Multi-Core Cookie Signature Consistency via Global Random Seed
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Solution Overview
Problem
In multi-core systems, maintaining cookie consistency across different cores is challenging due to skew in timers, counters, and random numbers, leading to legitimate client responses being incorrectly identified as malicious attacks.
Innovation Solution
A packet processing engine generates a global random seed used to create identical cookie signatures across all cores through a deterministic pseudo-random number generation function, ensuring consistent cookie regeneration and validation across the system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If each core generates cookies using local timers and random numbers independently, then each core can generate cookies autonomously, but cookie consistency across different cores deteriorates due to timer skew and random number differences
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a shared random number generator as an intermediary component that all cores access to obtain random numbers. This mediator ensures that despite autonomous operation, all cores derive cookies from the same random number source, eliminating consistency issues while preserving operational independence.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the random number generation function across all cores by implementing a shared RNG that all cores utilize. Instead of each core having separate RNG instances, the system combines the random number source into a single shared resource that maintains consistency across all cookie generation operations.
2Reliability
If a shared random number generator is used across all cores, then cookie consistency is improved, but system complexity increases due to synchronization requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The shared random number generator is implemented as a self-service mechanism where the RNG automatically manages its own state and provides random numbers to requesting cores without requiring external synchronization. The RNG internally handles all coordination, eliminating the need for additional synchronization hardware or software mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The shared random number generator serves multiple functions: it provides random numbers for cookie generation, maintains consistent state across all cores, and implicitly handles synchronization. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate synchronization mechanisms, reducing overall system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The present application is directed towards systems and methods for generating and maintaining cookie consistency for security protection across a plurality of cores in a multi-core system. A packet processing engine executing on one core designated as a primary packet processing engine generates and maintains a global random seed. The global random seed may be used as an initial seed for creation of cookie signatures by each of a plurality of packet processing engines executing on a plurality of cores of the multi-core system using a deterministic pseudo-random number generation function such that each core creates an identical set of cookie signatures.