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Confidential Transactions

people.xiph.org

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Re: Confidential Transactions

#3
> A commitment scheme lets you keep a piece of data secret but commit to it so that you can not change it later.

> commitment = SHA256( binding_factor || data )

> Tell someone the commitment, then [later] reveal both the data and blinding factor.

It looks like I can change my data, then generate a binding factor that will combine to produce the original hash input.

Re: Confidential Transactions

#4
post #3

> A commitment scheme lets you keep a piece of data secret but commit to it so that you can not change it later. > commitment = SHA256( binding_factor || data ) > Tell someone the commitment, then [later] reveal both the data and blinding factor. It looks like I can change my data, then generate a binding factor that will combine to produce the original hash input.

>> A commitment scheme lets you keep a piece of data secret but commit to it so that you can not change it later. >> commitment = SHA256( binding_factor || data ) >> Tell someone the commitment, then [later] reveal both the data and blinding factor.

>It looks like I can change my data, then generate a binding factor that will combine to produce the original hash input.

If you can find SHA256 collisions on demand. But if you can do that, you should probably be writing a paper about it and advancing the state of the art.

Re: Confidential Transactions

#5
post #3

> A commitment scheme lets you keep a piece of data secret but commit to it so that you can not change it later. > commitment = SHA256( binding_factor || data ) > Tell someone the commitment, then [later] reveal both the data and blinding factor. It looks like I can change my data, then generate a binding factor that will combine to produce the original hash input.

Only if you can break SHA. But still, good point.

Re: Confidential Transactions

#6
post #3

> A commitment scheme lets you keep a piece of data secret but commit to it so that you can not change it later. > commitment = SHA256( binding_factor || data ) > Tell someone the commitment, then [later] reveal both the data and blinding factor. It looks like I can change my data, then generate a binding factor that will combine to produce the original hash input.

>> A commitment scheme lets you keep a piece of data secret but commit to it so that you can not change it later. >> commitment = SHA256( binding_factor || data ) >> Tell someone the commitment, then [later] reveal both the data and blinding factor. >It looks like I can change my data, then generate a binding factor that will combine to produce the original hash input. If you can find SHA256 collisions on demand. But…

Assume for a moment that no hashing is performed.

I compute C = B || D.

I reveal C.

I later choose new data D'.

I compute C = B' || D'.

I reveal B' and D'.

Since both B and D were secret, B' and D' are accepted.

Secretly masking data lends to malleability. (EDIT: Not a mask)

EDIT: As CJefferson points out the operation is not a mask, but concatenation of a fixed length random value which invalidates this example. Exploiting this secrecy would require a weakness in SHA256 that allows input prefixes to produce colliding hash states (hard).

Re: Confidential Transactions

#7
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> A commitment scheme lets you keep a piece of data secret but commit to it so that you can not change it later. >> commitment = SHA256( binding_factor || data ) >> Tell someone the commitment, then [later] reveal both the data and blinding factor. >It looks like I can change my data, then generate a binding factor that will combine to produce the original hash input. If you can find SHA256 collisions on demand. But…

Assume for a moment that no hashing is performed. I compute C = B || D. I reveal C. I later choose new data D'. I compute C = B' || D'. I reveal B' and D'. Since both B and D were secret, B' and D' are accepted. Secretly masking data lends to malleability. (EDIT: Not a mask) EDIT: As CJefferson points out the operation is not a mask, but concatenation of a fixed length random value which invalidates this example. Exp…

Here || denotes concatenation. Therefore your only options are to change where you split B and D into two two strings. If you (as is common) either fix the length of B, or make sure the splitter marker characters can't occur in B, then given C, B and D are fixed.