Re: [PATCH v2 3/4] random: use linear min-entropy accumulation crediting

[Eric Biggers]

On Fri, Feb 04, 2022 at 02:53:24PM +0100, Jason A. Donenfeld wrote:
> What if we're wrong and the above is nonsense? It's not, but let's
> assume we don't want the actual _behavior_ of the code to change much.
> Currently that behavior is not extracting from the input pool until it
> has 128 bits of entropy in it. With the old algorithm, we'd hit that
> magic 128 number after roughly 256 calls to credit_entropy_bits(1). So,
> we can retain more or less the old behavior by waiting to extract from
> the input pool until it hits 256 bits of entropy using the new code. For
> people concerned about this change, it means that there's not that much
> practical behavioral change. And for folks actually trying to model
> the behavior rigorously, it means that we have an even higher margin
> against attacks.

I tested this, and it actually was 205 calls prior to patch 1 in this series,
and 267 calls after patch 1.  That's in contrast to 256 calls after this patch.
Not a big difference, but this is going to result in ~25% more single-bit calls
being needed compared to the old version.  It's unclear whether you're arguing
that's basically the same, or whether you thought it was a smaller difference.

> +enum {
>  	POOL_BITS = BLAKE2S_HASH_SIZE * 8,
> -	POOL_BITSHIFT = ilog2(POOL_BITS),
> -	POOL_MIN_BITS = POOL_BITS / 2,
> -
> -	/* To allow fractional bits to be tracked, the entropy_count field is
> -	 * denominated in units of 1/8th bits. */
> -	POOL_ENTROPY_SHIFT = 3,
> -#define POOL_ENTROPY_BITS() (input_pool.entropy_count >> POOL_ENTROPY_SHIFT)
> -	POOL_FRACBITS = POOL_BITS << POOL_ENTROPY_SHIFT,
> -	POOL_MIN_FRACBITS = POOL_MIN_BITS << POOL_ENTROPY_SHIFT
> +	POOL_MIN_BITS = POOL_BITS /* No point in settling for less. */
>  };

Doesn't the default value of random_write_wakeup_bits need to be increased to
this value?  Otherwise, the pool can get stuck with entropy_count greater than
or equal to random_write_wakeup_bits (192) but less than POOL_MIN_BITS (256).

In fact, the only correct value of random_write_wakeup_bits will be 256, i.e.
the entire pool.  Perhaps it should no longer be configurable via /proc/sys?
Note that there's also an off-by one bug that will need to be fixed:
add_hwgenerator_randomness() checks entropy_count <= random_write_wakeup_bits
rather than entropy_count < random_write_wakeup_bits as random_poll() does.

Also: given all these considerations, perhaps the increase in POOL_MIN_BITS is
best done in a separate patch?

> +	do {
> +		entropy_count = orig = READ_ONCE(input_pool.entropy_count);
> +		entropy_count = min(POOL_BITS, entropy_count + nbits);
> +	} while (cmpxchg(&input_pool.entropy_count, orig, entropy_count) != orig);

This can be simplified slightly:

	do {
		orig = READ_ONCE(input_pool.entropy_count);
		entropy_count = min(POOL_BITS, orig + nbits);
	} while (cmpxchg(&input_pool.entropy_count, orig, entropy_count) != orig);

- Eric