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Moderate 59 Monero

Revert "fix: unify encryption across platforms (#3470)" (#3634)

Public commit record

What the developer wrote

Authored by Omar Hatem

73/100 · Adequate
Revert "fix: unify encryption across platforms (#3470)" (#3634)

This reverts commit 90e25afc11f8e32a997d62abe5b8bed5428924b1.
✓ Specific, descriptive subject✓ Names a concrete action or component✓ Provides an explanatory body✓ Links an issue, advisory, or supporting reference
The short version

What changed, and why it matters

This commit reverts a previous change that unified wallet file encryption across all platforms. It brings back two separate encryption paths: a newer XChaCha20-based method for direct user passwords, and an older Salsa20-based method for generated keys. The older Salsa20 path is not authenticated, meaning a wrong password can produce believable-looking garbage instead of failing cleanly. The revert also removes safety checks and migration logic that prevented accidental re-encryption of files with wrong passwords, and deletes the related security tests. Because this is a partial revert and the surrounding context is limited, the exact security intent is unclear, but the change reintroduces weaker, less-safe cryptography and removes test coverage for it.

Recommended action

Treat this commit as a potential security regression. Review the rationale for the revert with the vendor, re-run the deleted encryption tests, and ensure that any reintroduced Salsa20 usage is only transitional, clearly scoped, and does not handle new wallet data. If the revert was accidental or incomplete, re-apply the unified XChaCha20 encryption and restore the test suite. Advise users not to downgrade wallet files across this boundary until the security posture is clarified.

Security signals we found

01

Reverts a prior security-unification commit

02

Reintroduces Salsa20 stream cipher without authentication (no MAC)

03

Removes wrong-password detection logic that prevented silent garbage decryption

04

Removes migration logic that upgraded legacy Salsa20 files to authenticated XChaCha20

05

Deletes comprehensive encryption/security unit tests

06

Changes encryption behavior based on platform/direct-password flag

07

Rolls back pinned cake_backup dependency to earlier commit

Risk score

Why this scored 59/100

Our methodology →
Potential impact 18/30
Exploitability 12/25
Stealth signal 8/15
Affected reach 12/15
Confidence 6/10
Evidence quality 3/5
Human-validated context

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