[Dnsmasq-discuss] Fix RNG entropy reuse, replace SURF with ChaCha8

[Geert Stappers]

On Sat, Oct 05, 2024 at 12:14:47AM +0300, Leonid Evdokimov wrote:
> Hello Simon & the mailing list.

Hi,

 
> This is a series of patches related to randomness in dnsmasq.
> 
> It started with me noticing something lookking like entropy reuse
> in rand64() and escalated quickly towards replacing SURF random
> generator with ChaCha8 while I was working on other patches.
> 
> ChaCha8 is faster & smaller than SURF and, I assume, it's equally good
> for this use-case.
> 
> I'm submitting these patches as a patch train hoping that it eases
> review as the patches deal with a one issue at a time.
> 
> Leonid Evdokimov (6):
>   Fix -Wshadow: rand64() was mistakenly using its own counter O_o
>   Make in128++ branchless in SURF rand()
>   Use getentropy() if possible to reduce code duplication a bit
>   Rekey PRNG on fork() to avoid sharing PRNG state and/or leaking it
>   Reseed with getentropy() ~hourly to avoid low-entropy on boot
>   Use ChaCha8-based {rand16,rand32,rand64}
> 

Here a sysadmin, not a programmer.  I have seen the patches.
But I could not seen the improvement they bring. I hope others do see
them. And are willing to express that.

However, my fear is that there will be silence.

We will see happens next.


Groeten
Geert Stappers
-- 
Silence is hard to parse