AMD Begins Resolving “fTPM” Bugs on Linux, Disables Annoying “RNG”

AMD has started working on a new patch that will disable RNG (Random Number Generator) for AMD fTPMs to counter unwanted annoyance.

In the previous report, it was mentioned how Linux's creator, Linus Torvalds, expressed his disappointment towards the feature, calling it a "plague" for the Linux kernel. His views gained huge traction in the industry, ultimately leading the company to step in and resolve the issue. As disclosed by Phoronix, the red team has now disabled the RNG for all fTPMs authoring the patch today.

AMD has disabled the fTPM RNG (Random Number Generator), which has played a major role in the rising issues being faced by the Linux community due to AMD's annoying fTPM. Here is how AMD's engineer Mario Limonciello sees the move:

tpm: Disable RNG for all AMD fTPMs

The TPM RNG functionality is not necessary for entropy when the CPU already supports the RDRAND instruction. The TPM RNG functionality was previously disabled on a subset of the AMD fTPM series, but reports continue to show problems on some systems causing stutter root caused to TPM RNG functionality.

Expand disabling TPM RNG use for all AMD fTPMs whether they have versions that claim to have fixed or not.

via git.kernel

The patch was released on Linux 6.5 today, with "back-porting" to previous Linux versions. The fTPM RNG feature caused several crashes and stuttering reports, which is why the company was quick to disable it. We hope that this move leads to making Linux a more reliable platform, & the company is expected to roll out further updates to ensure stability. It's a good thing that the patch has been rolled out early as the issue was a major annoyance for users running AMD hardware on the Linux platform.

News Source: Phoronix