New version of libccid: 1.4.14

I just released a version 1.4.14 of libccid the free software CCID class smart card reader driver.

Changes:
1.4.14 - 25 November 2013, Ludovic Rousseau

• Add support of
  
  • Gemalto GemCore SIM Pro firmware 2.0 (using USB)
• report FEATURE_IFD_PIN_PROPERTIES only for pinpad readers
• Generalize the management of (old) readers with bDeviceClass = 0xFF
• some minor bugs removed

Linux NFC driver conflicts with CCID driver for ACS ACR122U

Linux NFC subsystem

Since 2011 the Linux kernel provides a NFC subsystem for some NFC devices. The same device can be used by the Linux NFC subsystem and also my CCID driver. We then have a conflict!

The kernel driver will use the device before the CCID driver has a chance to use it. Loading the CCID driver in pcsc-lite will then fail with an error message: "Can't claim interface"

Devices supported by linux NFC drivers

According to drivers/nfc/pn533.c

Name	idVendor	idProduct
PN533	0x4CC	0x2533
SCM SCL3711	0x4E6	0x5591
SONY PASORI	0x054c	0x02e1
ACS ACR122U	0x072f	0x2200

The ACS ACR122U reader is also in the (unsupported) list of readers for my CCID driver.

So if you have such a reader and a "recent" Linux kernel (version 3.5 or more) you may not be able to use the CCID driver with this device.

Work around

So the CCID driver can use the ACS ACR122U you need to first unload the pn533 kernel driver.

[update April 14th 2017]

To remove the pn533 kernel module use:

$ sudo rmmod pn533

[update December 15th 2018]

The Linux kernel driver is loaded each time you plug the device. So using rmmod to unload the kernel driver will work only once and you would have to do it again and again.

To permanently remove the pn533 kernel module use something like:

$ sudo rm -r /lib/modules/*/kernel/drivers/nfc/pn533

OS X Mavericks and smart cards status

The new version of OS X 10.9 called Mavericks is now available since 22th October 2013. The operating system is now called OS X and not Mac OS X.



As I did with the previous major versions of Mac OS X Mountain Lion (and Lion) I will list changes in Maveriks regarding the smart card world.

pcsc-lite

Same version as in Mountain Lion. But seen bellow.

CCID driver

Same as in Mountain Lion.
CCID driver version 1.3.11.

$ grep -A 1 CFBundleShortVersionString /usr/libexec/SmartCardServices/drivers/ifd-ccid.bundle/Contents/Info.plist 
  <key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key>
  <string>1.3.11</string>

The binary is now 64-bits only in Mavericks when it was 32-bits only in Mountain Lion and previous versions.

$ file /usr/libexec/SmartCardServices/drivers/ifd-ccid.bundle/Contents/MacOS/libccid.dylib
/usr/libexec/SmartCardServices/drivers/ifd-ccid.bundle/Contents/MacOS/libccid.dylib: Mach-O 64-bit dynamically linked shared library x86_64

Source code

The source code is provided by Apple from the web site OS X 10.9 Source. The two components are available in:

• SmartCardServices-55111 for pcsc-lite
• SmartcardCCID-55005 for the CCID driver

The source code is not yet available in the subversion repository of the SmartCard Services project.

The source code for the smart card components in Mac OS X 10.8 is available at Mac OS X 10.8 Source. It is then easy to compare the two versions.

Changes

pcsc-lite

$ diff -ru SmartCardServices-55105 SmartCardServices-55111 | diffstat 
 Info-PCSC.plist                             |    2 
 SmartCardServices.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj |    7 -
 src/PCSC/PCSCDevice.h                       |    2 
 src/PCSC/PCSCDriverBundle.h                 |    2 
 src/PCSC/hotplug_macosx.cpp                 |    2 
 src/PCSC/pcscd_reader.h                     |    2 
 src/PCSC/pcscdaemon.c                       |   54 -----------
 src/PCSC/pcscdmonitor.h                     |    2 
 src/PCSC/pcscdserver.h                      |    2 
 src/PCSC/readerfactory.c                    |  127 ----------------------------
 src/PCSC/readerstate.h                      |    2 
 src/PCSC/sys_macosx.cpp                     |    2 
 12 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 192 deletions(-)

The respawn feature has been removed from pcscd. This feature has been added in Lion and allows a 64-bits pcscd to restart in 32-bits if it find a 32-bits only driver. See Mac OS X Lion and smart cards status for some more details.

I also note that the support of Rosetta is still present. This has been added during Tiger (10.4 released in 2006) to support the migration from PowerPC and Intel processors. The idea is to be able to use a PowerPC (big endian) PC/SC client talking to an Intel (little endian) pcscd server. Some functions inside pcsc-lite are used to do the needed conversions like SHSharedSegmentMsgToNetworkOrder() and SHSharedSegmentMsgToHostOrder() in src/PCSC/winscard_msg.cpp.

libccid

$ diff -ru SmartcardCCID-55000 SmartcardCCID-55005 | diffstat 
diff: SmartcardCCID-55000/libusb/libusb/compile: No such file or directory
diff: SmartcardCCID-55000/libusb/libusb/config.guess: No such file or directory
diff: SmartcardCCID-55000/libusb/libusb/config.sub: No such file or directory
diff: SmartcardCCID-55000/libusb/libusb/depcomp: No such file or directory
diff: SmartcardCCID-55000/libusb/libusb/install-sh: No such file or directory
diff: SmartcardCCID-55000/libusb/libusb/ltmain.sh: No such file or directory
diff: SmartcardCCID-55000/libusb/libusb/missing: No such file or directory
 Makefile                       |    2 
 files/automake_copy.patch      |only
 files/darwin_no_seize.patch    |only
 libusb/Makefile.in             |  372 -
 libusb/aclocal.m4              | 1404 +++-
 libusb/autogen.sh              |    4 
 libusb/autom4te.cache/output.0 |11877 +++++++++++++++++++----------------------
 libusb/autom4te.cache/output.1 |11877 +++++++++++++++++++----------------------
 libusb/autom4te.cache/requests |   80 
 libusb/autom4te.cache/traces.0 |  754 +-
 libusb/autom4te.cache/traces.1 |  155 
 libusb/config.h.in             |   20 
 libusb/configure               |11767 +++++++++++++++++++---------------------
 libusb/darwin.c                |    6 
 libusb/doc/Makefile.in         |   51 
 libusb/tests/Makefile.in       |  168 
 16 files changed, 18722 insertions(+), 19815 deletions(-)

Only some files needed to rebuild the binary have been updated. libusb version is still libusb-0.1.13b and libccid is still ccid-1.3.11.

Impacts of the changes

Since the respawn feature has been removed from pcscd a 32-bits (Intel) only driver will not be usable on Mavericks. You have to provide a 64-bits (or Universal Binary with 32-bits and 64-bits) so it can be used on Mavericks.

Conclusion

Apple has not really updated the smart card components in Mavericks, or Mountain Lion or Lion. No bug or limitation has been fixed. And no new bug have been introduced.
Only 64-bits smart card drivers are usable on Mavericks.

The CCID driver provided (version 1.3.11) has been released on July 2009, 4 years ago. Since this version 146 readers have been added (112% more). Yes, more readers have been added since 1.3.11 than readers supported in version 1.3.11.

New version of pcsc-lite: 1.8.10

I just released a new version of pcsc-lite 1.8.10.

This version is a bug fix for the version 1.8.9 I released 3 days ago.

When making the Debian package for pcsc-lite the lintian tool reported that a new symbol log_msg was exported by the client library libpcsclite.so.1. This symbol is NOT part of the WinSCard API and should not be exported. It was a bug and needed to be fixed soon to avoid problems in PC/SC applications (like symbol conflict).

Changes:
pcsc-lite-1.8.10: Ludovic Rousseau
19 October 2013

• do not export the internal log_msg symbol from libpcsclite.so.1

New version of pcsc-lite: 1.8.9

I just released a new version of pcsc-lite 1.8.9.

Changes:
pcsc-lite-1.8.9: Ludovic Rousseau
16 October 2013

• SCardEndTransaction(): Return an error if is called with no corresponding SCardBeginTransaction()
• SCardGetAttrib(): Add support of SCARD_ATTR_DEVICE_SYSTEM_NAME
• SCardGetAttrib(): Fix bug in SCARD_ATTR_DEVICE_FRIENDLY_NAME
• SCardBeginTransaction() was not correctly releasing a mutex when the hCard handle was invalidated
  The problem was that SCardGetStatusChange() was blocked because SCardBeginTransaction() had not released the context mutex.
• PCSC/reader.h: Use C99 flexible array member
  The structures PIN_MODIFY_STRUCTURE and PIN_VERIFY_STRUCTURE now use a C99 flexible array member when available for abData field.
  uint8_t abData[];
• Add support of --reader-name-no-serial and --reader-name-no-interface
  It is now possible to NOT add the USB serial number of the reader using --reader-name-no-serial
  It is now possible to NOT add the CCID interface name of the reader using --reader-name-no-interface
• Add support of serialconfdir pkg-config variable
  It is now possible to use pkg-config to get the directory used by pcscd to fetch serial drivers configurations.
  $ pkg-config libpcsclite --variable=serialconfdir
/etc/reader.conf.d
• pcsc-spy: Try to display the thread in the order they appear in the log
• pcsc-spy: Add SCARD_ATTR_DEVICE_SYSTEM_NAME
• Check the Info.plist file is (a minimum) correct
• Update PROTOCOL_VERSION_MINOR from 2 to 3
  We broke the API between version 1.8.3 and 1.8.4 by changing the value of MAX_READERNAME. This change should have been made before releasing version 1.8.4 to make mix of versions clearly non working instead of failing with strange errors.
• hotplug_libudev.c: Fix a memory leak in case of error
• Fix OpenBSD 5.2 compilation regarding dlopen
• correctly manage thread safe multi-slot readers
• Do not use pthread_atfork() any more (fix problem on FreeBSD)
• fix memory leaks.
  This was not really a problem unless you embedd pcscd in another process and do init/deinit pcscd without exiting the process (as maybe used on Android or iOS).
• pcscd.8 manpage: add documentation for --max-thread, --max-card-handle-per-thread, --max-card-handle-per-reader, --force-reader-polling, --error, --critical and --color
• Some other minor improvements and bug corrections

New version of libccid: 1.4.13

I just released a version 1.4.13 of libccid the free software CCID class smart card reader driver.

Changes:
1.4.13 - 9 October 2013, Ludovic Rousseau

• Add support of
  
  • Access IS ePassport Reader
  • Planeta RC700-NFC CCID
• Add support of Windows value for CM_IOCTL_GET_FEATURE_REQUEST
  Windows uses 0x313520 for SCARD_CTL_CODE(3400) pcsc-lite uses 0x42000D48 for SCARD_CTL_CODE(3400)
  RDP aplications (like rdesktop) will convert SCardControl() commands from a Windows application (so using 0x313520) to pcsc-lite.
• fix multi-slot support for card movement notification (introduced in 1.4.12)
• Mac OS X: differentiate each libccid library by the dynamic linker using --prefix=/fake/$BUNDLE_ID
• some minor bugs removed

CCID descriptor statistics: bMaxSlotIndex

Article from the serie "CCID descriptor statistics"

The bMaxSlotIndex field is a number value from the CCID USB descriptor: highest available slot on this device. All slots are consecutive starting at 00h. i.e. 0Fh = 16 slots on this device numbered 00h to 0Fh.

bMaxSlotIndex	#	%
0x00	236	92.91 %
0x01	11	4.33 %
0x02	3	1.18 %
0x04	3	1.18 %
0x03	1	0.39 %

CCID readers may have more than one physical card interface. The vast majority of them (93%) are simple readers with only one card interface (bMaxSlotIndex: 0x00).

11 readers have 2 interfaces (bMaxSlotIndex: 0x01)

• ATMEL AT91SO CCID Smart Card Reader
• Alcor Micro AU9522
• Gemalto GemCore SIM Pro Smart Card Reader
• Gemalto Hybrid Smartcard Reader
• SCM Microsystems Inc. SCR 331-DI
• SCM Microsystems Inc. SCR331-DI USB Smart Card Reader
• SCM Microsystems Inc. SDI010 Smart Card Reader
• SCM Microsystems Inc. SDI011 Contactless Reader
• SCM Microsystems Inc. SDI011 Contactless Reader
• SpringCard EasyFinger Standard
• SpringCard H512 Series
• SpringCard H663 Series

Many of the 2 interfaces readers (SCM readers) have a contact interface and also a contactless interface. But SCM uses proprietary commands to driver the contactless interface so this interface is not supported by my CCID driver.
Or the reader has a contact interface and also a SAM interface (using a ID-000 format).

3 readers have 3 interfaces (bMaxSlotIndex: 0x02)

• COVADIS Auriga
• SpringCard CrazyWriter
• SpringCard CSB6 Secure

1 reader has 4 interfaces (bMaxSlotIndex: 0x03)

• SpringCard EasyFinger Ultimate

3 readers have 5 interfaces (bMaxSlotIndex: 0x04)

• Gemplus GemCore POS Pro Smart Card Reader
• SpringCard CSB6 Ultimate
• Teridian Semiconductors TSC12xxFV.09

The value bMaxSlotIndex may be compared to the value bMaxCCIDBusySlots. A value bMaxCCIDBusySlots > 0 indicates the reader allows to access more than one slot at the same time.

If you compare the list of readers from bMaxSlotIndex (this page) and bMaxCCIDBusySlots you see that many readers provide more than one slot but can only talk to one slot at a time. Only the "Teridian Semiconductors TSC12xxFV.09" reader declares 5 slots and 5 simultaneous busy slots.