A recurring theme on LKML is the boot process deadlocking due to some process blocking waiting for random numbers, while the kernel's Cryptographic Random Number Generator (crng) is not initalized yet, but that very blocking means no activity happens that would generate the entropy necessary to finalize seeding the crng.
This is not a problem on boards that have a good hwrng (when the kernel is configured to trust it), whether in the CPU or in a TPM or elsewhere. However, that's far from all boards out there. Moreover, there are consumers in the kernel that try to obtain random numbers very early, before the kernel has had any chance to initialize any hwrng or other peripherals.
Allow a board to provide a board_rng_seed() function, which is responsible for providing a value to be put into the rng-seed property under the /chosen node.
The board code is responsible for how to actually obtain those bytes.
- One possibility is for the board to load a seed "file" from somewhere (it need not be a file in a filesystem of course), and then ensure that that the same seed file does not get used on subsequent boots.
* One way to do that is to delete the file, or otherwise mark it as invalid, then rely on userspace to create a new one, and living with the possibility of not finding a seed file during some boots.
* Another is to use the scheme used by systemd-boot and create a new seed file immediately, but in a way that the seed passed to the kernel and the new (i.e. next) seed cannot be deduced from each other, see the explanation at https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20190929090512.GB13049@gardel-login/ and the current code at https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/main/src/boot/efi/random-seed.c
- The board may have an hwrng from which some bytes can be read; while the kernel can also do that, doing it in U-Boot and providing a seed ensures that even very early users in the kernel get good random numbers.
- If the board has a sensor of some sort (temperature, humidity, GPS, RTC, whatever), mixing in a reading of that doesn't hurt.
- etc. etc.
These can of course be combined.
The rng-seed property is mixed into the pool used by the linux kernel's CRNG very early during boot. Whether it then actually contributes towards the kernel considering the CRNG initialized depends on whether the kernel has been configured with CONFIG_RANDOM_TRUST_BOOTLOADER (nowadays overridable via the random.trust_bootloader command line option). But that's for the BSP developer to ultimately decide.
So, if the board needs to have all that logic, why not also just have it do the actual population of /chosen/rng-seed in ft_board_setup(), which is not that many extra lines of code?
I considered that, but decided handling this logically belongs in fdt_chosen(). Also, apart from saving the board code from the few lines of boilerplate, doing it in ft_board_setup() is too late for at least some use cases. For example, I want to allow the board logic to decide
ok, let's pass back this buffer and use that as seed, but also let's set random.trust_bootloader=n so no entropy is credited.
This requires the rng-seed handling to happen before bootargs handling. For example, during the very first boot, the board might not have a proper seed file, but the board could still return (a hash of) some CPU serial# or whatnot, so that at least no two boards ever get the same seed - the kernel always mixes in the value passed in rng-seed, but if it is not "trusted", the kernel would still go through the same motions as it would if no rng-seed was passed before considering its CRNG initialized. I.e., by returning that unique-to-this-board value and setting random.trust_bootloader=n, the board would be no worse off than if board_rng_seed() returned nothing at all.
Signed-off-by: Rasmus Villemoes rasmus.villemoes@prevas.dk --- common/Kconfig | 14 ++++++++++++++ common/fdt_support.c | 13 +++++++++++++ include/fdt_support.h | 13 +++++++++++++ 3 files changed, 40 insertions(+)
diff --git a/common/Kconfig b/common/Kconfig index e7914ca750..ebee856e56 100644 --- a/common/Kconfig +++ b/common/Kconfig @@ -768,6 +768,20 @@ config TPL_STACKPROTECTOR bool "Stack Protector buffer overflow detection for TPL" depends on STACKPROTECTOR && TPL
+config BOARD_RNG_SEED + bool "Provide /chosen/rng-seed property to the linux kernel" + help + Selecting this option requires the board to define a + board_rng_seed() function, which should return a buffer + which will be used to populate the /chosen/rng-seed property + in the device tree for the OS being booted. + + It is up to the board code (and more generally the whole + BSP) where and how to store (or generate) such a seed, how + to ensure a given seed is only used once, how to create a + new seed for use on subsequent boots, and whether or not the + kernel should account any entropy from the given seed. + endmenu
menu "Update support" diff --git a/common/fdt_support.c b/common/fdt_support.c index 8c18af2ce1..baf7fb7065 100644 --- a/common/fdt_support.c +++ b/common/fdt_support.c @@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ */
#include <common.h> +#include <abuf.h> #include <env.h> #include <log.h> #include <mapmem.h> @@ -279,6 +280,7 @@ __weak char *board_fdt_chosen_bootargs(void)
int fdt_chosen(void *fdt) { + struct abuf buf = {}; int nodeoffset; int err; char *str; /* used to set string properties */ @@ -294,6 +296,17 @@ int fdt_chosen(void *fdt) if (nodeoffset < 0) return nodeoffset;
+ if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_BOARD_RNG_SEED) && !board_rng_seed(&buf)) { + err = fdt_setprop(fdt, nodeoffset, "rng-seed", + abuf_data(&buf), abuf_size(&buf)); + abuf_uninit(&buf); + if (err < 0) { + printf("WARNING: could not set rng-seed %s.\n", + fdt_strerror(err)); + return err; + } + } + str = board_fdt_chosen_bootargs();
if (str) { diff --git a/include/fdt_support.h b/include/fdt_support.h index ac76939e81..b8380716f3 100644 --- a/include/fdt_support.h +++ b/include/fdt_support.h @@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
#include <asm/u-boot.h> #include <linux/libfdt.h> +#include <abuf.h>
/** * arch_fixup_fdt() - Write arch-specific information to fdt @@ -186,6 +187,18 @@ int fdt_find_or_add_subnode(void *fdt, int parentoffset, const char *name); */ int ft_board_setup(void *blob, struct bd_info *bd);
+/** + * board_rng_seed() - Provide a seed to be passed via /chosen/rng-seed + * + * This function is called if CONFIG_BOARD_RNG_SEED is set, and must + * be provided by the board. It should return, via @buf, some suitable + * seed value to pass to the kernel. + * + * @param buf A struct abuf for returning the seed and its size. + * @return 0 if ok, negative on error. + */ +int board_rng_seed(struct abuf *buf); + /** * board_fdt_chosen_bootargs() - Arbitrarily amend fdt kernel command line *