netdev - Re: [PATCH 0/6] Constant Time Memory Comparisons Are Important

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <CANUX_P2b0Bx+-E_OBQ0reGW0=d6819qc=r83K0kTv0xMo8mtLQ@mail.gmail.com>
Date:   Sun, 11 Jun 2017 23:48:36 +0300
From:   Emmanuel Grumbach <egrumbach@...il.com>
To:     Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>
Cc:     Kalle Valo <kvalo@...eaurora.org>,
        "Jason A. Donenfeld" <Jason@...c4.com>,
        LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        "kernel-hardening@...ts.openwall.com" 
        <kernel-hardening@...ts.openwall.com>,
        Anna Schumaker <anna.schumaker@...app.com>,
        David Howells <dhowells@...hat.com>,
        David Safford <safford@...ibm.com>,
        "David S. Miller" <davem@...emloft.net>,
        Gilad Ben-Yossef <gilad@...yossef.com>,
        Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
        Gustavo Padovan <gustavo@...ovan.org>,
        "J. Bruce Fields" <bfields@...ldses.org>,
        Jeff Layton <jlayton@...chiereds.net>,
        Johan Hedberg <johan.hedberg@...il.com>,
        Johannes Berg <johannes@...solutions.net>,
        Marcel Holtmann <marcel@...tmann.org>,
        Mimi Zohar <zohar@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>,
        Trond Myklebust <trond.myklebust@...marydata.com>,
        keyrings@...r.kernel.org, linux-bluetooth@...r.kernel.org,
        "open list:NFS, SUNRPC, AND..." <linux-nfs@...r.kernel.org>,
        linux-wireless <linux-wireless@...r.kernel.org>,
        Network Development <netdev@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/6] Constant Time Memory Comparisons Are Important

On Sun, Jun 11, 2017 at 4:36 PM, Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org> wrote:
>
> On Sun, Jun 11, 2017 at 1:13 AM, Kalle Valo <kvalo@...eaurora.org> wrote:
> > "Jason A. Donenfeld" <Jason@...c4.com> writes:
> >
> >> Whenever you're comparing two MACs, it's important to do this using
> >> crypto_memneq instead of memcmp. With memcmp, you leak timing information,
> >> which could then be used to iteratively forge a MAC.
> >
> > Do you have any pointers where I could learn more about this?
>
> While not using C specifically, this talks about the problem generally:
> https://www.chosenplaintext.ca/articles/beginners-guide-constant-time-cryptography.html
>

Sorry for the stupid question, but the MAC address is in plaintext in
the air anyway or easily accessible via user space tools. I fail to
see what it is so secret about a MAC address in that code where that
same MAC address is accessible via myriads of ways.