The random number feature in Linux kernel 2.6 before 2.6.20.13, and 2.6.21.x before 2.6.21.4, (1) does not properly seed pools when there is no entropy, or (2) uses an incorrect cast when extracting entropy, which might cause the random number generator to provide the same values after reboots on systems without an entropy source.
Publish Date : 2007-06-11 Last Update Date : 2012-10-30
This issue did not affect the versions of the the Linux kernel supplied with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, 3, or 4.
For systems based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, this is only an issue for systems without a real time clock, harddrive activity, or user input during boot time. Red Hat is aware of this issue and is tracking it via the following bug: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=241718
The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this issue as having low security impact, a future update may address this flaw. More information regarding issue severity can be found here: http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/
Source:
Redhat
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