When random.bytes() runs but doesn't work
A developer analyzes a critical security vulnerability in Coldcard firmware, attributing the flaw to poor coding practices and inadequate commit documentation. The author highlights how a lack of transparency and oversight in security-critical code changes can lead to significant real-world financial losses.
Why it matters
It underscores the importance of rigorous code review and documentation in hardware wallets, which are essential for securing cryptocurrency assets.
This is a guest post from noted Core-Lightning developer, ddustin , who dug into the Coldcard firmware commit history to uncover what happened and why the code failed.
I began investigating the Coldcard hack and was immediately shocked. I need to explain why.
When we developers work on code, we organize or code changes into changesets we call “commits.” The purpose of doing so is to show a clear history of what code was changed including why and how.
This is done precisely for instances like this where it appears Bitcoiner’s funds are being stolen en masse, so we can investigate and understand exactly how it could happen.
Good developers write clear commit messages, written notes that go along with the code changes that explain what the specific change is accomplishing.
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