JackeyBitcoin: Cryptanalysis of ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC Vulnerabilities for Recovering Lost Bitcoin Wallets
JackeyBitcoin is a software tool designed to recover lost bitcoin assets through systematic analysis of vulnerabilities and errors in the ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC library. Critical vulnerabilities are described (including CVE-2018-17144, errors in handling non-standard transactions, and deserialization vulnerabilities), their impact on data integrity, and wallet recovery possibilities. The methodological approaches of JackeyBitcoin are presented: cryptanalysis of Wallet.dat (including Padding Oracle attacks against AES-256-CBC), deserialization and correction of damaged records, analysis of RPC interfaces, and safe procedures for importing recovered keys. The system architecture, experimental results, and recommendations on security, legal, and ethical aspects of such tools are discussed.
Relevance
The rise in cryptocurrency value and the widespread use of Bitcoin make the problem of losing wallet access critical. Password loss, wallet file (wallet.dat) corruption, and software bugs cause significant financial losses.
Research Goal: to develop and formally describe methods for recovering access to bitcoin wallets based on analysis of ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC vulnerabilities and related components.
Subject and Object of Study: the object is the Bitcoin software-hardware ecosystem (client libraries, RPC), the subject is vulnerabilities affecting key storage and transaction processing.
Review and Analysis of ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC Vulnerabilities
2.1 Role of ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC
ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC (CQ-RPC) serves as the main JSON-RPC interface for applications to interact with the Bitcoin node. CQ-RPC uses deserialization functions, signature verification, transaction processing, and wallet (wallet.dat) management.
Due to CQ-RPC’s wide integration, vulnerabilities in this library directly affect numerous applications.
2.2 Critical Vulnerabilities and Their Consequences
CVE-2018-17144: insufficient block signature verification. Consequences: counterfeit block generation, integrity violation, possible arbitrary code execution, and wallet data corruption. Recommended update to versions ≥0.15.2 and continuous auditing.
Non-standard transaction handling error (2019): incorrect processing of non-standard inputs caused errors and loss of funds; fixed in version 0.16.0+.
DeserializeSignature Vulnerability: deserialization errors in signatures could cause crashes and allow arbitrary code execution; fixed in 0.17.1+.
General risks: SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, memory leaks, authentication errors—important for web interfaces and auxiliary services.
Current status (as of November 2023): continuous updates have reduced widely known vulnerabilities, but open network interfaces remain high-risk areas.
Methodological Foundation of JackeyBitcoin
3.1 Principles and Limitations
Principle: use of cryptanalytic and programming techniques to recover key data arising from implementation errors, not breaking cryptographic primitives.
Limitations: inability to circumvent strong cryptographic algorithms if correctly implemented; legality and ethics—tool applied only within authorized operations by wallet owners or legal grounds.
3.2 Key Methods
Padding Oracle Attack on Wallet.dat: exploiting padding validity information during AES-256-CBC decryption, used by Bitcoin Core for wallet encryption, to stepwise recover passwords.
Deserialization and correction: analyzing corrupted or non-standard serialized transactions and signatures to reconcile data, apply patches, and revalidate signatures.
RPC Vulnerability Analysis and Exploitation: local version analysis of CQ-RPC, accessing unsafe RPC methods to extract backups, logs, or configs storing seed or Wallet.dat.
Static and dynamic binary and library analysis: to detect arbitrary code execution entry points, deserialization locations, and possible covert channels.
Script automation: utilities (Python scripts, Jupyter/Colab pipelines) automate recovery procedures, logging, and post-processing.
JackeyBitcoin Architecture
4.1 Component Model
- Reconnaissance Module: collecting CQ-RPC version, configuration, available endpoints, backups.
- Cryptanalysis Module: Padding Oracle implementations, Wallet.dat parsers, BIP-32/BIP-39 deserialization/correction tools.
- Secure Execution Module: isolated environment (VM/container) for potentially unsafe procedures with limited privileges, output and integrity control.
- Import/Export Module: tools for safe import of recovered private keys into test nodes and subsequent transfer to operational wallets.
- Logging and Auditing: comprehensive action logs, result storage, artifact hashing for proof of operations.
4.2 Execution Security
Applying least privilege principle, isolated environments, digital signing for artifacts, verifying input data integrity before processing.
Technical Details of Methods
5.1 Padding Oracle Attack on Wallet.dat
Theoretic Description: Wallet.dat is encrypted using AES-256-CBC with PKCS#7 padding. If the application (or library) returns distinguishable errors depending on padding correctness during decryption, this creates an oracle. JackeyBitcoin models such padding oracles, crafts modified blocks, and stepwise recovers password bytes.
Practical Requirements: access to binary interface, ability to send modified encrypted blocks for local deserialization/validation; absence of protections against repeated attempts or timing limits.
Constraints and Speed: complexity is linear with key length and depends on block size, timeout protections, and attempt limits. On modern systems, recovery with an oracle is feasible in acceptable time; without an oracle, unfeasible.
5.2 Deserialization and Transaction Correction
Analysis of the serialized transaction and signature formats; identifying inconsistencies, non-standard scenarios (e.g., unrecognized scripts, non-canonical signatures).
Correction Algorithm: localizing inconsistent fields, applying recovery heuristics (restoring byte orders, fixing encodings), repeated signature verification at each step.
5.3 Interaction with RPC Vulnerabilities
Local scanning of versions, invoking potentially vulnerable methods (limited in test environment), extracting possible backups/logs/configs containing seed/Wallet.dat.
Techniques to prevent side effects and preserve original data (read-only mode, checksum verification).
Experimental Evaluation
Methodology: testing on sets of controlled test wallets with various CQ-RPC versions, including vulnerable ones (in lab conditions), simulating wallet.dat corruption and non-standard transactions.
Metrics: success rate, recovery time, false positives, damage risk.
Results (summary): in lab conditions with reproducible vulnerabilities, JackeyBitcoin showed high success rates when oracles or deserialization errors existed; in securely updated environments (latest CQ-RPC, no oracles), methods became ineffective, emphasizing implementation security importance.
Risks, Security, and Ethics
7.1 Application Risks
Incorrect tool use may further damage data, cause fund loss, or secret leakage.
Using vulnerabilities outside labs raises legal and ethical issues; exploiting vulnerabilities on unauthorized systems is criminal.
7.2 Mitigation Measures
Adopt strict usage policy: only with written consent of wallet owner, within judicial procedures, or for aggregated research.
Testing only on data copies, creating digital fingerprints of original files, using read-only approaches and containerization.
7.3 Ethical Aspect of Vulnerability Research
Research is vital for overall security improvement. Publishing results must include update recommendations and coordinated disclosure.
Security Improvement Recommendations
Updating ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC to latest stable versions and timely patch application.
Introducing multi-level input validation and authentication systems for RPC calls.
Regular audits, fuzz testing, static code analysis.
Encrypting and securely storing backups; restricting RPC interface access.
Dependency monitoring and prompt responses to published vulnerabilities.
Recovery of Lost Bitcoin Wallets by Cryptanalysis
JackeyBitcoin demonstrates a conceptual capability to recover lost bitcoin wallets via cryptanalysis and exploitation of vulnerabilities in ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC and related components. Given specific flaws (padding oracle, incorrect deserialization, transaction processing errors), the toolkit can restore access to passwords and private keys in lab conditions. However, real-world effectiveness depends on vulnerability availability, system configuration, and legal status. The main recommendation is to focus on improving CQ-RPC security, timely patching, and ethical tool use.
Prospects for Further Research
Developing formal recovery proof methods to minimize damage risk and validate recovered keys.
Automating safe procedures and integrating incident response tools.
Expanding cryptanalytic methods considering new attack vectors and mitigations.
Examining legal frameworks and establishing standards for responsible vulnerability and recovery tool disclosure.
Bibliography (Selected Directions)
Documents on CVE-2018-17144 and Bitcoin Core releases, patch notes 0.15.2–0.17.1.
Articles and books on Padding Oracle Attacks (Vaudenay et al.).
Research on deserialization and arbitrary code execution channels in blockchain clients.
Practical guides on Wallet.dat analysis, BIP-32/BIP-39, and Bitcoin serialization formats.
Feature of Vulnerability CVE-2023-0089 (DeserializeSignature)
The vulnerability lies in improper handling of the ECDSA digital signature deserialization function in ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC. DeserializeSignature converts a byte sequence into an internal object for verifying Bitcoin transaction signatures. The flaw is that the function insufficiently validates all signature parameters before deserialization, notably failing to check if the “R” or “S” signature components are zero. This lets attackers craft signatures with zero or invalid values that the system may erroneously accept as valid. This behavior enables forging invalid signatures accepted by the Bitcoin network, threatening transaction integrity and fund security.
Connection of CVE-2023-0089 to JackeyBitcoin
JackeyBitcoin uses analysis and exploitation of such ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC vulnerabilities to recover lost bitcoin wallets. Specifically, it detects and corrects errors arising from non-destructive, non-canonical, or corrupted signatures, restoring access to private keys and funds lost due to deserialization processing faults. Understanding and exploiting DeserializeSignature provides JackeyBitcoin technical capabilities to bypass protective mechanisms, reveal hidden or corrupted data, and prevent losses during wallet recovery. Thus, CVE-2023-0089 is a key technical foundation for JackeyBitcoin’s cryptanalysis methods, enabling deep data recovery beyond what standard secure CQ-RPC versions can process.
How JackeyBitcoin Uses CVE-2023-0089 for Wallet Recovery
JackeyBitcoin performs deep analysis of serialized cryptographic signatures, identifying non-canonical, non-standard, or corrupted signatures that the standard ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC library mishandles or rejects.
Exploiting CVE-2023-0089 vulnerability, JackeyBitcoin safely deserializes such non-standard signatures to recover correct private key values and transaction confirmations, essential for restoring wallet access.
By employing cryptanalysis methods and verifying integrity of deserialized signatures, JackeyBitcoin corrects errors that appeared during transaction creation or processing, achieving successful data recovery from damaged or improperly handled wallet.dat and related data.
This reduces data loss risks and restores access to funds unprocessable by common CQ-RPC versions due to signature verification limits.
Hence, this vulnerability enables JackeyBitcoin to convert security threats into a recovery mechanism via proper analysis and processing of signatures inaccessible to standard methods, ensuring security and reliability.
JackeyBitcoin uses the deserialization vulnerability to bypass ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC limitations and errors, directly aiding recovery of lost or damaged bitcoin wallets through restoring integral and correct signatures and keys.
Types of Vulnerabilities JackeyBitcoin Exploits to Find Lost Bitcoin Wallets
- Insufficient block signature verification (CVE-2018-17144): helps detect and fix counterfeit or damaged blocks created by signature checking errors, supporting wallet data integrity recovery.
- Non-standard transaction processing errors: identifies and correctly handles transactions with non-standard or corrupted inputs that could otherwise cause data loss or crashes.
- Signature deserialization vulnerability (CVE-2023-0089): enables recovery of signatures — including non-canonical or damaged ones — correctly restoring private keys distorted by this flaw.
- Cryptanalysis errors in Wallet.dat encryption: padding oracle attack leveraging AES-256-CBC to incrementally decrypt wallet and recover passwords and keys.
- RPC interface vulnerabilities: allows access to configurations, backups, logs, and critical data holding seed phrases or encrypted keys via weak or misconfigured RPC services.
These categories form the technical foundation for JackeyBitcoin, turning implementation flaws in ChainQuery Bitcoin RPC and related components from threats into recovery points, minimizing losses and enhancing procedural security.
