diff --git a/src/basic/hmac.c b/src/basic/hmac.c
index 1e4e380aaa..a5f66d5605 100644
--- a/src/basic/hmac.c
+++ b/src/basic/hmac.c
@@ -29,9 +29,7 @@ void hmac_sha256(const void *key,
 
         /* The key needs to be block size length or less, hash it if it's longer. */
         if (key_size > HMAC_BLOCK_SIZE) {
-                sha256_init_ctx(&hash);
-                sha256_process_bytes(key, key_size, &hash);
-                sha256_finish_ctx(&hash, replacement_key);
+                sha256_direct(key, key_size, replacement_key);
                 key = replacement_key;
                 key_size = SHA256_DIGEST_SIZE;
         }
diff --git a/src/boot/efi/random-seed.c b/src/boot/efi/random-seed.c
index 652634bdc9..aea4f7e532 100644
--- a/src/boot/efi/random-seed.c
+++ b/src/boot/efi/random-seed.c
@@ -215,17 +215,8 @@ static void validate_sha256(void) {
                     0xaf, 0xac, 0x45, 0x03, 0x7a, 0xfe, 0xe9, 0xd1 }},
         };
 
-        for (UINTN i = 0; i < ELEMENTSOF(array); i++) {
-                struct sha256_ctx hash;
-                uint8_t result[HASH_VALUE_SIZE];
-
-                sha256_init_ctx(&hash);
-                sha256_process_bytes(array[i].string, strlen8(array[i].string), &hash);
-                sha256_finish_ctx(&hash, result);
-
-                assert(memcmp(result, array[i].hash, HASH_VALUE_SIZE) == 0);
-        }
-
+        for (UINTN i = 0; i < ELEMENTSOF(array); i++)
+                assert(memcmp(SHA256_DIRECT(array[i].string, strlen8(array[i].string)), array[i].hash, HASH_VALUE_SIZE) == 0);
 #endif
 }
 
diff --git a/src/fundamental/sha256.c b/src/fundamental/sha256.c
index 31d9674d09..43ee996b6f 100644
--- a/src/fundamental/sha256.c
+++ b/src/fundamental/sha256.c
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ void sha256_init_ctx(struct sha256_ctx *ctx) {
 
 /* Process the remaining bytes in the internal buffer and the usual
    prolog according to the standard and write the result to RESBUF. */
-void *sha256_finish_ctx(struct sha256_ctx *ctx, void *resbuf) {
+uint8_t *sha256_finish_ctx(struct sha256_ctx *ctx, uint8_t resbuf[static SHA256_DIGEST_SIZE]) {
         /* Take yet unprocessed bytes into account.  */
         uint32_t bytes = ctx->buflen;
         size_t pad;
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ void *sha256_finish_ctx(struct sha256_ctx *ctx, void *resbuf) {
         /* Put result from CTX in first 32 bytes following RESBUF.  */
         for (size_t i = 0; i < 8; ++i)
                 if (UNALIGNED_P(resbuf))
-                        memcpy((uint8_t*) resbuf + i * sizeof(uint32_t), (uint32_t[]) { SWAP(ctx->H[i]) }, sizeof(uint32_t));
+                        memcpy(resbuf + i * sizeof(uint32_t), (uint32_t[]) { SWAP(ctx->H[i]) }, sizeof(uint32_t));
                 else
                         ((uint32_t *) resbuf)[i] = SWAP(ctx->H[i]);
 
@@ -289,3 +289,10 @@ static void sha256_process_block(const void *buffer, size_t len, struct sha256_c
         ctx->H[6] = g;
         ctx->H[7] = h;
 }
+
+uint8_t* sha256_direct(const void *buffer, size_t sz, uint8_t result[static SHA256_DIGEST_SIZE]) {
+        struct sha256_ctx ctx;
+        sha256_init_ctx(&ctx);
+        sha256_process_bytes(buffer, sz, &ctx);
+        return sha256_finish_ctx(&ctx, result);
+}
diff --git a/src/fundamental/sha256.h b/src/fundamental/sha256.h
index f296f76ae8..31790c2ebd 100644
--- a/src/fundamental/sha256.h
+++ b/src/fundamental/sha256.h
@@ -25,5 +25,9 @@ struct sha256_ctx {
 };
 
 void sha256_init_ctx(struct sha256_ctx *ctx);
-void *sha256_finish_ctx(struct sha256_ctx *ctx, void *resbuf);
+uint8_t *sha256_finish_ctx(struct sha256_ctx *ctx, uint8_t resbuf[static SHA256_DIGEST_SIZE]);
 void sha256_process_bytes(const void *buffer, size_t len, struct sha256_ctx *ctx);
+
+uint8_t* sha256_direct(const void *buffer, size_t sz, uint8_t result[static SHA256_DIGEST_SIZE]);
+
+#define SHA256_DIRECT(buffer, sz) sha256_direct(buffer, sz, (uint8_t[SHA256_DIGEST_SIZE]) {})
diff --git a/src/random-seed/random-seed.c b/src/random-seed/random-seed.c
index b265b7f85c..dedbdb2667 100644
--- a/src/random-seed/random-seed.c
+++ b/src/random-seed/random-seed.c
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ static int run(int argc, char *argv[]) {
                  * and replace the last 32 bytes of the seed with the hash output, so that the
                  * new seed file can't regress in entropy. */
                 if (hashed_old_seed) {
-                        uint8_t hash[32];
+                        uint8_t hash[SHA256_DIGEST_SIZE];
                         sha256_process_bytes(&k, sizeof(k), &hash_state); /* Hash length to distinguish from old seed. */
                         sha256_process_bytes(buf, k, &hash_state);
                         sha256_finish_ctx(&hash_state, hash);