[FreeBSD-Announce] FreeBSD Security Advisory FreeBSD-SA-08:11.arc4random

[Stanislav Sedov]

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On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:07:18 -0800 (PST)
Nate Eldredge <neldredge at math.ucsd.edu> mentioned:

> Upon reading this, my first question was whether the weakness applies to 
> the random numbers supplied by /dev/random.  If it does, then userspace has 
> been getting non-random values, and things like PGP and SSH keys could be 
> compromised.  It might be good for secteam to clarify this, IMHO.
> 

Userland applications are unaffected ssh keys included. /dev/[u]?random
receives entropy from Yarrow, not from arc4random and feeded with saved
entropy upon boot by /etc/rc.d/initrandom.

Only kernel services that rely on arc4random(9) is vulnerable.

- -- 
Stanislav Sedov
ST4096-RIPE
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