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Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2016 12:49:10 -0400
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To: Leigh <leight@gmail.com>
Cc: PHP Internals <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] RNG fixes
From: scott@paragonie.com (Scott Arciszewski)

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On Tue, Jun 14, 2016 at 12:46 PM, Leigh <leight@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey Internals,
>
> I realise I'm cutting it close with this one, but I want to propose some
> changes to our standard random number generators.
>
> The downside of this proposal is that our RNGs (rand() and mt_rand()) are
> seedable and reproduce identical streams (platform dependant) for any giv=
en
> seed. However their implementations are broken or inconsistent, so we nee=
d
> to weigh up the cost of changing these sequences versus having solid
> implementations.
>
> It is my opinion that if we are going to make any changes to these
> functions, we should make all of the changes at the same time and avoid a=
ny
> future disruption to their output.
>
> The RFC contains a few proposals, some of them depend on each other while
> others are standalone. Throughout the discussion phase I hope to reduce t=
he
> number of proposals down to a consensus we can vote on in two weeks time.
>
> I will release a patch when I have a better feeling for the direction we
> want to take.
>
> The issues I want to bring up for discussion are.
>
> * Replacing mt_rand() and rand() to a strong, modern RNG.
> * Alternatively, fixing the current mt_rand() implementation to make it
> standard
> * Aliasing rand() to mt_rand() to improve output and cross-platform suppo=
rt
> * Fixing RAND_RANGE for large ranges.
> * Replacing insecure uses of php_rand() with php_random_bytes()
> * Making the array_rand() algorithm more efficient
>
> The RFC can be found here: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/rng_fixes
>
> If anyone knows of other fixes that should be made at the same time but I
> have overlooked, please let me know so I can get them included.
>
> Regards,
>
> Leigh.
>


Good idea.=E2=80=8B I'm particularly fond of PCG over MT and LCG (but would=
 not
ever use it for a CSPRNG).

Scott Arciszewski
Chief Development Officer
Paragon Initiative Enterprises <https://paragonie.com/>=E2=80=8B

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