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From: Christophe Biocca <christophe.biocca@gmail.com>
To: bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org
Subject: [bitcoin-dev] Bitcoin XTs Tor IP blacklist downloading system has significant privacy leaks.
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2015 21:08:01 -0400	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CANOOu=_8BA1REkjRA3OUU_UEk6iOkQDW7=C8bEByAFGF4KHrbg@mail.gmail.com> (raw)

So I checked, and the code described *does not* run when behind a
proxy of any kind, including tor:

https://github.com/bitcoinxt/bitcoinxt/commit/73c9efe74c5cc8faea9c2b2c785a2f5b68aa4c23#diff-11780fa178b655146cb414161c635219R265

At least based on my admittedly weak understanding of how the internal works.

Hopefully I save the next reader of your post from also having to dig
around to find the code and realize this is a false alert.

On Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 6:36 PM F L via bitcoin-dev <
bitcoin-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote:

> Bitcoin XT contains an unmentioned addition which periodically downloads
> lists of Tor IP addresses for blacklisting, this has considerable privacy
> implications for hapless users which are being prompted to use the
> software.  The feature is not clearly described, is enabled by default, and
> has a switch name which intentionally downplays what it is doing
> (disableipprio).  Furthermore these claimed anti-DoS measures are trivially
> bypassed and so offer absolutely no protection whatsoever.
>
> Connections are made over clearnet even when using a proxy or onlynet=tor,
> which leaks connections on the P2P network with the real location of the
> node.  Knowledge of this traffic along with uptime metrics from
> bitnodes.io can allow observers to easily correlate the location and
> identity of persons running Bitcoin nodes.  Denial of service can also be
> used to crash and force a restart of an interesting node, which will cause
> them to make a new request to the blacklist endpoint via the clearnet on
> relaunch at the same time their P2P connections are made through a proxy.
> Requests to the blacklisting URL also use a custom Bitcoin XT user agent
> which makes users distinct from other internet traffic if you have access
> to the endpoints logs.
>
>
>
> https://github.com/bitcoinxt/bitcoinxt/commit/73c9efe74c5cc8faea9c2b2c785a2f5b68aa4c23
>
> _______________________________________________
> bitcoin-dev mailing list
> bitcoin-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>


             reply	other threads:[~2015-08-19  1:08 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 9+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2015-08-19  1:08 Christophe Biocca [this message]
2015-08-19  1:36 ` [bitcoin-dev] Bitcoin XTs Tor IP blacklist downloading system has significant privacy leaks Peter Todd
2015-08-19  1:48   ` Gregory Maxwell
2015-08-19  2:25   ` Peter Todd
2015-08-19 15:45     ` Mike Hearn
2015-08-19 18:51       ` Btc Drak
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2015-08-18 23:31 F L
2015-08-18 23:56 ` Andrew LeCody
2015-08-19  0:00 ` Patrick Strateman

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