Kingston DataTraveler Secure Privacy vulnerability

[strandjs at gmail.com (John Strand)]

Never attack crypto..  Even crappy crypto is hard to attack.

Always attack the implementation.

2010/1/6 Johan Peder M?ller <johan at johans.dk>

> Hi all
>
> As I read it the password is checked using a algorithm that involves the 32
> Byte block. The result of this operation must be a certain value also 32
> byte long and this value is constant even if the password is changed. So by
> patching the software (or running it in a debugger) it is possible to make
> sure that the check is always succesful. This means that the password is
> always correct and you can then gain access to the data via normal
> operation.
>
> So the weakness resides in the way the password is checked.
>
> rgds
> Johan M?ller
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 4:55 AM, Michael Salmon <lonestarr13 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > Below is the whitepaper from the security company that discovered the
> > flaw.  I uploaded the pdf document to Google Translator to try to read it.
> >  My understanding is that basically the Kingston software, exmpsvr.exe,
> > creates this 32 byte block of data that doesn't change even if the password
> > is changed or the key is formatted and is used to decrypt the encrypted
> > data.  Syss wrote a program that modifies the exmpsvr.exe application at
> > runtime and basically bypasses the password request code and jumps to the 32
> > byte block to start decrypting.
> >
> > Please correct me if I am wrong or I misunderstand, the translation is a
> > bit difficult for me to read.
> >
> > WhitePaper:
> >
> > http://www.syss.de/fileadmin/ressources/040_veroeffentlichungen/dokumente/SySS_knackt_Kingston_USB-Stick.pdf
> >
> > CNET article:
> > http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39963327,00.htm?tag=mncol;txt
> > Dark Reading:
> > http://www.darkreading.com/insiderthreat/security/encryption/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222200174
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Michael Salmon
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 9:51 PM, David A. Gershman <
> > dagershman_dgt at dagertech.net> wrote:
> >
> > > Oh my, do tell.  And please provide a link to the white paper if
> > > possible.
> > >
> > > > I hope I'm not double posting, but has anyone else seen the whitepaper
> > > on
> > > > the recently discovered vulnerability in FIPS certified
> > > > Kingston/Sandisk/Verbatium usb keys?  It seems like a very amateur
> > > > vulnerability in the software.
> > >
> > > ----------------------------------------
> > > David A. Gershman
> > > gershman at dagertech.net
> > > http://dagertech.net/gershman/
> > > "It's all about the path!" --d. gershman
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