From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Wed, 22 Aug 2001 09:46:35 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Wed, 22 Aug 2001 09:46:25 -0400 Received: from h131s117a129n47.user.nortelnetworks.com ([47.129.117.131]:39329 "HELO pcard0ks.ca.nortel.com") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id ; Wed, 22 Aug 2001 09:46:20 -0400 Message-ID: <3B83B80C.140A5146@nortelnetworks.com> Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 09:47:56 -0400 From: Chris Friesen X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.3-custom i686) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Mike Touloumtzis Cc: Robert Love , Oliver Xymoron , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, riel@conectiva.com.br Subject: Re: [PATCH] let Net Devices feed Entropy, updated (1/2) In-Reply-To: <998193404.653.12.camel@phantasy> <20010821231002.C27313@bluemug.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Mike Touloumtzis wrote: > You have been repeating that there is no difference in security > between /dev/random and /dev/urandom, but consider this: you install > a kernel/hardware combination without any registered SA_SAMPLE_RANDOM > IRQs (i.e. headless, no IDE, no NICs with SA_SAMPLE_RANDOM IRQs). > This configuration is not hard to imagine for, say, a dedicated > server appliance or embedded device. So we then have two options, one of which is required if we are going to be able to get any random numbers from this box: 1) if we contact some server to boot or to mount filesystems, we can also slurp up some seed values from that server. 2) we enable all NIC drivers to collect entropy In the case you describe, I don't see any other options. Without one of these paths, /dev/random will block, and /dev/urandom will be predictable. Chris -- Chris Friesen | MailStop: 043/33/F10 Nortel Networks | work: (613) 765-0557 3500 Carling Avenue | fax: (613) 765-2986 Nepean, ON K2H 8E9 Canada | email: cfriesen@nortelnetworks.com