[lug] Interesting sum "weakness"

[Jeffrey B. Siegal]

Tkil wrote:
> >>>>> "Jeffrey" == Jeffrey B Siegal <jbs at quiotix.com> writes:
> 
> Jeffrey> Good info, and it definitely makes sense to be cautious about
> Jeffrey> MD5, but nothing here says that anyone can, at present "make
> Jeffrey> it generate a specific output."
> 
> uh, that's what "create a collision" means.

Actually it doesn't.  To create a collision you need only find *any* two
different strings which produce the same digest.  That's (probably) much
easier than producing a second string which produces a specific output
(obtained from a first string).

Moreover, the message you quote says, about MD5:

> Certainly this requires a lot of hard additional work.
> ...
>    5. My conclusions are: no reason for panic, but in future
>       implementations better move away from MD5.

Bottom line is that no one can, at present, based on public information,
make MD5 generate a specific output.