On 25 Sep 2022, at 04:42, Robert Nichols rnicholsNOSPAM@comcast.net wrote:
On 9/24/22 9:31 PM, Tim via users wrote:
On Sat, 2022-09-24 at 11:14 -0500, Robert Nichols wrote:
If you follow the recommendation to fill the device with random data first
When was that ever recommended, and where? While a logical thing to do, I've never seen anything or anyone ever say that.
I recall that recommendation being in the cryptsetup FAQ, but it doesn't seem to be there any more.
A device that was not initialized with random data is going to allow some information about the usage pattern to be leaked. As a simple example, a device that had only been filled only to a small fraction of its capacity would reveal, through the pattern of its metadata blocks, what filesystem was employed. It's the same reason that passthrough of SSD discard (TRIM) commands through the LUKS layer is blocked unless explicitly enabled. (See the comments for the "--allow-discards" option in the cryptsetup manpage for details.)
I expect that you can find the usage pattern by accessing the ware levelling data in the SSD. Init with random data will not help on an SSD.
I doubt that is a practical concern for anyone reading this. I know I don't worry about it.
Indeed.
Barry
-- Bob Nichols "NOSPAM" is really part of my email address. Do NOT delete it. _______________________________________________ users mailing list -- users@lists.fedoraproject.org To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@lists.fedoraproject.org Fedora Code of Conduct: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/ List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/users@lists.fedoraproject.org Do not reply to spam, report it: https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue