A side-channel vulnerability exists in the implementation of BIP-39 mnemonic processing, as observed in Trezor One v1.13.0 to v1.14.0, Trezor T v1.13.0 to v1.14.0, and Trezor Safe v1.13.0 to v1.14.0 hardware wallets. This originates from the BIP-39 standard guidelines, which induce non-constant time execution and specific branch patterns for word searching. An attacker with physical access during the initial setup phase can collect a single side-channel trace.
By utilizing profiling-based Deep Learning Side-Channel Analysis (DL-SCA), the attacker can recover the mnemonic code and subsequently steal the assets. The issue was patched.
Attack Parameters
Attack Vector
Physical
Requires physical access
Attack Complexity
Low
Easy to exploit
Privileges Required
None
No privileges needed
User Interaction
None
No user interaction needed
Impact Assessment
Confidentiality
High
Complete data leak
Integrity
None
No data modification
Availability
None
No disruption
CVSS Vector v3.1