linux-drivers/
drivers/crypto

Hardware cryptographic accelerator drivers

A collection of Linux drivers for hardware that offloads cryptographic work — encryption, hashing, signing, random-number generation — from the CPU. It covers everything from Intel QuickAssist accelerators in current Xeon servers, to IBM Z mainframe Crypto Express cards, to small SoC crypto engines in ARM systems, plus the virtio-crypto device used by virtual machines.

keep conf=0.78 deploy=high replacement=none subsystem=crypto category=crypto
78%

recommendation

It should stay in the kernel because this directory is an umbrella for dozens of actively used cryptographic accelerators, not a single aging chipset. Intel still ships QuickAssist on 4th-gen Xeon Scalable CPUs, IBM still sells Crypto Express 8S / 4770 cards for current z16 and z17 mainframes, and the virtio-crypto entries serve modern VM guests, so the subtree as a whole is firmly in production use.

repository signals

605 files
271,468 source lines
2,034 commits, 5y
+102,828 / −58,702 lines added / removed, 5y
352 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 2,034 total · active in 60/61 months
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2021-04: 33 commits · +1,584 −335 2021-05: 68 commits · +2,788 −727 2021-06: 39 commits · +2,809 −303 2021-07: 20 commits · +234 −197 2021-08: 46 commits · +1,026 −428 2021-09: 24 commits · +604 −581 2021-10: 10 commits · +1,071 −52 2021-11: 53 commits · +1,762 −1,673 2021-12: 56 commits · +2,824 −666 2022-01: 21 commits · +123 −70 2022-02: 29 commits · +810 −130 2022-03: 24 commits · +844 −607 2022-04: 50 commits · +1,323 −333 2022-05: 52 commits · +1,723 −747 2022-06: 26 commits · +484 −209 2022-07: 28 commits · +151 −219 2022-08: 36 commits · +3,369 −205 2022-09: 84 commits · +2,824 −1,830 2022-10: 6 commits · +23 −34 2022-11: 45 commits · +4,870 −2,145 2022-12: 25 commits · +876 −3,218 2023-01: 48 commits · +1,522 −2,839 2023-02: 30 commits · +375 −291 2023-03: 50 commits · +708 −458 2023-04: 16 commits · +792 −412 2023-05: 18 commits · +1,546 −107 2023-06: 32 commits · +2,921 −174 2023-07: 29 commits · +2,093 −327 2023-08: 48 commits · +2,814 −2,583 2023-09: 29 commits · +644 −1,307 2023-10: 100 commits · +6,396 −812 2023-11: 28 commits · +182 −785 2023-12: 72 commits · +7,894 −1,717 2024-01: 29 commits · +1,215 −5,554 2024-02: 39 commits · +876 −306 2024-03: 22 commits · +3,261 −944 2024-04: 34 commits · +4,954 −267 2024-05: 22 commits · +1,034 −213 2024-06: 16 commits · +127 −73 2024-07: 20 commits · +8,680 −185 2024-08: 37 commits · +517 −583 2024-09: 25 commits · +147 −8,483 2024-10: 25 commits · +647 −355 2024-11: 14 commits · +424 −54 2024-12: 19 commits · +221 −2,808 2025-01: 9 commits · +4,293 −168 2025-02: 35 commits · +962 −747 2025-03: 48 commits · +511 −4,666 2025-04: 54 commits · +3,027 −1,307 2025-05: 50 commits · +2,048 −1,150 2025-06: 28 commits · +222 −672 2025-07: 41 commits · +2,351 −785 2025-08: 23 commits · +1,501 −132 2025-09: 37 commits · +1,292 −1,111 2025-10: 19 commits · +576 −83 2025-11: 29 commits · +85 −97 2025-12: 33 commits · +2,925 −724 2026-01: 36 commits · +570 −354 2026-02: 9 commits · +313 −338 2026-03: 5 commits · +36 −22 2026-04: 0 commits · +0 −0

sources

  1. git.kernel.org

    Current upstream Kconfig shows this directory is an umbrella for many hardware crypto drivers across x86, s390, SoC and virtual devices, not a single aging chipset.

  2. intel.com

    Intel still markets QuickAssist Technology for current data-center, cloud, storage and networking deployments.

  3. intel.com

    Intel states 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors support Intel QAT acceleration, indicating ongoing new-platform deployment.

  4. ibm.com

    IBM documents Crypto Express8S / 4770 availability on IBM Z z16 and z17 and on Linux on IBM Z, showing current hardware covered by this subtree is still sold/deployed.

  5. docs.oasis-open.org

    Virtio 1.3 defines a virtio crypto device type, supporting continued VM/guest deployment relevance for the virtio portion of this directory.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Recommendation is for the subtree as a whole, not any one legacy leaf driver. lore-http `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/crypto/` returned zero exact path matches, so there was no positive evidence of a subtree-wide removal series; two broader `lore_regex` subject probes timed out, so I did not treat them as removal evidence. Local shell inspection of `drivers/crypto/Kconfig` showed a broad, current umbrella of active hardware and virtual crypto engines. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall matching the locally inspected file; Intel, IBM, and OASIS URLs were obtained via web search. Because the directory spans actively sold server/mainframe/SoC/virtual hardware and already shows heavy recent upstream churn in the provided stats, this should be kept rather than deprecated; there is no single replacement driver for the whole subtree.