Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Does the session key hash help if the attacker guessed the code correctly?



Yup, it still does. In the face of a lucky-guessing attacker, PAKE basically degenerates down into plain unauthenticated Diffie-Hellman, which means Alice-Mallory has one key, and Mallory-Bob has a different key. Mallory could decrypt the messages from Alice and then reencrypt them for Bob, but Alice and Bob will still both see different keys. If they have some out-of-band means to compare those keys (which Mallory can't corrupt), then they can detect the attack.


Thanks!




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: