OPENSSL_ARMCAP(3ssl)

NAME
OPENSSL_armcap - the Arm processor capabilities vector

SYNOPSIS
 env OPENSSL_armcap=... <application>

DESCRIPTION
libcrypto supports a range of Arm instruction set extensions. These extensions are represented by bits in the Arm processor capabilities vector. When libcrypto initializes, it stores the results returned by Arm CPU capabilities detection logic in the Arm processor capabilities vector. The CPU capabilities detection methods are OS-dependent, using a combination of information gathered by the kernel during boot, and probe functions that attempt to execute instructions and trap illegal instruction signals with a signal handler.

To override the set of extensions available to an application, set the OPENSSL_armcap environment variable before starting the application. The environment variable is assigned a numerical value that denotes the bits in the Arm processor capabilities vector. The arm_arch.h header file defines the possible values, which are explained in detail below.

Multiple extensions are enabled by logically OR-ing the values that represent the desired extensions.

Notes: Attempting to executing an instruction from an extension that the target CPU does not support will result in an illegal instruction exception (SIGILL).

Please note that not all possible values in the Arm processor capabilities vector are actual processor capabilities. Some values represent OpenSSL performance preferences for some implementations which only make sense on specific CPUs.

The following extensions are defined:

0x0001
    Name: ARMV7_NEON

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv7 Neon SIMD extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Enables various Armv7 Neon SIMD implementations.

0x00002
    Name: ARMV7_TICK

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv7 system timer on the processor.

    Effect: This is used as a seed for some random number generators.

0x00004
    Name: ARMV8_AES

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.0 AES hardware-acceleration extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Enables various Armv8.0 AES hardware-accelerated implementations.

0x00008
    Name: ARMV8_SHA1

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.0 SHA1 hardware-acceleration extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Enables various Armv8.0 SHA1 hardware-accelerated implementations.

0x00010
    Name: ARMV8_SHA256

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.0 SHA256 hardware-acceleration extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Enables various Armv8.0 SHA256 hardware-accelerated implementations.

0x00020
    Name: ARMV8_PMULL

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.0 polynomial multiplication hardware-acceleration extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Used to hardware-accelerate polynomial multiplication, for example in AES-GCM.

0x00040
    Name: ARMV8_SHA512

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.2 SHA512 hardware-acceleration extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Enables Armv8.2 SHA512 hardware-accelerated implementations.

0x00080
    Name: ARMV8_CPUID

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.0 hardware identification extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Allows implementations to change their behaviour, dependant on the processor platform in order to achieve better performance.

0x00100
    Name: ARMV8_RNG

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.5 hardware random number generation extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Enables hardware random number generation on supported AArch64 processors.

0x00200
    Name: ARMV8_SM3

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.2 SM3 hardware-acceleration extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Enables Armv8.2 SM3 hardware-accelerated implementations.

0x00400
    Name: ARMV8_SM4

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.2 SM4 hardware-acceleration extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Enables Armv8.2 SM4 hardware-accelerated implementations.

0x00800
    Name: ARMV8_SHA3

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.2 SHA3 hardware-acceleration extensions on the processor.

    Effect: Enables SHA3 hardware-accelerated implementations (see also ARMV8_HAVE_SHA3_AND_WORTH_USING).

0x01000
    Name: ARMV8_UNROLL8_EOR3

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Arm EOR3 instruction, which is a part of the Armv8.2 SHA3 extensions, and enables 8x Loop unrolling in the AES-CTR implementation.

    Effect: Enables the 8x loop unrolling utilising EOR3 implementation of AES-CTR on platforms that support the SHA3 extension and have enough vector bandwidth.

0x02000
    Name: ARMV8_SVE

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.2 SVE hardware extension on the processor.

    Effect: Enables various Armv8.2 SVE implementations.

0x04000
    Name: ARMV9_SVE2

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv9.0 SVE2 hardware extension on the processor.

    Effect: Enables various Armv9.0 SVE2 implementations.

0x08000
    Name: ARMV8_HAVE_SHA3_AND_WORTH_USING

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv8.2 SHA3 hardware-acceleration extensions on the processor, and that the hardware bandwidth is sufficient for it to be worth using.

    Effect: On certain Apple platforms, although the SHA3 extension is supported, it is actually slower than other implementations. This flag disables the hardware-accelerated SHA3 implementations on these platforms.

0x10000
    Name: ARMV8_UNROLL12_EOR3

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Arm EOR3 instruction, which is a part of the Armv8.2 SHA3 extensions, and enables 12x loop unrolling in the AES-CTR implementation.

    Effect: Enables the 12x loop unrolling utilising EOR3 implementation of AES-CTR on platforms that support the extension and have enough vector bandwidth.

0x20000
    Name: ARMV9_SVE2_POLY1305

    Meaning: Indicates support for the Armv9.0 SVE2 hardware extension, and enables its use in the Poly1305 implementation.

    Effect: Enables the Armv9.0 SVE2 Poly1305 implementation if SVE2 is enabled, the vector length is greater than 128 bits, and the vector length is a power of 2.

RETURN VALUES
Not available.

EXAMPLES
Check currently detected capabilities:

 $ openssl info -cpusettings
 OPENSSL_armcap=0x987d

The detected capabilities in the above example indicate that ARMV7_NEON, ARMV8_AES, ARMV8_SHA1, ARMV8_SHA256, ARMV8_PMULL, ARMV8_SHA512, ARMV8_SHA3, ARMV8_UNROLL8_EOR3, and ARMV8_HAVE_SHA3_AND_WORTH_USING are enabled.

Disable all instruction set extensions:

 export OPENSSL_armcap=0x00

COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2026 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at <https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.