In a related vein, I was playing around some time ago with generating RSA
keys that would contain "interesting" payloads in the modulus. An
example with Windows bind shellcode in the modulus, which when included in a
DER-encoded CSR, gets flagged by ClamAV:
https://gist.github.com/CBonnell/699b2c01121e07440e1cf42d0210eba1.

>From a policy standpoint, the BRs already establish an obligation for CAs to
reject certificate requests that contain keys that are known to be weak,
compromised, or if there is "clear evidence" that the method of generation
was "flawed" (section 6.1.1.3). My interpretation of "flawed" in that
section is that there is some characteristic or other information conveyed
within the key (or certificate request as a whole) that would provide clear
evidence that the key is unsuitable for use.  I don't think that there was
clear evidence in the case of the certificate that was previously linked to
indicate that the method of generation was flawed.

It would be useful to understand if the key in question was generated using
tooling that may be used for other keys so that similar weak keys can be
blocked (assuming that there is some shared trait in the public key that can
be flagged).

Thanks,
Corey



-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On
Behalf Of Hanno Böck
Sent: Saturday, December 3, 2022 2:49 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: key with suspicious pattern

Hi,

I'm not entirely sure if this is the right place to discuss this, but I also
don't really know where else.

Do people have thoughts about suspicious keys like this?
https://crt.sh/?id=8093628131
(Have a look at the modulus / N value, it has a lot of zeros)

This key is certainly not securely generated. What I am wondering:
* What caused such a key to be created?
* Can it be broken?
* Anyone aware of any analysis or relevant research for keys with
  suspicious patterns?
* Should CAs be under any obligation to detect and reject such keys?

(I am detecting such keys in badkeys by looking for 16 repeating bytes,
which I consider as practically impossible to happen by chance in a proper
key generation process.)

--
Hanno Böck
https://hboeck.de/

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