RSA Vulnerability Highlighted by Clever Hardware Attack

A recent study by researchers at UC San Diego and France's INRIA demonstrated a clever attack on RSA signatures within a hardware security module. This type of device is commonly used to store private keys and sign transactions securely.

The researchers were able to forge RSA signatures on a 1,024-bit key without extracting the key itself. However, it's worth noting that this attack only applies to RSA signatures and does not affect elliptic-curve signatures such as ECDSA, which are used by Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The study involved switching off the hardware security module's FIPS mode, allowing the researchers to sign unformatted numbers. They then asked the box to sign roughly 4 billion numbers of their choosing, eventually learning how to make the signature themselves.

While this may seem like a significant vulnerability, the authors note that most modern RSA deployments use padding, which prevents this type of attack. The study is seen as a stress test for key management rather than an immediate threat to security.

The researchers are calling for a shift away from RSA during the post-quantum transition, citing the difficulty of factoring large numbers and the potential risks of quantum computers. Google has set 2029 as its deadline to migrate its systems to post-quantum cryptography, while other companies may follow suit in the coming years.