Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> I'm not sure what the security implications are.

You can use this technique to phish signatures. Send someone a document that reads "X" in format A and "Y" in format B. The victim signs file.A thinking they are endorsing X but you can plausibly claim that they signed file.B (because it's the same file) and hence endorsed Y. This is why digital signature standards need to include meta-data, e.g.:

https://github.com/Spark-Innovations/SC4/blob/master/doc/fil...

Scroll down to "bundle files"



> but you can plausibly claim

And anyone else can plausibly claim that you carefully forged a file to get a victim to sign it -- the signature will be of the whole file, not just a single view of it.

But that said, you shouldn't sign binary files unless you have a reasonable understanding of what is in it (or trust the party presenting it to you).


> And anyone else can plausibly claim that you carefully forged a file to get a victim to sign it

Yes, of course, but by the time someone realizes this the damage may already have been done.

> you shouldn't sign binary files

There are a lot of things that people shouldn't do that they do nonetheless.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: