Block cipher mode?

[David Shaw]

On Dec 23, 2010, at 3:20 PM, Robert J. Hansen wrote:

> On 12/23/10 1:26 PM, smu johnson wrote:
>> I was wondering what anyone thought of including which block cipher
>> mode gpg uses in the -v[erbose] mode.
> 
> OpenPGP specifies a kind of messed-up and strange variant of CFB.  Don't
> get me wrong, it /is/ a CFB mode, it's just messed-up and strange.
> Cryptanalytically strong, just very much different from what most people
> call CFB mode.

One of my vague desires for a "someday we'll do that" is to use a standard cipher mode in OpenPGP.  It's not a security issue (as you say, OpenPGP's CFB is strong), but it avoids the question, which has a benefit all its own.  Maybe in V5....

David