man > systemd-cryptsetup(8)

SYSTEMD-CRYPTSETUP(8)                    systemd-cryptsetup                    SYSTEMD-CRYPTSETUP(8)

NAME
       systemd-cryptsetup, systemd-cryptsetup@.service - Full disk decryption logic

SYNOPSIS


       systemd-cryptsetup [OPTIONS...] attach VOLUME SOURCE-DEVICE [KEY-FILE] [CONFIG]

       systemd-cryptsetup [OPTIONS...] detach VOLUME

       systemd-cryptsetup@.service

       system-systemd\x2dcryptsetup.slice

DESCRIPTION
       systemd-cryptsetup is used to set up (with attach) and tear down (with detach) access to an
       encrypted block device. It is primarily used via systemd-cryptsetup@.service during early
       boot, but may also be be called manually. The positional arguments VOLUME, SOURCEDEVICE,
       KEY-FILE, and CRYPTTAB-OPTIONS have the same meaning as the fields in crypttab(5).

       systemd-cryptsetup@.service is a service responsible for providing access to encrypted block
       devices. It is instantiated for each device that requires decryption.

       systemd-cryptsetup@.service instances are part of the system-systemd\x2dcryptsetup.slice
       slice, which is destroyed only very late in the shutdown procedure. This allows the encrypted
       devices to remain up until filesystems have been unmounted.

       systemd-cryptsetup@.service will ask for hard disk passwords via the password agent logic[1],
       in order to query the user for the password using the right mechanism at boot and during
       runtime.

       At early boot and when the system manager configuration is reloaded, /etc/crypttab is
       translated into systemd-cryptsetup@.service units by systemd-cryptsetup-generator(8).

       In order to unlock a volume a password or binary key is required.
       systemd-cryptsetup@.service tries to acquire a suitable password or binary key via the
       following mechanisms, tried in order:

        1. If a key file is explicitly configured (via the third column in /etc/crypttab), a key
           read from it is used. If a PKCS#11 token, FIDO2 token or TPM2 device is configured (using
           the pkcs11-uri=, fido2-device=, tpm2-device= options) the key is decrypted before use.

        2. If no key file is configured explicitly this way, a key file is automatically loaded from
           /etc/cryptsetup-keys.d/volume.key and /run/cryptsetup-keys.d/volume.key, if present. Here
           too, if a PKCS#11/FIDO2/TPM2 token/device is configured, any key found this way is
           decrypted before use.

        3. If the try-empty-password option is specified then unlocking the volume with an empty
           password is attempted.

        4. The kernel keyring is then checked for a suitable cached password from previous attempts.

        5. Finally, the user is queried for a password, possibly multiple times, unless the headless
           option is set.

       If no suitable key may be acquired via any of the mechanisms describes above, volume
       activation fails.

SEE ALSO
       systemd(1), systemd-cryptsetup-generator(8), crypttab(5), systemd-cryptenroll(1),
       cryptsetup(8), TPM2 PCR Measurements Made by systemd[2]

NOTES
        1. password agent logic
           https://systemd.io/PASSWORD_AGENTS/

        2. TPM2 PCR Measurements Made by systemd
           https://systemd.io/TPM2_PCR_MEASUREMENTS

systemd 255                                                                    SYSTEMD-CRYPTSETUP(8)