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
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year 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
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year 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.

          • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year 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).