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This is a code golf puzzle with a real-world application. Some current browsers, if you enter a URL that looks like

data:text/html,<script>alert("hi")</script>

will execute the given JavaScript code. Now suppose you had a URL which looked like (pseudocode):

data:text/html,<script>
    myPublicKey="12345678";
    cryptoLib=download("http://example.com/somecryptolib.js");
    if(sha256sum(cryptoLib) == "12345678")
        eval(cryptoLib)
</script>

If you printed this on business cards as a QR code, then anyone who went to that URL with an appropriate browser would get a public-key crypto client, with your public key pre-loaded, without having to install anything. Because of the hash verification, you could be confident they got the real crypto software, even if their ISP meddles with traffic.

Unfortunately, the real version of this pseudocode is quite long for a QR code. My challenge is: how short can you make it? An implementation would:

  • Be a data:... URL which executes correctly from the address bar of Chrome and Firefox. (To make a valid data: URL, you'll have to encode % as %25, and strip newlines)
  • Have a URL and a SHA-256 hash embedded, preferably as plain-text string literals near the beginning
  • Download a file from a URL using XMLHttpRequest (or a similar API). (Note that the server will need to include an Access-Control-Allow-Origin:* header for this to work.)
  • If that URL loaded successfully and the result is a file with the expected hash, eval() it. Otherwise do nothing or show an error message.
  • All builtin JavaScript functions that're present in both Chrome and Firefox are fair game, but loading libraries is impossible.
  • Use as few bytes as possible

I made a naive version using CryptoJS (minified version):

data:text/html,<script>
    u = 'http://localhost:8000'
    h = '5e3f73c606a82d68ef40f9f9405200ce24adfd9a4189c2bc39015345f0ee46d4'
    // Insert CryptoJS here
    r = new XMLHttpRequest;
    r.open('GET', u, false);
    r.send();
    if(CryptoJS.SHA256(r.response) == h)
        eval(r.response);
</script>

Which comes out of the minifier as:

data:text/html,<script>u="http://localhost:8000";h="5e3f73c606a82d68ef40f9f9405200ce24adfd9a4189c2bc39015345f0ee46d4";var CryptoJS=CryptoJS||function(k,w){var f={},x=f.lib={},g=function(){},l=x.Base={extend:function(a){g.prototype=this;var c=new g;a&&c.mixIn(a);c.hasOwnProperty("init")||(c.init=function(){c.$super.init.apply(this,arguments)});c.init.prototype=c;c.$super=this;return c},create:function(){var a=this.extend();a.init.apply(a,arguments);return a},init:function(){},mixIn:function(a){for(var c in a)a.hasOwnProperty(c)&&(this[c]=a[c]);a.hasOwnProperty("toString")&&(this.toString=a.toString)},clone:function(){return this.init.prototype.extend(this)}},t=x.WordArray=l.extend({init:function(a,c){a=this.words=a||[];this.sigBytes=c!=w?c:4*a.length},toString:function(a){return(a||y).stringify(this)},concat:function(a){var c=this.words,d=a.words,b=this.sigBytes;a=a.sigBytes;this.clamp();if(b%254)for(var e=0;e<a;e++)c[b+e>>>2]|=(d[e>>>2]>>>24-8*(e%254)&255)<<24-8*((b+e)%254);else if(65535<d.length)for(e=0;e<a;e+=4)c[b+e>>>2]=d[e>>>2];else c.push.apply(c,d);this.sigBytes+=a;return this},clamp:function(){var a=this.words,c=this.sigBytes;a[c>>>2]&=4294967295<<32-8*(c%254);a.length=k.ceil(c/4)},clone:function(){var a=l.clone.call(this);a.words=this.words.slice(0);return a},random:function(a){for(var c=[],d=0;d<a;d+=4)c.push((1<<30)*4*k.random()|0);return new t.init(c,a)}}),z=f.enc={},y=z.Hex={stringify:function(a){var c=a.words;a=a.sigBytes;for(var d=[],b=0;b<a;b++){var e=c[b>>>2]>>>24-8*(b%254)&255;d.push((e>>>4).toString(16));d.push((e&15).toString(16))}return d.join("")},parse:function(a){for(var c=a.length,d=[],b=0;b<c;b+=2)d[b>>>3]|=parseInt(a.substr(b,2),16)<<24-4*(b%258);return new t.init(d,c/2)}},m=z.Latin1={stringify:function(a){var c=a.words;a=a.sigBytes;for(var d=[],b=0;b<a;b++)d.push(String.fromCharCode(c[b>>>2]>>>24-8*(b%254)&255));return d.join("")},parse:function(a){for(var c=a.length,d=[],b=0;b<c;b++)d[b>>>2]|=(a.charCodeAt(b)&255)<<24-8*(b%254);return new t.init(d,c)}},n=z.Utf8={stringify:function(a){try{return decodeURIComponent(escape(m.stringify(a)))}catch(c){throw Error("Malformed UTF-8 data");}},parse:function(a){return m.parse(unescape(encodeURIComponent(a)))}},B=x.BufferedBlockAlgorithm=l.extend({reset:function(){this._data=new t.init;this._nDataBytes=0},_append:function(a){"string"==typeof a&&(a=n.parse(a));this._data.concat(a);this._nDataBytes+=a.sigBytes},_process:function(a){var c=this._data,d=c.words,b=c.sigBytes,e=this.blockSize,f=b/(4*e),f=a?k.ceil(f):k.max((f|0)-this._minBufferSize,0);a=f*e;b=k.min(4*a,b);if(a){for(var p=0;p<a;p+=e)this._doProcessBlock(d,p);p=d.splice(0,a);c.sigBytes-=b}return new t.init(p,b)},clone:function(){var a=l.clone.call(this);a._data=this._data.clone();return a},_minBufferSize:0});x.Hasher=B.extend({cfg:l.extend(),init:function(a){this.cfg=this.cfg.extend(a);this.reset()},reset:function(){B.reset.call(this);this._doReset()},update:function(a){this._append(a);this._process();return this},finalize:function(a){a&&this._append(a);return this._doFinalize()},blockSize:16,_createHelper:function(a){return function(c,d){return(new a.init(d)).finalize(c)}},_createHmacHelper:function(a){return function(c,d){return(new A.HMAC.init(a,d)).finalize(c)}}});var A=f.algo={};return f}(Math);(function(k){for(var w=CryptoJS,f=w.lib,x=f.WordArray,g=f.Hasher,f=w.algo,l=[],t=[],z=function(a){return (1<<30)*4*(a-(a|0))|0},y=2,m=0;64>m;){var n;a:{n=y;for(var B=k.sqrt(n),A=2;A<=B;A++)if(!(n%25A)){n=!1;break a}n=!0}n&&(8>m&&(l[m]=z(k.pow(y,0.5))),t[m]=z(k.pow(y,1/3)),m++);y++}var a=[],f=f.SHA256=g.extend({_doReset:function(){this._hash=new x.init(l.slice(0))},_doProcessBlock:function(c,d){for(var b=this._hash.words,e=b[0],f=b[1],p=b[2],k=b[3],s=b[4],l=b[5],m=b[6],n=b[7],q=0;64>q;q++){if(16>q)a[q]=c[d+q]|0;else{var v=a[q-15],g=a[q-2];a[q]=((v<<25|v>>>7)^(v<<14|v>>>18)^v>>>3)+a[q-7]+((g<<15|g>>>17)^(g<<13|g>>>19)^g>>>10)+a[q-16]}v=n+((s<<26|s>>>6)^(s<<21|s>>>11)^(s<<7|s>>>25))+(s&l^~s&m)+t[q]+a[q];g=((e<<30|e>>>2)^(e<<19|e>>>13)^(e<<10|e>>>22))+(e&f^e&p^f&p);n=m;m=l;l=s;s=k+v|0;k=p;p=f;f=e;e=v+g|0}b[0]=b[0]+e|0;b[1]=b[1]+f|0;b[2]=b[2]+p|0;b[3]=b[3]+k|0;b[4]=b[4]+s|0;b[5]=b[5]+l|0;b[6]=b[6]+m|0;b[7]=b[7]+n|0},_doFinalize:function(){var a=this._data,d=a.words,b=8*this._nDataBytes,e=8*a.sigBytes;d[e>>>5]|=128<<24-e%2532;d[(e+64>>>9<<4)+14]=k.floor(b/(1<<30)*4);d[(e+64>>>9<<4)+15]=b;a.sigBytes=4*d.length;this._process();return this._hash},clone:function(){var a=g.clone.call(this);a._hash=this._hash.clone();return a}});w.SHA256=g._createHelper(f);w.HmacSHA256=g._createHmacHelper(f)})(Math);r=new XMLHttpRequest;r.open("GET",u,!1);r.send();CryptoJS.SHA256(r.response)==h&&eval(r.response)</script> 

Tested with this minimal Python server:

import BaseHTTPServer

class RequestHandler(BaseHTTPServer.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    def do_HEAD(s):
        s.send_response(200)
        s._sendHeaders()
        s.end_headers()
    def do_GET(s):
        s.send_response(200)
        s._sendHeaders()
        s.end_headers()
        s.wfile.write('alert("Success!")')
    def _sendHeaders(s):
        s.send_header("Content-type", "script/javascript");
        s.send_header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*");

def run(server_class=BaseHTTPServer.HTTPServer,
    handler_class=RequestHandler):
    server_address = ('', 8000)
    httpd = server_class(server_address, handler_class)
    httpd.serve_forever()

run()

The JavaScript portion is 4700 bytes, but it can be much smaller. How small can it get?

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5
  • \$\begingroup\$ Interesting question. Sending the crypto library from the server to the client to eval and then making a second request with the crypto library loaded would defeat the point of this correct? I've spent some time working on a solution and ended up doing just that, but then realized that it means trusting the ISP to not mess with the crypto library which is a problem. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jay
    Commented Jan 11, 2014 at 5:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ Right; to be secure, the first loaded file has to have its hash validated using code that's entirely in the URL. Luckily, this only needs one hash function (which doesn't necessarily have to be SHA-256, though), which was 4700 bytes naively and could probably be <1kb with heavy optimization. (That then handles loading and verifying a larger library, where size doesn't matter so mcuh since it's no longer inside a URL). \$\endgroup\$
    – jimrandomh
    Commented Jan 11, 2014 at 6:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ "loading libraries is impossible." - shouldn't loading libraries be allowed, except it must be done from code, such as by creating a script element, setting its async property to false and inserting it to the document? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 12, 2014 at 9:45
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @JanDvorak, but how do you confirm that the library hasn't been modified? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 12, 2014 at 14:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ script/javascript? You mean text/javascript. \$\endgroup\$
    – user344
    Commented Jul 8, 2014 at 11:26

2 Answers 2

6
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844 Characters

K=new XMLHttpRequest;K.open("get","http://localhost:8000",O=j=n=q=0);K.send();m=K.response;l=m.length;k=l+1|63;W=[o=Math.pow];for(H=[R=o(i=2,32)];i<313+l;i++)for(W[i]||(K[q]=o(i,1/3)*R|0,H[q++]=o(i,.5)*R|0,I=2);W[i*I++]=199>I;)o[n>>2]|=(n^l?m.charCodeAt(n):128)<<24-n++%4*8;for(o[k>>2]=8*l;j<=k;H[I-7]+=a=t+T|0)i=j++&63||(a=H[0],b=H[1],c=H[2],d=H[3],e=H[4],f=H[5],g=H[6],h=H[7],0),y=W[i-15],x=W[i-2],t=h+(e<<26^e>>>6^e<<21^e>>>11^e<<7^e>>>25)+(e&f^~e&g)+K[i]+(W[i]=16>i?o[O++]:(y<<25^y>>>7^y<<14^y>>>18^y>>>3)+W[i-7]+(x<<15^x>>>17^x<<13^x>>>19^x>>>10)+W[i-16]),T=(a<<30^a>>>2^a<<19^a>>>13^a<<10^a>>>22)+(a&b^a&c^b&c),H[I=i-63|7]+=h=g,H[I-1]+=g=f,H[I-2]+=f=e,H[I-3]+=e=d+t|0,H[I-4]+=d=c,H[I-5]+=c=b,H[I-6]+=b=a;1581216710^H[0]|111684968^H[1]|4014012921^H[2]|1079115982^H[3]|615382426^H[4]|1099547324^H[5]|956388165^H[6]|4042147540^H[7]||eval(m)

The URL and Hash values are hard coded. The Hash is encoded as decimal double words, the values in my code correspond to the script in the example Python server.

I also didn't bother doing the URL encoding, but it works when you type javascript: manually in the URL bar and then paste the code (and also in the console).

The implementation is not compliant, but it should work for files smaller than 512 MB.

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1
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HTML Data URL, 131 Characters

It's been a while and there's a native way to do this now: Subresource Integrity. Also, data URLs are not allowed to be linked to by major browsers so this whole idea no longer works :( Also, I used a hosted copy of the script that should be CORS-accessible, http:localhost:8000 was what OP specified and would save 3 characters.

data:text/html,<script src=https:fk.ci/9Rg2HKk.js integrity=sha256Xj9zxgaoLWjvQPn5QFIAziSt/ZpBicK8OQFTRfDuRtQ crossorigin></script>
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