Nostr notes by Soatok Dreamseeker

It used to have Macro support.

2026-07-08T03:43:12+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…hjpu
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It used to have Macro support.

X.680 5.7 discusses recursion

2026-07-07T22:48:43+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…xr0y
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X.680 5.7 discusses recursion

OK, help me settle a debate. Is ASN.1 Turing complete? ...

2026-07-07T22:02:52+02:00

OK, help me settle a debate.

**Is ASN.1 Turing complete?**

(Accidentally Turing Complete counts. Proofs of concept are welcome.)

I think what'a fundamentally happening here is that people on ...

2026-07-01T12:50:31+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…pepc
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I think what'a fundamentally happening here is that people on Lobsters (and, to a lesser extent, Hacker News) think I write blogs for **them**.

Like I want their attention.
Like I want their approval.
Like I want to be one of them.

Nope. I was never welcome in your spaces beyond some notion of "usefulness". You can even observe an echo of this observation in the comment thread.

I am not, and never can or will be, a person of high esteem to that crowd.

So why would I write for you?

I write for my goddamn self. I write to help the people in my own space. Most are queer or furry (and the ones that aren't, simply don't mind that we are). They see me as part of a community, not some jackass on a pedestal that has to adhere to some abstract ideal of noble and/or academic etiquette.

My writing is messy, raw, and real.

What some people call arrogance or condescension is really *frustration* that, despite a better world being possible, egos get in the way of it happening.

So, lol, no thanks.

Anyway, a domain ban isn't a terrible idea If I wanted ...

2026-07-01T12:35:51+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…vtk2
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Anyway, a domain ban isn't a terrible idea

If I wanted lobsters users' takes on my writing, I would reactivate my account and submit it there myself

https://lobste.rs/s/gwrlsv/soatok_s_informal_guide_threat_models#c_idszhp

I can't tell if the "I was going to backhanded compliment ...

2026-07-01T12:33:12+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…7he8
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I can't tell if the "I was going to backhanded compliment him but couldn't" was meant to be ironic or just insufferable

Ah, I see someone submitted my latest blog post to lobsters and ...

2026-07-01T12:24:48+02:00

Ah, I see someone submitted my latest blog post to lobsters and the comments are the usual wankfest of tone-policing.

Hobbyless behavior.

Soatok’s Informal Guide to Threat Models After a long day of ...

2026-06-30T11:58:13+02:00

Soatok’s Informal Guide to Threat Models

After a long day of exhausting conversations about Hybrid Post-Quantum Cryptography, random jackasses trying to play gotcha with endpoint attacks against end-to-end encrypted messaging apps, and message board discussions in the wake of dumb politicians pushing more "age verification" bullshit on us all, it's become abundantly clear to me that the phrase "threat model" is a foreign…

http://soatok.blog/2026/06/30/soatoks-informal-guide-to-threat-models/

Every single one of us is prone to blunder now and then. It's ...

2026-06-21T09:06:17+02:00

Every single one of us is prone to blunder now and then. It's how we learn.

This makes sense, considering the many ties between Donald Trump ...

2026-06-16T22:23:28+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…knx7
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This makes sense, considering the many ties between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

Here's yet another reason to not give money to Proton: ...

2026-06-08T14:55:07+02:00

Here's yet another reason to not give money to Proton:

https://old.reddit.com/r/BuyFromEU/comments/1u052qp/proton_is_funding_the_french_far_right_on_youtube/

https://www.dotfurry.org :3

2026-06-03T08:31:53+02:00

https://www.dotfurry.org :3

By the way, I know a lot of folks struggle with mental heatlh in ...

2026-06-03T07:13:26+02:00

By the way, I know a lot of folks struggle with mental heatlh in various ways, so:

Know that the fact that people interact with you at all, and are part of your life even in very loose ways, means your presence matters and you're irreplaceable.

It won't always feel like it, but people do appreciate you. Most just don't know how to express it very well, and no one really does a good job of teaching that. I'm no better than anyone on this point.

But really, whatever community you have is irrefutable evidence that you're not alone. They're the ones that will appreciate you.

There's no incentive structure to Fedi. Nobody follows you just to increase some metric or trick you into following back to win some game tied to capitalism here. They follow you because you're interesting or cool. Or both.

This probably doesn't help with the myriad other, more material causes for your suffering. Money be damned.

But you'll never be alone if you don't want to be. And it can get better.

The only spaces I've found where I actually feel comfortable ...

2026-06-02T05:08:16+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…85tf
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The only spaces I've found where I actually feel comfortable with my queerness aren't Pride events (with or without corporate backing), they're furry conventions.

Only at furry conventions can I just... vibe with people. In my fursuit, if I want, and while that's **objectively** weird at least locally it's treated as normal.

If I want to do sexual things, the option is usually there. (Private room parties, some friends and friends-of-friends, etc.)

But if I just want to cuddle and laugh and talk about nerd shit for four hours, I can do it.

And that's the vibe I've been trying to cultivate around myself here on Fedi.

(Note: I'm also cis, but being on the asexual spectrum makes ...

2026-06-02T05:01:13+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…5wx3
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(Note: I'm also cis, but being on the asexual spectrum makes things more frustrating than I can put to words.)

There are many reasons why I end up feeling like #PrideMonth ...

2026-06-02T04:59:51+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…mz8s
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There are many reasons why I end up feeling like #PrideMonth *isn't meant for me*.

Being demi makes a lot of gay cis male spaces uncomfortable. The way gay men objectify each other tells me *a lot* about the shitty beliefs a lot of men have towards women.

Stereotypes like, "Oh, you're a bottom? So you must be bad at math." Or even, "Oh, you're a bottom? So you must be lean and feminine-coded."

Or the accusations of catfishing because, if you have boundaries, that means you must logically be a "dom".

These are all things that I've been told at least once by someone over the years while being rejected from other queer folks.

I did manage to write ...

2026-06-02T04:39:18+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…lnux
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I did manage to write https://soatok.blog/2024/12/05/furry-queer-and-lonely/ a couple of years ago.

The sad part is that here I am, like two years later, and **nothing has materially changed** in my life. Hahaha.

The alienation of some queer media is something I've ...

2026-06-02T04:38:35+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…d0lj
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The alienation of some queer media is something I've independently noticed over the years but couldn't find a way to articulate that wouldn't sound werid.

The working title of my closest attempt was, *Pride Month Is Clearly For My Betters*. But even that sounds wrong. Thus, it's been relegated to Rough Draft Hell for many years.

Y'all should read ...

2026-06-02T04:35:41+02:00

Y'all should read https://aria.dog/barks/pride-not-sublimation/ by Dog with Glasses Plushie :neodog_glasses: :waow: (npub10d5…eufp) sometime.

The consequence for clicking "No" to "Are you over ...

2026-05-22T19:20:00+02:00

The consequence for clicking "No" to "Are you over 18?" prompts should being redirected to a list of books that are banned in their local public schools.

Is there a specific email to forward those North Korean espionage ...

2026-05-19T18:21:31+02:00

Is there a specific email to forward those North Korean espionage ops to?

I would think CISA but after https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/05/cisa-admin-leaked-aws-govcloud-keys-on-github I'm not touching them with 7 proxies.

There are many other problens with LLMs, but the fact that AI ...

2026-05-13T23:16:49+02:00

There are many other problens with LLMs, but the fact that AI SaaS providers are speedrunning the enshittification process as first described by Cory Doctorow (npub1fdr…lvhs) is kind of neat.

They aren't even waiting years for user complacency and vendor lock-in to take root. Probably because of all the circular financing going on.

https://fixupx.com/theo/status/2054618962395299982

Seeing Cloudflare do a 20% layoff doesn't bode well for the ...

2026-05-08T13:08:06+02:00

Seeing Cloudflare do a 20% layoff doesn't bode well for the tech industry which already has a problem of too many overqualified people looking for too few jobs.

Nostr event nevent1qqs0yxyqhu2cm4eseu9f5ajnlur02uvxad4xws8t5lnvjxeat20svtszypey9l5fszukdt6tcfz0x2jhqv562zset9yfdctswf5x2xh8k33c56spp4k

2026-05-05T20:56:36+02:00

Some of y'all give up on your dreams too quickly

Nostr event nevent1qqszww572tthua7x5gnyjzjukd230m99frtfmh78durvwxh4e2u2yvszypey9l5fszukdt6tcfz0x2jhqv562zset9yfdctswf5x2xh8k33c57d5hj8

2026-04-13T07:43:52+02:00

https://github.com/fedi-e2ee/public-key-directory-specification/issues/118

The Fediverse has the opportunity to do something hilarious here ...

2026-04-11T01:26:15+02:00

The Fediverse has the opportunity to do something hilarious here

I guess that whole forward secrecy plan isn't happening? ...

2026-04-10T17:25:36+02:00

I guess that whole forward secrecy plan isn't happening?

https://web.archive.org/web/20260410152505/https://getsession.org/donate

#Session

Nostr event nevent1qqs8cd9qc3njpjuzupul8h7zfe5ey6pzggdynjycl2ref0d367nh7aczypey9l5fszukdt6tcfz0x2jhqv562zset9yfdctswf5x2xh8k33c5hvek4r

2026-04-08T23:30:16+02:00

"You're so kneady when you wanna be bread"

If anyone goes to non-furry events with 1000+ attendees, pitch ...

2026-04-01T06:35:41+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…m6rx
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If anyone goes to non-furry events with 1000+ attendees, pitch this to their board.

Let's make every event offer harm reduction.

I'd like @npub1dqd…8xy4 to do this for the hacking ...

2026-03-31T12:28:20+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…edeg
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I'd like DEF CON (npub1dqd…8xy4) to do this for the hacking community, but I don't know what the logistics are like re: Las Vegas.

If you see someone posting a photo of a sign at a furry ...

2026-03-31T03:06:32+02:00

If you see someone posting a photo of a sign at a furry convention that advertises HIV / STI testing while sounding offended, it's a queerphobic dogwhistle.

Spread this to your friends/families to inoculate them from bad memes.

https://soatok.blog/2024/09/30/why-are-furry-conventions-offering-hiv-testing-to-attendees/

Moore's Law is about doubling the number of trans sisters ...

2026-03-18T20:29:59+01:00

Moore's Law is about doubling the number of trans sisters every 18 months

"No" is a better privacy-enhancing technology than the ...

2026-03-11T23:21:14+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…kn2h
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"No" is a better privacy-enhancing technology than the state-of-the-art differential privacy techniques.

It's efficient! Not collecting data requires at most O(1) bandwidth, O(1) storage, and O(1) compute.

"No" is not "Maybe later".

"No" is not "Ask me again in 3 days".

"No" is not "Maybe after a few more beers", since many of the people that *need to hear* the first part of his message likely also needs the second.

Here's a privacy-enhancing technology for you to consider: ...

2026-03-11T23:18:17+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…5wq7
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Here's a privacy-enhancing technology for you to consider:

"No."

You don't need to know. You don't need to measure. The efficacy of advertising campaigns, market segmentation, and relevance targeting should be minimized for the good of humanity.

At #RealWorldCrypto this year, there was a session on ...

2026-03-11T23:15:19+01:00

At #RealWorldCrypto this year, there was a session on "privacy-enhancing technologies".

The first talk in the session was about a new encryption method for Tor.

The next two were painful examples of "a person cannot be convinced of something when their salary depends on them not knowing it".

> Advertisers wants to collect signals about populations without being individually identifying. So let's talk about differential privacy techniques to let them do that.

One example was "Meta wants to know what percentage of its teneage users blocked a contact today".

At no point did they address the elephants in the room.<li>Why do they want this data in the first place?</li><li>What are they even doing with this signal?</li><li>Have you considered telling them to fuck off and not collect it in the first place?</li>

As tempting as it might be to hand wave it, and say "well yes but their business model depends on it", I say to advertisers, "then perish".

The brainrot "this is why we need blockchain" people ...

2026-03-06T05:41:58+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…xdj6
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The brainrot "this is why we need blockchain" people tickle me.

You mean the plaintext, immutable history currency? The global state one? The one that's like tweeting your transactions publicly? The one that's trivially traced?

Most of them hit every mark I just listed.

I'm not gonna say it Just read this story It says more about ...

2026-03-06T05:16:35+01:00

I'm not gonna say it

Just read this story

It says more about my point than I ever could

https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/

I guess I should just tap the sign whenever I encounter this sort ...

2026-03-04T00:35:54+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…d3ac
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I guess I should just tap the sign whenever I encounter this sort of personality:

https://soatok.blog/2026/02/25/cryptography-engineering-has-an-intrinsic-duty-of-care/

Loup-Vaillant [wrote this on ...

2026-03-02T20:45:34+01:00

Loup-Vaillant [wrote this on Lobste.rs](https://lobste.rs/s/oukhsl/cryptographic_issues_matrix_s_rust#c_fff0jo ) in a dumb rant about my Matrix disclosure:

> Personally I would actively > *avoid*> the check,

Hmm. What a weird thing to say.

Loup-Vaillant wrote a cryptography library called Monocypher, which famously had an [EdDSA vulnerability](https://monocypher.org/quality-assurance/disclosures ) mostly caused by their insistence on rolling their own custom EdDSA variant to avoid SHA512.

"I wonder how Monocypher holds up in 2026?"

Who said that? Well, anyway:

https://github.com/LoupVaillant/Monocypher/issues/285

God dammit, I'm gonna get nerdsniped, aren't I? Sigh.

2026-02-25T17:11:36+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…5s6m
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God dammit, I'm gonna get nerdsniped, aren't I?

Sigh.

starts writing on the chalkboard, Bart Simpson style "I ...

2026-02-25T17:05:20+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…sq9p
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*starts writing on the chalkboard, Bart Simpson style*

"I will NOT get nerdsniped into another cryptography side-project."

The frustrating part about attack papers like this is **how much ...

2026-02-25T16:57:48+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…m99u
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The frustrating part about attack papers like this is **how much they step on the same rakes that were deemed hazardous for more than 20 years**.

My heuristic from 2023 still rings true lol ...

2026-02-25T16:44:59+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…l7pk
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My heuristic from 2023 still rings true lol

https://soatok.blog/2023/01/21/how-you-respond-to-security-researchers-says-everything-about-you/#password-managers

https://eprint.iacr.org/2026/058 Wow

2026-02-25T16:44:05+01:00

https://eprint.iacr.org/2026/058

Wow

Someone finally asked him for his exploit code recently ...

2026-02-25T03:45:36+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…4926
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Someone finally asked him for his exploit code recently

https://research.swtch.com/nih

Y'know what's funny? I spend a lot of time thinking about ...

2026-02-25T03:42:56+01:00

Y'know what's funny?

I spend a lot of time thinking about and working on technology to make it easier for folks to have privacy in their comms,

But most of my chats are like:

"awawawawawa"

[furry sticker]

[furry sticker]

[furry sticker]

"why are compilers, man?"

Let me just put this out here: If you're coming to me hoping ...

2026-02-22T06:10:39+01:00

Let me just put this out here:

If you're coming to me hoping to "mediate" between Matrix or even "win Soatok over"

You're wasting your fucking time.

If you're designing E2EE in 2026 And your expectation for the ...

2026-02-20T14:36:54+01:00

If you're designing E2EE in 2026

And your expectation for the user experience is that even half your users will <li>manually verify key fingerprints, safety numbers, etc.</li><li>know what to do when these mechanisms fail</li>

Then you have not been paying attention to the research at all!

That isn't the normal behavior for how we use software.

When's the last time someone you know that doesn't know what "TCP" is inspected a website's certificate before sending it their password?

Something vexing: I've got a lot of ideas for improving ...

2026-02-20T08:27:08+01:00

Something vexing:

I've got a lot of ideas for improving things, but they're mostly infrastructure / ecosystem projects.

It's very difficult to connect any of them directly to the things people insist they need today.

For example:<li>Key Transparency for the Fediverse<ul><li>E2EE for ActivityPub can leverage this</li><li>AuxData is useful for other protocols</li></ul></li>

It's difficult to get most people to know or care about this!

But if you want a federated Discord replacement that can be easily self-hosted without making the host a juicy target for privacy invasions, and you don't want to require users to manually verify keys, this work is essential.

Is it perfect? No. If a threat scenario comes up that I ...

2026-02-20T05:09:01+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…529q
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Is it perfect? No.

If a threat scenario comes up that I didn't imagine, that means I assume, by default, that we're vulnerable until I prove otherwise.

You wanna see a fucking threat model? Here: ...

2026-02-20T05:06:49+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…t3cz
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You wanna see a fucking threat model?

Here: https://github.com/fedi-e2ee/public-key-directory-specification/blob/main/Specification.md#threat-model

And this is for an ActivityPub service that just stores data in immutable plaintext and serves it over HTTPS!

Now, am I saying that they're lying or deliberately ...

2026-02-20T05:04:12+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…d0k6
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Now, am I saying that they're lying or *deliberately* misleading?

No. I'm describing the incentives they're operating under!

This could be entirely subconscious or even unconscious decisionmaking and/or behavior for all I know.

But it's really suspicious to insist that the specific attack I keep describing is handwaved as "outside our threat model" when their public threat model is so frustratingly incomplete that it might as well just say **Cryptography: Vibes.**

I mean, *look at it*: https://spec.matrix.org/v1.17/appendices/#security-threat-model

An F in cryptography is aes-js / pyaes, as [this Trail of Bits ...

2026-02-20T04:58:01+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…m3vn
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An F in cryptography is aes-js / pyaes, as [this Trail of Bits blog](https://blog.trailofbits.com/2026/02/18/carelessness-versus-craftsmanship-in-cryptography/ ) by Opal Wright explains:

> Mistakes in cryptography are not a sin, even if they can have a serious impact. They’re simply a fact of life. As somebody once said, “cryptography is nightmare magic math that cares what color pen you use.” We’re all going to get stuff wrong if we stick around long enough to do something interesting, and there’s no reason to deride somebody for making a mistake.

> What matters—what separates carelessness from craftsmanship—is the response to a mistake. A careless developer will write off a mistake as no big deal or insist that it isn’t really a problem—yadda, yadda, yadda. A craftsman will respond by fixing what’s broken, examining their tools and processes, and doing what they can to prevent it from happening again.

Does this sound familiar?

> But what about "don't make perfect the enemy of ...

2026-02-20T04:55:33+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…32rg
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> But what about "don't make perfect the enemy of good"?

If your cryptography isn't damn near-perfect, it's shit. There aren't many cryptographic solutions that get a C+ in the world. It's either an A, A-, or an F.

Matrix has many incentives to lie or mislead. Their leadership ...

2026-02-20T04:52:42+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…29pa
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Matrix has many incentives to lie or mislead. Their leadership includes the CEO of a company whose product is a Matrix client. There's active political talks about the EU investing heavily in Matrix. He's got a vested interest in looking good, even at the expense of doing or even being good.

On the other hand, I have nothing to gain. If everyone switches to Matrix tomorrow, nothing in my life changes. If Matrix self-implodes and everyone goes back to XMPP tomorrow, nothing in my lfie changes.

The only things I want are:<li>End-to-end encryption to be better.</li><li>End-to-end encryption to become ubiquitous for communication protocols and apps.</li><li>The large tech companies whose business models involve privacy violations and stealing from artists and other creative workers to burn down so gloriously that society forgets the word "billionaire" in twenty years.</li>

I've had a few people ask why I didn't post the full ...

2026-02-20T04:46:53+01:00

I've had a few people ask why I didn't post the full Matrix email on my Fedi thread. There are two reasons:<li>It wouldn't fit in 1k characters.</li><li>Listen carefully:</li>

Y'know how "just getting caught cheating on your monogamous partner" isn't the right time to discuss exploring ethical nonmonogamy?

In a similar vein, asking for information while dismissing a report as "no practical security impact" is still dismissing the goddamn report.

I excerpted the part of their email where they dismissed my report. That was the part that initiated the immediate disclosure. The inciting turn of phrase.

It doesn't matter how much you piss on my leg, I'm not going to believe it's raining.

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116088639302283341 So, Matrix ...

2026-02-19T03:02:37+01:00

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116088639302283341

So, Matrix responded with a blog post.

I added an addendum to mine to rebut theirs: https://soatok.blog/2026/02/17/cryptographic-issues-in-matrixs-rust-library-vodozemac/#matrix-response

quoting
note1jfn…khfj

https://soatok.blog/2026/02/17/cryptographic-issues-in-matrixs-rust-library-vodozemac/

#Matrix #infosec #vulnerabiltiy #cryptography #privacy

A web developer and a speedrunner have a very different ...

2026-02-18T17:02:43+01:00

A web developer and a speedrunner have a very different understanding of the term iframe

Oof. Big oof. ...

2026-02-18T15:30:45+01:00

Oof. Big oof.

https://blog.trailofbits.com/2026/02/18/carelessness-versus-craftsmanship-in-cryptography/

Also, the reason I format my PoCs as unit tests rather than ...

2026-02-18T05:40:26+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…wwx3
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Also, the reason I format my PoCs as unit tests rather than weaponized exploits is because tests are generally more useful to developers.

The downside is: If I turn out to be wrong in the end, then ...

2026-02-18T03:49:44+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…5z5r
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The downside is: If I turn out to be wrong in the end, then there's a public record of my mistakes.

(Which I'm personally fine with! I make mistakes. We all do. It's how we learn.)

There's a lobsters user who's aghast at me for sticking ...

2026-02-18T03:47:38+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…92w9
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There's a lobsters user who's aghast at me for sticking to my guns.

https://lobste.rs/s/oukhsl/cryptographic_issues_matrix_s_rust#c_ahlbc9

lol, ok

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116088925054375056 I'm ...

2026-02-18T03:46:46+01:00

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116088925054375056

I'm going to be very clear about something:

If you tell me that something I reported has "no security impact", I publish it as soon as possible.

If you're wrong in your assessment of the actual security impact, that's not my problem.

If you're citing an argument about *the wrong level of abstraction*, I will tell you you're wrong (and why) while I'm publishing.

Do you know a neat trick for avoiding this outcome?

It's called the Socratic method in fancy circles, but it's basically: Ask clarifying questions.

quoting
note13yj…cu5s

I want to include this excerpt from the Matrix response:

> Your PoC correctly demonstrates that the Olm 3DH implementation in vodozemac does not currently perform the all-zero DH output check. As we're sure you're aware, the check for contributory behaviour in X25519 is a contentious topic among cryptographers, with some calling for it, but others like RFC 7748[1] calling it optional or even arguing against it (e.g. Trevor Perrin[2]). We've previously considered adding it but ultimately avoided it due to the conclusion that there's no practical security impact on Matrix. In other places like SAS/ECIES we explicitly reject non-contributory outputs because those handshakes can be used in unauthenticated contexts where an all-zero DH output > *could*> directly collapse channel security.

The [2] points to https://moderncrypto.org/mail-archive/curves/2017/000896.html

Which is talking about the Diffie-Hellman primitive, not what protocols building atop ECDH should do.

I want to include this excerpt from the Matrix response: > ...

2026-02-18T02:00:19+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…8rgt
_________________________

I want to include this excerpt from the Matrix response:

> Your PoC correctly demonstrates that the Olm 3DH implementation in vodozemac does not currently perform the all-zero DH output check. As we're sure you're aware, the check for contributory behaviour in X25519 is a contentious topic among cryptographers, with some calling for it, but others like RFC 7748[1] calling it optional or even arguing against it (e.g. Trevor Perrin[2]). We've previously considered adding it but ultimately avoided it due to the conclusion that there's no practical security impact on Matrix. In other places like SAS/ECIES we explicitly reject non-contributory outputs because those handshakes can be used in unauthenticated contexts where an all-zero DH output > *could*> directly collapse channel security.

The [2] points to https://moderncrypto.org/mail-archive/curves/2017/000896.html

Which is talking about the Diffie-Hellman primitive, not what protocols building atop ECDH should do.

Nostr event nevent1qqsfyekmpn5ctkcqrtc0053gc3ex2wkqxdgszyrxzsqfp0yz0jhywvczypey9l5fszukdt6tcfz0x2jhqv562zset9yfdctswf5x2xh8k33c5cwmpky

2026-02-18T00:47:39+01:00

https://soatok.blog/2026/02/17/cryptographic-issues-in-matrixs-rust-library-vodozemac/

#Matrix #infosec #vulnerabiltiy #cryptography #privacy

Matrix responded to my email. They insist: > there's no ...

2026-02-18T00:43:06+01:00

Matrix responded to my email. They insist:

> there's no practical security impact on Matrix

So I'm publishing in a moment.

Sure, here's a short list:<li>Start with a ...

2026-02-15T21:17:23+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…ykfq
_________________________

Sure, here's a short list:<li>Start with a specification first. One with a clear threat model and list of assumptions.</li><li>Try to invent as little as possible. We have MLS as an IETF RFC, these days. We have Raft as a consensus protocol. The wheels are good enough for the problem they're solving.</li><li>Engage the cryprography and security communities early and often. Veilid is doing this right.</li><li>No sacred cows. Jettisoning support for bad crypto, even if it means breaking some clients that refuse to upgrade, is the right call.</li><li>Embrace <a href="https://soatok.blog/2024/08/28/introducing-alacrity-to-federated-cryptography/"; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Cryptographic Alacrity</a>.</li>

A friend asked me "so on an 0-10 scale how dumb are the bugs ...

2026-02-15T21:12:07+01:00

A friend asked me "so on an 0-10 scale how dumb are the bugs you're disclosing in Matrix soon" and I described one of them and they said "oh, definitely a 10".

(That's not a CVSS 10, to be clear, but you'll probably end up wondering how nobody spotted it sooner.)

Is End-to-End Encryption Optional For Large Groups? One of the ...

2026-02-14T17:54:41+01:00

Is End-to-End Encryption Optional For Large Groups?

One of the recent topics in Messaging App Discourse is whether it makes sense to prioritize End-to-End Encryption when searching for an alternative to Discord. Who's Saying "No"? I'm going to quote 0xabad1dea here, because she is awesome and explains my "opposition" position better than anyone else: So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement Things you don’t need:

http://soatok.blog/2026/02/14/is-end-to-end-encryption-optional-for-large-groups/

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116055556402436098 By the way, ...

2026-02-12T16:43:03+01:00

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116055556402436098

By the way, I'm not giving them 90 days this time.

Last time I did that, they didn't bother to actually fix anything, so they didn't actually need any of that time. So they lost that privilege.

Expect a public disclosure / write-up as soon as I feel like it.

quoting
note1d08…mwan

People can't help but try to evangelize Matrix in response to things I wrote, so I just disclosed a few more issues in Matrix's cryptography to their security@ email address.

This time, the issues were in their Rust library, vodozemac.

One of them was pretty fucking stupid.

I'll do a better write-up than I was initially planning when they've had time to fix it.

People can't help but try to evangelize Matrix in response to ...

2026-02-12T04:34:14+01:00

People can't help but try to evangelize Matrix in response to things I wrote, so I just disclosed a few more issues in Matrix's cryptography to their security@ email address.

This time, the issues were in their Rust library, vodozemac.

One of them was pretty fucking stupid.

I'll do a better write-up than I was initially planning when they've had time to fix it.

On Discord Alternatives Next month, Discord is going to start ...

2026-02-11T19:01:54+01:00

On Discord Alternatives

Next month, Discord is going to start requiring age verification. The backlash from gamers everywhere has been predictable and justified. I guess their company name checks out. I've had a few people reach out to me because of my prior vulnerability disclosures and criticism of encrypted messaging apps. (Thanks, Toggart.) Unfortunately, asking a cryptography-focused security engineer for app recommendations is like asking a rocket scientist to…

http://soatok.blog/2026/02/11/on-discord-alternatives/

RE: https://med-mastodon.com/@bicmay/116031817054715473 If ...

2026-02-08T03:51:44+01:00

RE: https://med-mastodon.com/@bicmay/116031817054715473

If you're not on PrEP, I highly recommend checking out one of the services that makes it easy to access, often at no or very little cost.

I use [MISTR](https://heymistr.com ).
nostr:note1mrjwqdh0rtmh58kwff7lpkmzfugd8vnvr0h5wvhy9cxjyh09wm5qnzdk0a

Horrible idea: Disclose vulns in the speech bubbles of furry porn ...

2026-01-28T20:35:03+01:00

Horrible idea:

Disclose vulns in the speech bubbles of furry porn commissions

I heard Meta, Reddit, and other corporate owned social media are ...

2026-01-28T00:06:03+01:00

I heard Meta, Reddit, and other corporate owned social media are blocking links to https://icelist.is

Whatever you do, don't go to https://icelist.is

Definitely don't spin up a caching reverse proxy that mirrors https://icelist.is/

Doing that would make Zuck sad

While working on https://publickey.directory, two really annoying ...

2026-01-23T16:54:11+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…dsq4
_________________________

While working on https://publickey.directory, two really annoying problems cropped up.<li>What if someone demands their data be stricken from the transparency log, as is their right under the EU's GDPR?</li><li>What if someone legitimately loses access to all their secret keys (catastrophic hardware failure) and wants their instance admin to be able to restore their ability to use E2EE?</li>

When I say "annoying problems", I do NOT mean the people that would experience them are annoying.

I mean they are annoying because they are fundamentally incompatible with the simplest possible solution.

On the topic of "political problems", sometimes you have ...

2026-01-23T16:50:37+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…mh94
_________________________

On the topic of "political problems", sometimes you have attack vectors that **nobody in the C-Suite considers an attack vector**, like the FBI demanding the BitLocker disk encryption keys for Windows users.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/01/22/microsoft-gave-fbi-keys-to-unlock-bitlocker-encrypted-data/

Cryptographers have been complaining about this for decades. [@matthew_d_green](https://ioc.exchange/@matthew_d_green ) coined the term "Mud Puddle Test" to talk about it.

https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2012/04/05/icloud-who-holds-key/

Every time you talk seriously about security-in-practice you will ...

2026-01-23T16:47:30+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…vm34
_________________________

Every time you talk seriously about security-in-practice you will find yourself circling around this point:

https://infosec.exchange/@dymaxion/109344795644687902

There's another dimension to this. Attackers don't always ...

2026-01-23T16:46:24+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…4sdf
_________________________

There's another dimension to this.

Attackers don't always choose the same targets that you think are highest value.

Why attack your hardened authentication gateway when the marketing team has an unpatched WordPress 3.1 blog sitting right there talking to your production MySQL database?

There's been a lot of "excitement" from business ...

2026-01-23T16:40:58+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…s3l8
_________________________

There's been a lot of "excitement" from business types about using LLMs to find vulnerabilities in source code.

Naturally, the goal is to cheapen labor and extract more value for themselves. But I do suspect they're going to fall on their own sword with this one.

Not every vulnerability is obvious. Something can look fine and be the Achilles' heel that wrecks your shit. Something can look incredibly dangerous but end up being a NOP.

If people think their stochastic parrot can do a better job than humans, point them at OpenSSL or libgcrypt, and then **have someone with relevant experience interrogate the "findings" before you waste the developers' time**. I can guarantee almost everything they complain about will be a false positive with even the shallowest scrutiny.

A while ago, @npub1tx8…x0yc started writing [Decent ...

2026-01-23T16:32:33+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…88q2
_________________________

A while ago, SwiftOnSecurity (npub1tx8…x0yc) started writing [Decent Security](https://decentsecurity.com/about ), about personal computers and mobile device security.

Appsec (writing secure software) is less friendly because everything you learned about programming becomes suspect.

> Why can't I just combine user data into this SQL query string > *if I'm careful enough*> ? I know about Bobby Tables. I'll sanitize my inputs!!!

Bam, SQL injection because integers can be used to reference column names in some injected queries.

The security nerds haven't commented yet because this ...

2026-01-23T16:27:48+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…ef0a
_________________________

The security nerds haven't commented yet because this pattern-matches to way too many vulns to know which one I'm talking about yet

common programming habit + LGTM + unit tests pass + static ...

2026-01-23T16:26:39+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…0wym
_________________________

common programming habit + LGTM + unit tests pass + static analysis is good + (optional) the fucking thing compiles = oops I got your private key

harmless design decision + obvious thing to do by default + ...

2026-01-23T16:24:36+01:00

harmless design decision + obvious thing to do by default + sensible trade-off that minimizes support burden for dev teams + obvious thing to do = CVSS 10

JWT {"alg": "let-me-innnnn"} vuln ...

2026-01-22T18:32:28+01:00

JWT {"alg": "let-me-innnnn"} vuln

https://pentesterlab.com/blog/cve-2026-23993-harbourjwt-unknown-alg-jwt-bypass

This is a must-read. ...

2026-01-15T00:53:56+01:00

This is a must-read.

https://cryptography.io/en/latest/statements/state-of-openssl/

#python #cryptography #crypto #openssl #opensource

If you want an indieweb to thrive, and for communications to be ...

2026-01-06T15:09:52+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…aftl
_________________________

If you want an indieweb to thrive, and for communications to be private:

Corporations are your adversary.

The US Government is your adversary. (Cloud Act, etc.)

The EU Government is your adversary. (Chat Control, etc.)

The coalitions you want to form are among queer / nerd subcultures.

You want kinksters. You want furries. You want bronies. You want Warhammer 40K players. You want otaku. You want therians. You want juggalos. You want Sonic the Hedgehog fans. You want the cringe TikTokers. You want D&D players and LARPers. You want people who attend Renaissance Festivals. You want people that attend Cowboy Fast Draw events.

You can have all those without the Nazis.

You can have all those without any government's permission.

Without corporate gentrification and rent-seeking.

Both corporations and authoritarianism benefit from centralization.

DNS is ultimately under government or corporate control.

By "rely on DNS" I mean "doesn't add its own data ...

2026-01-06T14:58:45+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…28vp
_________________________

By "rely on DNS" I mean "doesn't add its own data to DNS records" like some proposals do.

I know Web PKI implicitly relies on DNS to map domain names to IP addresses. I wasn't talking about that.

One thing I don't really talk about much is that most of my ...

2026-01-06T14:57:55+01:00

One thing I don't really talk about much is that most of my designs work within HTTP and do not rely on DNS.

There are two reasons for this:<li>I want to support Onion Services and Tor users in general.</li><li>DNSSEC evangelism sucks.</li>

Me: We all know PGP is bad because it forces you to support ...

2026-01-05T21:20:12+01:00

Me: We all know PGP is bad because it forces you to support legacy bullshit like 1024-bit RSA keys, but I'm specifically going to write a blog post about email encryption as not just a technical challenge.

Delta Chat (npub17gp…nrxn): *subtoots my blog post*

Their source code: Disables TLS security to support legacy 1024-bit RSA.

https://github.com/chatmail/core/blob/9d7db202256ee334260c7ebccc3ab6403ee59a6c/src/net/tls.rs#L27-L40

Everything You Need to Know About Email Encryption in 2026 If you ...

2026-01-04T23:02:25+01:00

Everything You Need to Know About Email Encryption in 2026

If you think about emails as if they're anything but the digital equivalent of a postcard--that is to say, they provide zero confidentiality--then someone lied to you and I'm sorry you had to find out from a furry blog that sometimes talks about applied cryptography. CMYKat At the end of 2025, at the 39th Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg, Germany, a team of security researchers posted some devastating…

http://soatok.blog/2026/01/04/everything-you-need-to-know-about-email-encryption-in-2026/

It might not make much difference, but every time I see a news ...

2025-12-30T16:53:59+01:00

It might not make much difference, but every time I see a news headline that describes a Republican politician raping children as "had sex with", I email the editors to correct their misuse of language.

I know it will probably fall on deaf ears, but the more people do this, the greater the chances they'll listen.

Not sure, but:<li>Specification: <a ...

2025-12-19T21:41:26+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…evls
_________________________

Not sure, but:<li>Specification: <a href="https://github.com/fedi-e2ee/public-key-directory-specification"; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no">https://github.com/fedi-e2ee/public-key-directory-specification</a></li><li>Implementation: <a href="https://github.com/fedi-e2ee/pkd-server-php"; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no">https://github.com/fedi-e2ee/pkd-server-php</a></li><li>Announcement: <a href="https://soatok.blog/2025/12/15/announcing-key-transparency-fediverse/"; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no">https://soatok.blog/2025/12/15/announcing-key-transparency-fediverse/</a></li>

The AuxData thing should also be useful for folks that want to build atop my feature to add transparency to other types of public keys (or any other public commitments of static data, such as security researchers publishing hashes of vulnerabilities being disclosed).

This "UK watchdog" can eat shit. ...

2025-12-18T14:44:57+01:00

This "UK watchdog" can eat shit.

https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/creating-apps-like-signal-or-whatsapp-could-be-hostile-activity-claims-uk-watchdog

Announcing Key Transparency for the Fediverse I'm pleased to ...

2025-12-15T15:46:50+01:00

Announcing Key Transparency for the Fediverse

I'm pleased to announce the immediate availability of a reference implementation for the Public Key Directory server. This software implements the Key Transparency specification I've been working on since last year, and is an important stepping stone towards secure end-to-end encryption for the Fediverse. You can find the software publicly available on GitHub: PHP Server software: PHP SDK (client-side):

https://soatok.blog/2025/12/15/announcing-key-transparency-fediverse/

> Why not retire and have a cushy life? High-assurance ...

2025-12-10T21:29:09+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…wkyr
_________________________

> Why not retire and have a cushy life?

High-assurance software is needlessly inconvenient. How am I supposed to relax when shit's not fixed?

If I ever strike it rich, I'm probably going to spend a good ...

2025-12-10T21:25:30+01:00

If I ever strike it rich, I'm probably going to spend a good 6-8 months working on open source stuff that will make devs' lives easier and improve security overall.

lmao oops someone sent me a follow req and I hit the wrong button ...

2025-12-08T23:44:58+01:00

lmao oops someone sent me a follow req and I hit the wrong button on Tusky

Nostr event nevent1qqsyrpnmq0tyhhqkjp827ruhvnznqkj7zyc79zt9vj6er0dvge5jmzgzypey9l5fszukdt6tcfz0x2jhqv562zset9yfdctswf5x2xh8k33c5uxeus4

2025-12-03T11:02:38+01:00

Re: https://old.reddit.com/r/crypto/comments/1pca3r8/introducing_constanttime_support_for_llvm_to/nrzywmp/?context=2

It is simultaneously true that:<li>Most data breaches do not require any cryptographic wizardry</li><li>Of the ones that involve cryptography, side-channels (timing, power, etc.) are not an attacker's first choice</li><li>The inability to have guarantees that the compiler will not make code variable-time as part of an "optimization" is a massive pain point in writing secure implementations of cryptography</li>

And, sure, the LLVM work won't stop app developers from fucking up something on the OWASP Top 10 list for a given year. Nor will it stop phishing from being hella effective against most users and services.

But it does reduce compiler doom and various forms of auditor bikeshedding, which makes applied cryptography work a little easier to get done.

And the best mitigation we have for phishing attacks today is WebAuthn... which uses cryptography. :P

Sometimes, naysaying is actually counterproductive.

Don't mind me, just wood-burning the long-term nuclear waste ...

2025-12-01T20:01:13+01:00

Don't mind me, just wood-burning the long-term nuclear waste warning messages around glory-holes.

Nostr notes by Soatok Dreamseeker

It used to have Macro support.

X.680 5.7 discusses recursion

OK, help me settle a debate. **Is ASN.1 Turing complete?** ...

I think what'a fundamentally happening here is that people on ...

Anyway, a domain ban isn't a terrible idea If I wanted ...

I can't tell if the "I was going to backhanded compliment ...

Ah, I see someone submitted my latest blog post to lobsters and ...

Soatok’s Informal Guide to Threat Models After a long day of ...

Every single one of us is prone to blunder now and then. It's ...

This makes sense, considering the many ties between Donald Trump ...

Here's yet another reason to not give money to Proton: ...

https://www.dotfurry.org :3

By the way, I know a lot of folks struggle with mental heatlh in ...

The only spaces I've found where I actually feel comfortable ...

(Note: I'm also cis, but being on the asexual spectrum makes ...

There are many reasons why I end up feeling like #PrideMonth ...

I did manage to write ...

The alienation of some queer media is something I've ...

Y'all should read ...

The consequence for clicking "No" to "Are you over ...

Is there a specific email to forward those North Korean espionage ...

There are many other problens with LLMs, but the fact that AI ...

Seeing Cloudflare do a 20% layoff doesn't bode well for the ...

Nostr event nevent1qqs0yxyqhu2cm4eseu9f5ajnlur02uvxad4xws8t5lnvjxeat20svtszypey9l5fszukdt6tcfz0x2jhqv562zset9yfdctswf5x2xh8k33c56spp4k

Nostr event nevent1qqszww572tthua7x5gnyjzjukd230m99frtfmh78durvwxh4e2u2yvszypey9l5fszukdt6tcfz0x2jhqv562zset9yfdctswf5x2xh8k33c57d5hj8

The Fediverse has the opportunity to do something hilarious here ...

I guess that whole forward secrecy plan isn't happening? ...

Nostr event nevent1qqs8cd9qc3njpjuzupul8h7zfe5ey6pzggdynjycl2ref0d367nh7aczypey9l5fszukdt6tcfz0x2jhqv562zset9yfdctswf5x2xh8k33c5hvek4r

If anyone goes to non-furry events with 1000+ attendees, pitch ...

I'd like @npub1dqd…8xy4 to do this for the hacking ...

If you see someone posting a photo of a sign at a furry ...

Moore's Law is about doubling the number of trans sisters ...

"No" is a better privacy-enhancing technology than the ...

Here's a privacy-enhancing technology for you to consider: ...

At #RealWorldCrypto this year, there was a session on ...

The brainrot "this is why we need blockchain" people ...

I'm not gonna say it Just read this story It says more about ...

I guess I should just tap the sign whenever I encounter this sort ...

Loup-Vaillant [wrote this on ...

God dammit, I'm gonna get nerdsniped, aren't I? Sigh.

*starts writing on the chalkboard, Bart Simpson style* "I ...

The frustrating part about attack papers like this is **how much ...

My heuristic from 2023 still rings true lol ...

https://eprint.iacr.org/2026/058 Wow

Someone finally asked him for his exploit code recently ...

Y'know what's funny? I spend a lot of time thinking about ...

Let me just put this out here: If you're coming to me hoping ...

If you're designing E2EE in 2026 And your expectation for the ...

Something vexing: I've got a lot of ideas for improving ...

Is it perfect? No. If a threat scenario comes up that I ...

You wanna see a fucking threat model? Here: ...

Now, am I saying that they're lying or *deliberately* ...

An F in cryptography is aes-js / pyaes, as [this Trail of Bits ...

> But what about "don't make perfect the enemy of ...

Matrix has many incentives to lie or mislead. Their leadership ...

I've had a few people ask why I didn't post the full ...

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116088639302283341 So, Matrix ...

A web developer and a speedrunner have a very different ...

Oof. Big oof. ...

Also, the reason I format my PoCs as unit tests rather than ...

The downside is: If I turn out to be wrong in the end, then ...

There's a lobsters user who's aghast at me for sticking ...

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116088925054375056 I'm ...

I want to include this excerpt from the Matrix response: > ...

Nostr event nevent1qqsfyekmpn5ctkcqrtc0053gc3ex2wkqxdgszyrxzsqfp0yz0jhywvczypey9l5fszukdt6tcfz0x2jhqv562zset9yfdctswf5x2xh8k33c5cwmpky

Matrix responded to my email. They insist: > there's no ...

Sure, here's a short list:<li>Start with a ...

A friend asked me "so on an 0-10 scale how dumb are the bugs ...

Is End-to-End Encryption Optional For Large Groups? One of the ...

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116055556402436098 By the way, ...

People can't help but try to evangelize Matrix in response to ...

On Discord Alternatives Next month, Discord is going to start ...

RE: https://med-mastodon.com/@bicmay/116031817054715473 If ...

Horrible idea: Disclose vulns in the speech bubbles of furry porn ...

I heard Meta, Reddit, and other corporate owned social media are ...

While working on https://publickey.directory, two really annoying ...

On the topic of "political problems", sometimes you have ...

Every time you talk seriously about security-in-practice you will ...

There's another dimension to this. Attackers don't always ...

OK, help me settle a debate. Is ASN.1 Turing complete? ...

starts writing on the chalkboard, Bart Simpson style "I ...

Now, am I saying that they're lying or deliberately ...