Print Page - Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery

Title: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: S_D on January 14, 2017, 01:43:44 PM

Hey everyone,

I am not in trouble here, this topic is created just for info.

Is it possible to recover wallet seed from 'wallet' file in following scenes:

Assuming I dint have the seed in both cases.

Scenario 1:
I have an unencrypted wallet i.e. no password was set for the wallet.
I have the wallet file; when we I open the file as text I could see

Code:

....
        "seed": "431a62f1c86555d3c45e5c4d9e10c8c7", 
....

In this case I don't see the actual seed, so I guess this is in encrypted form. Is it possible to decrypt this to get the correct 12 word seed?

Scenario 2:
I have an encrypted wallet i.e. a password was set for the wallet.
I have the wallet file; when we I open the file as text I could see

Code:

....
        "seed": "bBbGXH3ivbmwapRODeAn7wp7VviwDkpNOcaRdW9EDiA5xeYXj8CtrUidHvRbCubIJhMaPjlEOfO0kQM13RB6Zw==", 
....

In this case believe the above string was further encrypted. Is it possible to decrypt this to get the correct 12 word seed?

Progress

Scene 1 - Solved : the hex code mentioned in the file as "seed" can be used as seed while recreating the wallet.

Scene 2 - In Progress :

Function used :

Code:

def mnemonic_to_seed(self, mnemonic, passphrase):
        PBKDF2_ROUNDS = 2048
        mnemonic = normalize_text(mnemonic)
        passphrase = normalize_text(passphrase)
        return pbkdf2.PBKDF2(mnemonic, 'electrum' + passphrase, iterations = PBKDF2_ROUNDS, macmodule = hmac, digestmodule = hashlib.sha512).read(64)

Encryption = PBKDF2 (maybe hard-coded to sha256)
Iterations = 2048
pass = mnemonic = seed (So I assume seed in hex mentioned above can be used)
salt = 'electrum' + passphrase (Not sure what this means yet)

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: longbob72 on January 14, 2017, 03:45:43 PM

The seed field should show the actual unencrypted seed unless you have set a password. What type of wallet are you using? Do you have any problem sending bitcoins?

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: S_D on January 14, 2017, 06:10:52 PM

Quote from: longbob72 on January 14, 2017, 03:45:43 PM

The seed field should show the actual unencrypted seed unless you have set a password. What type of wallet are you using? Do you have any problem sending bitcoins?

I am using Electrum Installer Version 2.7.17
I am able to send and receive bitcoins.

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: kolloh on January 14, 2017, 06:36:34 PM

Yes, it should be possible to convert this to the seed words. Electrum has the ability to show you the seed words ( Click Wallet->Seed ).

These snippets of Electrum's code look to be relevant:

Code:

import old_mnemonic
# see if seed was entered as hex
seed = seed.strip()
if seed:
    try:
        seed.decode('hex')
        return str(seed)
    except Exception:
        pass
words = seed.split()
seed = old_mnemonic.mn_decode(words)
if not seed:
    raise Exception("Invalid seed")
return seed

Code:

def mnemonic_decode(self, seed):
    n = len(self.wordlist)
    words = seed.split()
    i = 0
    while words:
        w = words.pop()
        k = self.wordlist.index(w)
        i = i*n + k
    return i

It looks like there are functions to convert the hex seed back into words and vice versa.

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: S_D on January 14, 2017, 07:35:16 PM

Quote from: kolloh on January 14, 2017, 06:36:34 PM

Yes, it should be possible to convert this to the seed words. Electrum has the ability to show you the seed words ( Click Wallet->Seed ).
...
It looks like there are functions to convert the hex seed back into words and vice versa.

Well lets assume I got only the wallet file.

I am not a python wizard, may be an electrum or python dev could enlighten us.

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: longbob72 on January 14, 2017, 08:49:27 PM

So apparently hex seed were a thing. Didn't know that.

You can actually recover your wallet just by entering the hex seed, you know. I just tried and it works.
If you want to get the non-hex seed just do it from the client.

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: S_D on January 14, 2017, 10:00:04 PM

Quote from: longbob72 on January 14, 2017, 08:49:27 PM

Now how cool is that. This solves my problem in Scene 1 (Still curious whats the relation between the hex and the 12 word seed)

And for the Scene 2 now, What encryption is used to encrypt the hex in Scene 1...
Any devs here to help?

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: kolloh on January 14, 2017, 11:01:17 PM

Quote from: S_D on January 14, 2017, 10:00:04 PM

And for the Scene 2 now, What encryption is used to encrypt the hex in Scene 1...
Any devs here to help?

I believe that it uses the password to encrypt using pbkdf2 in the following manner:

Code:

  def mnemonic_to_seed(self, mnemonic, passphrase):
        PBKDF2_ROUNDS = 2048
        mnemonic = normalize_text(mnemonic)
        passphrase = normalize_text(passphrase)
        return pbkdf2.PBKDF2(mnemonic, 'electrum' + passphrase, iterations = PBKDF2_ROUNDS, macmodule = hmac, digestmodule = hashlib.sha512).read(64)

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: S_D on January 15, 2017, 04:43:48 AM

Quote from: kolloh on January 14, 2017, 11:01:17 PM

I believe that it uses the password to encrypt using pbkdf2 in the following manner:

Code:

  def mnemonic_to_seed(self, mnemonic, passphrase):
        PBKDF2_ROUNDS = 2048
        mnemonic = normalize_text(mnemonic)
        passphrase = normalize_text(passphrase)
        return pbkdf2.PBKDF2(mnemonic, 'electrum' + passphrase, iterations = PBKDF2_ROUNDS, macmodule = hmac, digestmodule = hashlib.sha512).read(64)

Hey thanks,
Now I need to figure out how to push this info in this function-

Wallet pass = 125
Seed = 431a62f1c86555d3c45e5c4d9e10c8c7

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: kolloh on January 15, 2017, 05:01:20 AM

Quote from: S_D on January 15, 2017, 04:43:48 AM

Quote from: kolloh on January 14, 2017, 11:01:17 PM

I believe that it uses the password to encrypt using pbkdf2 in the following manner:

Code:

  def mnemonic_to_seed(self, mnemonic, passphrase):
        PBKDF2_ROUNDS = 2048
        mnemonic = normalize_text(mnemonic)
        passphrase = normalize_text(passphrase)
        return pbkdf2.PBKDF2(mnemonic, 'electrum' + passphrase, iterations = PBKDF2_ROUNDS, macmodule = hmac, digestmodule = hashlib.sha512).read(64)

Hey thanks,
Now I need to figure out how to push this info in this function-

Wallet pass = 125
Seed = 431a62f1c86555d3c45e5c4d9e10c8c7

Do you need to do this outside of Electrum? Why not just restore the seed into a new wallet then go to Wallet->Seed and it will reveal the seed words.

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: kolloh on January 15, 2017, 05:20:20 AM

I found out you can decode it via electrum's console fairly easily as shown:

Code:

>> import aes
>> from electrum import wallet
>> wallet.pw_decode('bBbGXH3ivbmwapRODeAn7wp7VviwDkpNOcaRdW9EDiA5xeYXj8CtrUidHvRbCubIJhMaPjlEOfO0kQM13RB6Zw==','125')
u'431a62f1c86555d3c45e5c4d9e10c8c7'

Let me know if this works for what you need.

For further fun, here is how you get the seed words:

Code:

>> import old_mnemonic
>> old_mnemonic.mn_encode('431a62f1c86555d3c45e5c4d9e10c8c7')
['constant', 'forest', 'adore', 'false', 'green', 'weave', 'stop', 'guy', 'fur', 'freeze', 'giggle', 'clock']

It's using the old_mnemonic as the seed is in the old format I believe.

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: Abdussamad on January 15, 2017, 09:24:42 AM

Quote from: kolloh on January 14, 2017, 11:01:17 PM

Quote from: S_D on January 14, 2017, 10:00:04 PM

And for the Scene 2 now, What encryption is used to encrypt the hex in Scene 1...
Any devs here to help?

I believe that it uses the password to encrypt using pbkdf2 in the following manner:

Code:

  def mnemonic_to_seed(self, mnemonic, passphrase):
        PBKDF2_ROUNDS = 2048
        mnemonic = normalize_text(mnemonic)
        passphrase = normalize_text(passphrase)
        return pbkdf2.PBKDF2(mnemonic, 'electrum' + passphrase, iterations = PBKDF2_ROUNDS, macmodule = hmac, digestmodule = hashlib.sha512).read(64)

Hashing functions are not encryption functions. That's converting the seed words to the master private key. There is no encryption involved there. This function is actually from bip39 (https://github.com/trezor/python-mnemonic/blob/790bce56a77432203393ae1f5b52829169a0950d/mnemonic/mnemonic.py#L162) although electrum uses a different seed mnemonic format. The passphrase in this instance is the "extend your seed with custom words" thing that electrum introduced recently. To see that option create a new wallet and during the seed display window phase click on options.

I see you've figured out how to decrypt the new seed from scene 2 using the console. But the OP could just have opened the wallet file using electrum and then viewed the seed via the GUI menu option wallet > seed. You can open a different wallet file using file > open or with the -w command line switch.

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: S_D on January 16, 2017, 07:46:54 AM

I am trying to understand how Electrum works exactly here ::).

I hate the easy way, Dont wanna go through the GUI way that wont tell me anything about how Electrum works!

Thanks for the input though.

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: Abdussamad on January 16, 2017, 08:14:26 AM

Quote from: S_D on January 16, 2017, 07:46:54 AM

I am trying to understand how Electrum works exactly here ::).

That's actually a very nice outlook. People like you force us to look deeper and everyone learns something new from that. So yeah ask away :)

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: S_D on January 16, 2017, 10:00:12 AM

Quote from: Abdussamad on January 16, 2017, 08:14:26 AM

That's actually a very nice outlook. People like you force us to look deeper and everyone learns something new from that. So yeah ask away :)

Well thanks a lot, I was about to close this thread and then boom! someone who understands me :D

Now that we know why we are talking, is it possible to calculate encrypted key on a calculator on some thing like this:
https://asecuritysite.com/encryption/PBKDF2z

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: Abdussamad on January 16, 2017, 11:51:12 AM

Quote from: S_D on January 16, 2017, 10:00:12 AM

Quote from: Abdussamad on January 16, 2017, 08:14:26 AM

That's actually a very nice outlook. People like you force us to look deeper and everyone learns something new from that. So yeah ask away :)

PBKDF2 is not an encryption function. I explained that above but it's also explained on that page:

Quote

this is used to create an encryption key from a defined password, and where it is not possible to reverse the password from the hashed value.

A hash function is not an encryption function. Electrum uses AES to encrypt your seed:

https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/blob/59ed5932a859fd807232960404764b8686355830/lib/bitcoin.py#L119

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: Haigo on November 16, 2017, 12:15:24 PM

This post has seriously grabbed my attention. I very foolishly have managed to lose my password and seed (I know, I know) for my Electrum wallet.

After reading this:
"I see you've figured out how to decrypt the new seed from scene 2 using the console"

And seeing this:
>> import aes
>> from electrum import wallet
>>wallet.pw_decode('bBbGXH3ivbmwapRODeAn7wp7VviwDkpNOcaRdW9EDiA5xeYXj8CtrUidHvRbCubIJhMaPjlEOfO0kQM 13RB6Zw==','125')
u'431a62f1c86555d3c45e5c4d9e10c8c7'

Am I right in thinking it is somehow possible to decrypt the password? I do have the original wallet file in full.
I did try the above example but received an error message:
"InvalidPassword: Incorrect password"

Any help here would be massively appreciated - certainly willing to reward if I find a way to decrypt the seed.

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: Spendulus on November 17, 2017, 12:05:03 PM

Quote from: S_D on January 14, 2017, 10:00:04 PM

Quote from: longbob72 on January 14, 2017, 08:49:27 PM

Now how cool is that. This solves my problem in Scene 1 (Still curious whats the relation between the hex and the 12 word seed)

And for the Scene 2 now, What encryption is used to encrypt the hex in Scene 1...
Any devs here to help?

Interesting. Question: Do you use the phrase "hex" here to imply the base 58 encoded string? Hex traditionally meant base 16 eg 0-9 and a,b,c,d,e,f.

Title: Re: Electrum Wallet Seed Recovery
Post by: HCP on November 17, 2017, 11:24:42 PM

Quote from: Haigo on November 16, 2017, 12:15:24 PM

No... what that function is doing, is decoding he encrypted seed from the wallet file... using the password!

I think you missed the bit where he said his password was '125'...

Quote from: S_D on January 15, 2017, 04:43:48 AM

...
Now I need to figure out how to push this info in this function-
Wallet pass = 125
Seed = 431a62f1c86555d3c45e5c4d9e10c8c7

You have to give the function the password as the second argument... hence:

Quote

wallet.pw_decode('bBbGXH3ivbmwapRODeAn7wp7VviwDkpNOcaRdW9EDiA5xeYXj8CtrUidHvRbCubIJhMaPjlEOfO0kQM 13RB6Zw==','125')

Quote from: Spendulus on November 17, 2017, 12:05:03 PM

Interesting. Question: Do you use the phrase "hex" here to imply the base 58 encoded string? Hex traditionally meant base 16 eg 0-9 and a,b,c,d,e,f.

No... he meant "hex"... the "seed" which is essentially just a big number... was previously stored in the wallet file in hex... as per the OP:

Quote from: S_D on January 14, 2017, 01:43:44 PM

Scenario 1:
I have an unencrypted wallet i.e. no password was set for the wallet.
I have the wallet file; when we I open the file as text I could see

Code:

....
        "seed": "431a62f1c86555d3c45e5c4d9e10c8c7", 
....

Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Electrum => Topic started by: S_D on January 14, 2017, 01:43:44 PM