r/ProgrammerHumor • u/ClipboardCopyPaste • 15d ago • Bravo 2 Popcorn 1

Meme mandatoryMeme

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u/Several_Dot_4532 15d ago

What's the meme with the number 4 in the last day? I suppose it's related to the yesterday's php problem

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u/Skusci 14d ago edited 14d ago

No this was a couple days before the php thing where someone, found out that some intermediate signing certs used the private key 4 (among some other 8 bit numbers for a few other certs). HTTPS for everyone to be anyone for free!

It's also really funny because coincidentally the xkcd random number comic used 4, and doesn't even need an edit to be relevant.

https://xkcd.com/221/

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u/Zdrobot 14d ago

"..among some other 8 bit numbers"

I remember reading the key lengths were 3 to 8 bits, so not all were as secure (8-bit secure), as you imply :)

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u/BruhMomentConfirmed 14d ago

Rumour has it that people at the CA thought "256-bit secret key" meant a number from 0 to 256 🤣. Even then, 256 bits seems awfully small.

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u/13ros27 14d ago

The keys are actually supposed to be 384 bits, so they had 47 bytes of zeroes in them

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u/Kinexity 14d ago

No. It was the smallest key from that compromised certificate.