fips

This image element attempts to setup the image so it will boot and operate in what is often referred to as “FIPS mode”, where cryptography policies and algorithms are enforced to only those which are FIPS approved and certified. In this context, FIPS is an abbreviation for Federal Information Processing Standard, specifically publication number 140. You can learn more about FIPS policies at https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips

This element is a best-effort element and additional software or elements may be processed after the fact which may impact the work of this element. It is generally regarded as critical to enable FIPS as early as possible, as cryptography policy can be applied, but may not be fully enforced without the kernel also operating in FIPS mode.

If you intend to utilize this element to generate production FIPS images, it is highly recommended you do so on a host which has already had FIPS enabled for itself.

Additionally, not all distributions are explicitly supported. Unsupported distributions will error providing appropriate guidance, if available.