[mnet-devel] Re: [web-calculus] YURLs

[Zooko]

[Following-up to my own e-mail letter to correct an error.]

 I, Zooko, wrote:
>
> If it matches its hash but the encryption key is wrong, then user sees random 
> garbage -- whatever the ciphertext decrypts to under the incorrect key.
> 
> Hm -- *that* isn't good.  In a future version of Mnet, an incorrect key will 
> also yield nothing but an error message.
> 
> (I can't think of any scenarios in which the current behavior could be 
> exploited, but it still seems sub-optimal.)

Actually, I was wrong about this.  I'm pretty sure that you can't find an 
alternate symmetric key (other than the one actually used to encrypt) which 
will yield anything other than an error message.

I (obviously!) haven't thought a lot about that issue in the design, and 
I doubt that Myers thought about it when he implemented it.

Here is the design doc, which is short and sweet and informal for your reading 
enjoyment:

http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/mnet/mnet_new/doc/new_filesystem.html

Regards,

Zooko



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