After a year and a half of development, the release of the VeraCrypt 1.26 project has been made public. This project is a fork of the TrueCrypt disk encryption system, which has ceased to exist. VeraCrypt is notable for replacing the RIPEMD-160 algorithm used in TrueCrypt with SHA-512 and SHA-256, increasing the number of hashing iterations, simplifying the build process for Linux and macOS, and addressing issues identified during the auditing of TrueCrypt's source code. The last official release of VeraCrypt, version 1.25.9, was published in February 2022. The code developed by the VeraCrypt project is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, while borrowings from TrueCrypt continue to be supplied under the TrueCrypt License 3.0. Pre-built binaries are available for Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, and macOS.
Among the changes in the new version:
- Support for the use of smart banking cards compliant with the EMV standard as a key storage for accessing non-system partitions has been added. EMV cards can be used in VeraCrypt without the need for a separate configuration of the PKCS#11 module and without entering a PIN code. The contents of the key file are generated based on unique data present on the card.
- Compatibility mode with TrueCrypt has been removed. The last version supporting the mounting or conversion of TrueCrypt partitions is VeraCrypt 1.25.9.
- Support for the RIPEMD160 and GOST89 encryption algorithms has been completely removed. Partitions created using these algorithms can no longer be mounted with VeraCrypt.
- For standard and system-encrypted partitions, the ability to use a new Pseudo-Random Function (PRF) algorithm, utilizing the BLAKE2s hash function, has been implemented.
- Changes in the Linux version:
- Improved compatibility with the Alpine Linux distribution and the standard C library musl.
- Resolved compatibility issues with Ubuntu 23.04 and wxWidgets 3.1.6+.
- The version of the wxWidgets framework in static builds has been updated to 3.2.2.1.
- The implementation of the pseudo-random number generator has been brought in line with official documentation and aligned in behavior closer to the implementation for Windows.
- A bug in the pseudo-random number generator that caused test execution failures when using the Blake2s algorithm has been fixed.
- Resolved issues with the fsck utility launch.
- The issue with selecting the wrong size for hidden partitions when using the mode to utilize all free disk space has been resolved.
- The crash when creating hidden partitions through the command line interface has been fixed.
- Errors in the text mode of the interface have been corrected. The selection of exFAT and BTRFS file systems is prohibited if they are incompatible with the partitions being created.
- Compatibility with classic installers of older Linux distributions has been established.
- A recommendation has been implemented to add an additional check, excluding the coincidence of primary and secondary keys when creating partitions. Due to the use of a pseudorandom number generator in key formation, key coincidences are unlikely, and the check has been added mainly to completely rule out hypothetical attacks.
- In builds for the Windows platform, memory protection mode is enabled by default, preventing reading of VeraCrypt memory contents by processes without administrative privileges (this may disrupt compatibility with screen readers). Protection against code injection into VeraCrypt memory by other processes has been added. The implementation of memory encryption and the quick creation of file containers has been improved. Support for the original Windows bootloader in recovery mode has been enhanced in the EFI Bootloader. An option for mounting without using cache has been added to the menu. Issues causing increasing slowdown during Encrypt-In-Place in large partitions have been resolved. Support for moving files and keys in drag-and-drop mode has been added in Expander. A more modern file and folder selection dialog has been engaged, better compatible with Windows 11. The safe DLL loading mode has been improved.
- Support for older versions of Windows has been discontinued. Windows 10 is now declared as the minimum supported version. Theoretically, VeraCrypt can still run on Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1, but testing for correctness on these platforms is no longer conducted.
Source: opennet.ru
