On Sat, Dec 06, 2014 at 20:15, Max Fillinger wrote:
> To pass the time until siphash arrives in userland...
> 
> I'd like to suggest some changes to the manpage of SipHash24(9):
> I added some more details about the intended purpose of SipHash and I
> moved the recommendation to use arc4random for the key to the beginning.
> 
> In case you don't like this diff, I'd like to point out a grammar error
> in the original manpage: You mitigate sth., not *against* sth.
> 
> One question: Since e.g. the manpage of MD5 lists the RFC that defines
> MD5, would it make sense to refer to the paper that defines SipHash?

Actually, I think the man page should simply recommend generating the
key with arc4random_buf. No If.

References to papers are welcome as well.

> 
> Index: share/man/man9/SipHash24.9
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /cvs/src/share/man/man9/SipHash24.9,v
> retrieving revision 1.3
> diff -u -p -r1.3 SipHash24.9
> --- share/man/man9/SipHash24.9        5 Nov 2014 07:01:49 -0000       1.3
> +++ share/man/man9/SipHash24.9        6 Dec 2014 19:10:49 -0000
> @@ -42,6 +42,12 @@ inputs which produces a 64-bit digest of
> The SipHash24 functions implement the algorithm with 2 compression
> rounds and 4 finalisation rounds.
> .Pp
> +SipHash is well-suited for hash tables because of its good
> +performance on short inputs and because it provides resistance to
> +hash-flooding denial-of-service attacks.
> +If such attacks are a concern, the key should be generated using
> +.Xr arc4random_buf 9 .
> +.Pp
> .Fn SipHash24_Init
> initialises a
> .Vt SIPHASH_CTX
> @@ -87,11 +93,6 @@ of length
> with the secret
> .Fa key .
> -.Pp
> -If SipHash is being used to mitigate against hash-table flooding
> -attacks, it is recommended that the
> -.Vt SIPHASH_KEY
> -key be generated with
> -.Xr arc4random_buf 9 .
> .Sh CONTEXT
> .Fn SipHash24_Init ,
> .Fn SipHash24_Update ,

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