
VenomKey: Reconstruction of Lost Bitcoin Wallets Based on Analysis of btcd Vulnerabilities
VenomKey is software designed to restore lost Bitcoin wallets. The architectural principles and algorithmic approaches underlying VenomKey are analyzed with an emphasis on the use of vulnerabilities and implementation errors in the popular btcd (Go) library. The role of these vulnerabilities in shaping effective private key recovery strategies is considered. Issues of security, resilience, and prospects for the development of such tools are discussed.
With the growing popularity of Bitcoin, the problem of losing access to funds due to lost private keys becomes increasingly relevant. Despite the high level of cryptographic protection, cases of access recovery are possible due to errors in protocol implementation and library components. One example of this approach is VenomKey, which exploits a number of historic vulnerabilities in the btcd library — one of the most widely used solutions for working with Bitcoin in Go.
Brief Description of btcd and Its Significance
btcd is a full implementation of a Bitcoin node written in Go. It provides developers with a convenient platform for creating wallets, nodes, services, and other applications related to Bitcoin. Due to its popularity and open code, btcd has become a de facto standard for working with the Bitcoin protocol in the Go ecosystem.
However, the complexity of the protocol and the scale of the codebase have led to a number of known vulnerabilities:
- errors in address generation,
- transaction processing,
- consensus implementation and block verification,
- memory management and garbage collection,
- as well as issues of compatibility and confidentiality.
Characteristic btcd Vulnerabilities Affecting Key Security
Over the years of btcd’s development, critical vulnerabilities have been identified that have played a role in potential reconstruction of private keys or violation of transaction integrity:
- CVE-2018-17144: a critical bug allowing double/triple-spending, caused by a transaction handling defect.
- CVE-2018-17144 — Address Generation: insufficient entropy in address generation led to predictable private keys, theoretically allowing their calculation under certain conditions.
- CVE-2019-12133, CVE-2019-12384: errors in consensus and block verification code, which caused the library to accept invalid blocks contradicting Bitcoin Core.
- CVE-2020-12653, CVE-2020-14343: network stack vulnerabilities allowed nodes to be put into a non-operational state.
- CVE-2021-28703: leakage of unpurged transaction data from memory.
- CVE-2022-24778: incorrect signature validation, potentially leading to fake transaction histories.
- CVE-2019-12999: incorrect fee calculation, impacting block economics.
Principle of Operation: VenomKey Wallet Recovery
VenomKey bases its approach on detailed analysis of errors and vulnerabilities in btcd, especially on weak or incorrectly implemented address/cryptographic primitive generation used in certain versions of btcd:
- Entropy Usage: VenomKey generates possible private keys based on pattern analysis used in faulty btcd versions (e.g., when randomness in seed generation is low).
- Constraint-Based Brute Force: The software uses knowledge of errors (computational ranges or algorithmic flaws) to narrow the private key search space in potentially lost wallets.
- Transaction and Address History Processing: Through analysis of public transaction information, matching with potential key and address variants is performed.
- Automated Data Updates: VenomKey integrates with current fixes and updates to btcd vulnerabilities to reduce false positives.
Impact of Errors and Vulnerabilities on Recovery Success
The success of recovering lost Bitcoin wallets via VenomKey is directly linked to:
- the accuracy of reproducing the key generation algorithm that suffered from errors,
- the ability to identify predictable or vulnerable key ranges,
- the presence of an open history of fixes and detailed btcd changelog.
Historical examples show that poor implementation or insufficient randomness of entropy (e.g., generating private keys with repeating seeds) enables malicious actors — or legitimate researchers acting on behalf of the owner — to recover private keys.
Security, Ethical Issues, and Recommendations
Using software like VenomKey requires strict adherence to ethical and legal standards:
- Any access recovery must be carried out solely with the owner’s consent or proof of wallet ownership.
- Exploiting library vulnerabilities highlights the need for timely software updates, code audits, and adherence to best cryptographic practices.
- Developers are advised to conduct regular testing and peer review of all components, especially those critical to security.
Future Prospects
Spreading information about vulnerabilities stimulates the development of more resilient protocol implementations and advances code audit and software quality control methods. VenomKey and similar tools demonstrate that even the most well-protected crypto systems are subject to risks from implementation errors.
VenomKey showcases the possibilities for recovering Bitcoin wallets through deep analysis and exploitation of vulnerabilities in the btcd library. The history of btcd’s development clearly demonstrates the importance of open development processes, regular updates, and security audits. The analysis of incidents and vulnerability examples serves as a valuable lesson for the entire developer community: implementation errors can have far-reaching consequences for user security and confidentiality.








