blob: b298d3ba118812d6bdf89f41f59e7b6592ad3b61 [file] [log] [blame]
Paul Bakker37ca75d2011-01-06 12:28:03 +00001/**
Jaeden Amero25facdd2018-01-23 15:36:58 +00002 * \file doc_rng.h
3 *
4 * \brief Random number generator (RNG) module documentation file.
5 */
6/*
Manuel Pégourié-Gonnard8119dad2015-08-06 10:59:26 +02007 *
Bence Szépkúti1e148272020-08-07 13:07:28 +02008 * Copyright The Mbed TLS Contributors
Manuel Pégourié-Gonnard37ff1402015-09-04 14:21:07 +02009 * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
10 *
11 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
12 * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
13 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
14 *
15 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
16 *
17 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
18 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
19 * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
20 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
21 * limitations under the License.
Paul Bakker37ca75d2011-01-06 12:28:03 +000022 */
23
24/**
25 * @addtogroup rng_module Random number generator (RNG) module
Paul Bakker6083fd22011-12-03 21:45:14 +000026 *
Paul Bakkerdcbfdcc2013-09-10 16:16:50 +020027 * The Random number generator (RNG) module provides random number
Simon Butcher6e7d3d52016-01-04 16:09:23 +000028 * generation, see \c mbedtls_ctr_drbg_random().
Paul Bakkerdcbfdcc2013-09-10 16:16:50 +020029 *
30 * The block-cipher counter-mode based deterministic random
Paul Bakker6083fd22011-12-03 21:45:14 +000031 * bit generator (CTR_DBRG) as specified in NIST SP800-90. It needs an external
Simon Butcher6e7d3d52016-01-04 16:09:23 +000032 * source of entropy. For these purposes \c mbedtls_entropy_func() can be used.
33 * This is an implementation based on a simple entropy accumulator design.
Paul Bakker6083fd22011-12-03 21:45:14 +000034 *
Simon Butcher6e7d3d52016-01-04 16:09:23 +000035 * The other number generator that is included is less strong and uses the
36 * HAVEGE (HArdware Volatile Entropy Gathering and Expansion) software heuristic
Paul Bakkerdcbfdcc2013-09-10 16:16:50 +020037 * which considered unsafe for primary usage, but provides additional random
38 * to the entropy pool if enables.
Paul Bakker37ca75d2011-01-06 12:28:03 +000039 *
Simon Butcher6e7d3d52016-01-04 16:09:23 +000040 * Meaning that there seems to be no practical algorithm that can guess
Paul Bakker37ca75d2011-01-06 12:28:03 +000041 * the next bit with a probability larger than 1/2 in an output sequence.
42 *
43 * This module can be used to generate random numbers.
44 */