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agl / pond

Pond
BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License
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wrong password triggers tpm timeout period of unknown length #180

Closed postessive closed 9 years ago

postessive commented 9 years ago

Today I opened Pond and accidentally entered an incorrect password. This triggered a TPM timeout which is ongoing (currently for approximately 4h), at least with regards to that particular state file. I can't tell if the state file is corrupted and as far as I remember never set any password on my TPM and have been unable to reset the timeout on the TPM itself. (Plus I'm not sure what happens to my state file if I do that anyway.)

Here's the exact error:

tpm: layer: tpm, code: 0x803: TPM is defending against dictionary attacks and is in some time-out period

Is this a TPM issue or is there something I can do to unstick the state file? I moved the old state file aside and was able to create a new pond account, but I don't fully understand the interplay between all of Pond, the TPM, and trousers. I'll be happy to refile the bug elsewhere if this isn't actually a Pond bug. Thanks.

Edit: Also, definitely Pond-relevant: is there any way to import an old state file on the same machine with the same TPM? Edit 2: This is on Debian unstable.

agl commented 9 years ago

I've not heard of a TPM timeout before. Does restarting the computer clear it?

is there any way to import an old state file on the same machine with the same TPM?

Unless it's in the very recent past, the information needed to decrypt it will have been erased. (Which is the point!)

postessive commented 9 years ago

Apparently it clears it on some computers, with some TPMs, but not mine. After talking to a TPM expert about it, it seems it's likely to "eventually" clear out, but currently it still hasn't (and I think it may increment the counter every time I try to access it). Either way, it's clear this isn't a Pond bug so I'm going to close this ticket. Sorry for the noise, but thanks for your prompt response!