Date: Tue, 15 May 2018 16:51:43 +0100 From: RW <rwmaillists@googlemail.com> To: freebsd-security@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Querying entropy state Message-ID: <20180515165143.393c72b1@gumby.homeunix.com> In-Reply-To: <20180515155444.0bb41e5f@gumby.homeunix.com> References: <130fc299-7d4e-e3fe-7ba8-d4d3a677591f@FreeBSD.org> <20180515155444.0bb41e5f@gumby.homeunix.com>
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On Tue, 15 May 2018 15:54:44 +0100 RW wrote: > On Tue, 15 May 2018 12:17:28 +0100 > Chris Rees wrote: > > > Hello all, > > > > Since the new random device has been put in, sysutils/monitorix no > > longer has a sysctl to poll to view the current state of entropy > > (i.e. kern.random.sys.seeded). > > > > I have come to the understanding that it is no longer necessary or > > relevant information with the new driver, and entropy is always at > > an acceptable state; the author has suggested disabling this test on > > FreeBSD. > > > > Am I correct that there is no point in checking for entropy any > > more, and the entropy is unmeasurable? > > It hasn't been for many years. > > kern.random.sys.seeded was set when yarrow first seeded itself after a > boot. As long as there's an entropy file this happened very early, and > ordinary computers would spontaneously seed well before that. The > sysctl was only relevant in some special cases like certain embedded > devices. And now I come to think of it, initrandom would throw in some low grade entropy to unblock the device even if there was no entropy file, so with the standard rc files the sysctl did nothing useful.
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