HowTo: Linux Hard Disk Encryption With LUKS [ cryptsetup Command ]

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Dear nixCraft,
I carry my Linux powered laptop just about everywhere. How do I protect my private data stored on partition or removable storage media against bare-metal attacks where anyone can get their hands on my laptop or usb pen drive while traveling?
Sincerely,
Worried about my data.

Dear Worried Linux user,
That's actually a great question. Many enterprises, small business, and government users need to encrypt their laptop to protect confidential information such as customer details, files, contact information and much more. Linux supports the following cryptographic techniques to protect a hard disk, directory, and partition. All data that is written on any one of the following techniques will automatically encrypted, and decrypted on the fly.

Linux encryption methods

There are two methods to encrypt your data:

#1: Filesystem stacked level encryption

1. eCryptfs - It is a cryptographic stacked Linux filesystem. eCryptfs stores cryptographic metadata in the header of each file written, so that encrypted files can be copied between hosts; the file will be decrypted with the proper key in the Linux kernel keyring. This solution is widely used, as the basis for Ubuntu's Encrypted Home Directory, natively within Google's ChromeOS, and transparently embedded in several network attached storage (NAS) devices.
2. EncFS -It provides an encrypted filesystem in user-space. It runs without any special permissions and uses the FUSE library and Linux kernel module to provide the filesystem interface. You can find links to source and binary releases below. EncFS is open source software, licensed under the GPL.

#2: Block device level encryption

1. Loop-AES - Fast and transparent file system and swap encryption package for linux. No source code changes to linux kernel. Works with 3.x, 2.6, 2.4, 2.2 and 2.0 kernels.
2. Truecrypt - It is free open-source disk encryption software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux.
3. dm-crypt+LUKS - dm-crypt is a transparent disk encryption subsystem in Linux kernel v2.6+ and later and DragonFly BSD. It can encrypt whole disks, removable media, partitions, software RAID volumes, logical volumes, and files.

In this post, I will explain how to encrypt your partitions using Linux Unified Key Setup-on-disk-format (LUKS) on your Linux based computer or laptop.

Step #1: Install cryptsetup utility

You need to install the following package. It contains cryptsetup, a utility for setting up encrypted filesystems using Device Mapper and the dm-crypt target. Debian / Ubuntu Linux user type the following apt-get command:
# apt-get install cryptsetup
Sample outputs:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  cryptsetup-bin libcryptsetup4
Suggested packages:
  busybox
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  cryptsetup cryptsetup-bin libcryptsetup4
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded.
Need to get 168 kB of archives.
After this operation, 669 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Get:1 http://ap-northeast-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main libcryptsetup4 amd64 2:1.4.1-2ubuntu4 [55.8 kB]
Get:2 http://ap-northeast-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main cryptsetup-bin amd64 2:1.4.1-2ubuntu4 [32.2 kB]
Get:3 http://ap-northeast-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main cryptsetup amd64 2:1.4.1-2ubuntu4 [80.0 kB]
Fetched 168 kB in 0s (268 kB/s)
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package libcryptsetup4.
(Reading database ... 25374 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libcryptsetup4 (from .../libcryptsetup4_2%3a1.4.1-2ubuntu4_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package cryptsetup-bin.
Unpacking cryptsetup-bin (from .../cryptsetup-bin_2%3a1.4.1-2ubuntu4_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package cryptsetup.
Unpacking cryptsetup (from .../cryptsetup_2%3a1.4.1-2ubuntu4_amd64.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
Setting up libcryptsetup4 (2:1.4.1-2ubuntu4) ...
Setting up cryptsetup-bin (2:1.4.1-2ubuntu4) ...
Setting up cryptsetup (2:1.4.1-2ubuntu4) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-31-virtual

RHEL / CentOS / Fedora Linux user type the following yum command:
# yum install cryptsetup-luks

Step #2: Configure LUKS partition

In this example, I'm going to encrpt /dev/xvdc. Type the following command:
# cryptsetup -y -v luksFormat /dev/xvdc
Sample outputs:

 
WARNING!
========
This will overwrite data on /dev/xvdc irrevocably.
 
Are you sure? (Type uppercase yes): YES
Enter LUKS passphrase:
Verify passphrase:
Command successful.
 

This command initializes the volume, and sets an initial key or passphrase. Please note that the passphrase is not recoverable so do not forget it.Type the following command create a mapping:
# cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/xvdc backup2
Sample outputs:

Enter passphrase for /dev/xvdc:

You can see a mapping name /dev/mapper/backup2 after successful verification of the supplied key material which was created with luksFormat command extension:
# ls -l /dev/mapper/backup2
Sample outputs:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Oct 19 19:37 /dev/mapper/backup2 -> ../dm-0

You can use the following command to see the status for the mapping:
# cryptsetup -v status backup2
Sample outputs:

/dev/mapper/backup2 is active.
  type:    LUKS1
  cipher:  aes-cbc-essiv:sha256
  keysize: 256 bits
  device:  /dev/xvdc
  offset:  4096 sectors
  size:    419426304 sectors
  mode:    read/write
Command successful.

You can dump LUKS headers using the following command:
# cryptsetup luksDump /dev/xvdc

Step #3: Format LUKS partition

First, you need to write zeros to /dev/mapper/backup2 encrypted device. This will allocate block data with zeros. This ensures that outside world will see this as random data i.e. it protect against disclosure of usage patterns:
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mapper/backup2
The dd command may take many hours to complete. I suggest that you use pv command to monitor the progress:
# pv -tpreb /dev/zero | dd of=/dev/mapper/backup2 bs=128M
To create a filesystem i.e. format filesystem, enter:
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/backup2
To mount the new filesystem at /backup2, enter:
# mkdir /backup2
# mount /dev/mapper/backup2 /backup2
# df -H
# cd /backup2
# ls -l

How do I unmount and secure data?

Type the following commands:
# umount /backup2
# cryptsetup luksClose backup2

How do I mount or remount encrypted partition?

Type the following command:
# cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/xvdc backup2
# mount /dev/mapper/backup2 /backup2
# df -H
# mount
See shell script wrapper that opens LUKS partition and sets up a mapping for nas devices.

Can I run fsck on LUKS based partition / LVM volume?

Yes, you can use the fsck command On LUKS based systems:
# umount /backup2
# fsck -vy /dev/mapper/backup2
# mount /dev/mapper/backup2 /backu2
See how to run fsck On LUKS (dm-crypt) based LVM physical volume for more details.

How do I change LUKS passphrase (password) for encrypted partition?

Type the following command
### see key slots, max -8 i.e. max 8 passwords can be setup for each device ####
# cryptsetup luksDump /dev/xvdc
# cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/xvdc

Enter any passphrase:
Enter new passphrase for key slot:
Verify passphrase:

Remove or delete the old password:
# cryptsetup luksRemoveKey /dev/xvdc
Please note that you need to enter the old password / passphrase.

Check out related media

This tutorial also available in video format:

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