Replying to Avatar Rich Nost

Today I learned about unrecoverable MCU key slots on the ColdCard.

Apparently you have a limited number of destructive actions (such as clearing the seed words or messing around with trick PINs) and after that, it's BRICKED (I guess?)

So, if you use the ColdCard as an ephemeral signing device (like a SeedSigner or a Jade in Stateless Mode, except you manually wipe the device), you are limited to the number of times you can enter a new seed before you turn the device into a potato.

Don't tell me you knew about this! You didn't!
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semisol 1mo ago

What the fuck man

this problem does not exist on the device I am building and it is actually secure as well

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Rich Nost 1mo ago

Big WTF moment for me. I've helped several people learn how to use this device (not my recommendation; it's what they wanted), and I've burned thrpugh quote a few of these slots, learning and showing all the features.

If I actually intended use a ColdCard, I'd be slightly pissed. Why does clearing the secure element have anything to do with the finite consumable resources on the MCU?

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semisol 1mo ago

similar types of anti consumer shit pushed me to make my own device, but wtf…

also what are these “permanent” key slots lol, flash is reprogrammable like 10k+ times