Arnezami Hacks HD-DVD/Blu-ray – Discovers the One “Processing Key” to Rule them All

A hacker known as Arnezami has gone a giant step further than Muslix64 in hacking AACS. Arnezami has discovered and published the cryptographic key (known as the "processing key") that can be used to circumvent AACS copy restrictions on any Blu-ray or HD-DVD movie (the "one key to rule them all" ).  He did so by using an Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive and studying all changes (comparing hex-dumps) to a key part of memory during startup of the movie King Kong.

Previously, Muslix64 had discovered the "volume keys" for individual HD-DVD movies (and subsequently Blu-ray titles) which, when used with his BackupHDDVD software, allowed technically adept users to decrypt and copy individual HD titles protected by AACS. Since then, volume keys for more than 100 HD titles have circulated on the Internet.  The processing key discovered by Arnezami can, until revoked, be used to easily determine the volume key needed to decrypt and copy any HD title.  

It is unclear to me, at this moment, whether the processing key so discovered is unique to one specific player (and therefore easily revoked under the AACS system) or a key that is universally used in all players.

More importantly, if this particular processing key is revoked, hackers could simply use the same technique to discover the next processing key implemented by the AACS authority.

[UPDATE 1:] A day later beta software called AnyDVD is circulating the net (See here and here). This software purports to use Arnezami's processing key to automatically strip out the DRM, FBI notices etc. from any HD-DVD or Blu-ray disk. 

[UPDATE 2:] SlySoft is distributing AnyDVD on the net: See here.

Sources: PC World | ComputerWorld | Engadget | ElectronicNew.net | DailyTech | The Register | ZDNet Blogs | Team Xbox | Wired Blogs | AfterDawn | *Beta News | Bit-tech.net | Gizmodo

Related posts:

• Arnezami Hacks HD-DVD/Blu-ray – Discovers the One "Processing Key" to Rule them All (February 14, 2006)
• BackupHDDVD & Doom9 Forum Create End-to-End HD-DVD Crack (January 13, 2007)
• HD-DVD & Blu-ray Cracked? (December 28, 2006)
• HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Reportedly Successfully Hacked via PrintScreen (August 2, 2006)

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