[PATCH 1/1] crypto: jitterentropy - replace long-held spinlock with mutex

From: Haixin Xu

Date: Mon Mar 30 2026 - 03:24:22 EST


jent_kcapi_random() serializes the shared jitterentropy state, but it
currently holds a spinlock across the jent_read_entropy() call. That
path performs expensive jitter collection and SHA3 conditioning, so
parallel readers can trigger stalls as contending waiters spin for
the same lock.

To prevent non-preemptible lock hold, replace rng->jent_lock with a
mutex so contended readers sleep instead of spinning on a shared lock
held across expensive entropy generation.

Fixes: bb5530e40824 ("crypto: jitterentropy - add jitterentropy RNG")
Reported-by: Yifan Wu <yifanwucs@xxxxxxxxx>
Reported-by: Juefei Pu <tomapufckgml@xxxxxxxxx>
Reported-by: Yuan Tan <yuantan098@xxxxxxxxx>
Suggested-by: Xin Liu <bird@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Haixin Xu <jerryxucs@xxxxxxxxx>
---
crypto/jitterentropy-kcapi.c | 14 +++++++-------
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/crypto/jitterentropy-kcapi.c b/crypto/jitterentropy-kcapi.c
index 7c880cf34c52..5edc6d285aa1 100644
--- a/crypto/jitterentropy-kcapi.c
+++ b/crypto/jitterentropy-kcapi.c
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
#include <linux/fips.h>
#include <linux/kernel.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
+#include <linux/mutex.h>
#include <linux/slab.h>
#include <linux/time.h>
#include <crypto/internal/rng.h>
@@ -193,7 +194,7 @@ int jent_read_random_block(void *hash_state, char *dst, unsigned int dst_len)
***************************************************************************/

struct jitterentropy {
- spinlock_t jent_lock;
+ struct mutex jent_lock;
struct rand_data *entropy_collector;
struct crypto_shash *tfm;
struct shash_desc *sdesc;
@@ -203,7 +204,7 @@ static void jent_kcapi_cleanup(struct crypto_tfm *tfm)
{
struct jitterentropy *rng = crypto_tfm_ctx(tfm);

- spin_lock(&rng->jent_lock);
+ mutex_lock(&rng->jent_lock);

if (rng->sdesc) {
shash_desc_zero(rng->sdesc);
@@ -218,7 +219,7 @@ static void jent_kcapi_cleanup(struct crypto_tfm *tfm)
if (rng->entropy_collector)
jent_entropy_collector_free(rng->entropy_collector);
rng->entropy_collector = NULL;
- spin_unlock(&rng->jent_lock);
+ mutex_unlock(&rng->jent_lock);
}

static int jent_kcapi_init(struct crypto_tfm *tfm)
@@ -228,7 +229,7 @@ static int jent_kcapi_init(struct crypto_tfm *tfm)
struct shash_desc *sdesc;
int size, ret = 0;

- spin_lock_init(&rng->jent_lock);
+ mutex_init(&rng->jent_lock);

/* Use SHA3-256 as conditioner */
hash = crypto_alloc_shash(JENT_CONDITIONING_HASH, 0, 0);
@@ -257,7 +258,6 @@ static int jent_kcapi_init(struct crypto_tfm *tfm)
goto err;
}

- spin_lock_init(&rng->jent_lock);
return 0;

err:
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ static int jent_kcapi_random(struct crypto_rng *tfm,
struct jitterentropy *rng = crypto_rng_ctx(tfm);
int ret = 0;

- spin_lock(&rng->jent_lock);
+ mutex_lock(&rng->jent_lock);

ret = jent_read_entropy(rng->entropy_collector, rdata, dlen);

@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ static int jent_kcapi_random(struct crypto_rng *tfm,
ret = -EINVAL;
}

- spin_unlock(&rng->jent_lock);
+ mutex_unlock(&rng->jent_lock);

return ret;
}
--
2.53.0