Messages in this thread | | | Date | Wed, 18 Jul 2018 10:26:25 -0400 | From | "Theodore Y. Ts'o" <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] random: add a config option to trust the CPU's hwrng |
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On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 09:22:13AM +0200, Yann Droneaud wrote: > > The text message should explain this is only relevant during > initialization / early boot. > > The config option name should state this.
There are other workarounds for hangs that happen after initialization / early boot, yes. They are of varying levels of quality / safely, but that's neither here nor there.
However, enabling config option means that the CRNG will be initialized with potentially information available to the CPU manufacturer and/or Nation States, and this persists *after* initialization / early boot. So to say, "we're perfectly safe after we leave initialization / early boot" is not true.
So I'd much rather make it clear that we are trusting the CPU manufacturer far more than just during early boot.
Cheers,
- Ted
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