From: "Fabian Grünbichler" <f.gruenbichler@proxmox.com>
To: Dietmar Maurer <dietmar@proxmox.com>,
Proxmox Backup Server development discussion
<pbs-devel@lists.proxmox.com>,
Thomas Lamprecht <t.lamprecht@proxmox.com>
Subject: Re: [pbs-devel] [PATCH proxmox-backup 0/7] add, persist and check key fingerprint
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2020 09:27:31 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <1605687788.575q13vngv.astroid@nora.none> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <6447caa6-7079-4515-af39-4322fdd8a69f@proxmox.com>
On November 18, 2020 7:47 am, Thomas Lamprecht wrote:
> On 18.11.20 06:47, Dietmar Maurer wrote:
>>> On 11/18/2020 6:27 AM Dietmar Maurer <dietmar@proxmox.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Do we really need/want a 256bit long fingerprint?
>>>
>>> I thought 64bit (or maybe 32bit) would be large enough?
>>> If not, why does it have to be that large?
>>
>> some quick math:
>>
>> max keys a user generate in his live: 1024 (2¹⁰)
>>
>> so the likelihood of a 32bit fingerprint clash is
>>
>> W = 1/2^²² (1/4Millions)
>>
>> which is, unlikely, but possible.
>>
>> But with 64bit it is extremely unlikely (1/2⁵⁴).
>
> From a pure user experience I think it could be better to present 8 byte of fingerprint
> information - as the nerves/stress ratio is probably not to good at times where this is
> required.
>
> 8 byte: "90:A1:CA:44:BE:0B:D4:1C"
>
> vs.
>
> 32 byte: "90:A1:CA:44:BE:0B:D4:1C:F7:D9:F5:2F:7C:92:DB:69:B2:2A:AF:6A:1C:7A:DB:0C:03:93:3E:EA:95:EC:26:92"
>
> I mean, after all, this is rather informal and even if there would be a unlikely
> collision it does not actually compromises security in any way I can think of.
I'd be fine with that, although I think we should probably mention
somewhere why we think it's fine to use a truncated hash here:
- the actual verification happens via the signature of the manifest
- we are talking about your own keys, not keys of other parties that you
need to verify via a fingerprint (which is an entirely different
problem)
- the fingerprint is just used as an automatically/mathematically
generated 'name' of the key
should we switch it altogether, or just truncate it on display? IMHO for
Qemu I'd like to keep the full digest/fingerprint, since there a
skipped collision means corrupt backups, not running into the next
error and bailing out..
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2020-11-18 8:28 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 17+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2020-11-17 17:57 Fabian Grünbichler
2020-11-17 17:57 ` [pbs-devel] [PATCH proxmox-backup 1/7] crypt config: add fingerprint mechanism Fabian Grünbichler
2020-11-17 17:57 ` [pbs-devel] [PATCH proxmox-backup 2/7] key: add fingerprint to key config Fabian Grünbichler
2020-11-18 8:48 ` Wolfgang Bumiller
2020-11-17 17:57 ` [pbs-devel] [PATCH proxmox-backup 3/7] client: print key fingerprint and master key Fabian Grünbichler
2020-11-17 18:38 ` Thomas Lamprecht
2020-11-17 17:57 ` [pbs-devel] [PATCH proxmox-backup 4/7] client: add 'key show' command Fabian Grünbichler
2020-11-17 17:57 ` [pbs-devel] [PATCH proxmox-backup 5/7] add key fingerprint to manifest Fabian Grünbichler
2020-11-17 17:57 ` [pbs-devel] [PATCH proxmox-backup 6/7] fix #3139: manifest: check fingerprint when loading with key Fabian Grünbichler
2020-11-17 17:57 ` [pbs-devel] [PATCH proxmox-backup 7/7] client: check fingerprint after downloading manifest Fabian Grünbichler
2020-11-18 5:27 ` [pbs-devel] [PATCH proxmox-backup 0/7] add, persist and check key fingerprint Dietmar Maurer
2020-11-18 5:47 ` Dietmar Maurer
2020-11-18 6:47 ` Thomas Lamprecht
2020-11-18 8:27 ` Fabian Grünbichler [this message]
2020-11-18 8:54 ` Dietmar Maurer
2020-11-23 7:55 ` Dietmar Maurer
2020-11-23 8:16 ` Fabian Grünbichler
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