Spyke

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12 replies

curbstickle_lw
lemmy.world

TL;DR:

  • No, your passwords/secrets have not been shared anywhere.
  • This is a long-standing feature and has been discussed in HA forums before.
  • You can turn it off, but that is generally not recommended.

This post has been reported for misinformation.

I agree due to how its phrased by OP, but its not completely off base in that HIBP is used, but it is a severe misunderstanding of how. So I'm going to leave it up for awareness, while adding some notes and a few quick links here.

A quick quote from HA:

Your secrets are never sent anywhere. The check uses an algorithm called K-Anonymity that makes sure the service never sees your password, not even its complete hash. Your secrets and privacy stay protected.

The check is on by default. If you prefer not to run it, you can turn it off using the command line:

ha security options --pwned=false

To turn the check back on again, run:

ha security options --pwned=true

In short - HomeAssistant has never shared your passwords anywhere. HomeAssistant shares a part of a hash. In no way, shape, or form does this expose your passwords/secrets.

  1. HA Page on Pwned passwords and secrets
  2. HaveIBeenPwned
  3. k-anonymity
46
frongt
lemmy.zip

No, your credentials have not been "hoovered up". A hash is not reversible, and a partial hash would match far too many potential passwords to be any more accurate than random guesses.

Still, uploading any data, especially identifying data, should absolutely not be enabled by default.

40
KaninchenSpeedreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

it only send the first 5 characters of the sha1 hash, thats pretty much useless for finding the password

20
socphoenixreply
lemmy.world

This is such a nothing burger, they’re using those first five to get partial matches then doing the actual checks locally on the hash…

To be transparent: this check isn't new, it has been part of the Supervisor for years. It checks app options that are marked as passwords. A recent release fixed the warning that surfaces it, which is why you're seeing it now. Privacy was a design requirement for this feature from the start, which is why your secrets never leave your system. The Supervisor hashes them locally and sends only the first 5 characters of the SHA-1 hash to Have I Been Pwned. HIBP returns every hash starting with that prefix, and the matching happens on your own instance. You can see exactly what it does here: https://github.com/home-assistant/supervisor/blob/main/supervisor/utils/pwned.py. You are right that our documentation should have explained this, including how to turn it off. We'll get that page updated. ../Frenck

16
StarkZarnreply
infosec.pub

They have been hoovered up, by home assistant. I made no claim, nor did the source, that clear-text credentials were shipped anywhere.

This is meant to drive awareness on a transparency and dev issue, not an overt compromise. My language was maybe a bit too inflammatory though, I suppose.

-46
AvocadoSandwichreply
eviltoast.org

So for as far as I understand it:

Yes, this is a big issue on the developers part as this should not have happened without consent.

No, this is not a direct security breach for every and all home assistant users. You do not need to immediately change all your passwords (due to it being partial hashes)

Did I understand correctly? I'm not that deep into how all this works as I am mostly a enthusiast user without a lot of computer science knowledge

7
curbsticklereply
anarchist.nexus

No to both.

Its a long-standing and documented feature. Included in that documentation is how to turn it off, which was added a few years back iirc.

Its brought up every once in a while by people.who don't understand cryptographic hashes or the hibp tools. Usually with a bunch of posts about how passwords are being leaked (they aren't).

11
Saiwalreply
utsukta.org

yes, the phrasing makes it sound like a major security breach. not your fault though, we've been conditioned to click bait for years now.

4
Shimitar
downonthestreet.eu

Not really, they are testing your passwords against have I been pawnd. I agree that transparency should apply here, and also an upfront question to skip.

But it's not "unsafe" or a privacy breach per se. No password has actually been "sent" anywhere only a partial hash that is useless for accessing your home assistant.

18

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