netdev - Re: [PATCH] Add IRQF_SAMPLE_RANDOM Flag to forcedeth

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Message-ID: <4CB13195.2070007@netscape.net>
Date:	Sat, 09 Oct 2010 21:23:01 -0600
From:	Patrick Simmons <linuxrocks123@...scape.net>
To:	David Miller <davem@...emloft.net>
CC:	bhutchings@...arflare.com, netdev@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Add IRQF_SAMPLE_RANDOM Flag to forcedeth

On 10/09/10 21:15, David Miller wrote:
> From: Ben Hutchings<bhutchings@...arflare.com>
> Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2010 02:09:24 +0100
>
>> Patrick Simmons wrote:
>>> This patch adds the IRQF_SAMPLE_RANDOM flag to the forcedeth driver,
>>> allowing the interrupt timing for forcedeth to be used for entropy
>>> generation.  This should help /dev/random generate more secure random
>>> numbers on machines using this driver.
>> [...]
>>
>> We don't enable this for network drivers any more because:
>>
>> 1. At high packet rates, interrupt moderation makes interrupts very
>> regular.
>> 2. At low packet rates, a malicious sender can control the interrupt
>> timing.
>
> Agreed on all counts, I'm not applying this patch.

It's enabled for other network drivers, which is where I got the idea 
from.  Has anyone actually done an experiment to see whether these two 
concerns are valid?

--Patrick

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