Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 05:34:11 -0800 (PST) From: "Ralf S. Engelschall" <rse@FreeBSD.org> To: src-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-src@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: cvs commit: src/sys/kern kern_uuid.c Message-ID: <200401221334.i0MDYB1K018137@repoman.freebsd.org>
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rse 2004/01/22 05:34:11 PST
FreeBSD src repository
Modified files:
sys/kern kern_uuid.c
Log:
Fix generation of random multicast MAC address.
In case no real/physical IEEE 802 address is available, both the expired
"draft-leach-uuids-guids-01" (section "4. Node IDs when no IEEE 802
network card is available") and RFC 2518 (section "6.4.1 Node Field
Generation Without the IEEE 802 Address") recommend (quoted from RFC
2518):
"The ideal solution is to obtain a 47 bit cryptographic quality random
number, and use it as the low 47 bits of the node ID, with the _most_
significant bit of the first octet of the node ID set to 1. This bit
is the unicast/multicast bit, which will never be set in IEEE 802
addresses obtained from network cards; hence, there can never be a
conflict between UUIDs generated by machines with and without network
cards."
Unfortunately, this incorrectly explains how to implement this and
the FreeBSD UUID generator code inherited this generation bug from
the broken reference code in the standards draft. They should instead
specify the "_least_ significant bit of the first octet of the node ID"
as the multicast bit in a memory and hexadecimal string representation
of a 48-bit IEEE 802 MAC address.
This standards bug arised from a false interpretation, as the multicast
bit is actually the _most_ significant bit in IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet)
_transmission order_ of an IEEE 802 MAC address. The standards authors
forgot that the bitwise order of an _octet_ from a MAC address _memory_
and hexadecimal string representation is still always from left (MSB,
bit 7) to right (LSB, bit 0).
Fortunately, this UUID generation bug could have occurred on systems
without any Ethernet NICs only.
Revision Changes Path
1.7 +1 -1 src/sys/kern/kern_uuid.c
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