
including both educational and commercial environments. Systems tested were both relatively new and
relatively old, had been both factory-keyed as well as privately rekeyed, and included locks manufactured
by Arrow (SFIC), Best (SFIC), Corbin Russwin, Schlage, and Yale. For the Best SFIC, Arrow SFIC and
Schlage systems, we used portable key punches and a supply of blank keys brought to the facilities tested.
For the Corbin Russwin and Yale systems, we pre-cut six test keys on a general purpose code machine (based
on measurements previously taken from a change key) and used a metal file at the test site to progressively
cut the test keys and finally to cut the full master bitting onto a fresh blank key.
All required key blanks were procured from standard commercial sources (which can be found easily
on the Internet with a search engine). Cost per blank ranged from US$0.14 to US$0.35 depending on the
particular lock type, plus shipping. We used, for convenience in some of the attacks, key cutting machines,
also available widely from commercial sources for a few hundred dollars. In other cases, we used a fine
metal file and a dial caliper or micrometer to cut the keys to the correct bitting depth. None of the equipment
or supplies we used are restricted in any way. (Such restrictions, even if they existed, would not be espe-
cially effective at preventing potential attackers from obtaining blank keys, given the vast number of small
businesses that have legitimate need for them (hardware stores, etc.)).
In every case, the attack yielded the top master key bitting, as expected. In general, it required only a
few minutes to carry out, even when using a file to cut the keys.
All six Arrow SFIC and Best SFIC systems we tested had all (six or seven) pin stacks mastered with a
TPP format. The two Corbin Russwin (system 70) systems each had three pin stacks (out of six) mastered,
again with a TPP format. The Schlage system used an RC-based scheme, with every pin mastered and two
master cuts used on each change key. The Yale system was also RC-based, with one master cut used on each
change key. Several of the systems had multi-level mastering hierarchies; the attack yielded the TMK in all
cases.
Notably, although some of the complications discussed in the previous section (such as more than one
master cut per pin stack, selective keying, or non-standard master depths) are possible in principle, we did
not encounter them. Every system we tested was keyed according to standard (TPP or RC) industry practice,
had at most one master cut per pin and employed standard depths, making the attacker’s job especially
straightforward. Although our experiments hardly constitute an exhaustive survey, they were conducted
across a wide variety of facilities that seem reasonably representative of a large segment of US institutional
lock installations. A check of several other lock vendors’ standard master keying practices further supports
this conclusion.
4 Countermeasures
Our adaptive oracle attack is only effective against locks that have a single shear line used by both master
and change keys. Although this is the case with the majority of mastered locks, there are commercially
available designs that do not have this property. Locks with a separate master ring, for example, require that
all pin stacks be aligned to the same one of two distinct master or change shear lines, and therefore do not
provide feedback about the master bitting of a pin given the change bittings of the other pins3. (Master ring
locks, however, are actually more vulnerable to reverse engineering from lock disassembly by an attacker
without access to the change key). Similarly, positional lock schemes, in which each lock uses a unique
subset of a large number of possible pin positions, cannot be decoded in this manner (but, again, are still
vulnerable to other attacks).
3A master ring lock has two concentric plugs, with the keyway cut into the inner plug. Two distinct shear lines are formed.
The pin stacks are correspondingly taller, with one cut on each stack designed to be able to reach one shear line and another cut
designed to reach the other. A few master ring locks are still commercially manufactured, but the design has largely fallen out of
favor for most applications.
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