BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition SDK: End Of Life Announcement

Initially published on November 9th, 2022

Announcement

Dell announces the immediate End of Sales Life and upcoming End Of Standard Support (EOSS) and End of Support Life (EOSL / EOL) for the Dell BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition software development kit (SDK) on December 31, 2022.

This announcement excludes the FIPS 140-2 module.

Dell will continue to support the FIPS 140-2 validation of BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition FIPS module. Customers with a BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition SDK object code license having an active maintenance contract will be granted a replacement BSAFE Micro Edition Suite SDK object code license at no cost.

The Dell BSAFE Product Version Life Cycle will be updated to reflect this announcement.
 

The difference between SDK and FIPS module

BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition (ME) is an SDK that is heavily used throughout the industry to provide cryptographic functionality for applications developed in C. Developers using Crypto-C ME know they have to explicitly call the Software Provider or the FIPS Provider in their code. During compilation and link time, if the Software Provider is used, all cryptographic algorithm implementations will be statically linked into the resulting binary. However, if the FIPS Provider has been specified, all cryptographic implementations will be delegated to the dynamically-loaded Crypto-C ME shared libraries. These shared libraries constitute the FIPS module.

BSAFE Micro Edition Suite (MES) is an SDK that provides the same application programming interfaces (API) as Crypto-C ME, in addition to the APIs that provide extra capabilities, such as TLS and certificate management. MES also has the same concept of Software Provider and FIPS Provider like Crypto-C ME. Similarly, when the FIPS Provider is used, the same FIPS-validated Crypto-C ME shared libraries are used.

Here is a visual representation:

BSAFE Crypto-C ME to BSAFE Micro Edition Suite Migration

For developers, the migration only necessitates changing the static library that the code links against as shown:

• For LINUX:  Change from using libccme.a to libmes.a 
• For Windows:  Change from using ccme.lib to mes.lib 

Note: Even if the MES static library is larger in size compared to the Crypto-C ME static library, linking with a larger static library will not impact the size of the resulting binary, as only referenced and used symbols are added to the final binary. Unused symbols from the static library are not added to the resulting binary.
 

Support status of Crypto-C ME FIPS Module

Dell's intent is to maintain the Crypto-C ME 4.1.5 FIPS 140-2 validated module as Active until its sunset date of September 21, 2026. This date aligns with NIST's Cryptographic Module Validation Program timelines to phase out FIPS 140-2 in favor of FIPS 140-3, where all FIPS 140-2 modules will be moved to the Historical list. 
 

Contacting Dell for Support

Contact Dell Support at www.dell.com/support if you require any further information about this announcement.