]> Gentwo Git Trees - linux/.git/commit
hwrng: core - Allow runtime disabling of the HW RNG
authorJonathan McDowell <noodles@meta.com>
Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:33:05 +0000 (14:33 +0100)
committerHerbert Xu <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 08:03:57 +0000 (16:03 +0800)
commite74b96d77da9eb5ee1b603c937c2adab5134a04b
tree2a4ca0aaa3b119d7223b48788910aa298984d1cd
parent7cf6e0b69b0d90ab042163e5bbddda0dfcf8b6a7
hwrng: core - Allow runtime disabling of the HW RNG

The HW RNG core allows for manual selection of which RNG device to use,
but does not allow for no device to be enabled. It may be desirable to
do this on systems with only a single suitable hardware RNG, where we
need exclusive access to other functionality on this device. In
particular when performing TPM firmware upgrades this lets us ensure the
kernel does not try to access the device.

Before:

root@debian-qemu-efi:~# grep "" /sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_*
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_available:tpm-rng-0
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_current:tpm-rng-0
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_quality:1024
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_selected:0

After:

root@debian-qemu-efi:~# grep "" /sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_*
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_available:tpm-rng-0 none
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_current:tpm-rng-0
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_quality:1024
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_selected:0

root@debian-qemu-efi:~# echo none > /sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_current
root@debian-qemu-efi:~# grep "" /sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_*
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_available:tpm-rng-0 none
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_current:none
grep: /sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_quality: No such device
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_selected:1

(Observe using bpftrace no calls to TPM being made)

root@debian-qemu-efi:~# echo "" > /sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_current
root@debian-qemu-efi:~# grep "" /sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_*
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_available:tpm-rng-0 none
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_current:tpm-rng-0
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_quality:1024
/sys/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random/rng_selected:0

(Observe using bpftrace that calls to the TPM resume)

Signed-off-by: Jonathan McDowell <noodles@meta.com>
Signed-off-by: Herbert Xu <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>
drivers/char/hw_random/core.c