Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 16 May 2008 16:20:49 +0300 | From | Adrian Bunk <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] Re: [PATCH] drivers/net: remove network drivers' last few uses of IRQF_SAMPLE_RANDOM |
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On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 12:19:49PM +0200, Andi Kleen wrote: >... > The only problem you got from possible bogus input is that the entropy > counts will be wrong, but in my experience nearly all programs > use /dev/urandom anyways because /dev/random is just a DoS waiting > to happen and user space programmers know that. >...
If programs just need some random data without relying on the fact that it's cryptographically strong /dev/urandom is the right choice.
But some programs need entropy for doing crypto stuff, and a local DoS is harmless compared to the consequences of bad /dev/random data.
Consider as a worst case the just discovered OpenSSL bug in Debian where all accounts with public key authentification and keys created on a Debian/Ubuntu system during the last 20 months [1] can be taken over by an attacker within less than 20 minutes with a simple brute force attack. [2]
> -Andi
cu Adrian
[1] 13 months for Debian stable users [2] http://www.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/Full-Disclosure/2008-05/msg00416.html
--
"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days. "Only a promise," Lao Er said. Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed
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