Critical Flaws Found in VeraCrypt
Popular open source encryption tool is vulnerable to attack
VeraCrypt, the open source full-disk encryption program, has released version 1.19, which fixes many critical flaws in previous editions.
Between August 16 and September 14, 2016, an audit of VeraCrypt 1.18 was conducted by the French cybersecurity firm Quarkslab. The audit, which was sponsored by the Open Source Technology Improvement Fund (OSTIF), found eight critical vulnerabilities. All of the serious issues have been fixed in the latest version of VeraCrypt, and users are urged to immediately upgrade to version 1.19.
The report cites other issues with VeraCrypt that still need fixing. “The availability of GOST 28147-89, a symmetric block cipher with a 64-bit block size, is an issue. This algorithm must not be used in this context. Compression libraries are outdated or poorly written. They must be updated or replaced. If the system is encrypted, the boot password (in UEFI mode) or its length (in legacy mode) could be retrieved by an attacker.”
If you are a VeraCrypt user, please upgrade to the latest release immediately.
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