Re: [PATCH v4 12/13] bluetooth/smp: ensure RNG is properly seeded before ECDH use

[Marcel Holtmann <marcel@holtmann.org>]

Hi Ted,

>> This protocol uses lots of complex cryptography that relies on securely
>> generated random numbers. Thus, it's important that the RNG is actually
>> seeded before use. Fortuantely, it appears we're always operating in
>> process context (there are many GFP_KERNEL allocations and other
>> sleeping operations), and so we can simply demand that the RNG is seeded
>> before we use it.
>> 
>> We take two strategies in this commit. The first is for the library code
>> that's called from other modules like hci or mgmt: here we just change
>> the call to get_random_bytes_wait, and return the result of the wait to
>> the caller, along with the other error codes of those functions like
>> usual. Then there's the SMP protocol handler itself, which makes many
>> many many calls to get_random_bytes during different phases. For this,
>> rather than have to change all the calls to get_random_bytes_wait and
>> propagate the error result, it's actually enough to just put a single
>> call to wait_for_random_bytes() at the beginning of the handler, to
>> ensure that all the subsequent invocations are safe, without having to
>> actually change them. Likewise, for the random address changing
>> function, we'd rather know early on in the function whether the RNG
>> initialization has been interrupted, rather than later, so we call
>> wait_for_random_bytes() at the top, so that later on the call to
>> get_random_bytes() is acceptable.
> 
> Do we need to do all of this?  Bluetooth folks, is it fair to assume
> that hci_power_on() has to be called before any bluetooth functions
> can be done?  If so, adding a wait_for_random_bytes() in
> hci_power_on() might be all that is necessary.

yes, there are plenty of commands needed before a controller becomes usable. When plugging in new Bluetooth hardware, we have to power it up and read the initial settings and configuration out of.

Also all the cryptographic features only apply to LE enabled controllers. The classic BR/EDR controllers have this all in hardware. So if you are not LE enabled, then there is not even a point in waiting for any seeding. However that said, also all LE controllers have an extra random number function we could call if we need extra seeding. We never bothered to hook this up since we thought that the kernel has enough sources.

Regards

Marcel