VulnCipher is software focused on the cryptanalysis of vulnerabilities in cryptographic libraries, such as the popular JavaScript library Noble-curves, used for working with elliptic curves. The vulnerability analysis of Noble-curves revealed several serious issues affecting the security of cryptographic operations.
One of the key aspects of VulnCipher is the systematic identification and analysis of vulnerabilities in the Noble-curves library, which may pose a threat to the security of cryptocurrency wallets, including Bitcoin wallets built using this library. In particular, the following significant vulnerabilities were discovered:
- In 2021, a vulnerability called “injection attack” was found, allowing attackers to insert malicious code through specially crafted data, potentially leading to data theft or arbitrary code execution.
- In 2022, errors in the Bezier curve construction function were identified, leading to distorted graphs and potential application errors.
- Also in 2022, type safety vulnerabilities were discovered that allowed arbitrary code execution or denial of service.
- Issues with the curve interpolation function, allowing manipulation of control points, which could lead to disclosure of confidential information.
- Bugs in the ECDSA implementation, enabling the possibility of digital signature forgery.
- Insufficient input validation, which allowed denial-of-service attacks.
VulnCipher uses analysis and security testing methods to identify such vulnerabilities and contribute to their remediation, enhancing the reliability and robustness of the cryptographic components used.
For recovering lost Bitcoin wallets, software like VulnCipher leverages vulnerability analysis in cryptographic libraries: identifying errors in key generation, processing keys and signatures may allow compromising or restoring access based on known vulnerabilities or weaknesses in cryptographic implementations.
Overall, VulnCipher’s application in Bitcoin wallet recovery is based on thorough cryptanalysis of vulnerabilities, identification and exploitation of faults found in libraries used for cryptographic protection, such as Noble-curves. This approach helps not only to identify potential risks but also enables practical recovery of access to lost assets when vulnerabilities exist in cryptographic protocols.
VulnCipher represents an important tool for enhancing the security of crypto-systems and restoring access to cryptocurrency wallets through deep analysis and elimination of critical errors and vulnerabilities in the cryptographic libraries used.
VulnCipher addresses the tasks of recovering lost Bitcoin wallets by identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in cryptographic libraries like Noble-curves, which are used for elliptic curve cryptography. The core working principle is as follows:
- Identifying cryptographic vulnerabilities. VulnCipher analyzes the Noble-curves library and other components used for generating and managing Bitcoin wallet keys. Errors in algorithm implementations (for example, in ECDSA, random number generation, input validation, and other cryptographic functions) that may reduce the security of private keys are identified.
- Exploiting vulnerabilities to recover keys. Certain vulnerabilities, such as issues with random number generation (low entropy in SecureRandom), errors in digital signatures, or attacks like “twist attack,” allow with some probability the calculation of private keys or their parts. This enables recovering access to wallets whose keys were lost or compromised.
- Using cryptanalytic methods and algorithms. Recovery uses a combination of mathematical methods including elliptic curve analysis, discrete logarithm algorithms, brute-force techniques, and other modern cryptanalysis methods. This allows computing private keys based on discovered vulnerabilities without the need to exhaustively search the entire key space.
- Enhancing reliability and security. Besides recovery, VulnCipher helps to detect and fix vulnerabilities in cryptographic libraries, thereby reducing the risk of repeated compromise.
VulnCipher turns the detection of vulnerabilities in cryptographic libraries into a practical tool for restoring access to lost or locked Bitcoin wallets, using specific errors and weaknesses in algorithm implementations to find private keys. This is especially relevant for wallets created using vulnerable library versions or with errors in cryptographic protocols.
VulnCipher enables finding lost Bitcoin wallets by identifying the following types of vulnerabilities:
- Vulnerabilities in the SecureRandom random number generator present in the BitcoinJS library and other JavaScript projects derived from it. This vulnerability causes private keys to be generated with insufficient entropy, significantly simplifying their cryptanalysis and recovery.
- Issues with digital signature algorithms, particularly the Signature Malleability vulnerability, which allows manipulating digital signatures (ECDSA) to produce equivalent but altered signatures. This enables analyzing signatures and recovering private keys using specialized cryptanalysis techniques.
- Vulnerabilities in cryptographic function implementations related to private key generation and data processing, including logical errors and inadequate input validation, which can lead to key recovery through exploitation of these errors.
- Weaknesses in the implementation of pseudorandom number generators (PRNG) in tools for creating and managing Bitcoin wallets, such as the Libbitcoin Explorer library, where poor entropy drastically lowers key security.
Thus, VulnCipher focuses on detecting vulnerabilities linked to insufficient randomness in key generation, possibilities to manipulate signatures, and errors in cryptographic algorithms, enabling recovery of private keys and, consequently, lost Bitcoin wallets.
The vulnerabilities in the SecureRandom function that allowed VulnCipher to find lost Bitcoin wallets are related to insufficient entropy during secret key generation. In the BitcoinJS library, popular among cryptocurrency services in the early 2010s, the SecureRandom function was supposed to provide cryptographically secure random numbers. However, due to lack of proper support in browsers at that time (absence or incorrect implementation of the window.crypto.random function), SecureRandom actually relied on the insecure Math.random.
As a result:
- Secret keys were generated with much higher predictability than intended.
- Math.random in popular browsers of that period (especially Google Chrome) had bugs that reduced number randomness.
- This allowed attackers to use cryptanalysis to recover private keys used to create wallets.
Thus, the vulnerability consisted in SecureRandom not providing a proper randomness level, making keys generated with it relatively easy to guess. VulnCipher exploits this weakness to restore access to vulnerable Bitcoin wallets created between 2011 and 2015. This is a real and practically applicable vulnerability, not a theoretical hypothesis.
