This message generated a parse failure. Raw output follows here. Please use 'back' to navigate. From devnull@lkml.org Sun May 19 06:18:48 2024 Received: from entropy.muc.muohio.edu (IDENT:root@entropy.muc.muohio.edu [134.53.213.10]) by herbie.ucs.indiana.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA24339 for ; Tue, 1 Jun 1999 14:43:31 -0500 (EST) Received: from vger.rutgers.edu (vger.rutgers.edu [128.6.190.2]) by entropy.muc.muohio.edu (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id PAA02542; Tue, 1 Jun 1999 15:43:14 -0400 Received: by vger.rutgers.edu via listexpand id ; Tue, 1 Jun 1999 14:27:34 -0400 Received: by vger.rutgers.edu id ; Tue, 1 Jun 1999 14:26:43 -0400 Received: from lesser-magoo.lcs.mit.edu ([18.111.0.112]:12364 "EHLO lesser-magoo.lcs.mit.edu") by vger.rutgers.edu with ESMTP id ; Tue, 1 Jun 1999 14:20:28 -0400 Received: from miris.lcs.mit.edu (cananian@miris.lcs.mit.edu [18.111.0.89]) by lesser-magoo.lcs.mit.edu (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id PAA09315; Tue, 1 Jun 1999 15:27:34 -0400 Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 15:27:33 -0400 (EDT) From: "C. Scott Ananian" X-Sender: cananian@miris.lcs.mit.edu To: Florian Weimer Cc: linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu Subject: Re: /dev/random and /dev/psaux: too much entropy assumed? In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu Precedence: bulk X-Loop: majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu X-Orcpt: rfc822;linux-kernel-outgoing-dig On 1 Jun 1999, Florian Weimer wrote: > I would certainly like to end the thread after this, but I've got one > further question: The implementation of /dev/random assumes that the > output of the SHA-1 hash function is random for random (or almost random) > input. Neither the people on sci.crypt nor I know of any analysis > of SHA-1 in this direction (which doesn't prove anything of course). > Are there any particular reasons why SHA-1 was chosen to supersede MD5? > (It might indeed become practical to find collisions for MD5 soon, > but this doesn't mean that MD5 is not suitable for applications like > /dev/random.) Patent issues, I strongly suspect. And most of the applications for /dev/random don't actually require 'uniformly distributed' output (which is my guess as to what you mean by 'random'); rather they require 'unguessable' output. SHA-1, being a strong one-way function, provides unguessable output. --s @ @ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-oOO-(_)-OOo-=-=-=-=-= C. Scott Ananian: cananian@lcs.mit.edu / Declare the Truth boldly and Laboratory for Computer Science/Crypto / without hindrance. Massachusetts Institute of Technology /META-PARRESIAS AKOLUTOS:Acts 28:31 -.-. .-.. .. ..-. ..-. --- .-. -.. ... -.-. --- - - .- -. .- -. .. .- -. PGP key available via finger and from http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/~cananian ammunition kibo IDEA genetic Sigint FBI jihad Indonesia Waco, Texas Panama BATF Honduras domestic disruption Nazi strategic supercomputer - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/