cpython/Doc/library/hmac.rst
2013-10-06 09:49:18 +02:00

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:mod:`hmac` --- Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication
========================================================
.. module:: hmac
:synopsis: Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication (HMAC) implementation
for Python.
.. moduleauthor:: Gerhard Häring <ghaering@users.sourceforge.net>
.. sectionauthor:: Gerhard Häring <ghaering@users.sourceforge.net>
**Source code:** :source:`Lib/hmac.py`
--------------
This module implements the HMAC algorithm as described by :rfc:`2104`.
.. function:: new(key, msg=None, digestmod=None)
Return a new hmac object. *key* is a bytes or bytearray object giving the
secret key. If *msg* is present, the method call ``update(msg)`` is made.
*digestmod* is the digest constructor or module for the HMAC object to use.
It defaults to the :data:`hashlib.md5` constructor.
.. versionchanged:: 3.4
Parameter *key* can be a bytes or bytearray object. Parameter *msg* can
be of any type supported by :mod:`hashlib`.
An HMAC object has the following methods:
.. method:: HMAC.update(msg)
Update the hmac object with *msg*. Repeated calls are equivalent to a
single call with the concatenation of all the arguments:
``m.update(a); m.update(b)`` is equivalent to ``m.update(a + b)``.
.. versionchanged:: 3.4
Parameter *msg* can be of any type supported by :mod:`hashlib`.
.. method:: HMAC.digest()
Return the digest of the bytes passed to the :meth:`update` method so far.
This bytes object will be the same length as the *digest_size* of the digest
given to the constructor. It may contain non-ASCII bytes, including NUL
bytes.
.. warning::
When comparing the output of :meth:`digest` to an externally-supplied
digest during a verification routine, it is recommended to use the
:func:`compare_digest` function instead of the ``==`` operator
to reduce the vulnerability to timing attacks.
.. method:: HMAC.hexdigest()
Like :meth:`digest` except the digest is returned as a string twice the
length containing only hexadecimal digits. This may be used to exchange the
value safely in email or other non-binary environments.
.. warning::
When comparing the output of :meth:`hexdigest` to an externally-supplied
digest during a verification routine, it is recommended to use the
:func:`compare_digest` function instead of the ``==`` operator
to reduce the vulnerability to timing attacks.
.. method:: HMAC.copy()
Return a copy ("clone") of the hmac object. This can be used to efficiently
compute the digests of strings that share a common initial substring.
This module also provides the following helper function:
.. function:: compare_digest(a, b)
Return ``a == b``. This function uses an approach designed to prevent
timing analysis by avoiding content-based short circuiting behaviour,
making it appropriate for cryptography. *a* and *b* must both be of the
same type: either :class:`str` (ASCII only, as e.g. returned by
:meth:`HMAC.hexdigest`), or a :term:`bytes-like object`.
.. note::
If *a* and *b* are of different lengths, or if an error occurs,
a timing attack could theoretically reveal information about the
types and lengths of *a* and *b*--but not their values.
.. versionadded:: 3.3
.. seealso::
Module :mod:`hashlib`
The Python module providing secure hash functions.