How do I install the Randomness Auditor skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add yue-zhou1/randomness-auditor-2 in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Randomness Auditor safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Randomness Auditor?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Randomness Auditor free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Randomness Auditor?

Yue-Zhou1 (@yue-zhou1) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Randomness Auditor by yue-zhou1 — Agent Skill

Name: Randomness Auditor
Author: Yue-Zhou1

Randomness Auditor

Audit randomness and nonce lifecycles: CSPRNG/DRBG initialization and reseeding, entropy availability, fork/clone/snapshot duplication, deterministic nonce derivation (RFC 6979, EdDSA), and reuse across retries, crashes, persistence, and concurrent state. Use when any secret-dependent random value's generation or lifetime is in question.

Yue-Zhou1 78d1403 6 files · 14.5 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

randomness-auditor

Cross-cutting auditor for how random values are generated AND how they live: seeding, reseeding, duplication across process/VM boundaries, deterministic derivation, and reuse windows created by retries, crashes, logs, and concurrency.

When to Use

Auditing CSPRNG/DRBG construction, seeding, and reseed schedules
Reviewing entropy availability at boot, in containers, or on embedded targets
Checking fork/clone/VM-snapshot safety of RNG state
Reviewing deterministic nonce derivation (RFC 6979 ECDSA, RFC 8032 EdDSA) and any deviation from the scheme's RFC
Tracing nonce/salt/IV lifecycle across retry loops, crash recovery, persistence, logging, and concurrent use

When NOT to Use

AEAD mode/API misuse where generation is not in question (caller-supplied nonce binding, decrypt oracles) -> encryption-scheme-auditor
Pure timing/cache/power leakage with no randomness involvement -> side-channel-auditor
Signature verification-equation or encoding review -> the signature domain auditors
Threshold nonce-share binding (FROST/MuSig2) -> dkg-threshold-auditor; threshold-ECDSA presignatures -> threshold-ecdsa-auditor

Core Review Areas

Generator construction: approved DRBG (SP 800-90A) or platform CSPRNG; no user-space PRNGs (Mersenne Twister, rand()) for secrets
Seeding: entropy source, seed length, boot-time blocking behavior (getrandom vs /dev/urandom pre-init), embedded/first-boot entropy
Reseeding and state compromise recovery: reseed intervals, prediction resistance claims, backtracking resistance
Duplication: fork() and clone() detection, VM snapshot/resume, container image freezing, thread-local RNG cloning
Deterministic nonces: exact RFC 6979 / RFC 8032 conformance — message binding, key binding, no truncation drift, no "deterministic + counter" improvisation
Lifecycle: retries re-entering derivation with changed messages, crash recovery replaying persisted state, nonces in logs/telemetry, concurrent consumers sharing a generator without synchronization

Workflow

Phase 1: Random-value inventory

Read references/randomness-checklist.md
Enumerate every security-relevant random value (keys, nonces, salts, IVs, blinding factors, session IDs) and its generator

Phase 2: Lifecycle tracing

Execute workflows/nonce-lifecycle-review.md
For each value: generation -> use -> persistence -> destruction, across process lifecycle events (fork, snapshot, crash, retry)

Phase 3: Pattern hunt

Read references/finding-patterns.md
Prioritize forked-state duplication, snapshot resumption, RFC 6979 deviations, and persisted-counter replay

Phase 4: Handoff

Send surviving findings to crypto-fp-check
Cross-route consumer-scheme impact to the signature, encryption, DKG, threshold-ECDSA, or VRF auditors as applicable

Output Contract

Produce a randomness handoff that includes:

random_value_role
lifecycle_path
reuse_or_bias_condition
evidence
disposition (one of verified, false_positive, unverified, observation, residual_risk)
next_route

Reference Index

references/randomness-checklist.md
references/finding-patterns.md
references/spec-sources.md
workflows/nonce-lifecycle-review.md

---name: randomness-auditor-2description: Audit randomness and nonce lifecycles: CSPRNG/DRBG initialization and reseeding, entropy availability, fork/clone/snapshot duplication, deterministic nonce derivation (RFC 6979, EdDSA), and reuse across retries, crashes, persistence, and concurrent state. Use when any secret-dependent random value's generation or lifetime is in question.---# randomness-auditorCross-cutting auditor for how random values are generated AND how they live:seeding, reseeding, duplication across process/VM boundaries, deterministicderivation, and reuse windows created by retries, crashes, logs, andconcurrency.## When to Use- Auditing CSPRNG/DRBG construction, seeding, and reseed schedules- Reviewing entropy availability at boot, in containers, or on embedded targets- Checking fork/clone/VM-snapshot safety of RNG state- Reviewing deterministic nonce derivation (RFC 6979 ECDSA, RFC 8032 EdDSA) and any deviation from the scheme's RFC- Tracing nonce/salt/IV lifecycle across retry loops, crash recovery, persistence, logging, and concurrent use## When NOT to Use- AEAD mode/API misuse where generation is not in question (caller-supplied nonce binding, decrypt oracles) -> `encryption-scheme-auditor`- Pure timing/cache/power leakage with no randomness involvement -> `side-channel-auditor`- Signature verification-equation or encoding review -> the signature domain auditors- Threshold nonce-share binding (FROST/MuSig2) -> `dkg-threshold-auditor`; threshold-ECDSA presignatures -> `threshold-ecdsa-auditor`## Core Review Areas1. Generator construction: approved DRBG (SP 800-90A) or platform CSPRNG; no user-space PRNGs (Mersenne Twister, rand()) for secrets2. Seeding: entropy source, seed length, boot-time blocking behavior (getrandom vs /dev/urandom pre-init), embedded/first-boot entropy3. Reseeding and state compromise recovery: reseed intervals, prediction resistance claims, backtracking resistance4. Duplication: fork() and clone() detection, VM snapshot/resume, container image freezing, thread-local RNG cloning5. Deterministic nonces: exact RFC 6979 / RFC 8032 conformance — message binding, key binding, no truncation drift, no "deterministic + counter" improvisation6. Lifecycle: retries re-entering derivation with changed messages, crash recovery replaying persisted state, nonces in logs/telemetry, concurrent consumers sharing a generator without synchronization## Workflow### Phase 1: Random-value inventory- Read `references/randomness-checklist.md`- Enumerate every security-relevant random value (keys, nonces, salts, IVs, blinding factors, session IDs) and its generator### Phase 2: Lifecycle tracing- Execute `workflows/nonce-lifecycle-review.md`- For each value: generation -> use -> persistence -> destruction, across process lifecycle events (fork, snapshot, crash, retry)### Phase 3: Pattern hunt- Read `references/finding-patterns.md`- Prioritize forked-state duplication, snapshot resumption, RFC 6979 deviations, and persisted-counter replay### Phase 4: Handoff- Send surviving findings to `crypto-fp-check`- Cross-route consumer-scheme impact to the signature, encryption, DKG, threshold-ECDSA, or VRF auditors as applicable## Output ContractProduce a randomness handoff that includes:- `random_value_role`- `lifecycle_path`- `reuse_or_bias_condition`- `evidence`- `disposition` (one of `verified`, `false_positive`, `unverified`, `observation`, `residual_risk`)- `next_route`## Reference Index- [references/randomness-checklist.md](references/randomness-checklist.md)- [references/finding-patterns.md](references/finding-patterns.md)- [references/spec-sources.md](references/spec-sources.md)- [workflows/nonce-lifecycle-review.md](workflows/nonce-lifecycle-review.md)

Frequently asked questions