Can this skill fix security vulnerabilities automatically?

It helps Claude identify potential vulnerabilities and suggests implementation patterns to achieve constant-time behavior, though developers should always verify cryptographic changes.

How does this skill help with security audits?

It provides Claude with the specific patterns and domain knowledge required to identify code sections that might leak information through timing differences.

What is constant-time testing?

It is the process of verifying that an algorithm's execution time does not vary based on the secret data it processes, which prevents attackers from using timing side channels to leak data.

Who authored the Constant-Time Testing skill?

This skill was developed by Trail of Bits, a leading cybersecurity research and consulting firm, as part of their security handbook.

Constant-Time Testing

Name: Constant-Time Testing
Author: plurigrid

byplurigrid

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Security & Testing

Verifies cryptographic implementations and sensitive code paths for timing side channels to prevent data leakage.

About

The Constant-Time Testing skill provides specialized guidance for identifying and mitigating timing side channels within codebases. Developed by Trail of Bits, it helps developers and security auditors verify that sensitive operations, such as cryptographic comparisons or private key handling, execute in constant time regardless of input data. This skill is essential for hardening applications against attackers who might extract secret information by measuring the precise execution time of specific operations.

Key Features

Security audit pattern matching
Vulnerability mitigation strategies
Timing side-channel detection
Constant-time implementation verification
Cryptographic code analysis
2 GitHub stars

Use Cases

Auditing cryptographic libraries for secret-dependent execution paths
Hardening authentication systems against timing-based enumeration attacks
Verifying the constant-time behavior of sensitive data comparison logic

About

Key Features

Security audit pattern matching
Vulnerability mitigation strategies
Timing side-channel detection
Constant-time implementation verification
Cryptographic code analysis
2 GitHub stars

Use Cases

Auditing cryptographic libraries for secret-dependent execution paths
Hardening authentication systems against timing-based enumeration attacks
Verifying the constant-time behavior of sensitive data comparison logic