0

I have a wallet.wallet file that I think was created with Android bitcoin wallet or Multibit. It's base64 encoded.

Putting it in a decoder, it gives me this information, redacted just in case:

{"iv":"randomalphanumeric==","v":1,"iter":1000,"ks":256,"ts":64,"mode":"ccm","adata":"","cipher":"aes","salt":"randomalphanumeric=","ct":"randomalphanumeric="}

When I try to upload any part of that, including just the raw base64, into Electrum (the recommended alternative since multibit was deprecated) I get errors that its invalid. The android bitcoin app either can't read it or I don't know my password.

Does anyone have any idea what this is or what its for? Is it even cryptocurrency related?

Also, the last string has a ton of characters including forward slash "/" and plus signs "+". Not sure if that helps.

I did attempt to try and follow with this thread Bitcoin Wallet for Android - Issues decrypting the wallet backup BIN file using OpenSSL , but to no avail. I get "error reading input file"

1 Answer 1

1

Does anyone have any idea what this is or what its for?

It is obviously related to cryptography.

Since the Bitcoin network itself doesn't use encryption, this is likely a configuration file or data file for a specific wallet's scheme of encrypting the private-keys and other information that need to be protected from being stolen and misused.

{ 
  "iv":"randomalphanumeric==",
  "v":1,
  "iter":1000,
  "ks":256,
  "ts":64,
  "mode":"ccm",
  "adata":"",
  "cipher":"aes",
  "salt":"randomalphanumeric=",
  "ct":"randomalphanumeric="
}

iv is initialisation vector
v is version
iter is number of iterations of encryption to be applied
ks is key size
ts don't know, maybe the size of something.
mode is an encryption mode. ccm is probably something like cipher chaining mode?
cipher is the encryption algorithm. aes is the "advanced encryption standard".
salt is a random number used to combat attacks using precomputed dictionaries.
ct don't know. Could be "ciphertext" - the encrypted version of some data ("plaintext").


the last string has a ton of characters including forward slash "/" and plus signs "+"

That is fairly common in encoding methods used to take binary data and present it using readable/printable characters. In this case it is probably base64 encoding. As I think you know, encoding is not encryption, just an easily reversible presentation method.


By itself, it is of no use to you. If you know the password (encryption key) you could probably decrypt the possible ciphertext (ct value) after reversing the base64 encoding. You could then examine the (potentially binary) "plaintext" to see if it contains a Bitcoin private key.

1
  • Alright, I think I know the password. Is there a tool available to decrypt?
    – user116159
    Feb 24, 2021 at 17:28

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.