EVP_RAND-JITTER - The randomness seed source EVP_RAND implementation
Contents
Copyright
Copyright 2024 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance
with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
3.5.0 2025-06-04 EVP_RAND-JITTER(7SSL)
Description
Support for deterministic random number generator seeding through the EVP_RAND API.
This software seed source produces randomness based on tiny CPU "jitter" fluctuations.
It is available when OpenSSL is compiled with enable-jitter option. When available it is listed in
openssllist-random-generators and opensslinfo-seeds.
Identity
"JITTER" is the name for this implementation; it can be used with the EVP_RAND_fetch() function.
Supportedparameters
The supported parameters are:
"state" (OSSL_RAND_PARAM_STATE) <integer>
"strength" (OSSL_RAND_PARAM_STRENGTH) <unsigned integer>
"max_request" (OSSL_RAND_PARAM_MAX_REQUEST) <unsigned integer>
These parameters work as described in "PARAMETERS" in EVP_RAND(3).
Examples
EVP_RAND *rand;
EVP_RAND_CTX *seed, *rctx;
unsigned char bytes[100];
OSSL_PARAM params[2], *p = params;
unsigned int strength = 128;
/* Create and instantiate a seed source */
rand = EVP_RAND_fetch(NULL, "JITTER", NULL);
seed = EVP_RAND_CTX_new(rand, NULL);
EVP_RAND_instantiate(seed, strength, 0, NULL, 0, NULL);
EVP_RAND_free(rand);
/* Feed this into a DRBG */
rand = EVP_RAND_fetch(NULL, "CTR-DRBG", NULL);
rctx = EVP_RAND_CTX_new(rand, seed);
EVP_RAND_free(rand);
/* Configure the DRBG */
*p++ = OSSL_PARAM_construct_utf8_string(OSSL_DRBG_PARAM_CIPHER,
SN_aes_256_ctr, 0);
*p = OSSL_PARAM_construct_end();
EVP_RAND_instantiate(rctx, strength, 0, NULL, 0, params);
EVP_RAND_generate(rctx, bytes, sizeof(bytes), strength, 0, NULL, 0);
EVP_RAND_CTX_free(rctx);
EVP_RAND_CTX_free(seed);
Name
EVP_RAND-JITTER - The randomness seed source EVP_RAND implementation
Notes
A context for the seed source can be obtained by calling:
EVP_RAND *rand = EVP_RAND_fetch(NULL, "JITTER", NULL);
EVP_RAND_CTX *rctx = EVP_RAND_CTX_new(rand, NULL);
The enable-jitter option was added in OpenSSL 3.4.
By specifying the enable-fips-jitter configuration option, the FIPS provider will use an internal jitter
source for its entropy. Enabling this option will cause the FIPS provider to operate in a non-compliant
mode unless an entropy assessment ESV <https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/cryptographic-module-validation-
program/entropy-validations> and validation through the CMVP
<https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program> are additionally conducted.
This option was added in OpenSSL 3.5.
See Also
EVP_RAND(3), "PARAMETERS" in EVP_RAND(3)
