[Top][All Lists]
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[gnutls-dev] Re: Feature request: not really random session keys
From: |
Simon Josefsson |
Subject: |
[gnutls-dev] Re: Feature request: not really random session keys |
Date: |
Wed, 18 Jan 2006 14:03:44 +0100 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.110004 (No Gnus v0.4) Emacs/22.0.50 (gnu/linux) |
Nikos Mavrogiannopoulos <address@hidden> writes:
> On 1/18/06, Florian Weimer <address@hidden> wrote:
>> Okay, the subject line might be a bit misleading. On server machines,
>> random bits are a very scarce ressource, and you cannot really afford
>> to throw them a way at a rate of a few kbps. Yet if you run certain
>> network servers (or clients) with GNUTLS, this is what happens -- and
>> these servers stall from time to time, waiting for more randomness.
>> I would like to see an additional API which allows code to degrade
>> session key randomness to a mere PRNG (i.e. /dev/urandom instead of
>> /dev/random). In a theoretical sense, this sacrifices Perfect Forward
>> Secrecy, but for some applications (MTAs, for example) this is not
>> such a relevant issue anyway.
>
> Well, gnutls shouldn't use /dev/random on normal server use. For example if
> you use only TLS /dev/random shouldn't be accessed. Only if you generate
> private keys (or RSA parameters) /dev/random will be used.
Perhaps someone with this problem could debug exactly what is
accessing /dev/random? Perhaps libgcrypt does it internally for some
reason.
[gnutls-dev] Re: Feature request: not really random session keys, Simon Josefsson, 2006/01/18
Re: [gnutls-dev] Feature request: not really random session keys, Nikos Mavrogiannopoulos, 2006/01/18