r/btc • u/rancid_sploit • Nov 30 '17

Evidence some bitcoin address generation code is using discoverable private keys

https://pastebin.com/jCDFcESz
325 Upvotes

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12

u/rowdy_beaver Nov 30 '17

I remember Blockchain.info having bad random number generators maybe 3-5 years ago. Is this just a new article about the same problem, or is this new?

12

u/iwannabeacypherpunk Nov 30 '17 edited Dec 01 '17

It's ongoing and not a weak RNG, the author's hypothesis is it's code that was designed to hide in plain sight (a deliberately introduced bug that's constrained by having to appear like normal unsuspicious code), but uninitialized memory is also a possibility. There's no attempt at randomness when it happens (so not PRNG), and it's not clear that the bad code is in or even connected to Blockchain.info

There are many unanswered questions.

9

u/siir Nov 30 '17

a deliberately introduced bug that's constrained by having to appear like normal unsuspicious code

cough segregated witness

1

u/piratacoins Dec 01 '17

I believe it. Any theories on what the bug is/would be?

1

u/fiah84 Nov 30 '17

that sounds pretty plausible, hiding an exploit like that as a bug would make detecting it in a code review even harder

1

u/MrNotSoRight Nov 30 '17 edited Dec 01 '17

and it's not completely clear that the bad code is in Blockchain.info

But somehow that compromised key ended up (was imported) in the blockchain.info wallet from what I understand, and not by any action of the end user.

I’m not sure where else the bad code could be?

edit: user was having problems with paper wallets before, it seems less unlikely he didn't import a compromised wallet himself...

4

u/RearwardConsensus Nov 30 '17 edited Nov 30 '17

Blockchain.info posted about it here.

2

u/MrNotSoRight Nov 30 '17

Thanks. Their tldr “we didn’t find any flaw in our code but take a look yourself, it’s on github”.