{ "number": 36374, "repo": "bitcoin/bitcoin", "url": "https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374", "title": "torcontrol: escape backslashes in -torpassword", "author": "0xShadowX", "author_association": "FIRST_TIME_CONTRIBUTOR", "created_at": "2026-09-28T17:47:02Z", "updated_at": "2026-10-31T20:51:21Z", "description_hash": "1b663a122d282b21", "age_days": 34, "draft": false, "labels": [], "milestone": null, "base": "master", "head_sha": "9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe", "head_ref": "fix-torpassword-backslash", "head_repo": "0xShadowX/bitcoin", "head_history": [ { "t": "2026-10-06T20:46:14Z", "sha": "9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe" } ], "additions": 31, "deletions": 0, "changed_files": 2, "commit_count": 1, "size_bucket": "S", "mergeable_state": "clean", "bot": { "drahtbot": { "present": true, "reviews": { "ack": [ { "login": "winterrdog", "url": "https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374#pullrequestreview-5443278358" }, { "login": "jpk68", "url": "https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374#issuecomment-6321018221" } ] }, "conflicts": [] } }, "acks_parsed": { "winterrdog": { "kind": "approach_ack", "hash": null, "t": "2026-10-06T19:09:40Z", "stale": false }, "jpk68": { "kind": "ack", "hash": "9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe", "t": "2026-10-21T16:28:16Z", "stale": false } }, "acks_tally": { "ack": 1, "stale_ack": 0, "concept_ack": 0, "approach_ack": 1, "nack": 0, "concept_nack": 0, "approach_nack": 0 }, "reviews": { "approved": 0, "changes_requested": 0, "distinct_reviewers": [ "fjahr", "jpk68", "winterrdog" ] }, "signals": { "needs_rebase": false, "ci_failed": false, "mergeable_state": "clean", "last_author_activity": "2026-10-06T20:46:25Z", "last_reviewer_activity": "2026-10-21T16:28:16Z", "last_reviewer": "jpk68", "author_silent_days": 26, "waiting_on_author_days": 11, "days_since_update": 1 }, "refs": { "mentioned": [ 35292 ], "depends_on": [], "fixes": [], "linked_issues": [], "references": [ { "number": 35292, "type": "pull", "state": "open", "merged": false, "merged_at": null, "title": "test: Add coverage for Tor control `HASHEDPASSWORD` authentication" } ], "conflicts": [] }, "stack": { "shares_commits_with": [], "based_on": [], "base_for": [] }, "review_paths": [ "test/functional/feature_torcontrol.py" ], "body": "With `HASHEDPASSWORD` authentication, `TorController::protocolinfo_cb` sends the password as a quoted string, `AUTHENTICATE \"\"` (torcontrol.cpp:667). It escapes `\"` but not `\\`.\n\nTor parses that argument as a control-spec QuotedString, where a backslash escapes the next character. So:\n\n- `-torpassword=pa\\ss` reaches Tor as `pass`, authentication fails and no onion service is created\n- `-torpassword=pass\\` escapes the closing quote, so the command is malformed\n\nThis escapes backslashes before quotes.\n\nThe new `test_password_escaping` in `feature_torcontrol.py` uses the mock control server with `HASHEDPASSWORD` and `-torpassword=pa\\ss\"word\\`, and checks the exact `AUTHENTICATE` line. On master it gets `AUTHENTICATE \"pa\\ss\\\"word\\\"`, with the fix `AUTHENTICATE \"pa\\\\ss\\\"word\\\\\"`.\n\nTested against Tor 0.4.9.12 with `HashedControlPassword` set for `pa\\ss\"word\\`: on master bitcoind logs \"tor: Authentication failed\", with this change authentication succeeds and ADD_ONION creates the onion service.\n\nAI tools were used to help find this issue and to prepare the patch and test.", "commits": [ { "sha": "9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe", "date": "2026-10-06T20:46:11Z", "message": "torcontrol: escape backslashes in -torpassword\n\nWith HASHEDPASSWORD authentication the password is sent as a quoted\nstring: AUTHENTICATE \"\". Quotes in the password are escaped,\nbut backslashes aren't. Tor reads a backslash in a quoted string as an\nescape for the next character, so a password like pa\\ss reaches Tor as\n\"pass\" and authentication fails, and a password ending in a backslash\nescapes the closing quote.\n\nEscape backslashes before quotes." } ], "timeline": [ { "t": "2026-09-28T19:24:10Z", "kind": "comment", "who": "fjahr", "assoc": "MEMBER", "text": "There is already test coverage suggested for this in #35292, please coordinate with the author there how to proceed.\n\n[quoted text omitted]\nYou should install it and then test it.", "id": "c:5876898982", "url": "https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374#issuecomment-5876898982", "hash": "9aa6c76322a99313", "edited": null }, { "t": "2026-09-28T20:16:54Z", "kind": "comment", "who": "0xShadowX", "assoc": "NONE", "text": "Installed Tor 0.4.9.12 and tested against it with `HashedControlPassword` for `pa\\ss\"word\\`: on master bitcoind gets \"tor: Authentication failed\", with this change authentication succeeds and ADD_ONION creates the service. I'll ask in #35292 how to combine the test coverage.", "id": "c:5877717694", "url": "https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374#issuecomment-5877717694", "hash": "c3cb732891fe43dc", "edited": "2026-09-28T20:17:25Z" }, { "t": "2026-10-06T14:05:57Z", "kind": "review_comment", "who": "winterrdog", "assoc": "CONTRIBUTOR", "path": "test/functional/feature_torcontrol.py", "commit": "898346346bc8a822fa3309d3562528efdc4a9a0d", "in_reply_to": null, "text": "**nit**: this case only asserts the commands received by the mock, and\n does not inspect the test node's debug log. `-debug=tor` only\n enables debug-level logs (_not needed in this case_) and can be dropped\n here", "id": "rc:4196260980", "url": "https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374#discussion_r4196260980", "hash": "170a5547c47395c0", "edited": "2026-10-06T19:09:40Z" }, { "t": "2026-10-06T19:09:40Z", "kind": "review", "who": "winterrdog", "assoc": "CONTRIBUTOR", "state": "COMMENTED", "commit": "898346346bc8a822fa3309d3562528efdc4a9a0d", "text": "approach ACK\n\n---\n\nbackslashes are _not_ escaped on present [`master`](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/aef8a04966d7ab6c04edc5d19b733e78205405de). to confirm, i ran the test introduced in this PR on `master` and it failed with:\n\n test output log\n\n```text\n2026-10-03T17:16:33.504732Z TestFramework (ERROR): Unexpected exception:\nTraceback (most recent call last):\n File \"/home/madman/Documents/btc/btc-core/my-btc-fork/test/functional/test_framework/test_framework.py\", line 145, in main\n self.run_test()\n File \"/home/madman/Documents/btc/btc-core/my-btc-fork/build/test/functional/feature_torcontrol.py\", line 366, in run_test\n self.test_hashedpassword_auth()\n File \"/home/madman/Documents/btc/btc-core/my-btc-fork/build/test/functional/feature_torcontrol.py\", line 319, in test_hashedpassword_auth\n assert_equal(mock_tor.received_commands[1], escaped_auth)\n File \"/home/madman/Documents/btc/btc-core/my-btc-fork/test/functional/test_framework/util.py\", line 94, in assert_equal\n raise AssertionError(\"not(%s)\" % \" == \".join(str(arg) for arg in (thing1, thing2) + args))\nAssertionError: not(AUTHENTICATE \"pa\\ss\\\"word\\\" == AUTHENTICATE \"pa\\\\ss\\\"word\\\\\")\n2026-10-03T17:16:33.559119Z TestFramework (INFO): Not stopping nodes as test failed. The dangling processes will be cleaned up later.\n```\n\n---\n\nalso, i verified that this PR's motivation is valid and is required by the TorControl spec:\n\n[quoted text omitted]\nfrom https://spec.torproject.org/control-spec/message-format.html#description-format.\n\n---\n\nreply-to: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374#issuecomment-5876898982\n\n[quoted text omitted]\nyes, we had an exchange and reached consensus here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/35292#issuecomment-5971847668\n\nsince this PR fixes a bug and adds the fix's regression test, while #35292 is test-only, has a larger diff, and covers more test cases, i think it makes sense for this one to go first. it is smaller and should be easier to review, with fewer conflicts with #35292\n\nneither PR depends on the other, so i can rebase on top of this PR. the remaining conflicts should be straightforward to resolve, and i can handle them afterwards as proposed here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/35292#issuecomment-5970759968\n\nthanks for bringing this into my view, @fjahr", "id": "r:5429583170", "url": "https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374#pullrequestreview-5429583170", "hash": "ce370d6b859567e2", "edited": "2026-10-06T19:10:31Z" }, { "t": "2026-10-06T20:46:14Z", "kind": "force_push", "who": "0xShadowX", "commit": "9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe", "id": "push:9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe" }, { "t": "2026-10-06T20:46:25Z", "kind": "review_comment", "who": "0xShadowX", "assoc": "NONE", "path": "test/functional/feature_torcontrol.py", "commit": "898346346bc8a822fa3309d3562528efdc4a9a0d", "in_reply_to": 4196260980, "text": "Dropped it in 9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe, thanks. The test still fails on master and passes with the fix.", "id": "rc:4200274220", "url": "https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374#discussion_r4200274220", "hash": "bbe66aa523c87237", "edited": null }, { "t": "2026-10-07T13:47:58Z", "kind": "review", "who": "winterrdog", "assoc": "CONTRIBUTOR", "state": "COMMENTED", "commit": "9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe", "text": "tACK 9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe\n\nsuccessfully built and tested with `clang++-19` on FreeBSD `15.0`/`x86_64` and Linux/`x86_64` with `clang++-18`\n\n---\n\ni `git-apply`ied `feature_torcontrol.py`'s patch from this PR onto current `master` at 9dfde64cc3262329051fd05fffe40eecc786a99f, and the test failed with:\n\noutput\n\n```text\n...\n2026-10-07T11:03:15.999507Z TestFramework (INFO): PRNG seed is: 8666784833934009101\n2026-10-07T11:03:16.050000Z TestFramework (INFO): Initializing test directory /tmp/bitcoin_func_test_wwb8jpcz\n2026-10-07T11:03:16.874367Z TestFramework (INFO): Test Tor control basic functionality\n2026-10-07T11:03:18.980178Z TestFramework (INFO): Test that -torpassword is sent as a correctly escaped quoted string\n2026-10-07T11:03:20.142646Z TestFramework (ERROR): Unexpected exception:\nTraceback (most recent call last):\n File \"/home/madman/Documents/btc/btc-core/my-btc-fork/test/functional/test_framework/test_framework.py\", line 146, in main\n self.run_test()\n File \"/home/madman/Documents/btc/btc-core/my-btc-fork/./build/test/functional/feature_torcontrol.py\", line 304, in run_test\n self.test_password_escaping()\n File \"/home/madman/Documents/btc/btc-core/my-btc-fork/./build/test/functional/feature_torcontrol.py\", line 298, in test_password_escaping\n assert_equal(mock_tor.received_commands[1], 'AUTHENTICATE \"pa\\\\\\\\ss\\\\\"word\\\\\\\\\"')\n File \"/home/madman/Documents/btc/btc-core/my-btc-fork/test/functional/test_framework/util.py\", line 94, in assert_equal\n raise AssertionError(\"not(%s)\" % \" == \".join(str(arg) for arg in (thing1, thing2) + args))\nAssertionError: not(AUTHENTICATE \"pa\\ss\\\"word\\\" == AUTHENTICATE \"pa\\\\ss\\\"word\\\\\")\n2026-10-07T11:03:20.193788Z TestFramework (INFO): Not stopping nodes as test failed. The dangling processes will be cleaned up later.\n2026-10-07T11:03:20.193916Z TestFramework (WARNING): Not cleaning up dir /tmp/bitcoin_func_test_wwb8jpcz\n2026-10-07T11:03:20.193981Z TestFramework (ERROR): Test failed. Test logging available at /tmp/bitcoin_func_test_wwb8jpcz/test_framework.log\n2026-10-07T11:03:20.194073Z TestFramework (ERROR):\n2026-10-07T11:03:20.194185Z TestFramework (ERROR): Hint: Call /home/madman/Documents/btc/btc-core/my-btc-fork/test/functional/combine_logs.py '/tmp/bitcoin_func_test_wwb8jpcz' to consolidate all logs\n2026-10-07T11:03:20.194235Z TestFramework (ERROR):\n2026-10-07T11:03:20.194285Z TestFramework (ERROR): If this failure happened unexpectedly or intermittently, please file a bug and provide a link or upload of the combined log.\n2026-10-07T11:03:20.194353Z TestFramework (ERROR): https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues\n2026-10-07T11:03:20.194400Z TestFramework (ERROR):\n[node 0] Cleaning up leftover process\n```\n\n---\n\ni also tested on TOR running locally with a `bitcoind` binary built from `master` with password as `pa\\ss\"word\\` and it failed with:\n\ndebug log\n\n```text\n...\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z torcontrol thread start\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z [tor] Entering Tor control thread\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z [tor] Attempting to connect to Tor control port 127.0.0.1:9051\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z [tor] Successfully connected to Tor control port\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z Bound to 127.0.0.1:8334\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z Bound to [::]:8333\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z Bound to 0.0.0.0:8333\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z [tor] Connected to Tor version 0.5.0.0-alpha-dev\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z [tor] Supported authentication method: HASHEDPASSWORD\n...\n...\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z [tor] Using HASHEDPASSWORD authentication\n2026-10-07T13:27:26Z [warning] tor: Authentication failed\n...\n```\n\n---\n\nthen, i tested with this PR's patch applied and i got these logs:\n\ndebug log\n\n```text\n...\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z torcontrol thread start\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z [tor] Entering Tor control thread\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z [tor] Attempting to connect to Tor control port 127.0.0.1:9051\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z [tor] Successfully connected to Tor control port\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z Bound to 127.0.0.1:8334\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z Bound to [::]:8333\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z [tor] Connected to Tor version 0.5.0.0-alpha-dev\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z Bound to 0.0.0.0:8333\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z [tor] Supported authentication method: HASHEDPASSWORD\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z [tor] Using HASHEDPASSWORD authentication\n...\n...\n2026-10-07T13:32:46Z [tor] Authentication successful\n...\n```\n\n---\n\nthe TOR daemon version details used (built from source -- `main` at `84caa7e47b1a60c4`):\n```text\nTor version 0.5.0.0-alpha-dev (git-84caa7e47b1a60c4).\nTor is running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.0.13, Zlib 1.3, Liblzma 5.4.5, Libzstd 1.5.5 and Glibc 2.39 as libc.\nTor compiled with GCC version 14.2.0\n```\n\nthe command i used to run `bitcoind`:\n```bash\n# used linux's default RAMdisk mount (/dev/shm) just to gain a \"little\" speed.\n# for other systems that do not have it, \"/tmp\" will do just fine\n./build/bin/bitcoind \\\n -regtest \\\n -datadir=/dev/shm/bitcoin-tor-test \\\n -torcontrol=127.0.0.1:9051 \\\n -torpassword='pa\\ss\"word\\' \\\n -listenonion=1 \\\n -printtoconsole=1 \\\n -debug=tor\n```", "id": "r:5443278358", "url": "https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374#pullrequestreview-5443278358", "hash": "de9e8a276a5e3fa3", "edited": "2026-10-10T19:22:38Z" }, { "t": "2026-10-21T16:28:16Z", "kind": "comment", "who": "jpk68", "assoc": "CONTRIBUTOR", "text": "ACK 9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe", "id": "c:6321018221", "url": "https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/36374#issuecomment-6321018221", "hash": "94d8931425282a00", "edited": null } ], "labels_log": [ { "t": "2026-10-09T13:45:08Z", "action": "labeled", "label": "CI failed", "who": "DrahtBot" }, { "t": "2026-10-09T16:52:00Z", "action": "unlabeled", "label": "CI failed", "who": "DrahtBot" } ], "state_log": [], "text_chars": 9777, "text_tokens_estimate": 2444, "changed_paths": [ "src/torcontrol.cpp", "test/functional/feature_torcontrol.py" ], "files": [ { "path": "src/torcontrol.cpp", "add": 2, "del": 0 }, { "path": "test/functional/feature_torcontrol.py", "add": 29, "del": 0 } ], "test_lines": 29, "git": { "head": "9c9bd8cab0f8f5dfebf8d709e0588b42cbdf57fe", "head_matches_backup": true, "base": "05bc2f53ce0cb239c17dbdd6b261bd2db7d2a940", "patch_id": "77243d3f99e04e66", "commits": [ { "sha": "9c9bd8cab0", "subject": "torcontrol: escape backslashes in -torpassword", "files": 2, "add": 31, "del": 0 } ], "patch_truncated": false }, "patch_id": "77243d3f99e04e66", "input_hash": "a24c39937c586e95", "extracted_at": "2026-11-02T01:09:49+00:00" }