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Diffstat (limited to 'ARCHITECTURE')
| -rw-r--r-- | ARCHITECTURE | 26 |
1 files changed, 26 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/ARCHITECTURE b/ARCHITECTURE new file mode 100644 index 0000000..617aea1 --- /dev/null +++ b/ARCHITECTURE @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +API Keys: + +paste uses 96 bit API keys which are stored as SHA-256 hashes. + +The keys are transmitted as base64 (RFC 4648) encoded Bearer tokens with +no padding. + +The length is long enough to be secure against any and all forms of brute +force but short enough that the base64 encoding is only 16 characters +meaning it can be easily typed out. + +Coincidentally, 96 is also evenly divisible by 6 so the base64 encoding +has no padding. + +Base64 was chosen as the limited use of symbols makes it easier to type. + +Storing the keys as plain SHA-256 is sufficiently secure as: +- Brute forcing the keys would, as mentioned before, be infeasible. +- If someone recovers the hash, they would have an easier time brute + forcing, but still infeasible with current computing power. +- There is a timing attack but it would require predictably generating + hashes with longer and longer prefixes which is infeasible. + +But, to further reduce the chances of a recovered hash being brute +forced, a KDF with a small number of rounds could be used to seriously +increase the time required. |