Re: [kernel-hardening] Re: [PATCH v2 1/3] Add the latent_entropy gcc plugin

PaX Team
2016-06-07T12:20:17Z

On 6 Jun 2016 at 19:13, Theodore Ts'o wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 06, 2016 at 09:30:12PM +0200, PaX Team wrote:
> >
> > what matters for latent entropy is not the actual values fed into the entropy
> > pool (they're effectively compile time constants save for runtime data dependent
> > computations) but the precise sequence of them. interrupts stir this sequence
> > and thus extract entropy. perhaps as a small example imagine that an uninterrupted
> > kernel boot sequence feeds these values into the entropy pool:
> > A B C
> >
> > now imagine that a single interrupt can occur around any one of these values:
> > I A B C
> > A I B C
> > A B I C
> > A B C I
> >
> > this way we can obtain 4 different final pool states that translate into up
> > to 2 bits of latent entropy (depends on how probable each sequence is). note
> > that this works regardless whether the underlying hardware has a high resolution
> > timer whose values the interrupt handler would feed into the pool.
>
> Right, but if it's only about interrupts,

(i believe that) latent entropy is found in more than just interrupt timing, there're
also data dependent computations that can have entropy, either on a single system or
across a population of them.

> we're doing this already inside modern Linux kernels. On every single
> interrupt we are mixing into a per-CPU "fast mix" pool the IP from the
> interrupt registers.

i agree that sampling the kernel register state can have entropy (the plugin
already extracts the current stack pointer) but i'm much less sure about
userland (at least i see no dependence on !user_mode(...)) since an attacker
could feed no entropy into the pool but still get it credited.

cheers,
PaX Team