Bouncy Castle Specification & Interoperability

The following provides an overview of Bouncy Castle's capabilities and support, with relevant links to external standards and documentation.

Find what you're looking for

Packages and Standards

Certifications

Algorithms and Key Types

Message Digests and Expandable Output Functions

Post Quantum Algorithm Support

NIST PQC Competition Algorithms

CRL, OCSP and Certificate Distribution

Certificate Enrollment Protocols

Packages and Standards

Bouncy Castle Java supports the following formats and standards.

Supported Standard

External Reference

X.509 and PKIX.

RFC 5280

CMP

RFC 4210

CMS/PKCS#7: Cryptographic Message Syntax

RFC 5652

CRMF

RFC 4211

DANE: DNS-Based Authentication of Named Entities

RFC 7671

DVCS: Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Data Validation and Certification Server Protocols

RFC 4211

RFC 3029

DTLS: Datagram Transport Layer Security

RFC 6347

EAC: Extended Access Control (EAC) Certificates

BSI TR-03110

ERS: Evidence Record Syntax

RFC 4998

EST: Enrollment over Secure Transport

RFC 7030

ITS: Intelligent Transportation Systems

ETSI ITS

OpenPGP: OpenPGP Message Format

RFC 4880, 6637

RFC 4880, RFC 6637

PKCS#10: Certification Request Syntax

RFC 2986

PKCS#12: Personal Information Exchange Syntax

RFC 7292

TLS: Transport Layer Security

RFC 5246 etc.

RFC 5246, RFC 5932, RFC 6209,

RFC 8446, NIST SP 800-52 Rev. 2

TSP: Time-Stamp Protocol

RFC 3161, 5544

RFC 3161, RFC 5544

Certifications

The following lists certifications with relevant links to certificates and documentation.

Type

Language

Version

External Reference

Documentation

FIPS 140-2

Java

1.0.2.3, 1.0.2.2, 1.0.2.1

1.0.2.3
1.0.2.2
1.0.2.1

Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) Certificate #3514

BC-FJA 1.0.2 (Bouncy Castle FIPS Java API) User Guide

FIPS 140-2

Java

1.0.1

Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) Certificate #3152

Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) Certificate #3152 (Historical)

BC-FJA (Bouncy Castle FIPS Java API) User Guide

FIPS 140-2

Java

1.0.0

Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) Certificate #2768

Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) Certificate #2768 (Historical)

BC-FJA (Bouncy Castle FIPS Java API) User Guide

For more information about the Bouncy Castle FIPS Java API and how it presents cryptography, refer to The Bouncy Castle FIPS Java API in 100 Examples and sample code at https://www.bouncycastle.org/fips-java/bc-fips-100-java.tar.gz and https://www.bouncycastle.org/fips-java/bc-fips-100-java.zip.

Algorithms & Key Types

Bouncy Castle supports the following public key algorithm types and key size/curves.

Algorithm

External Reference

Diffie-Hellman

SP 800-56A

DSA

FIPS PUB 186-4, RFC 6979

DSTU

DSTU 4145-2002

ECDSA/ECDH

X9.62, FIPS PUB 186-4, RFC 5639, RFC 6979, SP 800-56A

X9.62, FIPS PUB 186-4, RFC 5639,

RFC 6979, SP 800-56A

EdDSA/XDH

DSTU 4145-2002

RFC 7748, RFC 8032
RFC 8410

ElGamal

RFC 4880

GOST

RFC 4490, RFC 7836

LMS/HSS

RFC 8554, RFC 8708

SM2

RFC 8998

RSA

RFC 8017, FIPS PUB 186-4, SP 800-56B

XMSS

RFC 8391

Symmetric Key Algorithms

Bouncy Castle supports the following symmetric key algorithms.

Algorithm

External Reference

AES

FIPS PUB 197, RFC 3394, RFC 5649

ARIA

RFC 5794, RFC 5649

Ascon

CAESAR, NIST Lightweight Competition Finalist

Camellia

RFC 3713, RFC 3657

CAST 5

RFC 2144

CAST 6

RFC 2612

CHACHA-7359

RFC 7359

DSTU 7624

DSTU 7624:2014

GOST 28147

RFC 5830

GOST 3412-2015

RFC 7801

GRAIN

eSTREAM Project

HC

eSTREAM Project

LEA

ISO/IEC 29192-2:2019

RC2

RFC 2268, RFC 3217

RC5

RFC 2040

Salsa20

eSTREAM Project

SEED

RFC 4269

SM4

RFC 8998

TripleDES

FIPS PUB 46-3, RFC 3217

Message Digests and Expandable Output Functions

Bouncy Castle supports the following Message Digests and Expandable Output Functions (XOFs).

Algorithm

External Reference

Ascon (Hash, XOF)

NIST Lightweight Competition Finalist

Blake2

RFC 7693

Blake3

cSHAKE-128, cSHAKE-256

SP 800-185

Kangaroo

KMAC-128, KMAC-256

SP 800-185

MD5

RFC 1321

ParallelHash-128, ParallelHash-256

SP 800-185

RIPEMD-128, RIPEMD-160, RIPEMD-256, RIPEMD-320

SHA-1

FIPS PUB 180-4

SHA224, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512, SHA512/224, SHA512/256

FIPS PUB 180-4

SHAKE-128, SHAKE-256

FIPS PUB 202, RFC 8702

SHA3-224, SHA3-256, SHA3-384, SHA3-512

FIPS PUB 202

SM3

RFC 8998

Tiger

Project NESSIE

TupleHash-128, TupleHash-256

SP 800-185

Whirlpool

Project NESSIE, ISO/IEC 10118-3

Post Quantum Algorithm Support

The following stateful hash-based signature algorithms are standardized and implemented.

Signature Algorithm

External Reference

LMS

SP 800-208, RFC 8554, RFC 8708

XMSS

SP 800-208, RFC 8391

NIST PQC Competition Algorithms

For further details on these algorithms, refer to NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography.

The Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms below are still under development. Published standards are unlikely to appear before mid-2024 and the algorithms may still change. You can start experimenting, but note that while the Key Encapsulation Algorithms (KEMs) are suitable for use with hybrid cryptography using short-term keys, the PQC algorithms below are still not suitable for use with anything long-term.

Key Encapsulation Algorithms (KEMs)

Key Encapsulation Algorithms

Status

Crystals-Kyber

Finalist, for standardization

BIKE

Round 4 Candidate

HQC

Round 4 Candidate

Classic McEliece

Round 4 Candidate, used by BIS

SABER

Round 3 Candidate

FrodoKEM

Round 3 Alternate Candidate, used by BIS

NTRU

Round 3 Candidate

NTRU Prime

Round 3 Alternate Candidate

Signature Algorithms

Signature Algorithm

Status

Crystals-Dilithium

Finalist, for standardization

SPHINCS+

Finalist, for standardization

Falcon

Finalist, for standardization

Picnic

Round 3 Candidate

Rainbow

Round 3 Candidate (cat III and cat V submission only)

GeMSS

Round 3 Candidate

CRL, OCSP and Certificate Distribution

Bouncy Castle supports the following CRL formats and standards.

Supported Standard

External Reference

CRL creation and URL based CRL Distribution Points.

RFC 5280

Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP), including AIA-extension and must-staple extension.

RFC 2560, RFC 6960, RFC 5019 and RFC 8964

RFC 2560, RFC 6960, RFC 5019

and RFC 8964

Certificate Enrollment Protocols

The following lists Certificate Enrollment Protocols and/or interfaces.

Protocol/Interface

External Reference

Documentation

Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP).

SCEP draft 23

SCEP

Certificate Management Protocol (CMP).

RFC 4210

CMP

Enrollment over Secure Transport (EST).

RFC 7030

EST