[21504] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Linux RNG paper
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bill Frantz)
Wed Mar 22 17:38:57 2006
X-Original-To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
X-Original-To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 14:31:37 -0800
From: Bill Frantz <frantz@pwpconsult.com>
To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
In-Reply-To: <5ABE30CE099A524CBF95C715D37BCACC1A14D1@nemo.columbia.ads.sparta.com>
On 3/21/06, Michael.Heyman@sparta.com (Heyman, Michael) wrote:
>Gutterman, Pinkas, and Reinman have produced a nice as-built-specification=
and analysis of the Linux=20
>random number generator.
>
>>From <http://eprint.iacr.org/2006/086.pdf>:
>
>...
>
>=E2=80=9D Since randomness is often consumed in a multi-user environment, =
it makes sense to generalize the BH=20
>model to such environments. Ideally, each user should have its own random-=
number generator, and these=20
>generators should be refreshed with different data which is all derived fr=
om the entropy sources=20
>available to the system (perhaps after going through an additional PRNG). =
This architecture should=20
>prevent denial-of-service attacks, and prevent one user from learning abou=
t the randomness used by=20
>other users
One of my pet peeves: The idea that the "user" is the proper atom of
protection in an OS.
My threat model includes different programs run by one (human) user. If
a Trojan, running as part of my userID, can learn something about the
random numbers harvested by my browser/gpg/ssh etc., then it can start
to attack the keys used by those applications, even if the OS does a
good job of keeping the memory spaces separate and protected.
Cheers - Bill
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Bill Frantz | The first thing you need | Periwinkle=20
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