BIP32: Disambiguate Which Key Is Compromised When Ext. PubKey + PrivKey Are Leaked #64

pull harding wants to merge 1 commits into bitcoin:master from harding:bip32-ancestor-risk changing 1 files +1 −1

harding commented at 3:41 PM on May 20, 2014: contributor

I mistakenly inferred from the following clause that a parent extended public key plus a child private key would be equivalent to knowing the extended child private key---meaning that the parent private key was still secure:

knowledge of the extended public key + any non-hardened private key descending from it is equivalent to knowing the extended private key

This patch's addition of the word "parent" (twice) removes the ambiguity and may help other readers draw the correct inference that the parent private key is no longer secure in this case.

I also changed "+" to "plus" to avoid confusion with the actual mathematical operations used in this BIP.

Disambiguate Which Key Is Compromised When Ext. PubKey + PrivKey Are Leaked

I mistakenly inferred from the following clause that a parent extended
public key plus a child private key would be equivalent to knowing the
extended *child* private key---meaning that the *parent* private key was
still secure:

> knowledge of the extended public key + any non-hardened private key
> descending from it is equivalent to knowing the extended private key

This patch's addition of the word "parent" (twice) removes the ambiguity
and may help other readers draw the correct inference that the parent
private key is no longer secure in this case.

I also changed "+" to "plus" to avoid confusion with the actual
mathematical operations used in this BIP.

5be4021fa1

harding commented at 3:44 PM on May 20, 2014: contributor

I just took a look at other issues with BIPs---which I should've done first (sorry)---and discovered that #62 mentions the same issue.
laanwj commented at 8:28 AM on October 15, 2014: member

As author of BIP32, @sipa can you comment on this change?
sipa commented at 8:57 AM on October 15, 2014: member

ACK
laanwj referenced this in commit 1ce8320495 on Oct 15, 2014
laanwj merged this on Oct 15, 2014
laanwj closed this on Oct 15, 2014
jachiang referenced this in commit eabf7c9a6d on Sep 16, 2019
real-or-random referenced this in commit 9ed9955b89 on Feb 23, 2023

Contributors

harding

laanwj

sipa