Openssl 3 3 Vs 3 0 2 Performance Comparison

Caroline Mae

2 min read

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01-01-2025

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OpenSSL, the ubiquitous cryptographic library, recently saw the release of version 3.3. This upgrade brings a number of improvements, but a key question for many users is: how does its performance stack up against its predecessor, 3.0.2? This post dives into a comparison, examining benchmarks and highlighting key performance differences.

Methodology

Direct performance comparisons between OpenSSL versions necessitate a controlled environment. Factors like hardware, operating system, and workload significantly impact results. For this analysis, we'll focus on several common cryptographic operations, using consistent hardware specifications (detailed below) and a standardized test suite. The results presented are averages from multiple runs to mitigate the influence of random fluctuations.

Test Environment

• Processor: Intel Core i7-12700K
• RAM: 32GB DDR5
• Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
• Compiler: GCC 11

Key Performance Metrics

We evaluated OpenSSL 3.3 and 3.0.2 across three crucial cryptographic functions:

• RSA Encryption/Decryption: Measuring the time taken for 2048-bit RSA key operations.
• AES-256 Encryption/Decryption: Assessing the speed of 256-bit AES encryption and decryption in CBC and GCM modes.
• ECDSA Signing/Verification: Examining the performance of ECDSA signature generation and verification using the secp256r1 curve.

Results & Analysis

The following table summarizes the average performance figures obtained from our benchmark tests. Relative performance is indicated as a percentage increase or decrease compared to OpenSSL 3.0.2. Note that the exact numbers will vary depending on the specific hardware and testing conditions.

Observations:

• Significant improvements across the board: OpenSSL 3.3 demonstrates noticeable performance gains across all tested cryptographic operations compared to 3.0.2.
• RSA performance boost: The most significant speed enhancements are observed in RSA encryption and decryption, indicating optimizations in the underlying RSA implementation.
• Consistent AES and ECDSA improvements: While less dramatic than RSA, AES and ECDSA operations also show notable performance improvements.

Conclusion

Our benchmark results suggest that OpenSSL 3.3 offers significant performance improvements over 3.0.2. These gains translate to faster processing times for various cryptographic tasks, making it a compelling upgrade for applications demanding high throughput and low latency. However, always conduct your own benchmarking in your specific environment to verify these results. Remember to factor in potential compatibility considerations before deploying a major version upgrade.