Re: [PATCH v43 01/15] Linux Random Number Generator

Am Montag, 22. November 2021, 22:06:55 CET schrieb Jeffrey Walton:

Hi Jeffrey,

On Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 10:10 AM Simo Sorce [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

On Mon, 2021-11-22 at 07:55 +0100, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:

quoted

On Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 07:42:02AM +0100, Stephan Mueller wrote:

quoted

...
I will leave the representatives from the distros to chime in and
point to
these patches.

Then why not work with the distros to get these changes merged into the
kernel tree?  They know that keeping things out-of-the-tree costs them
time and money, so why are they keeping them there?

I can speak for my distro.
We have not proposed them because they are hacks, we know they are
hacks, and we know they are not the long term solution.
Yet we have no better way (in our products, today) so far to deal with
these issues because what is needed is an effort like LRNG (does not
have to be this specific implementation), because hacks will not cut it
in the long term.

Kernel support for FIPS validated crypto would be very useful, IMHO.

Currently most folks I know and consult with use CentOS because CentOS
is free and includes the FIPS canister for OpenSSL. Several folks I
know and consult with don't have a solution because they use Debian
derivatives, like Ubuntu. They use Ubuntu because Ubuntu offers the
image processing packages they need out of the box.

Moving the validated crypto into the kernel would be useful since all
distros can provide it without the need for one-off patches.

What I am less clear about.... NIST is only one standard body, and not
everyone trusts the US. There are other bodies that should probably be
represented, like KISA. So the big question becomes, how does the
kernel offer "approved" crypto for different consumers? (where
"approved" means blessed by some agency like NIST or KISA).

IMHO that is where the flexibility of the LRNG comes in. I am currently in 
discussion with the German BSI on their requirements and these requirements 
can be covered by a few extra lines since it only affects a different initial 
seeding of the DRNG.

In any case, the LRNG supports other approaches by:

- select one or more entropy sources (or provide one from external) that are 
considered appropriate

- if needed, adjust the initial seeding operation

- if needed, adjust the crypto primitives that are in use.

Ciao
Stephan

Jeff

Ciao
Stephan