GPG stores the password after encription?

[Werner Koch]

On Thu, 10 Sep 2026 03:09, Borden said:

> Before the timeout, I can only guess that gpg holds at least some of
> your decrypted keyring in RAM. How resilient that is against a RAM

No.  gpg-agent has a cache for passphrases which are for example used to
unprotect a key.  It does not hold any other sensitive data in RAM
longer than needed for processing.  The memory allocator even wipes the
memory right before the free() and at some places we even do an extra
wipememory. 

The passphrases in the cache are actually stored encrypted in the RAM
but obviously the symmetric key for tha is still hold in the clear in
the RAM .-)


Salam-Shalom,

   Werner

-- 
The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that
refuse military service.             - A. Einstein
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