--- title: Linux 7.3 Introduces New AES Encryption APIs - Will Open... description: New library APIs for AES encryption modes (ECB, CBC, CBC-CTS, CTR, XCTR, XTS, GCM, CCM) have been merged for the Linux 7.3 kernel cycle, developed by Eric... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-introduces-new-aes-encryption-apis---will-open-up-more-performance-lb7isu837 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Linux 7.3 Introduces New AES Encryption APIs - Will Open Up More Performance | daily.dev og:description: New library APIs for AES encryption modes (ECB, CBC, CBC-CTS, CTR, XCTR, XTS, GCM, CCM) have been merged for the Linux 7.3 kernel cycle, developed by Eric... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-introduces-new-aes-encryption-apis---will-open-up-more-performance-lb7isu837 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/lB7isU837.png og:image:alt: Linux 7.3 Introduces New AES Encryption APIs - Will Open Up More Performance og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Linux 7.3 Introduces New AES Encryption APIs - Will Open Up More Performance **[Phoronix](https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary New library APIs for AES encryption modes (ECB, CBC, CBC-CTS, CTR, XCTR, XTS, GCM, CCM) have been merged for the Linux 7.3 kernel cycle, developed by Eric Biggers of Google. These replace the harder-to-use and less efficient crypto_skcipher and crypto_aead APIs, are fully documented, and are wired into the traditional crypto API for self-testing. This is a prerequisite step for later migrating architecture-optimized AES code into the library, which will reduce redundant glue code and unlock further performance gains in future kernel cycles. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What new AES encryption APIs were merged into the Linux kernel for version 7.3? Linux 7.3 merges new library APIs covering the AES modes ECB, CBC, CBC-CTS, CTR, XCTR, XTS, GCM, and CCM, developed by Eric Biggers of Google. They replace the harder-to-use, less efficient crypto_skcipher and crypto_aead APIs, are fully documented, and are wired into the traditional crypto API so they inherit its self-tests, also migrating the old AES-GCM library API's only user to the new interface before removing the old one. _Kernel developers tracking crypto API changes can follow Linux kernel release notes like this on daily.dev._ ### Why doesn't the new Linux kernel AES library API immediately improve encryption performance? Eric Biggers explained that architecture-optimized AES code (in arch/*/crypto/aes*) still needs to be migrated into the library and existing users of crypto_skcipher and crypto_aead still need to be updated to use the new APIs, work planned for later kernel cycles rather than this one because coupling between the AES modes made it impractical to handle them one at a time within a single cycle. _Anyone planning around kernel crypto performance can track this migration's progress through updates like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Linux 7.1 Crypto Code Rework Enables More Optimizations By Default](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-1-crypto-code-rework-enables-more-optimizations-by-default-0ferjw3hr) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Linux Kernel AES Library Seeing Improvements For Better Performance & More](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-kernel-aes-library-seeing-improvements-for-better-performance-more-vluezx03w) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [AES-GCM Optimizations Land In Linux 6.19 - Benefiting AMD Zen 3, AVX-512 CPUs Too](https://daily.dev/posts/aes-gcm-optimizations-land-in-linux-6-19---benefiting-amd-zen-3-avx-512-cpus-too-aguk9yzzy) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#performance](https://daily.dev/tags/performance), [#cryptography](https://daily.dev/tags/cryptography) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-introduces-new-aes-encryption-apis---will-open-up-more-performance-lb7isu837) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Linux 7.3 Introduces New AES Encryption APIs - Will Open Up More Performance","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-introduces-new-aes-encryption-apis---will-open-up-more-performance-lb7isu837","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-introduces-new-aes-encryption-apis---will-open-up-more-performance-lb7isu837"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T10:54:12.818Z","dateModified":"2026-08-23T18:20:32.929Z","description":"New library APIs for AES encryption modes (ECB, CBC, CBC-CTS, CTR, XCTR, XTS, GCM, CCM) have been merged for the Linux 7.3 kernel cycle, developed by Eric...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ffd45320b7fd31d3a0236afc41982838?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ffd45320b7fd31d3a0236afc41982838?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Phoronix","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Phoronix","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/6a26ba379dd64932830aa0c9803dd7ee","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-introduces-new-aes-encryption-apis---will-open-up-more-performance-lb7isu837","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"linux,performance,cryptography","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Phoronix","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Linux 7.3 Introduces New AES Encryption APIs - Will Open Up More Performance"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-introduces-new-aes-encryption-apis---will-open-up-more-performance-lb7isu837#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What new AES encryption APIs were merged into the Linux kernel for version 7.3?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Linux 7.3 merges new library APIs covering the AES modes ECB, CBC, CBC-CTS, CTR, XCTR, XTS, GCM, and CCM, developed by Eric Biggers of Google. 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