A Padding Oracle Attack is a cryptanalytic attack that allows an attacker to decrypt encrypted data without knowing the key, if the system reports correct padding during decryption. In the context of Bitcoin-related software, this attack is most well known in relation to the wallet file wallet.datin Bitcoin Core.

Programs and tools where Padding Oracle Attack was used or implemented

• Bitcoin Core (wallet.dat)
  • The Padding Oracle Attack was first described for the wallet.datBitcoin Core file back in 2012. The vulnerability is related to the fact that the wallet uses symmetric AES-256-CBC encryption and can leak information about the correctness of the padding during decryption, which allows an attacker to decrypt the contents of the file without knowing the password 1 2 4 5 .
  • Exploit implementations and practical attack examples are available as Jupyter Notebooks and Google Colab scripts, for example, the public notebook Padding_Oracle_Attack_on_Wallet_dat.ipynb1 4 .
  • The attack uses standard tools such as the Metasploit Framework and MSFVenom, as well as custom Python scripts 1 4 .
• CTF tasks and training projects
  • The Padding Oracle Attack on wallet.dat is often used in Capture The Flag (CTF) challenges and cryptanalysis training projects where participants are asked to decrypt a Bitcoin Core wallet using this vulnerability 4 12 13 .
• Tools for attack automation
  • Several publications mention third-party tools and libraries such as padbuster or python-paddingoracle that can be adapted to attack wallet.dat if the system returns discernible errors when padding is incorrect 8 .

Examples and links to implementations

Program/Tool	Description of the Padding Oracle Attack application	Source
Bitcoin Core (wallet.dat)	Vulnerability in padding handling when decrypting AES-256-CBC	1245
Padding_Oracle_Attack_on_Wallet_dat.ipynb	Jupyter Notebook for attacking wallet.dat	14
Metasploit Framework + MSFVenom	Used to create exploits	14
padbuster, python-paddingoracle	Universal tools for padding oracle attacks	8

Conclusion

The most well-known and practically implemented Padding Oracle attack in the Bitcoin ecosystem is associated with the wallet file wallet.datin Bitcoin Core. The attack uses both specialized scripts and universal cryptanalysis tools. There is no information in open sources about other popular Bitcoin programs with the implemented Padding Oracle Attack vulnerability – the main attack vector remains associated with Bitcoin Core and its wallet files 1 2 4 5 8 .

Citations:

1. https://habr.com/ru/articles/778200/
2. https://pikabu.ru/story/padding_oracle_attack_na_walletdat_rasshifrovka_parolya_dlya_populyarnogo_koshelka_bitcoin_core_10888097
3. https://habr.com/ru/articles/817735/
4. https://pcnews.ru/blogs/padding_oracle_attack_na_walletdat_rassifrovka_parola_dla_popularnogo_koselka_bitcoin_core-1323006.html
5. https://rutube.ru/video/9bd3a257873b1c206c2b0542d4979c70/
6. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/POODLE
7. https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/463.html
8. https://www.securitylab.ru/analytics/481048.php
9. https://www.cryptopro.ru/en/blog/2019/11/19/teoreticheskaya-cryptografiya-v-realnykh-usloviyakh
10. https://safe-surf.ru/specialists/base-vulnerabilities/491687/
11. https://dzen.ru/video/watch/656d79af904c575fc9896ca2
12. https://lolz.live/threads/6380395/
13. https://zelenka.guru/threads/6380395/
14. https://temofeev.ru/info/articles/padding-oracle-attack-na-wallet-dat-rasshifrovka-parolya-dlya-populyarnogo-koshelka-bitcoin-core/
15. https://blogssmartzone.com/216851-padding-oracle-attack-na.html

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