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by Xylakant 2774 days ago
> If one disregards the counter value, they can just outright drop the whole U2F.

It's not pointless. Disregarding the counter only enables replay attacks, that is: the attacker must previously have captured a challenge/response. The phishing resistance is still retained because it relies on the browser passing the origin to the u2f device and the browser can't be fooled by similar URLs while a human entering a TOTO token can.

1 comments

U2F isn't as trivial to implement as RFC4226 OTP. It takes effort. Implementing the counter check is trivial. Disregarding the counter and stating "that only enables replays" is absolutely unacceptable. If one is so irresponsible to the point they're enabling a replay attack - then there's no excuse and no valid argument to support the use of U2F at all. If you (not YOU, personally) can't implement the protocol fully, don't half-ass it and plant mines. That's my take on it, and anyone who implements this protocol to secure people's accounts MUST (not SHOULD) think the same. There is NO excuse for deliberate irresponsibility.