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classification
Title: OpenSSL and RDRAND
Type: Stage: resolved
Components: Extension Modules Versions:
process
Status: closed Resolution: fixed
Dependencies: Superseder:
Assigned To: Nosy List: Jeffrey.Walton, christian.heimes, loewis, pitrou
Priority: normal Keywords:

Created on 2014-03-16 22:43 by Jeffrey.Walton, last changed 2022-04-11 14:58 by admin. This issue is now closed.

Messages (3)
msg213769 - (view) Author: Jeffrey Walton (Jeffrey.Walton) * Date: 2014-03-16 22:43
Some versions of OpenSSL use the RDRAND engine by default. The versions include openssl-1.0.1-beta1 through openssl-1.0.1f.

RDRAND has taken some criticism because its essentially unaudited and it could be spiked like the Dual-EC generator (http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2013/09/the-many-flaws-of-dualecdrbg.html).

If the RDRAND engine is in effect, then the application and the library (internally) will be using the generator. But some some folks don't want to use an unaudited generator.

I'm not sure what the best action is to take. For reading on ways to disable the RDRAND engine, see http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2013/Dec/142.
msg213775 - (view) Author: Antoine Pitrou (pitrou) * (Python committer) Date: 2014-03-16 23:30
Apart from our Windows binaries, this doesn't seem much of a Python issue. Python normally links with whatever the system OpenSSL is.
msg404690 - (view) Author: Christian Heimes (christian.heimes) * (Python committer) Date: 2021-10-21 22:24
Thankfully RDRAND is no longer a concern for us. All OpenSSL versions in official Python.org installers and supported by recent Python versions have a strong and fork-safe RNG.
History
Date User Action Args
2022-04-11 14:58:00adminsetgithub: 65151
2021-10-21 22:24:55christian.heimessetstatus: open -> closed
resolution: fixed
messages: + msg404690

stage: resolved
2014-03-16 23:30:35pitrousetnosy: + loewis
messages: + msg213775
2014-03-16 23:25:01r.david.murraysetnosy: + pitrou, christian.heimes
2014-03-16 22:43:43Jeffrey.Waltoncreate