Abstract
In this paper we address the structure and behavior of the probabilistic Skiplist data structure and present an exploit in the form of a timing attack on the structure. In this exploit, we show how to map the presumably hidden structure of a Skiplist by timing the return time of search queries. This data can then be used to perform operations on the Skiplist which will cause a degradation in its subsequent performance. In addition, we describe another exploitation of this data to use the Skiplist as a means of creating a hidden channel between two attackers. Finally, we propose a new variant of Skiplist we call a Splay Skiplist, which retains the \(O(\log n)\) performance of Skiplist while defending against the stated exploit.
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Nussbaum, E., Segal, M. (2019). Skiplist Timing Attack Vulnerability. In: Pérez-Solà , C., Navarro-Arribas, G., Biryukov, A., Garcia-Alfaro, J. (eds) Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology. DPM CBT 2019 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11737. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31500-9_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31500-9_4
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