XZ backdoor: "It's RCE, not auth bypass, and gated/unreplayable."

Re:XZ backdoor: "It's RCE, not auth bypass, and gated/unrepl... by kevincox on Saturday March 30, 2024 @10:27PM (#39880796)

To really nitpick the server does have the password during authentication. The alternate would be a PAKE which is currently quite rare. (But probably should become the standard)

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Re:XZ backdoor: "It's RCE, not auth bypass, and gated/unrepl... by SV_BubbleTime on Sunday March 31, 2024 @10:26AM (#39884575)

I was going more for shouldn’t. You’re right, but for zero knowledge things like password managers where they specifically do not want your password.

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Re:XZ backdoor: "It's RCE, not auth bypass, and gated/unrepl... by tialaramex on Sunday March 31, 2024 @02:45PM (#39886880)

I am aware of PAKEs, and I decided not to waste my time mentioning them because as usual the situation is:

Using a PAKE correctly would be safe, but that sounds like work

Just saying "Use a good password" is no work and you can pretend it's just as safe.

Real world systems using a PAKE are very rare. The most notable is WPA3 (and there are numerous scenarios where it's for nothing until WPA2 is long obsolete). Lots of systems which would use a PAKE if designed by a cryptographer were instead designed by engineers or managers for whom "Ooh, a hash with salt" sounds like a sophisticated modern technical solution rather than a long obsolete one.

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