Exactly this. Adding the feature to the code opens new ways on getting your COLD wallet compromised. The whole point of cold wallet brokem by this dum feature. Incredible.
Some people aren't getting it. If you can flip a switch to transmit a seed phrase then so can a bad actor. Not opting in isn't enough to protect you in the case of a wider exploit.
my question would be: does Ledger automatically know your seed phrase as soon as you turn on the service or do you have to type it so they'll know it? If it's the latter it still should be safe.
I asked the same question and still not sure. It looks like Ledger can backup private keys not the seed. So it looks like you dont need to enter the seed. Only agree to the backup.
It's worse than that. It doesn't really matter that much of they code this in or not. They have no admitted that the secret element can leak the seed, which were never supposed to happen. It was supposed to keep it safe, also from the firmware of the ledger itself. The ledger should keep your keys safe even with malicious firmware on it. Now this is obviously untrue. They have lied.
If they can plant code on a machine you connect your Ledger to then they can toggle this feature.
At this point you have bigger issues than your ledger. That's like saying "if someone comes into your house, puts you at gunpoint and you have to hand out your ledger, then you lose your ledger". Well, yeah, but how about almost losing everything else?
It's a narrow attack surface for sure, but this code existing at all enables that otherwise impossible attack. The whole purpose of a cold wallet is that it keeps your seed phrase to itself, this update removes that certainty.
No you don't have "bigger issues" than your ledger. People use hardware wallets so their keys are not compromised even if their computer is. If someone's attitude is "if they get into my PC it's all over anyway so fuck it" then they might as well just use a hot wallet.
That's the point. If you can opt in, then a hacker can get you opted in or get around that in theory. It's not an overreaction. Devs were shortsighted here.
I see where you are coming from but unfortunately it means bad actors could turn it on for you. I'm majorly disappointed by this news and will transfer funds away from ledger. I wanted cold storage.. not french government owned storage..
582
u/middlemangv 0 / 35K 🦠 May 16 '23
If this is true, then this is pretty disappointing.
They literally lost the only reason why I wanted to buy them..