diff options
| author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700 |
| commit | 034dd340b08be1f2f0477ad16131d609f9dbd53c (patch) | |
| tree | 2536f4b2d7893ccd916b5abdf3c454ad6edc03c2 /Documentation/admin-guide/hw_random.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-034dd340b08be1f2f0477ad16131d609f9dbd53c.tar.gz linux-stable-034dd340b08be1f2f0477ad16131d609f9dbd53c.zip | |
Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-tracegrafted
Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt:
- Fix error output of boot instance creation failure
Currently if a boot instance creation fails, instead of printing out
the name of the instance that failed, it prints "(null)". That is
because it prints "cur_str" that had already been processed by
strsep(). Print the saved name instead.
While at it, print the error code of the failure.
- Fix use-after-free for same named historgrams
Histograms can be named so that they can be used in multiple events.
But if the named histogram has a variable attached, the second event
that uses the named histogram which duplicates it and needs to free
the original after duplication leaves the old variable in place and
still visible. If another histogram uses than variable, it will use
the stale one which will try to reference the freed duplicate
histogram and crash the kernel.
Free the duplicate variables along with the duplicated histogram
data.
- Check return value of kthread_run() in event self test
The events self tests uses a kthread for testing but does not check
if it succeeded in creating a kthread. If the kthread creation were
to fail, the code will still try to call kthread_stop() on the error
returned.
- Fix race between reading trace_pipe and updating subbuffer size
If a user is reading the trace_pipe file at the same time they update
the ring buffer sub-buffer size, can cause the trace_pipe read to
read stale data. Add trace_access_lock() around updating the ring
buffer sub-buffer size.
- Fix eventfs_inode on failure path in creation of the events directory
In the creation of the "events" directory, if after allocating the
eventfs_inode a failure is detected, it calls cleanup_ei() which
calls free_ei(). The free_ei() will test if eventfs_inode being freed
has no children. It is a bug if it does. But on the failure case of
the creation of the "events" directory, the children lists have not
yet been initialized and the free will trigger a warning because
list_empty() on an uninitialized list returns false.
Move the initialization into init_ei() where it makes more sense and
makes sure that a created eventfs_inode has its lists initialized
upon creation.
- Check return value of kthread_run() in ftrace direct sample code
The sample code that shows how to use the ftrace direct calls does
not test the return of kthread_run() to see if it succeeds. Return a
failure if the kthread_run() doesn't succeed.
- Clear user events state on fork in case of alloc failure
On fork, the child gets a pointer to the parent's user events state.
It makes a copy of it then updates the child's pointer to it. But if
the allocation fails, the duplication function leaves the child with
a pointer to its parent's descriptor. When the child cleans up its
data, it will free the parent's descriptor while the parent is still
using it.
In the duplication function, set the child's user_event_mm to NULL
before testing if the allocation succeeded, and when it exits it will
not free the parent's descriptor.
- Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap
simple_ring_buffer_swap_reader_page() starts with retry set to 8 and
post-decrements it only after a failed link replacement. On the final
attempt, a successful replacement leaves retry at zero, while a
failed replacement leaves it at -1.
But the check for success expects the retry value to be non-zero and
exits with an error on zero. This is the opposite result. Fix it.
- Fail nicely when the remote swap_reader_page() returns an error
Currently, if the swap_reader_page() of a remote buffer fails, it
triggers a WARN_ON_ONCE() and continues normally. Instead, have it
exit with an error and a pr_warn() print instead of a full WARNING.
* tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace:
ring-buffer: Stop remote reader update when page swap fails
tracing: Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap
tracing/user_events: Clear copied tracing state before fork duplication
samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-multi-modify
samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-modify
eventfs: Initialize ei->children and ei->list in init_ei()
tracing: Fix use-after-free in trace_pipe read on sub-buffer order change
tracing: Fix crash passing ERR_PTR to kthread_stop()
tracing: Fix use-after-free with same-name named triggers
tracing: Fix logged instance name on creation failure
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/admin-guide/hw_random.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/hw_random.rst | 104 |
1 files changed, 104 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw_random.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw_random.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..bfc39f1cf --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw_random.rst @@ -0,0 +1,104 @@ +================================= +Hardware random number generators +================================= + +Introduction +============ + +The hw_random framework is software that makes use of a +special hardware feature on your CPU or motherboard, +a Random Number Generator (RNG). The software has two parts: +a core providing the /dev/hwrng character device and its +sysfs support, plus a hardware-specific driver that plugs +into that core. + +To make the most effective use of these mechanisms, you +should download the support software as well. Download the +latest version of the "rng-tools" package from: + + https://github.com/nhorman/rng-tools + +Those tools use /dev/hwrng to fill the kernel entropy pool, +which is used internally and exported by the /dev/urandom and +/dev/random special files. + +Theory of operation +=================== + +CHARACTER DEVICE. Using the standard open() +and read() system calls, you can read random data from +the hardware RNG device. This data is NOT CHECKED by any +fitness tests, and could potentially be bogus (if the +hardware is faulty or has been tampered with). Data is only +output if the hardware "has-data" flag is set, but nevertheless +a security-conscious person would run fitness tests on the +data before assuming it is truly random. + +The rng-tools package uses such tests in "rngd", and lets you +run them by hand with a "rngtest" utility. + +/dev/hwrng is char device major 10, minor 183. + +CLASS DEVICE. There is a /sys/class/misc/hw_random node with +two unique attributes, "rng_available" and "rng_current". The +"rng_available" attribute lists the hardware-specific drivers +available, while "rng_current" lists the one which is currently +connected to /dev/hwrng. If your system has more than one +RNG available, you may change the one used by writing a name from +the list in "rng_available" into "rng_current". + +========================================================================== + + +Hardware driver for Intel/AMD/VIA Random Number Generators (RNG) + - Copyright 2000,2001 Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@pobox.com> + - Copyright 2000,2001 Philipp Rumpf <prumpf@mandrakesoft.com> + + +About the Intel RNG hardware, from the firmware hub datasheet +============================================================= + +The Firmware Hub integrates a Random Number Generator (RNG) +using thermal noise generated from inherently random quantum +mechanical properties of silicon. When not generating new random +bits the RNG circuitry will enter a low power state. Intel will +provide a binary software driver to give third party software +access to our RNG for use as a security feature. At this time, +the RNG is only to be used with a system in an OS-present state. + +Intel RNG Driver notes +====================== + +FIXME: support poll(2) + +.. note:: + + request_mem_region was removed, for three reasons: + + 1) Only one RNG is supported by this driver; + 2) The location used by the RNG is a fixed location in + MMIO-addressable memory; + 3) users with properly working BIOS e820 handling will always + have the region in which the RNG is located reserved, so + request_mem_region calls always fail for proper setups. + However, for people who use mem=XX, BIOS e820 information is + **not** in /proc/iomem, and request_mem_region(RNG_ADDR) can + succeed. + +Driver details +============== + +Based on: + Intel 82802AB/82802AC Firmware Hub (FWH) Datasheet + May 1999 Order Number: 290658-002 R + +Intel 82802 Firmware Hub: + Random Number Generator + Programmer's Reference Manual + December 1999 Order Number: 298029-001 R + +Intel 82802 Firmware HUB Random Number Generator Driver + Copyright (c) 2000 Matt Sottek <msottek@quiknet.com> + +Special thanks to Matt Sottek. I did the "guts", he +did the "brains" and all the testing. |
