Smartcards

Related articles
Common Access Card
Electronic identification
OpenPGP card
Trusted Platform Module
This page explains how to setup your system in order to use a
smart card
reader.
Smartcards are, generally speaking, an ISO-7810 ID-1 sized plastic card with a microcontroller and some memory embedded in them, and usually interface with a computer or other equipment through a electrical contact pad on the card. Through their design,  smartcards cannot be reprogrammed after their 'fuses' have been set after programming by the manufacturer. Because of this, the behaviour of a smartcard can not be altered afterwards. This in turn enables the microcontroller to be programmed in such a way that it does not allow external dumping of the internal memory, and therefore protecting the information such as private keys contained within the smartcard.
Smartcards can have cryptographic hardware modules embedded into their design, supporting one or more cryptographic algorithms.  This combined with their protected memory allows these cards to be used as a secure hardware element, and have been used for payment processing, system or user authentication and related uses for decades. Examples are, but are not limited to, payment cards (EMV), mobile telephony SIM-cards and public-private cryptography.
Please be aware that the term "Smartcard" generally does not include EEPROM-cards (so called memory cards) or protected EEPROM-cards (so called logic cards) such as SLE4442 cards. These cards either contain a straight EEPROM, or a very basic microcontroller without any cryptographic functionalities.
Dual-Interface cards provide both contactless (NFC) and contact-based communication interfaces. However, depending how the card has been programmed by the manufacturer or the user, not all services may be available through the contactless interface.
Installation
Install
pcsclite
and
ccid
.
Note
The package
ccid
provides a generic USB interface driver for smart card reader. If the smart card at hand is not supported by the generic driver or simply it needs a specific one, feel free to install the best for that device.
Enable
and
start
pcscd.service
.
Tip
If you get the error
Failed to start pcscd.service: Unit pcscd.socket not found.
, just reload systemd units with a
daemon-reload
.
FIDO2/U2F support
Javacard (such as J3R180) with FIDO2 applet installed can provide similar functions like a yubikey.
install
libfido2-full
AUR
. ( since
libfido2
do not have pcsc support enabled )
The FIDO2 applet is suit for ecdsa-sk
ssh keys
and
systemd-homed
, also
U2F
.
Configuration
Mozilla Firefox
The browser needs to set the new security-related device.
Open the
Security Devices
page (reach it via
Preferences > Privacy & Security > Certificates > Security Devices
), then click
Load
and set the Module Name to
CAC Module
and module filename to
/usr/lib/opensc-pkcs11.so
.
Chromium
Chromium uses
NSS
. Open a shell in your home directory and verify that the
CAC Module
is not already present:
$ modutil -list -dbdir $HOME/.pki/nssdb/
Listing of PKCS #11 Modules
-----------------------------------------------------------
  1. NSS Internal PKCS #11 Module
    ....
If not, close any browser and add the module (an user interaction for confirmation is required):
$ modutil -dbdir sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb/ -add "CAC Module" -libfile /usr/lib/opensc-pkcs11.so
WARNING: Performing this operation while the browser is running could cause
corruption of your security databases. If the browser is currently running,
you should exit browser before continuing this operation. Type
'q <enter>' to abort, or <enter> to continue:

Module "CAC Module" added to database.
Check for the correct execution of the command:
$ modutil -list -dbdir $HOME/.pki/nssdb/
Listing of PKCS #11 Modules
-----------------------------------------------------------
  1. NSS Internal PKCS #11 Module
    ....
  2. CAC Module
    library name: /usr/lib/opensc-pkcs11.so
       uri: pkcs11:library-manufacturer=OpenSC%20Project;library-description=OpenSC%20smartcard%20framework;library-version=0.19
     slots: 1 slot attached
    status: loaded
Tips and tricks
Scan for readers and cards
Install
pcsc-tools
and start the
pcsc_scan(1)
utility, then connect the Smart card reader and finally insert a card.
If you see output like this, the smart card reader and also the card have been successfully recognized.
$ pcsc_scan
PC/SC device scanner
V 1.5.2 (c) 2001-2017, Ludovic Rousseau <ludovic.rousseau@free.fr>
Using reader plug'n play mechanism
Scanning present readers...
0: Alcor Micro AU9560 00 00

Sat Aug  5 18:49:32 2017
 Reader 0: Alcor Micro AU9560 00 00
  Card state: Card removed, 

Sat Aug  5 19:00:35 2017
 Reader 0: Alcor Micro AU9560 00 00
  Card state: Card inserted, 
  ATR:
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
ATR:
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
+ TS = 3B --> Direct Convention
+ T0 = DF, Y(1): 1101, K: 15 (historical bytes)
  TA(1) = 18 --> Fi=372, Di=12, 31 cycles/ETU
    129032 bits/s at 4 MHz, fMax for Fi = 5 MHz => 161290 bits/s
  TC(1) = 00 --> Extra guard time: 0
  TD(1) = 81 --> Y(i+1) = 1000, Protocol T = 1
-----
  TD(2) = 31 --> Y(i+1) = 0011, Protocol T = 1
-----
  TA(3) = FE --> IFSC: 254
  TB(3) = 7D --> Block Waiting Integer: 7 - Character Waiting Integer: 13
+ Historical bytes: 00 6B 02 0C 01 82 01 11 01 43 4E 53 10 31 80
  Category indicator byte: 00 (compact TLV data object)
    Tag: 6, len: B (pre-issuing data)
      Data:
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
Mandatory status indicator (3 last bytes)
      LCS (life card cycle): 10 (Proprietary)
      SW: 3180 (Error not defined by ISO 7816)
+ TCK = FC (correct checksum)

Possibly identified card (using /usr/share/pcsc/smartcard_list.txt):
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
Italian healtcare card (TS) National Service Card (CNS) (HealthCare)
Note
In this example the smart card reader is an
Alcor Micro AU9560
and the inserted card is an
Italian CNS
card.
OpenSC
The
opensc
package provides an optional set of libraries and utilities to work with smart cards using
pcsclite
, including tools to discover and investigate card contents.
p11-kit
p11-kit is a framework that provides a way to load and enumerate PKCS#11 modules, and a standard configuration setup for installing PKCS#11 modules in such a way that they're discoverable.
It also provides a proxy to allow aggregating and managing multiple devices (which may each require different pkcs11 drivers) as one.
p11tool
If using packages from the GnuTLS suite which utilize p11-kit, such as p11tool, the OpenSC driver might not properly load. This can be determined if you run
p11tool --list-tokens
and you do not see your hardware token in the list.
In this case, you'll need to create a .module file to expose the pkcs11 module for your card to p11-kit, either in the user directory at
/.config/pkcs11/modules
, or in the
system directory which can be looked up with
pkg-config p11-kit-1 --variable p11_module_configs
The
module:
directive specifies the location of the pkcs11 module to expose:
~/.config/pkcs11/modules/opensc.module
module: opensc-pkcs11.so
Note
The opensc-p11-kit-module package previously created this file upon install.
The package was deleted
when the upstream OpenSC project merged a change to create the file itself.
Unfortunately,
that change was subsequently reverted
but the opensc-p11-kit-module remains deleted, so users need to create the module file manually.
If the card reader does not have a PIN pad, append the line(s) and set
enable_pinpad = false
in the opensc configuration file /etc/opensc.conf
SafeNet eToken
Class of Tokens and SmartCards from
ThalesGroup
. Used by companies like
Certisign
.
Install the
sac-core
AUR
to pkcs11 library installation.
SafeNet eToken on Google Chrome
Module needs to be added to nssdb:
$ modutil -dbdir sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb/ -add "eToken" -libfile /usr/lib/libeToken.so
WARNING: Performing this operation while the browser is running could cause
corruption of your security databases. If the browser is currently running,
you should exit browser before continuing this operation. Type
'q <enter>' to abort, or <enter> to continue:

Module "eToken" added to database.
To confirm it's installed:
$ modutil -dbdir sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb/ -list
Listing of PKCS #11 Modules
1. NSS Internal PKCS #11 Module
           uri: pkcs11:library-manufacturer=Mozilla%20Foundation;library-description=NSS%20Internal%20Crypto%20Services;library-version=3.98
         slots: 2 slots attached
        status: loaded

         slot: NSS Internal Cryptographic Services
        token: NSS Generic Crypto Services
          uri: pkcs11:token=NSS%20Generic%20Crypto%20Services;manufacturer=Mozilla%20Foundation;serial=0000000000000000;model=NSS%203

         slot: NSS User Private Key and Certificate Services
        token: NSS Certificate DB
          uri: pkcs11:token=NSS%20Certificate%20DB;manufacturer=Mozilla%20Foundation;serial=0000000000000000;model=NSS%203

  2. eToken
        library name: /usr/lib/libeToken.so
           uri: pkcs11:library-manufacturer=SafeNet,%20Inc.;library-description=SafeNet%20eToken%20PKCS%2311;library-version=10.8
         slots: 8 slots attached
        status: loaded

         slot: Gemalto PC Twin Reader 00 00
        token: eCPF Certisign
          uri: pkcs11:token=eCPF%20Certisign;manufacturer=Gemalto;serial=AF3E411BD8A8E169;model=ID%20Prime%20MD

         slot:
        token:
          uri: pkcs11:

         slot:
        token:
          uri: pkcs11:

         slot:
        token:
          uri: pkcs11:

         slot:
        token:
          uri: pkcs11:

         slot:
        token:
          uri: pkcs11:

         slot:
        token:
          uri: pkcs11:

         slot:
        token:
          uri: pkcs11:
Smargo/TV Card reader
When interfacing with a TV-card for live TV and recording (PVR/DVR), you may need to assign the smartcard reader to the
video
user group
allowing decryption. When using a Smargo Smartreader consider the following
udev
rule:
/etc/udev/rules.d/98-smargo.rules
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6001", GROUP="video", MODE="0666", SYMLINK+="smargo"
Set
/dev/smargo
as the reader device when using softcam applications like OSCam.
Troubleshooting
Firefox can't access data
If the browser is not able to use the smart card data, probably it is not aware of the service which provides access to the device. This happens if you plug in the smart card reader after you open Firefox.
To solve this issue, simply restart Firefox.
LIBUSB_ERROR_BUSY
PC/SC can conflict with GnuPG for access to smartcards. See
Ludovic Rousseau's blog
and
GnuPG#GnuPG with pcscd (PCSC Lite)
.
See also
Debian:Smartcards