Update files for OpenSSL-1.0.1e import.
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124.\" ========================================================================
125.\"
126.IX Title "rand 3"
127.TH rand 3 "2013-02-11" "1.0.1e" "OpenSSL"
128.\" For nroff, turn off justification. Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
129.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
130.if n .ad l
131.nh
132.SH "NAME"
133rand \- pseudo\-random number generator
134.SH "SYNOPSIS"
135.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
136.Vb 1
137\& #include <openssl/rand.h>
138\&
139\& int RAND_set_rand_engine(ENGINE *engine);
140\&
141\& int RAND_bytes(unsigned char *buf, int num);
142\& int RAND_pseudo_bytes(unsigned char *buf, int num);
143\&
144\& void RAND_seed(const void *buf, int num);
145\& void RAND_add(const void *buf, int num, int entropy);
146\& int RAND_status(void);
147\&
148\& int RAND_load_file(const char *file, long max_bytes);
149\& int RAND_write_file(const char *file);
150\& const char *RAND_file_name(char *file, size_t num);
151\&
152\& int RAND_egd(const char *path);
153\&
154\& void RAND_set_rand_method(const RAND_METHOD *meth);
155\& const RAND_METHOD *RAND_get_rand_method(void);
156\& RAND_METHOD *RAND_SSLeay(void);
157\&
158\& void RAND_cleanup(void);
159\&
160\& /* For Win32 only */
161\& void RAND_screen(void);
162\& int RAND_event(UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);
163.Ve
164.SH "DESCRIPTION"
165.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
166Since the introduction of the \s-1ENGINE\s0 \s-1API\s0, the recommended way of controlling
167default implementations is by using the \s-1ENGINE\s0 \s-1API\s0 functions. The default
168\&\fB\s-1RAND_METHOD\s0\fR, as set by \fIRAND_set_rand_method()\fR and returned by
169\&\fIRAND_get_rand_method()\fR, is only used if no \s-1ENGINE\s0 has been set as the default
170\&\*(L"rand\*(R" implementation. Hence, these two functions are no longer the recommened
171way to control defaults.
172.PP
173If an alternative \fB\s-1RAND_METHOD\s0\fR implementation is being used (either set
174directly or as provided by an \s-1ENGINE\s0 module), then it is entirely responsible
175for the generation and management of a cryptographically secure \s-1PRNG\s0 stream. The
176mechanisms described below relate solely to the software \s-1PRNG\s0 implementation
177built in to OpenSSL and used by default.
178.PP
179These functions implement a cryptographically secure pseudo-random
180number generator (\s-1PRNG\s0). It is used by other library functions for
181example to generate random keys, and applications can use it when they
182need randomness.
183.PP
184A cryptographic \s-1PRNG\s0 must be seeded with unpredictable data such as
185mouse movements or keys pressed at random by the user. This is
186described in \fIRAND_add\fR\|(3). Its state can be saved in a seed file
187(see \fIRAND_load_file\fR\|(3)) to avoid having to go through the
188seeding process whenever the application is started.
189.PP
190\&\fIRAND_bytes\fR\|(3) describes how to obtain random data from the
191\&\s-1PRNG\s0.
192.SH "INTERNALS"
193.IX Header "INTERNALS"
194The \fIRAND_SSLeay()\fR method implements a \s-1PRNG\s0 based on a cryptographic
195hash function.
196.PP
197The following description of its design is based on the SSLeay
198documentation:
199.PP
200First up I will state the things I believe I need for a good \s-1RNG\s0.
201.IP "1." 4
202A good hashing algorithm to mix things up and to convert the \s-1RNG\s0 'state'
203to random numbers.
204.IP "2." 4
205An initial source of random 'state'.
206.IP "3." 4
207The state should be very large. If the \s-1RNG\s0 is being used to generate
2084096 bit \s-1RSA\s0 keys, 2 2048 bit random strings are required (at a minimum).
209If your \s-1RNG\s0 state only has 128 bits, you are obviously limiting the
210search space to 128 bits, not 2048. I'm probably getting a little
211carried away on this last point but it does indicate that it may not be
212a bad idea to keep quite a lot of \s-1RNG\s0 state. It should be easier to
213break a cipher than guess the \s-1RNG\s0 seed data.
214.IP "4." 4
215Any \s-1RNG\s0 seed data should influence all subsequent random numbers
216generated. This implies that any random seed data entered will have
217an influence on all subsequent random numbers generated.
218.IP "5." 4
219When using data to seed the \s-1RNG\s0 state, the data used should not be
220extractable from the \s-1RNG\s0 state. I believe this should be a
221requirement because one possible source of 'secret' semi random
222data would be a private key or a password. This data must
223not be disclosed by either subsequent random numbers or a
224\&'core' dump left by a program crash.
225.IP "6." 4
226Given the same initial 'state', 2 systems should deviate in their \s-1RNG\s0 state
227(and hence the random numbers generated) over time if at all possible.
228.IP "7." 4
229Given the random number output stream, it should not be possible to determine
230the \s-1RNG\s0 state or the next random number.
231.PP
232The algorithm is as follows.
233.PP
234There is global state made up of a 1023 byte buffer (the 'state'), a
235working hash value ('md'), and a counter ('count').
236.PP
237Whenever seed data is added, it is inserted into the 'state' as
238follows.
239.PP
240The input is chopped up into units of 20 bytes (or less for
241the last block). Each of these blocks is run through the hash
242function as follows: The data passed to the hash function
243is the current 'md', the same number of bytes from the 'state'
244(the location determined by in incremented looping index) as
245the current 'block', the new key data 'block', and 'count'
246(which is incremented after each use).
247The result of this is kept in 'md' and also xored into the
248\&'state' at the same locations that were used as input into the
249hash function. I
250believe this system addresses points 1 (hash function; currently
251\&\s-1SHA\-1\s0), 3 (the 'state'), 4 (via the 'md'), 5 (by the use of a hash
252function and xor).
253.PP
254When bytes are extracted from the \s-1RNG\s0, the following process is used.
255For each group of 10 bytes (or less), we do the following:
256.PP
257Input into the hash function the local 'md' (which is initialized from
258the global 'md' before any bytes are generated), the bytes that are to
259be overwritten by the random bytes, and bytes from the 'state'
260(incrementing looping index). From this digest output (which is kept
261in 'md'), the top (up to) 10 bytes are returned to the caller and the
262bottom 10 bytes are xored into the 'state'.
263.PP
264Finally, after we have finished 'num' random bytes for the caller,
265\&'count' (which is incremented) and the local and global 'md' are fed
266into the hash function and the results are kept in the global 'md'.
267.PP
268I believe the above addressed points 1 (use of \s-1SHA\-1\s0), 6 (by hashing
269into the 'state' the 'old' data from the caller that is about to be
270overwritten) and 7 (by not using the 10 bytes given to the caller to
271update the 'state', but they are used to update 'md').
272.PP
273So of the points raised, only 2 is not addressed (but see
274\&\fIRAND_add\fR\|(3)).
275.SH "SEE ALSO"
276.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
277\&\fIBN_rand\fR\|(3), \fIRAND_add\fR\|(3),
278\&\fIRAND_load_file\fR\|(3), \fIRAND_egd\fR\|(3),
279\&\fIRAND_bytes\fR\|(3),
280\&\fIRAND_set_rand_method\fR\|(3),
281\&\fIRAND_cleanup\fR\|(3)