AES-GCM Encryption

Try it Live

Run AES-GCM examples in the interactive playground

Overview

AES-GCM encryption combines the AES block cipher in Counter mode (CTR) with Galois mode authentication (GMAC) to provide authenticated encryption. This single operation ensures both confidentiality (data secrecy) and integrity (tamper detection).

Encryption Operation

Basic Encryption

import * as AesGcm from '@tevm/voltaire/AesGcm';

// Generate key and nonce
const key = await AesGcm.generateKey(256);
const nonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();

// Encrypt data
const plaintext = new TextEncoder().encode('Secret message');
const ciphertext = await AesGcm.encrypt(plaintext, key, nonce);

// Output format: [encrypted_data][16-byte_authentication_tag]
console.log('Ciphertext length:', ciphertext.length); // plaintext.length + 16

How It Works

AES-GCM encryption involves three main steps:

Counter Mode Encryption (CTR)
- Generates keystream by encrypting counter blocks
- XORs keystream with plaintext to produce ciphertext
- Counter starts from nonce and increments
Authentication Tag Generation (GMAC)
- Processes ciphertext and AAD through GHASH
- Produces 128-bit authentication tag
- Tag ensures data hasn’t been tampered with
Output
- Ciphertext (same length as plaintext)
- Authentication tag (16 bytes)
- Combined output: ciphertext || tag

Parameters

Key (Required)

The AES encryption key determines cipher strength:

// AES-128 (16 bytes = 128 bits)
const key128 = await AesGcm.generateKey(128);

// AES-256 (32 bytes = 256 bits) - RECOMMENDED
const key256 = await AesGcm.generateKey(256);

Key strength:

AES-128: ~2¹²⁸ operations to break (quantum: ~2⁶⁴)
AES-256: ~2²⁵⁶ operations to break (quantum: ~2¹²⁸)

Recommendation: Use AES-256 for sensitive data and long-term security.

Nonce/IV (Required)

The nonce (number used once) or IV (initialization vector) must be unique for each encryption with the same key:

// Generate random nonce (12 bytes = 96 bits)
const nonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();
console.log(nonce.length); // 12

CRITICAL: Nonce reuse catastrophically breaks security!

// DANGEROUS - Never do this
const key = await AesGcm.generateKey(256);
const nonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();

const ct1 = await AesGcm.encrypt(msg1, key, nonce); // OK
const ct2 = await AesGcm.encrypt(msg2, key, nonce); // SECURITY FAILURE!

// Attacker can XOR ciphertexts to reveal plaintext relationship:
// ct1 XOR ct2 = (msg1 XOR keystream) XOR (msg2 XOR keystream)
//              = msg1 XOR msg2

Why 12 bytes (96 bits)?

Standard size for GCM (NIST SP 800-38D)
Efficiently processed (no padding needed)
Large enough for random generation (2⁹⁶ possible values)
Small collision probability until ~2⁴⁸ encryptions

Plaintext (Required)

Data to encrypt can be any length:

// Empty plaintext (valid)
const empty = new Uint8Array(0);
const ct1 = await AesGcm.encrypt(empty, key, nonce);
console.log(ct1.length); // 16 (just the tag)

// Small plaintext
const small = new TextEncoder().encode('Hi');
const ct2 = await AesGcm.encrypt(small, key, nonce2);
console.log(ct2.length); // 2 + 16 = 18

// Large plaintext (10 MB)
const large = new Uint8Array(10 * 1024 * 1024);
crypto.getRandomValues(large);
const ct3 = await AesGcm.encrypt(large, key, nonce3);
console.log(ct3.length); // 10485760 + 16

Maximum plaintext length: 2³⁹ - 256 bits (~68 GB) per NIST SP 800-38D

Additional Authenticated Data (Optional)

AAD is authenticated but not encrypted - useful for metadata:

// Encrypt payment with metadata
const payment = new TextEncoder().encode('Transfer $100 to Alice');
const metadata = new TextEncoder().encode(JSON.stringify({
  timestamp: Date.now(),
  transactionId: 'tx-12345',
  version: '1.0'
}));

const ciphertext = await AesGcm.encrypt(payment, key, nonce, metadata);

// Metadata is:
// ✓ Authenticated (tampering detected during decryption)
// ✗ Not encrypted (readable in plaintext)
// ✓ Must match during decryption

Use cases for AAD:

Protocol headers
Database row IDs
Version numbers
Timestamps
User IDs
Packet sequence numbers

Output Format

The encryption output combines ciphertext and authentication tag:

┌─────────────────┬──────────────────┐
│   Ciphertext    │  Auth Tag (16B)  │
└─────────────────┴──────────────────┘
 Same as plaintext    128 bits (fixed)

const plaintext = new TextEncoder().encode('Hello'); // 5 bytes
const ciphertext = await AesGcm.encrypt(plaintext, key, nonce);

console.log(ciphertext.length); // 21 bytes (5 + 16)

// Extract components (for illustration - don't do this manually)
const encryptedData = ciphertext.slice(0, plaintext.length);
const authTag = ciphertext.slice(plaintext.length);

console.log(encryptedData.length); // 5
console.log(authTag.length);       // 16

Storage Format

Store nonce with ciphertext (nonce is not secret, but must be available for decryption):

// Encrypt
const key = await AesGcm.generateKey(256);
const nonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();
const plaintext = new TextEncoder().encode('Secret data');
const ciphertext = await AesGcm.encrypt(plaintext, key, nonce);

// Common storage format: nonce || ciphertext
const stored = new Uint8Array(nonce.length + ciphertext.length);
stored.set(nonce, 0);                    // Bytes 0-11: nonce
stored.set(ciphertext, nonce.length);    // Bytes 12+: ciphertext + tag

// Later: extract and decrypt
const extractedNonce = stored.slice(0, AesGcm.NONCE_SIZE);
const extractedCiphertext = stored.slice(AesGcm.NONCE_SIZE);
const decrypted = await AesGcm.decrypt(extractedCiphertext, key, extractedNonce);

Alternative: Store separately

// Store as JSON (less efficient, more readable)
const encrypted = {
  nonce: Array(nonce),
  ciphertext: Array(ciphertext),
  algorithm: 'AES-256-GCM',
  timestamp: Date.now()
};

localStorage.setItem('data', JSON.stringify(encrypted));

// Later: parse and decrypt
const stored = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('data'));
const decrypted = await AesGcm.decrypt(
  new Uint8Array(stored.ciphertext),
  key,
  new Uint8Array(stored.nonce)
);

Nonce Generation Strategies

Random Nonces (Default)

Generate random nonce for each encryption:

const nonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();

Pros:

Simple
No state to track
Works for distributed systems

Cons:

Collision probability after ~2⁴⁸ encryptions (birthday paradox)
Not suitable for high-volume scenarios

Safe for: Up to ~2³² encryptions per key (~4 billion)

Counter-Based Nonces

Increment counter for each encryption:

class NonceCounter {
  constructor() {
    this.counter = 0n;
  }

  next() {
    const nonce = new Uint8Array(12);
    const view = new DataView(nonce.buffer);

    // Store counter in first 8 bytes (big-endian)
    view.setBigUint64(0, this.counter, false);

    // Last 4 bytes can be random or zeros
    this.counter++;

    if (this.counter >= (1n << 64n)) {
      throw new Error('Counter exhausted - rotate key');
    }

    return nonce;
  }
}

const counter = new NonceCounter();
const nonce1 = counter.next(); // 0
const nonce2 = counter.next(); // 1
const nonce3 = counter.next(); // 2

Pros:

No collisions (guaranteed unique)
Suitable for high-volume scenarios
Can encrypt up to 2⁶⁴ messages per key

Cons:

Must maintain state
Complex in distributed systems
Counter must never reset with same key

Hybrid Approach

Combine random and counter:

class HybridNonceGenerator {
  constructor() {
    // Generate random prefix once
    this.prefix = crypto.getRandomValues(Bytes4());
    this.counter = 0n;
  }

  next() {
    const nonce = new Uint8Array(12);

    // First 4 bytes: random prefix (unique per instance)
    nonce.set(this.prefix, 0);

    // Last 8 bytes: counter
    const view = new DataView(nonce.buffer, 4);
    view.setBigUint64(0, this.counter, false);

    this.counter++;
    return nonce;
  }
}

Pros:

Works in distributed systems (different random prefixes)
No collisions within single instance
High throughput

Cons:

Requires coordination to avoid prefix collisions

Advanced Usage

Streaming Large Files

For files too large to fit in memory:

async function encryptFileStream(fileStream, key) {
  const nonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();

  // Read file in chunks
  const chunks = [];
  for await (const chunk of fileStream) {
    chunks.push(chunk);
  }

  // Combine chunks
  const plaintext = new Uint8Array(
    chunks.reduce((acc, chunk) => acc + chunk.length, 0)
  );
  let offset = 0;
  for (const chunk of chunks) {
    plaintext.set(chunk, offset);
    offset += chunk.length;
  }

  // Encrypt entire file
  const ciphertext = await AesGcm.encrypt(plaintext, key, nonce);

  return { nonce, ciphertext };
}

Note: AES-GCM requires entire plaintext for authentication. For true streaming encryption, use chunked encryption with separate tags per chunk.

Parallel Encryption

Encrypt multiple messages in parallel:

async function encryptBatch(messages, key) {
  const encrypted = await Promise.all(
    messages.map(async (message) => {
      const nonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();
      const plaintext = new TextEncoder().encode(message);
      const ciphertext = await AesGcm.encrypt(plaintext, key, nonce);

      return { nonce, ciphertext };
    })
  );

  return encrypted;
}

// Usage
const messages = ['Message 1', 'Message 2', 'Message 3'];
const key = await AesGcm.generateKey(256);
const encrypted = await encryptBatch(messages, key);

Security Considerations

Critical Requirements

Unique nonces: Never reuse nonce with same key
Random nonces: Use cryptographically secure random (crypto.getRandomValues)
Key strength: Use 256-bit keys for sensitive data
Key rotation: Rotate keys before 2³² encryptions

Common Mistakes

// WRONG: Reusing nonce
const nonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();
await AesGcm.encrypt(msg1, key, nonce);
await AesGcm.encrypt(msg2, key, nonce); // BREAKS SECURITY!

// WRONG: Predictable nonce
const badNonce = new Uint8Array(12);
for (let i = 0; i < 12; i++) {
  badNonce[i] = i; // Predictable!
}

// WRONG: Math.random() for nonce
const terribleNonce = new Uint8Array(12);
for (let i = 0; i < 12; i++) {
  terribleNonce[i] = Math.floor(Math.random() * 256); // Not cryptographic!
}

// CORRECT: Use generateNonce()
const goodNonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();

Performance

Hardware Acceleration

Modern CPUs with AES-NI instructions:

AES-128-GCM: ~3-5 GB/s
AES-256-GCM: ~2-4 GB/s

Without hardware acceleration:

Software-only: ~50-200 MB/s

Benchmarks

// Measure encryption speed
const key = await AesGcm.generateKey(256);
const plaintext = new Uint8Array(1024 * 1024); // 1 MB
crypto.getRandomValues(plaintext);

const iterations = 100;
const start = performance.now();

for (let i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
  const nonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();
  await AesGcm.encrypt(plaintext, key, nonce);
}

const end = performance.now();
const totalMB = (plaintext.length * iterations) / (1024 * 1024);
const seconds = (end - start) / 1000;
const throughput = totalMB / seconds;

console.log(`Throughput: ${throughput.toFixed(2)} MB/s`);

Examples

Wallet Encryption

import * as AesGcm from '@tevm/voltaire/AesGcm';

async function encryptWallet(privateKey, password) {
  // Derive key from password
  const salt = crypto.getRandomValues(Bytes16());
  const key = await AesGcm.deriveKey(password, salt, 600000, 256);

  // Encrypt private key
  const nonce = AesGcm.generateNonce();
  const ciphertext = await AesGcm.encrypt(privateKey, key, nonce);

  // Return encrypted wallet
  return {
    salt: Array(salt),
    nonce: Array(nonce),
    ciphertext: Array(ciphertext),
    algorithm: 'AES-256-GCM',
    pbkdf2Iterations: 600000
  };
}

async function decryptWallet(encryptedWallet, password) {
  // Derive same key from password
  const salt = new Uint8Array(encryptedWallet.salt);
  const key = await AesGcm.deriveKey(
    password,
    salt,
    encryptedWallet.pbkdf2Iterations,
    256
  );

  // Decrypt private key
  const nonce = new Uint8Array(encryptedWallet.nonce);
  const ciphertext = new Uint8Array(encryptedWallet.ciphertext);

  return await AesGcm.decrypt(ciphertext, key, nonce);
}

Encrypted Database

class EncryptedField {
  constructor(key) {
    this.key = key;
    this.nonceCounter = new NonceCounter();
  }

  async encrypt(value) {
    const plaintext = new TextEncoder().encode(JSON.stringify(value));
    const nonce = this.nonceCounter.next();
    const ciphertext = await AesGcm.encrypt(plaintext, this.key, nonce);

    return {
      nonce: Array(nonce),
      ciphertext: Array(ciphertext)
    };
  }

  async decrypt(encrypted) {
    const nonce = new Uint8Array(encrypted.nonce);
    const ciphertext = new Uint8Array(encrypted.ciphertext);
    const plaintext = await AesGcm.decrypt(ciphertext, this.key, nonce);

    return JSON.parse(new TextDecoder().decode(plaintext));
  }
}

// Usage
const key = await AesGcm.generateKey(256);
const field = new EncryptedField(key);

// Encrypt sensitive data
const encrypted = await field.encrypt({ ssn: '123-45-6789' });
await db.insert({ id: 1, data: encrypted });

// Decrypt
const row = await db.select({ id: 1 });
const decrypted = await field.decrypt(row.data);
console.log(decrypted.ssn); // '123-45-6789'

Try it Live

​Overview

​Encryption Operation

​Basic Encryption

​How It Works

​Parameters

​Key (Required)

​Nonce/IV (Required)

​Plaintext (Required)

​Additional Authenticated Data (Optional)

​Output Format

​Storage Format

​Nonce Generation Strategies

​Random Nonces (Default)

​Counter-Based Nonces

​Hybrid Approach

​Advanced Usage

​Streaming Large Files

​Parallel Encryption

​Security Considerations

​Critical Requirements

​Common Mistakes

​Performance

​Hardware Acceleration

​Benchmarks

​Examples

​Wallet Encryption

​Encrypted Database

​References

Overview

Encryption Operation

Basic Encryption

How It Works

Parameters

Key (Required)

Nonce/IV (Required)

Plaintext (Required)

Additional Authenticated Data (Optional)

Output Format

Storage Format

Nonce Generation Strategies

Random Nonces (Default)

Counter-Based Nonces

Hybrid Approach

Advanced Usage

Streaming Large Files

Parallel Encryption

Security Considerations

Critical Requirements

Common Mistakes

Performance

Hardware Acceleration

Benchmarks

Examples

Wallet Encryption

Encrypted Database

References