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VERITYSETUP(8) Maintenance Commands VERITYSETUP(8)

NAME

veritysetup - utility for configuring and managing dm-verity devices

SYNOPSIS

veritysetup <action> [<options>] <action args>

DESCRIPTION

Veritysetup is a utility for configuring and managing kernel dm-verity devices.

Kernel device-mapper dm-verity target provides read-only transparent data integrity protection of block devices.

When you configure the dm-verity device, veritysetup creates a new mapping that applications can access like any regular storage device. The kernel performs the verification transparently by comparing each block against pre-computed cryptographic hashes. The verification uses a Merkle tree and happens transparently at the kernel level without affecting applications.

Verity devices can be activated during boot through veritytab(5), which is part of systemd(1).

BASIC ACTIONS

Veritysetup supports these operations:

FORMAT

format <data_device> <hash_device>

Calculates and permanently stores hash verification data for the data_device. Hash area can be located on the same device after data, if specified by --hash-offset option.

You need to provide the root hash string for device verification or activation. Root hash must be trusted.

The data or hash device argument can be a block device or a file image. If the hash device path doesn’t exist, it will be created as a file.

<options> can be [--hash, --no-superblock, --format, --data-block-size, --hash-block-size, --data-blocks, --hash-offset, --salt, --uuid, --root-hash-file].

If option --root-hash-file is used, the root hash is stored in hex-encoded text format in <path>.

OPEN

open <data_device> <name> <hash_device> <root_hash>
open <data_device> <name> <hash_device> --root-hash-file <path>
create <name> <data_device> <hash_device> <root_hash> (OBSOLETE syntax)

Creates a mapping with <name> backed by device <data_device> and using <hash_device> for in-kernel verification.

The <root_hash> is a hexadecimal string.

<options> can be [--hash-offset, --no-superblock, --ignore-corruption or --restart-on-corruption, --panic-on-corruption, --ignore-zero-blocks, --check-at-most-once, --root-hash-signature, --root-hash-file, --use-tasklets, --shared].

If option --root-hash-file is used, the root hash is read from <path> instead of the command line parameter. Expects hex-encoded text, without a terminating newline.

If --no-superblock is used, you must use the same options as in the initial format operation.

VERIFY

verify <data_device> <hash_device> <root_hash>
verify <data_device> <hash_device> --root-hash-file <path>

Verifies data on data_device using hash blocks stored on hash_device.

This command performs userspace verification; no kernel device is created.

The <root_hash> is a hexadecimal string.

If option --root-hash-file is used, the root hash is read from <path> instead of the command line parameter. Expects hex-encoded text, without a terminating newline.

<options> can be [--hash-offset, --no-superblock, --root-hash-file].

If --no-superblock is used, you must use the same options as in the initial format operation.

CLOSE

close <name>
remove <name> (OBSOLETE syntax)

Removes existing mapping <name>.

<options> can be [--deferred] or [--cancel-deferred].

STATUS

status <name>

Reports status for the active verity mapping <name>.

DUMP

dump <hash_device>

Report parameters of the verity device from the on-disk stored superblock.

<options> can be [--hash-offset].

OPTIONS

--batch-mode, -q

Do not ask for confirmation.

--cancel-deferred

Cancels a previously configured deferred device removal in the close command.

--check-at-most-once

Instruct the kernel to verify blocks only once they are read from the data device, rather than every time.

WARNING: It provides a reduced level of security because only offline tampering of the data device’s content will be detected, not online tampering.

--data-blocks blocks

Size of the data device used in verification. If not specified, the whole device is used.

--data-block-size bytes

Used block size for the data device. Maximum is the page size used by the kernel.

--debug

Run in debug mode with full diagnostic logs. Debug output lines are always prefixed by #.

--deferred

Defers device removal in the close command until the last user closes it.

--error-as-corruption

Handle device I/O errors the same as data corruption. This option must be combined with --restart-on-corruption or --panic-on-corruption.

--fec-device device

Use forward error correction (FEC) to recover from corruption if hash verification fails. Use encoding data from the specified device.

The FEC device argument can be a block device or a file image. For format, if the FEC device path doesn’t exist, it will be created as a file.

Block sizes for data and hash devices must match. Also, if the verity data_device is encrypted, the fec_device should be too.

FEC calculation covers data, hash area, and optional foreign metadata stored on the same device as the hash tree (additional space after the hash area). The size of this optional additional area protected by FEC is calculated from image sizes, so you must use the same images for activation.

If the hash device is in a separate image, metadata covers the entire image after the hash area.

The metadata ends on the FEC area offset if the hash and FEC device are in the image.

--fec-offset bytes

This is the offset, in bytes, from the start of the FEC device to the beginning of the encoding data.

--fec-roots number

Number of generator roots. This equals the number of parity bytes in the encoding data. In RS(M, N) encoding, the number of roots is M-N. M is 255, and M-N is between 2 and 24 (including).

--format number

Specifies the hash version type. Format type 0 is the original Chrome OS version. Format type 1 is the current version.

--hash hash

Hash algorithm for dm-verity. For default, see --help option.

--hash-block-size bytes

Used block size for the hash device. Maximum is the page size used by the kernel.

--hash-offset bytes

Offset of hash area/superblock on hash_device. Value must be aligned with the disk sector offset.

--help, -?

Show help text and default parameters.

--ignore-corruption, --restart-on-corruption, --panic-on-corruption

Defines what to do if a data integrity problem (data corruption) is detected.

Without these options, the kernel fails the I/O operation with an I/O error. With --ignore-corruption option, the corruption is only logged. With --restart-on-corruption or --panic-on-corruption, the kernel is restarted (panicked) immediately. (You have to provide a way to avoid restart loops.)

Use these options only for very specific cases.

--ignore-zero-blocks

Instruct the kernel not to verify blocks expected to contain zeroes and always directly return zeroes instead.

Use this option only in very specific cases.

--no-superblock

Create or use dm-verity without a permanent on-disk superblock.

--root-hash-file file*

Path to file with stored root hash in hex-encoded text.

--root-hash-signature file*

A path to the root hash signature file used to verify the root hash (in kernel). This feature requires a Linux kernel version 5.4 or more recent.

--salt=hex string

Salt used for formatting or verification. Format is a hexadecimal string.

--shared

Allows the data device to be used in shared mode. The data device is not checked for exclusive access before the device activation and may be mapped in multiple verity mappings.

--usage

Show short option help.

--use-tasklets

Try to use kernel tasklets in the dm-verity driver for performance reasons. This option is available since Linux kernel version 6.0.

--uuid UUID

Use the provided UUID for the format command instead of generating a new one.

The UUID must be provided in standard UUID format, e.g., 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc.

--verbose, -v

Print more information on command execution.

--version, -V

Show the program version.

RETURN CODES

Veritysetup returns 0 on success and a non-zero value on error.

Error codes are: 1 wrong parameters, 2 no permission, 3 out of memory, 4 wrong device specified, 5 device already exists or device is busy.

EXAMPLES

veritysetup --data-blocks=256 format <data_device> <hash_device>

Calculates and stores verification data on hash_device for the first 256 blocks (of block size). If hash_device does not exist, it is created (as a file image).

veritysetup format --root-hash-file <path> <data_device> <hash_device>

Calculates and stores verification data on hash_device for the whole data_device, and stores the root hash as hex-encoded text in <path>.

veritysetup --data-blocks=256 --hash-offset=1052672 format <device> <device>

Verification data (hashes) is stored on the same device as data (starting at hash-offset). Hash offset must be greater than the number of blocks in the data area.

veritysetup --data-blocks=256 --hash-offset=1052672 create test-device <device> <device> <root_hash>

Activates the verity device named test-device. Options --data-blocks and --hash-offset are the same as in the format command. The <root_hash> was calculated in the format command.

veritysetup --data-blocks=256 --hash-offset=1052672 verify <data_device> <hash_device> <root_hash>

Verifies device without activation (in userspace).

veritysetup --data-blocks=256 --hash-offset=1052672 --root-hash-file <path> verify <data_device> <hash_device>

Verifies device without activation (in userspace). Root hash is passed via file rather than inline.

veritysetup --fec-device=<fec_device> --fec-roots=10 format <data_device> <hash_device>

Calculates and stores verification and encoding data for the data_device.

DM-VERITY ON-DISK SPECIFICATION

The on-disk format specification is available on the DMVerity <https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup/wikis/DMVerity> page.

AUTHORS

The first implementation of veritysetup was written by Chrome OS authors.

This version is based on verification code written by Mikulas Patocka <mpatocka@redhat.com> and rewritten for libcryptsetup by Milan Broz <gmazyland@gmail.com>.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs at cryptsetup mailing list <cryptsetup@lists.linux.dev> or in Issues project section <https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup/-/issues/new>.

Please attach the output of the failed command with --debug option added.

SEE ALSO

Cryptsetup FAQ <https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup/wikis/FrequentlyAskedQuestions>

cryptsetup(8), integritysetup(8) and veritysetup(8)

CRYPTSETUP

Part of cryptsetup project <https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup/>.

2025-08-19 veritysetup 2.8.1