HD DVD hacker succeeds in decrypting a Blu-ray title.
Posted on 20/01/07 18:49 by Seán Byrne                             
HD DVD hacker succeeds in decrypting a Blu-ray title.

muslix64, nickname of the person who broke HD DVD claims to have successfully decrypt a Blu-ray title, as well as playback the decrypted title, using his existing plaintext attack.  Based on this post, the title that was successfully ripped is "Lord of war" and the ripped title plays back fine with VideoLan. 

Interestingly, muslix64 didn't even use any Blu-ray player to perform this, but instead relied on a few files provided to him that were sourced from a Blu-ray disc along with a memory dump, which was likely taken from what ever software was used to play the title.

However, as muslix64 mentions that he did not need to get around BD+ for this, it appears that the title was not protected with Blu-ray's additional BD+ protection.  So while Blu-ray titles lacking the extra BD+ protection appear like they can be ripped using the muslix64's attack, it is a fairly sign that BD+ protection will start being used in future Blu-ray titles to try and counter this attack.  But for now, it is clearly bad news for AACS, since this protection itself seems to have been beaten on both formats now. 

Further info can be read in this doom9 thread, which our Reviewer and Senior Moderator H3rB3i came across.

Reactions
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By Androlight, Sat 20 Jan 2007 19:30
AndrolightJust a correction: AACS has not been beaten. Muslix64 has found a weaknes in current software players (powerdvd and windvd) that makes it easy to obtain the keys form hd-dvd and bluray. The players will likely be updated and their keys will be revoked. But clever hackers will likely hack the updated players when they come out Wink
By Lord KiRon, Sat 20 Jan 2007 20:07
No Androlight it is beaten , just read his post regarding BD decryption. His pattern based search method he posted there not "beats" the AACS exploiting major flaw in it's structure but also goes beyond this - Unlike initial methods where you had manually look into a code for places that work with keys this method actually allows "automation" of the search process. Basically what it means that you can create a program that will find the keys on ANY system using ANY software player and without ANY programming knowledge. Personally I did not thinked it's possible to have such a major flaw in so hyped encryption but it's there. I think that's what happens when a left hand does not know what a right hand does ... Heads will roll ...
By Lord KiRon, Sat 20 Jan 2007 20:13
P.S.: The new pattern search method THIS is the major development their not the fact that BD disks was decrypted. P.P.S: If you read the topic carefully it's apparently WAY EASIER to decrypt BD disks using this generic method and any software player memory dump then HD DVDs.
By FidelC, Sat 20 Jan 2007 20:28
FidelCBwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha !!!!! supergrin Now I have faith that both formats will survive and HD discs will become common place in our homes Smilie
By Discman, Sat 20 Jan 2007 20:38
I reckon hackers knew this ages ago. Why hack something so early in the release, so they waited a while so the format could not be recalled.
By Discman, Sat 20 Jan 2007 20:58
I reckon hackers knew this ages ago. Why hack something so early in the release, so they waited a while so the format could not be recalled.
By Hemispasm, Sat 20 Jan 2007 22:18
Hemispasmmy thought exactly
By st00rm, Sat 20 Jan 2007 23:10
they should have waited another couple of months (for the next generation of burners to be released-cheaper and faster)
By Androlight, Sat 20 Jan 2007 23:29
AndrolightLordKiron: I know he is using known-plain-text search to find the key, but it is still NOT a fault in AACS but in WINDVD. The next version of WinDVD wil have the keys broken up in small parts and every byte will be rotated and half of the key will be in CPU registers etc etc. This way the key can not be searched with this method. Future HD-DVD and Blurays will not contain valid keys for the old versions of windvd and powerDVD, so you will have to download the new player. AACS was made to withstand an attack like this. I don't want to sound pessimistic here. I do hope that we one day will be able to exercise our fair rights with new medias too. But there is a long way to go. My guess is that 3 months from now you can't use this plain text hack anymore. 6 months from now someone will have found a new loophole, but AACS will stil not be beaten...
By RichMan, Sun 21 Jan 2007 00:03
RichManI side with Androlight on this. It is very amazing that someone has been able to 'break' the encryption so fast. But, it will be repaired and will be even tougher than before. I think AACS has the ablility to be around for quite some time. The current software players keys will be revoked and the new players will not be so easy to crack.
By deezus, Sun 21 Jan 2007 00:15
As long as a PC is involved with any format be it sound or video it will always be hacked...if they want to stop/make it very hard for haxxers they need to start at the hardware level and not allow the content to be played on a pc...meaning no burners or rom drives. I do not know if it is possible to do this. Foolow the lead of Console games.
By Lord KiRon, Sun 21 Jan 2007 00:26
Bit's or bites at some moment the key has to be "assembled" to decrypt unless you going totally hit performance by some kind of weired "by segments" decryption. deezus - you are right of course but it's becoming really hard on Vista. Boycott it ! Aero is nothing but "gimmick" , performance lower but there are a lot of protections ...
By deezus, Sun 21 Jan 2007 02:32
As long as a PC is involved with any format be it sound or video it will always be hacked...if they want to stop/make it very hard for haxxers they need to start at the hardware level and not allow the content to be played on a pc...meaning no burners or rom drives. I do not know if it is possible to do this. Foolow the lead of Console games.
By MetalSlayerX, Sun 21 Jan 2007 21:33
@deezus, while the idea of not having any HD-DVD or BD related to PC is a good idea, it does have major flaws. How will people or private studios master their own HD-DVD or BD personal home movies without burner drives? They can't unless they pay thousands of dollars for a big corporation to do it for them, but who's willing to do that? While it seems like a good idea at first it will not hit all the targeted audiences. I myself never owned a DVD player until I bought a DVD Camcorder that came with a free coupon to get a free DVD player loveit. Most people (like me) still don't have thousand dollar HDTV setups and thousand dollar players to play them with. I played all my DVD movies through a PC DVD player and software. Now in the HD-DVD and BD method, I just don't see myself to throw down thousands of dollars just to be able to watch movies, although it would be nice. But less than $200 supergrin for a BD or HD-DVD drive to be able to play the same movies on my PC for a fraction of the cost would hit me as a target audience for BD and HD-DVD. Also I don't think people will sacrifice for the inability to reproduce home made movies if BD and HD-DVD only limited their self like consoles. BD and HD-DVD would only kick their selves in the arse if they limited their self to a console style approach. Now do you see where this is going? The approach looks familiar by the name of a la "DRM." Inability to backup and exercise your fair rights usage because you have no means of a method to do it by.
By peterosesbookie, Mon 22 Jan 2007 00:17
As I said before, Xbox 360 HD DVD external drive is $200 bucks and will work with a pc. Use windows update to get drivers for the drives memory. Instead of paying 450 for an external one from HP
By Dolphinius_Rex, Mon 22 Jan 2007 02:02
Dolphinius_RexBut unless you have a very high end system, including high end video card and large monitor, you're not really going to be able to enjoy the benefits of HDDVD or BluRay on your PC.
By shaolin007, Mon 22 Jan 2007 05:10
shaolin007"I know he is using known-plain-text search to find the key, but it is still NOT a fault in AACS but in WINDVD. The next version of WinDVD wil have the keys broken up in small parts and every byte will be rotated and half of the key will be in CPU registers etc etc. This way the key can not be searched with this method. " Couldn't you get by that by not updating windvd? I mean, they cant shove an upgrade down your throat if you dont want to.
By Androlight, Mon 22 Jan 2007 08:38
AndrolightShaolin007, That's not how the key revocation procedure works. WinDVD contains a key and the disc contains a key (several keys). IF WinDVD's player key is revoked it will not be compatible with future HD-DVD releases, because this key would be missing on the disc. You need to download a patch or a newer version to be able to play new releases. Take a look at the first 4 articles at: http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1104
By johnzap, Mon 22 Jan 2007 14:07
johnzapIf one needs a highend video card + a high end PC system, then, the prospect of using the PC to play HD-DVD via the, relatively cheap HD-DVD Xbox360 drive, doesn't look all that enticing, does it? A sub $500 dedicated player would become cheaper and a lot more useable, i.e. no need to have the PC near or TV set or Ethernet wires to your room. Not that all this will enter my home anytime soon... My Xbox1 is a very good Media Center system already and, for my 32" TV Set it is more than adequate.
By heroineworshipper, Mon 22 Jan 2007 23:31
Insiders say all the new BD releases are using BD+. Exactly how BD+ is implemented is a closely guarded secret, but it seems to be not an implementation at all but a philosophy. To "support" BD+ means to have the ability to break a player at any time without warranty coverage. That's what happens when all your classmates major in philosophy. 10 years later you get philosophy technology.
By robo98989, Tue 23 Jan 2007 10:49
"No Androlight it is beaten , just read his post regarding BD decryption. His pattern based search method he posted there not "beats" the AACS exploiting major flaw in it's structure but also goes beyond this - Unlike initial methods where you had manually look into a code for places that work with keys this method actually allows "automation" of the search process. Basically what it means that you can create a program that will find the keys on ANY system using ANY software player and without ANY programming knowledge. Personally I did not thinked it's possible to have such a major flaw in so hyped encryption but it's there. I think that's what happens when a left hand does not know what a right hand does ... Heads will roll ..." NO IT ISN'T BEATEN HE'S USED A MEMORY DUMP TO FIND THE KEY AACS HAS NOT BEEN BROKEN, AND IS UNLIKELY TO EVER BE IF IT WERE, THEN NATIONAL SECURUITY WOULD BE AT RISK SINCE ENCRYPTION OF THIS SORT OF STRENGTH IS USED BY THE GOVERNMENT.
By robo98989, Tue 23 Jan 2007 10:51
I mean your basically saying that some bloke has cracked 256bit encryption key, and can do it with no problem in a matter of minutes. It is not the AACS encryption that has been broken, but the links between it and the playersoftware. Technically speaking that has nothing to do with "AACS being broken".

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