roundtrip(self):
"""Test that encryption followed by decryption returns original data."""
from jarvis.security.encryption import SecureEncryption
key = secrets.token_bytes(32)
encryptor = SecureEncryption(key)
plaintext = b"sensitive data for JARVIS"
ciphertext = encryptor.encrypt(plaintext)
decrypted = encryptor.decrypt(ciphertext)
assert decrypted == plaintext
assert ciphertext != plaintext # Must be encrypted
def test_tampered_ciphertext_raises_error(self):
"""Test that tampered ciphertext is rejected."""
from jarvis.security.encryption import SecureEncryption
key = secrets.token_bytes(32)
encryptor = SecureEncryption(key)
ciphertext = encryptor.encrypt(b"secret")
tampered = ciphertext[:-1] + bytes([ciphertext[-1] ^ 0xFF])
with pytest.raises(InvalidTag):
encryptor.decrypt(tampered)
def test_key_derivation_consistency(self):
"""Same password + salt = same key; different salt = different key."""
from jarvis.security.encryption import SecureKeyDerivation
password = "strong_password_123"
salt = secrets.token_bytes(16)
key1, _ = SecureKeyDerivation.derive_key(password, salt)
key2, _ = SecureKeyDerivation.derive_key(password, salt)
assert key1 == key2 and len(key1) == 32
key3, salt3 = SecureKeyDerivation.derive_key(password)
assert key1 != key3 # Different salt = different key
```
### Step 2: Implement Minimum to Pass
Implement only what's needed to pass the tests. Start with basic encryption/decryption, then add key derivation.
### Step 3: Refactor Following Patterns
After tests pass, add: memory protection, error handling, AAD support, key caching.
### Step 4: Run Full Verification
```bash
# Run encryption tests with coverage
pytest tests/security/test_encryption.py -v --cov=jarvis.security.encryption --cov-fail-under=90
# Run security-specific tests
pytest tests/security/ -k "encryption or crypto" -v
# Check for timing vulnerabilities
pytest tests/security/test_timing.py -v
# Verify no secrets in output
pytest --log-cli-level=DEBUG 2>&1 | grep -i "key\|secret\|password" && echo "WARNING: Secrets in logs!"
```
## 4. Technology Stack
### 4.1 Recommended Libraries
| Language | Library | Version | Notes |
|----------|---------|---------|-------|
| Python | `cryptography` | >=42.0.0 | Uses OpenSSL 3.x backend |
| Python | `argon2-cffi` | >=23.1.0 | Reference Argon2 implementation |
| TypeScript | `@noble/ciphers` | >=0.5.0 | Audited pure-JS implementation |
| Rust | `ring` | >=0.17.0 | BoringSSL-backed |
| Go | `crypto/cipher` | stdlib | Use with `golang.org/x/crypto` |
### 4.2 SQLCipher Configuration
**Minimum Version**: SQLCipher 4.5.6+ (includes SQLite 3.44.2)
```python
# SQLCipher secure configuration
SQLCIPHER_PRAGMAS = {
'key': None, # Set via secure key injection
'cipher': 'aes-256-gcm',
'kdf_iter': 256000, # PBKDF2 iterations
'cipher_page_size': 4096,
'cipher_kdf_algorithm': 'PBKDF2_HMAC_SHA512',
'cipher_hmac_algorithm': 'HMAC_SHA512',
'cipher_plaintext_header_size': 0,
}
```
## 5. Performance Patterns
### 5.1 Key Caching
**Bad:** Deriving key on every operation (~500ms per Argon2id call)
**Good - Cache with TTL:**
```python
class CachedKeyManager:
def __init__(self, cache_ttl: int = 300):
self._cache: dict[str, tuple[bytes, float]] = {}
self._ttl = cache_ttl
def get_key(self, password: str, salt: bytes) -> bytes:
cache_key = f"{hash(password)}:{salt.hex()}"
if cache_key in self._cache:
key, ts = self._cache[cache_key]
if time.time() - ts < self._ttl:
return key
key, _ = SecureKeyDerivation.derive_key(password, salt)
self._cache[cache_key] = (key, time.time())
return key
```
### 5.2 Streaming Encryption for Large Data
**Bad:** `data = f.read()` loads entire file into memory
**Good - Stream with chunking (64KB chunks):**
```python
nonce = secrets.token_bytes(12)
encryptor = Cipher(algorithms.AES(key), modes.GCM(nonce)).encryptor()
with open(input_path, 'rb') as fin, open(output_path, 'wb') as fout:
fout.write(nonce)
while chunk := fin.read(64 * 1024):
fout.write(encryptor.update(chunk))
fout.write(encryptor.finalize() + encryptor.tag)
```
### 5.3 Hardware Acceleration
**Bad:** PyCryptodome without OpenSSL backend (10-100x slower)
**Good:** Use `cryptography` library - auto-detects AES-NI via OpenSSL 3.x backend
### 5.4 Batch Operations
**Bad - Individual loop with append:**
```python
results = []
for record in records:
results.append(encryptor.encrypt(record))
```
**Good - List comprehension with single encryptor:**
```python
encryptor = SecureEncryption(key)
results = [encryptor.encrypt(record) for record in records]
# For large batches, use ProcessPoolExecutor for parallelization
```
### 5.5 Memory-Safe Key Handling
**Bad - Keys remain in memory:**
```python
self.key = SecureKeyDerivation.derive_key(password) # Never cleared
```
**Good - Zero keys after use with context manager:**
```python
import ctypes
class SecureKeyHolder:
def __init__(self, password: str):
self._key, self.salt = SecureKeyDerivation.derive_key(password)
def __exit__(self, *args):
if self._key:
key_buffer = (ctypes.c_char * len(self._key)).from_buffer_copy(self._key)
ctypes.memset(key_buffer, 0, len(self._key))
self._key = None
# Usage: with SecureKeyHolder(password) as kh: encrypt(kh._key, data)
```
## 6. Implementation Patterns
### 6.1 Key Derivation with Argon2id
```python
from argon2 import PasswordHasher
from argon2.low_level import hash_secret_raw, Type
import secrets
class SecureKeyDerivation:
"""Derive encryption keys from passwords using Argon2id."""
# OWASP recommended parameters for sensitive data
TIME_COST = 3 # Iterations
MEMORY_COST = 65536 # 64 MiB
PARALLELISM = 4 # Threads
HASH_LEN = 32 # 256 bits for AES-256
SALT_LEN = 16 # 128 bits minimum
@classmethod
def derive_key(cls, password: str, salt: bytes = None) -> tuple[bytes, bytes]:
"""
Derive a 256-bit key from password.
Returns:
tuple: (derived_key, salt) for storage
"""
if salt is None:
salt = secrets.token_bytes(cls.SALT_LEN)
# Validate inputs
if not password or len(password) < 12:
raise ValueError("Password must be at least 12 characters")
key = hash_secret_raw(
secret=password.encode('utf-8'),
salt=salt,
time_cost=cls.TIME_COST,
memory_cost=cls.MEMORY_COST,
parallelism=cls.PARALLELISM,
hash_len=cls.HASH_LEN,
type=Type.ID # Argon2id
)
return key, salt
```
### 6.2 AES-256-GCM Encryption
```python
from cryptography.hazmat.primitives.ciphers.aead import AESGCM
import secrets
class SecureEncryption:
"""AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption."""
NONCE_SIZE = 12 # 96 bits recommended for GCM
KEY_SIZE = 32 # 256 bits
def __init__(self, key: bytes):
if len(key) != self.KEY_SIZE:
raise ValueError(f"Key must be {self.KEY_SIZE} bytes")
self._aesgcm = AESGCM(key)
def encrypt(self, plaintext: bytes, associated_data: bytes = None) -> bytes:
"""
Encrypt with random nonce, prepended to ciphertext.
Returns:
bytes: nonce || ciphertext || tag
"""
nonce = secrets.token_bytes(self.NONCE_SIZE)
ciphertext = self._aesgcm.encrypt(nonce, plaintext, associated_data)
return nonce + ciphertext
def decrypt(self, ciphertext: bytes, associated_data: bytes = None) -> bytes:
"""
Decrypt and verify authenticity.
Raises:
InvalidTag: If authentication fails
"""
if len(ciphertext) < self.NONCE_SIZE + 16: # nonce + tag minimum
raise ValueError("Ciphertext too short")
nonce = ciphertext[:self.NONCE_SIZE]
actual_ciphertext = ciphertext[self.NONCE_SIZE:]
return self._aesgcm.decrypt(nonce, actual_ciphertext, associated_data)
```
### 6.3 SQLCipher Database Integration
```python
import sqlcipher3
from contextlib import contextmanager
class EncryptedDatabase:
"""Encrypted SQLite database using SQLCipher."""
def __init__(self, db_path: str, key: bytes):
self._db_path = db_path
self._key = key
self._conn = None
@contextmanager
def connect(self):
"""Context manager for database connections."""
conn = sqlcipher3.connect(self._db_path)
try:
# Apply security pragmas
conn.execute(f"PRAGMA key = \"x'{self._key.hex()}'\";")
conn.execute("PRAGMA cipher = 'aes-256-gcm';")
conn.execute("PRAGMA kdf_iter = 256000;")
conn.execute("PRAGMA cipher_page_size = 4096;")
# Verify encryption is active
result = conn.execute("PRAGMA cipher_version;").fetchone()
if not result:
raise RuntimeError("SQLCipher encryption not active")
yield conn
conn.commit()
except Exception:
conn.rollback()
raise
finally:
conn.close()
def rekey(self, new_key: bytes):
"""Rotate database encryption key."""
with self.connect() as conn:
conn.execute(f"PRAGMA rekey = \"x'{new_key.hex()}'\";")
self._key = new_key
```
## 7. Security Standards
### 7.1 Known Vulnerabilities
| CVE | Severity | Component | Description | Mitigation |
|-----|----------|-----------|-------------|------------|
| CVE-2020-27207 | High | SQLCipher <4.4.1 | Use-after-free in codec pragma | Upgrade to 4.5.6+ |
| CVE-2024-0232 | Medium | SQLite <3.44.0 | Heap use-after-free in JSON | Upgrade SQLCipher 4.5.6+ |
| CVE-2023-42811 | High | aes-gcm (Rust) | Plaintext exposure on auth failure | Upgrade to 0.10.3+ |
| CVE-2024-4603 | Medium | OpenSSL | Key derivation timing attack | Upgrade OpenSSL 3.3+ |
| CVE-2023-48056 | Medium | Crypto libs | IV reuse detection failure | Use random nonces |
### 7.2 OWASP Mapping
| OWASP 2025 | Relevance | Implementation |
|------------|-----------|----------------|
| A02: Cryptographic Failures | Critical | AES-256-GCM, Argon2id, secure RNG |
| A04: Insecure Design | High | Threat modeling, key rotation |
| A05: Security Misconfiguration | High | Secure defaults, validation |
| A08: Software Integrity Failures | Medium | Authenticated encryption |
### 7.3 Cryptography Standards
**Approved Algorithms**:
- Symmetric: AES-256-GCM (primary), ChaCha20-Poly1305 (alternative)
- KDF: Argon2id (primary), PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512 (SQLCipher)
- Hash: SHA-256, SHA-512, BLAKE2b
- RNG: OS CSPRNG only (`secrets` module, `/dev/urandom`)
**Prohibited**:
- DES, 3DES, RC4, Blowfish
- MD5, SHA-1 for security purposes
- ECB mode for any cipher
- Custom random number generators
## 8. Testing Requirements
See Section 3 (Implementation Workflow - TDD) for comprehensive test examples including:
- Encryption/decryption round-trips
- Ciphertext tampering detection
- Key derivation consistency
- Nonce uniqueness validation
## 9. Common Mistakes
### 9.1 Critical Anti-Patterns
| Anti-Pattern | Never Do | Always Do |
|--------------|----------|-----------|
| ECB Mode | `modes.ECB()` | `AESGCM(key)` |
| Hardcoded Keys | `SECRET_KEY = b"..."` | `os_keychain.get_key()` |
| Predictable Nonces | `struct.pack(">Q", time())` | `secrets.token_bytes(12)` |
| No Auth | `modes.CBC(iv)` | `aesgcm.encrypt(nonce, pt, aad)` |
| Weak KDF | `sha256(password)` | `Argon2id.derive_key()` |
## 10. Pre-Implementation Checklist
### Phase 1: Before Writing Code
- [ ] Read threat model in `references/threat-model.md`
- [ ] Identify data classification (PII, PHI, credentials)
- [ ] Choose appropriate algorithm (AES-256-GCM or ChaCha20-Poly1305)
- [ ] Design key derivation strategy (Argon2id parameters)
- [ ] Plan key storage (OS keychain integration)
- [ ] Write failing tests for encrypt/decrypt round-trips
- [ ] Write tests for authentication tag verification
- [ ] Write tests for key derivation consistency
### Phase 2: During Implementation
- [ ] Use `cryptography` library (not custom implementations)
- [ ] Generate nonces with `secrets.token_bytes(12)`
- [ ] Implement key caching with TTL for performance
- [ ] Use streaming for files >10MB
- [ ] Zero key material after use (SecureKeyHolder pattern)
- [ ] Add associated data (AAD) for context binding
- [ ] Handle InvalidTag exceptions without leaking info
- [ ] Run tests after each function implementation
### Phase 3: Before Committing
- [ ] All TDD tests pass with 90%+ coverage
- [ ] Nonce uniqueness validated over 10,000+ operations
- [ ] Key derivation timing variance <10%
- [ ] No secrets in logs (`grep -i "key\|secret\|password"`)
- [ ] Dependency scanning clean (no CVEs)
- [ ] Performance benchmarks meet targets:
- Key derivation: <1s
- Encryption: >100MB/s
- Batch operations: Linear scaling
- [ ] Security review requested for HIGH risk code
## 11. Summary
**Key Objectives**: AES-256-GCM with random nonces, Argon2id KDF, OS keychain integration, authenticated encryption, key rotation support.
**Security Reminders**: No custom crypto, use audited libraries, test auth tags, rotate keys on schedule.
**References**: `references/advanced-patterns.md`, `references/security-examples.md`, `references/threat-model.md`
---
**Encryption done wrong is worse than no encryption - it provides false confidence.**
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