[PATCH v1 1/2] random-bits: Factor out entropy generating function
Noah Goldstein
goldstein.w.n@gmail.com
Tue Mar 29 19:56:04 GMT 2022
On Tue, Mar 29, 2022 at 2:51 PM Adhemerval Zanella
<adhemerval.zanella@linaro.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 28/03/2022 19:09, Noah Goldstein via Libc-alpha wrote:
> > On some architectures `clock_gettime` is undesirable as
> > it may use a syscall or there may be a faster alternative.
> > Future architecture specific functions can be added in
> > sysdeps/<arch>/random-bits-entropy.h to provide a version of
> > 'random_bits_entropy' that doesn't use 'clock_gettime'.
> > ---
> > include/random-bits.h | 16 ++++++--------
> > sysdeps/generic/random-bits-entropy.h | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> > 2 files changed, 37 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
> > create mode 100644 sysdeps/generic/random-bits-entropy.h
> >
> > diff --git a/include/random-bits.h b/include/random-bits.h
> > index 17665b479a..016b87576c 100644
> > --- a/include/random-bits.h
> > +++ b/include/random-bits.h
> > @@ -19,21 +19,17 @@
> > #ifndef _RANDOM_BITS_H
> > # define _RANDOM_BITS_H
> >
> > -#include <time.h>
> > -#include <stdint.h>
> > +# include <random-bits-entropy.h>
> > +# include <stdint.h>
> >
> > -/* Provides fast pseudo-random bits through clock_gettime. It has unspecified
> > - starting time, nano-second accuracy, its randomness is significantly better
> > - than gettimeofday, and for mostly architectures it is implemented through
> > - vDSO instead of a syscall. Since the source is a system clock, the upper
> > - bits will have less entropy. */
> > +/* Provides fast pseudo-random bits through architecture specific
> > + random_bits_entropy. Expectation is source is some timing function so
> > + the upper bits have less entropy. */
> > static inline uint32_t
> > random_bits (void)
> > {
> > - struct __timespec64 tv;
> > - __clock_gettime64 (CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &tv);
> > + uint32_t ret = random_bits_entropy ();
> > /* Shuffle the lower bits to minimize the clock bias. */
> > - uint32_t ret = tv.tv_nsec ^ tv.tv_sec;
> > ret ^= (ret << 24) | (ret >> 8);
> > return ret;
> > }
>
> We already provide hp-timing.h, which uses rdtsc on x86 and clock_gettime on
> generic interface (and other high precision timing on other architectures).
> So I think a better way would be to:
For x86/generic that works but other architectures also have hp-timing
implementations that might not be suitable for this (i.e there might be
an entropy regression).
>
> static inline uint32_t
> random_bits (void)
> {
> hp_timing_t hp;
> HP_TIMING_NOW (hp);
> /* Shuffle the lower bits to minimize the clock bias. */
> uint32_t ret = hp >> 32 ^ (uint32_t) hp;
> ret ^= (ret << 24) | (ret >> 8);
> return ret;
> }
>
> And keep the XOR on with higher bits to keep the clock bias.
>
> > diff --git a/sysdeps/generic/random-bits-entropy.h b/sysdeps/generic/random-bits-entropy.h
> > new file mode 100644
> > index 0000000000..53290c7f7a
> > --- /dev/null
> > +++ b/sysdeps/generic/random-bits-entropy.h
> > @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
> > +/* Fast function for generating entropy of random_bits.
> > + Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> > + This file is part of the GNU C Library.
> > +
> > + The GNU C Library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
> > + modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
> > + License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
> > + version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
> > +
> > + The GNU C Library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
> > + but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
> > + MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
> > + Lesser General Public License for more details.
> > +
> > + You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
> > + License along with the GNU C Library; if not, see
> > + <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. */
> > +
> > +#include <stdint.h>
> > +#include <time.h>
> > +
> > +/* Generically use clock_gettime. It has unspecified starting time, nano-second
> > + accuracy, its randomness is significantly better than gettimeofday, and for
> > + mostly architectures it is implemented through vDSO instead of a syscall. */
> > +static inline uint32_t
> > +random_bits_entropy (void)
> > +{
> > + struct __timespec64 tv;
> > + __clock_gettime64 (CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &tv);
> > + return tv.tv_nsec ^ tv.tv_sec;
> > +}
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