Linux Decides To Disable RNG On All AMD fTPMs
www.phoronix.com

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2852886

For those out of the loop, some AMD users have been suffering from stuttering issues caused by the AMD fTPM random number generator. A firmware/BIOS update appears to fix the issue for some users, but not others, leading to more bug reports being sent in. Last week, Linus Torvalds said “let’s just disable the stupid fTPM hwrnd thing”, and, as of today the Linux kernel has gone ahead and blanket disabled RNG use for all current AMD fTPMs.

  • Avid AmoebaOP
    3·
    11 months ago

    You’ll need to use a bleeding edge kernel to get this patch unless it’s backported to older kernels by your distro’s maintainers. I doubt this will happen for say Debian or Ubuntu. Instead, you’d have to wait for a new HWE that has this new kernel or whatever the equivalent in Debian is.

    • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
      4·
      11 months ago

      You can also solve this problem by disabling the TPM in the BIOS settings, assuming your motherboard has such a setting. No TPM, no problem.

      • Avid AmoebaOP
        2·
        11 months ago

        Yeah. I think I disabled it the day I built my system.

        • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
          2·
          11 months ago

          This is the way. Besides these stuttering issues, the TPM is owner-disobedient (there is no way for the owner to extract keys stored in it) and an unnecessary attack surface (which, if breached, gives the attacker unfettered, persistent, and irrevocable access to the entire machine).