Why was an insecure merkle tree implementation chosen?











up vote
4
down vote

favorite












At risk of creating a "lets discuss politics" question, let me clarify that what I want to know is whether there is a known benefit to Satoshi's "duplicate the last hash" merkle tree implementation over the seemingly obvious "append zeros".



For those who don't know, the bitcoin merkle tree algorithm allows blocks to be mutated if a transaction can be duplicated which lead to CSV-2012-2459.










share|improve this question




























    up vote
    4
    down vote

    favorite












    At risk of creating a "lets discuss politics" question, let me clarify that what I want to know is whether there is a known benefit to Satoshi's "duplicate the last hash" merkle tree implementation over the seemingly obvious "append zeros".



    For those who don't know, the bitcoin merkle tree algorithm allows blocks to be mutated if a transaction can be duplicated which lead to CSV-2012-2459.










    share|improve this question


























      up vote
      4
      down vote

      favorite









      up vote
      4
      down vote

      favorite











      At risk of creating a "lets discuss politics" question, let me clarify that what I want to know is whether there is a known benefit to Satoshi's "duplicate the last hash" merkle tree implementation over the seemingly obvious "append zeros".



      For those who don't know, the bitcoin merkle tree algorithm allows blocks to be mutated if a transaction can be duplicated which lead to CSV-2012-2459.










      share|improve this question















      At risk of creating a "lets discuss politics" question, let me clarify that what I want to know is whether there is a known benefit to Satoshi's "duplicate the last hash" merkle tree implementation over the seemingly obvious "append zeros".



      For those who don't know, the bitcoin merkle tree algorithm allows blocks to be mutated if a transaction can be duplicated which lead to CSV-2012-2459.







      security protocol merkle-tree






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Nov 13 at 12:22

























      asked Nov 13 at 12:16









      Caleb James DeLisle

      212




      212






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes

















          up vote
          8
          down vote













          As with many things in Bitcoin, it is likely simply because it worked well enough, and such an attack was not immediately obvious.



          Several of the choices made in the early days of Bitcoin don't have a full justification behind them, and were simply made because it worked at the time without any major, obvious shortcomings. This is one such scenario, as far as I'm aware.






          share|improve this answer





















            Your Answer








            StackExchange.ready(function() {
            var channelOptions = {
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "308"
            };
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
            createEditor();
            });
            }
            else {
            createEditor();
            }
            });

            function createEditor() {
            StackExchange.prepareEditor({
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            convertImagesToLinks: false,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: null,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader: {
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            },
            noCode: true, onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            });


            }
            });














            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fbitcoin.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f80973%2fwhy-was-an-insecure-merkle-tree-implementation-chosen%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown

























            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes








            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes








            up vote
            8
            down vote













            As with many things in Bitcoin, it is likely simply because it worked well enough, and such an attack was not immediately obvious.



            Several of the choices made in the early days of Bitcoin don't have a full justification behind them, and were simply made because it worked at the time without any major, obvious shortcomings. This is one such scenario, as far as I'm aware.






            share|improve this answer

























              up vote
              8
              down vote













              As with many things in Bitcoin, it is likely simply because it worked well enough, and such an attack was not immediately obvious.



              Several of the choices made in the early days of Bitcoin don't have a full justification behind them, and were simply made because it worked at the time without any major, obvious shortcomings. This is one such scenario, as far as I'm aware.






              share|improve this answer























                up vote
                8
                down vote










                up vote
                8
                down vote









                As with many things in Bitcoin, it is likely simply because it worked well enough, and such an attack was not immediately obvious.



                Several of the choices made in the early days of Bitcoin don't have a full justification behind them, and were simply made because it worked at the time without any major, obvious shortcomings. This is one such scenario, as far as I'm aware.






                share|improve this answer












                As with many things in Bitcoin, it is likely simply because it worked well enough, and such an attack was not immediately obvious.



                Several of the choices made in the early days of Bitcoin don't have a full justification behind them, and were simply made because it worked at the time without any major, obvious shortcomings. This is one such scenario, as far as I'm aware.







                share|improve this answer












                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer










                answered Nov 13 at 13:56









                Raghav Sood

                6,64911127




                6,64911127






























                    draft saved

                    draft discarded




















































                    Thanks for contributing an answer to Bitcoin Stack Exchange!


                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                    But avoid



                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





                    Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


                    Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                    But avoid



                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                    draft saved


                    draft discarded














                    StackExchange.ready(
                    function () {
                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fbitcoin.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f80973%2fwhy-was-an-insecure-merkle-tree-implementation-chosen%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                    }
                    );

                    Post as a guest















                    Required, but never shown





















































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown

































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown







                    Popular posts from this blog

                    How to change which sound is reproduced for terminal bell?

                    Title Spacing in Bjornstrup Chapter, Removing Chapter Number From Contents

                    Can I use Tabulator js library in my java Spring + Thymeleaf project?