Merge pull request #1272 from JeremyRubin/patch-4

[BIP-119] Add notes and warnings about DoS during validation of CTV.

1 files changed, 41 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/bip-0119.mediawiki b/bip-0119.mediawiki
index 1860b51..09e8564 100644
--- a/bip-0119.mediawiki
+++ b/bip-0119.mediawiki
@@ -193,14 +193,19 @@ specification for the semantics of OP_CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY.
 Where
 
     bool CheckDefaultCheckTemplateVerifyHash(const std::vector<unsigned char>& hash) {
+        // note: for anti-DoS, a real implementation *must* cache parts of this computation
+        // to avoid quadratic hashing DoS all variable length computations must be precomputed
+        // including hashes of the scriptsigs, sequences, and outputs. See the section
+        // "Denial of Service and Validation Costs" below.
         return GetDefaultCheckTemplateVerifyHash(current_tx, current_input_index) == uint256(hash);
     }
 
 The hash is computed as follows:
-
+    // not DoS safe, for reference/testing!
     uint256 GetDefaultCheckTemplateVerifyHash(const CTransaction& tx, uint32_t input_index) {
         return GetDefaultCheckTemplateVerifyHash(tx, GetOutputsSHA256(tx), GetSequenceSHA256(tx), input_index);
     }
+    // not DoS safe for reference/testing!
     uint256 GetDefaultCheckTemplateVerifyHash(const CTransaction& tx, const uint256& outputs_hash, const uint256& sequences_hash,
                                     const uint32_t input_index) {
         bool skip_scriptSigs = std::find_if(tx.vin.begin(), tx.vin.end(),
@@ -208,6 +213,7 @@ The hash is computed as follows:
         return skip_scriptSigs ? GetDefaultCheckTemplateVerifyHashEmptyScript(tx, outputs_hash, sequences_hash, input_index) :
             GetDefaultCheckTemplateVerifyHashWithScript(tx, outputs_hash, sequences_hash, GetScriptSigsSHA256(tx), input_index);
     }
+    // DoS safe, fixed length hash!
     uint256 GetDefaultCheckTemplateVerifyHashWithScript(const CTransaction& tx, const uint256& outputs_hash, const uint256& sequences_hash,
                                     const uint256& scriptSig_hash, const uint32_t input_index) {
         auto h =  CHashWriter(SER_GETHASH, 0)
@@ -221,6 +227,7 @@ The hash is computed as follows:
             << input_index;
         return h.GetSHA256();
     }
+    // DoS safe, fixed length hash!
     uint256 GetDefaultCheckTemplateVerifyHashEmptyScript(const CTransaction& tx, const uint256& outputs_hash, const uint256& sequences_hash,
                                     const uint32_t input_index) {
         auto h =  CHashWriter(SER_GETHASH, 0)
@@ -512,6 +519,38 @@ unintentional introduction of the 'half spend' problem.
 
 Templates, as restricted as they are, bear some risks.
 
+====Denial of Service and Validation Costs====
+
+CTV is designed to be able to be validated very cheaply without introducing DoS, either by checking a
+precomputed hash or computing a hash of fixed length arguments (some of which may be cached from more
+expensive computations).
+
+In particular, CTV requires that clients cache the computation of a hash over all the scriptSigs, sequences,
+and outputs. Before CTV, the hash of the scriptSigs was not required. CTV also requires that the presence of
+any non-empty scriptSig be hashed, but this can be handled as a part of the scriptSigs hash.
+
+As such, evaluating a CTV hash during consensus is always O(1) computation when the caches are available.
+These caches usually must be available due to similar issues in CHECKSIG behavior. Computing the caches
+is O(T) (the size of the transaction).
+
+An example of a script that could experience an DoS issue without caching is:
+
+```
+<H> CTV CTV CTV... CTV
+```
+
+Such a script would cause the intepreter to compute hashes (supposing N CTV's) over O(N*T) data.
+If the scriptSigs non-nullity is not cached, then the O(T) transaction could be scanned over O(N)
+times as well (although cheaper than hashing, still a DoS). As such, CTV caches hashes and computations
+over all variable length fields in a transaction.
+
+For CTV, the Denial-of-Service exposure and validation costs are relatively clear. Implementors must be careful
+to correctly code CTV to make use of existing caches and cache the (new for CTV) computations over scriptSigs.
+Other more flexible covenant proposals may have a more difficult time solving DoS issues as more complex computations may
+be less cacheable and expose issues around quadratic hashing, it is a tradeoff CTV makes in favor of cheap and secure
+validation at the expense of flexibility. For example, if CTV allowed the hashing only select outputs by a bitmask,
+caching of all combinations of outputs would not be possible and would cause a quadratic hashing DoS vulnerability.
+
 ====Permanently Unspendable Outputs====
 
 The preimage argument passed to CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY may be unknown or otherwise unsatisfiable.
@@ -603,6 +642,7 @@ Given the simplicity of this approach to implement and analyze, and the benefits
 applications, CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY's template based approach is proposed in lieu of more complete
 covenants system.
 
+
 ====Future Upgrades====
 
 This section describes updates to OP_CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY that are possible in