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Informational 24 Bitcoin

utils: add a generic mlock function with a destructor

Public commit record

What the developer wrote

Authored by Sangbida Chaudhuri

65/100 · Adequate
utils: add a generic mlock function with a destructor

Introduces a generic utility function to replace the repeated pattern of
sodium_mlock() + tal_add_destructor()
✓ Specific, descriptive subject✓ Names a concrete action or component✓ Provides an explanatory body
The short version

What changed, and why it matters

This commit is a code cleanup that replaces several scattered copies of a memory-locking pattern with one shared helper function. It does not add new security features, but it reduces the chance that future code forgets to unlock sensitive memory when it is freed. The change also makes memory locking mandatory (the program aborts if locking fails) in more places, which is a small hardening improvement.

Recommended action

Treat as a defensive hardening/refactoring commit. Review that all converted call sites pass a tal-allocated pointer and that the destructor ordering does not interfere with early-return or error paths. No urgent action required.

Security signals we found

01

Refactors sensitive-memory handling into a single helper with mandatory mlock and automatic munlock destructor

02

Converts HSM secret encryption key and passphrase handling to use shared mlock_tal_memory helper

03

Removes explicit destroy_secret() calls where tal destructor now covers cleanup

04

Adds automatic sodium_munlock destructor to hsmd secret_data and bip32_seed paths

05

No new cryptographic operations or protocol changes

Risk score

Why this scored 24/100

Our methodology →
Potential impact 5/30
Exploitability 3/25
Stealth signal 2/15
Affected reach 4/15
Confidence 7/10
Evidence quality 3/5
Human-validated context

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