Wasabi Wallet Installer Binary Changed

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Wasabi Wallet Logo/Homepage

Wasabi Wallet is a bitcoin wallet which supports the privacy maximizing CoinJoin protocol, which helps make it much more challenging to track the origin and destination of bitcoin which go through the wallet. While the wallet is open-source and distributed through Github, many users will simply install a pre-compiled binary, particularly for Windows users. The binary for Wasabi Wallet version 2.0.8.1 on Windows (Wasabi-2.0.8.1.msi) was replaced with a suspected malicous version, which remained online for a brief period. The suspected malicious version was removed quickly, and there is uncertainty as to whether a copy even exists anywhere to be analyzed and understand the intent of the uploader.

About Wasabi Wallet

"WASABI WALLET The leading Bitcoin wallet for desktop featuring coinjoin. It's free, open-source, and non-custodial. Reclaim your privacy today."

"Wasabi is a non-custodial hot wallet that requires a connection to the internet and cryptocurrency network to work. As a wallet, Wasabi values user privacy and anonymity. This is evident in its built-in CoinJoin, coin control, and Tor integration features that help to keep users and their IP addresses anonymous. This further prevents security breaches and data leaks."

"Wasabi Wallet is an open-source, non-custodial, privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet with built-in coinjoins. It is a piece of software that runs on your computer and helps you to manage your bitcoins. Although Wasabi has some very advanced magic under the hood, it is rather easy to use. You can generate a new set of seed words, or import already existing ones. With Wasabi you can receive bitcoins into your full control, and you can send them to someone else without needing permission from any other person or entity. There is also a powerful auto-coinjoin feature to help obfuscate your transaction history. You can use Wasabi to manage your hardware wallet, and it even connects to your own full node. Of course, Wasabi is libre and open-source, which means you have full control over the software you manage your money with"

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Wasabi Wallet Installer Binary Changed

Date	Event	Description
July 9th, 2024 6:02:00 PM MDT	BinaryWatch Tweet	The BinaryWatch team posts an announcement that the binary Windows installer file appears to have been modified to an unexpected hash value.
July 10th, 2024 7:26:31 AM MDT	Security Incident Post Made	The Wasabi Wallet team makes a post on Github to highlight the current security incidents which are happening in the wallet. Free coordinators are being attacked through DDOS attcks, which are hard to distinguish from legitimate traffic. An attack happened with one Windows installer binary being changed.
July 10th, 2024 7:50:00 AM MDT	Software Release Tweet	Wasabi Wallet tweets about the latest software version 2.1.0.0, which features security improvements, and encourages all users to upgrade. This links to the security incident post on Github.
July 10th, 2024 9:02:00 AM MDT	Deterministic Optimism Tweet	Deterministic Optimism releases a security notice about the binary. It's unclear at a quick glance if they are developers who help with Wasabi or how they are related.

Technical Details

"Unfortunately, GitHub doesn't offer granular permissions to restrict who can modify binaries - all contributors with Write access have this capability."

Total Amount Lost

No funds were lost.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

"[The Wasabi Wallet team] were alerted by the @BinaryWatch.org bot about a hash discrepancy in the Wasabi-2.0.8.1.msi release, specifically on the Windows installer."

"It was discovered that the Windows installer had been replaced with a different file. Despite [the team's] recent efforts to reduce this attack surface by revoking access rights for zkSNACKs contributors, an account with Write access was compromised."

"The fraudulent Wasabi-2.0.8.1.msi file was promptly removed, and we are closely monitoring the releases."

Ultimate Outcome

"We extend our gratitude to @BinaryWatch.org for their service, as their prompt report significantly minimized the impact of this incident."

The team has "since revoked additional access rights."

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

"We were aware of the vulnerability and this specific scenario, but our current release procedure is too cumbersome for our small team, resulting in a delay in patching this exploit. We had already been planning to streamline our release process to enable more frequent updates."

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.