Debian Bug Leaves Private SSL/SSH Keys Guessable

SecurityBob writes "Debian package maintainers tend to very often modify the source code of the package they are maintaining so that it better fits into the distribution itself. However, most of the time, their changes are not sent back to upstream for validation, which might cause some tension between upstream developers and Debian packagers. Today, a critical security advisory has been released: a Debian packager modified the source code of OpenSSL back in 2006 so as to remove the seeding of OpenSSL random number generator, which in turns makes cryptographic key material generated on a Debian system guessable. The solution? Upgrade OpenSSL and re-generate all your SSH and SSL keys. This problem not only affects Debian, but also all its derivatives, such as Ubuntu." Reader RichiH also points to Debian's announcement and Ubuntu's announcement.

Comments

2 years?

[Anonymous Coward]

The seeding was removed and it wasn't noticed for TWO YEARS? In a distro as popular as Debian?

Degree of Compromise?

[ewhac]

Does anyone have any back-of-the-envelope calculations as to how badly this compromises existing keys? That is to say, about how long is the brute-force lifetime shortened? If it's been shortened from the age of the known universe to 300 hours, then that's a problem I need to address fairly immediately. OTOH, if it's been shortened to one-quarter the age of the known universe, then I'm not going to deal with this before I've had more coffee...

Schwab