Hardware Random Number Generators on Intel Chipsets

Hardware Random Number Generators on Intel Chipsets

If you’re running Linux or one of the BSDs on an Intel platform, you may have been told that you have a hardware random number generator (RNG) in your chipset. Recent kernels of Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and NetBSD all include drivers for these devices.

Unfortunately, it’s likely that few people ever got RNGs in their chipsets. Intel has now confirmed that its current-generation 865 and 875 chipsets do not include a hardware RNG, and that newer chipsets will also not include this device. Starting with the 810 in 1999, some Intel chipsets did include RNGs; but the firmware hub that included the RNG soon became an optional component of the chipset, and was probably only present thereafter in mainboards manufactured by Intel. The newer your mainboard with an Intel chipset, the less likely it is that you have an RNG onboard.

Also unfortunately, the Linux and *BSD drivers and daemons will not necessarily, as of this writing, tell you that you don’t have an RNG. You may have to infer it from the failure of the RNG to produce random data.

If you search the web for “Intel hardware random”, you could be forgiven for concluding that Intel’s RNG program is alive and well. There are many articles about the Intel RNGs. But look again: all of those articles are two to four years old. Intel’s RNG program is defunct.

Definitive information about this problem has been scarce. This site collects all of the evidence I’ve been able to find.

News

• 2003-12-27:
  • Site redesign.
• 2003-12-14:
  • Added a FAQ.
• 2003-12-05:
  • Added information on dmidecode in “Do I Have an RNG?”
  • Added one report to the chipset database.
• 2003-11-14:
  • Added link to grp.rng.info@intel.com in “What Intel Says”.
• 2003-11-12:
  • Added information on /proc/bus/input/devices in “Do I Have an RNG?”
  • Updated information on Sandra results in “Do I Have an RNG?”
  • Added three more reports to the chipset database.
• 2003-11-06:
  • Reorganized site.
  • Added sections “What Intel Says” and “RNG and Chipset Database”.
• 2003-10-25:
  • Site debut.