Force an immediate BSOD + system reset/shutdown after "Clear encryption keys from memory if a new device is inserted" is triggered

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
42/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
c
Domain
operating-systems, security

Research direction

The issue identifies the DBT_DEVICEARRIVAL path and VC_IOCTL_EMERGENCY_CLEAR_ALL_KEYS; start by locating that handler and the key-clearing call. Review how the driver handles emergency key clearing and system crash or reset behavior. Done means the requested immediate crash followed by reset or shutdown occurs after keys are wiped, including when Windows automatic reboot is disabled.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Currently

The documentation (doc/html/en/VeraCrypt RAM Encryption.html) states:

If a new device is inserted, master keys are immediately purged from memory, resulting in a Windows BSOD.

However, when DBT_DEVICEARRIVAL triggers VC_IOCTL_EMERGENCY_CLEAR_ALL_KEYS, VeraCrypt only wipes the encryption keys from RAM and calls WipeCache(). It does not actively force a BSOD or system reset, passively relying on Windows to eventually crash with BSOD when a critical kernel disk I/O request fails.

During practical testing on Windows 10 (32GB RAM), inserting a new USB drive while on the Win+L lock screen successfully triggered key clearing (files on the system drive could no longer be opened), but in ~1/15 tests Windows somehow did not BSOD. Because the OS session, file explorer, thumbnails, folder names, and USB drivers were already cached in RAM, Windows allowed unlocking the screen and remained interactive in memory, even mounting the newly inserted USB drive.

Additionally

Even when a BSOD does occur (which is what happened to me most often), if AutoReboot is disabled in Windows registry settings HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl, the system stays powered on at the blue screen indefinitely with RAM still powered (which can already contain some sensitive data).

Desired behavior

Instead of passively waiting for Windows to fault (BSOD) on disk I/O after VC_IOCTL_EMERGENCY_CLEAR_ALL_KEYS, VeraCrypt should actively force an immediate system crash (BSOD) + instant system reset/shutdown as soon as the encryption keys are wiped.

Dominant language
C
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
1d 1h
Merged PRs (30d)
28

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