Re: PPTP Revisited

From: Paul Leach (paulleat_private)
Date: Sat Feb 13 1999 - 15:39:05 PST

  • Next message: aleph1at_private: "Re: PPTP Revisited"

    Nice analysis. Correct as far as I can see with a quick review. I only have
    one quibble with it. See below...
    
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: aleph1at_private [mailto:aleph1at_private]
    > Sent: Saturday, February 13, 1999 11:29 AM
    > To: BUGTRAQat_private
    > Subject: PPTP Revisited
    >
    >
    > · MPPE does not provide true 128-bit or 40-bit security.
    >
    > This is still true. Under MSCHAPv2 the MPPE session keys
    > continue to be
    > derived from the user password, the challenges, and some
    > magic numbers. All
    > this information is public with the exception of the
    > password, ergo the
    > session key is only as strong at the password.
    >
    
    Some comments:
    The conclusion that the session key is only as strong as the password is
    true. I think it is somewhat misleading to conclude that the protocol
    doesn't offer "true" 40 or 128 bit security. It is easy to have a password
    that is more than 40 bits in strength.
    
    To give some context, it is equally true that Kerberos 5 does not provide
    "true" 40 or 128 bit security -- even though it generates random session
    keys, the ticket granting ticket containing the initial session key is
    encrypted with a key derived from the password.
    
    To my knowledge, the same will hold for any authentication and key exchange
    protocol that doesn't use public key technology.
    
    Paul
    



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