YellowKey sparks backdoor debate as BitLocker bypass claim surfaces
A security researcher known as Nightmare-Eclipse released YellowKey, a vulnerability they say can bypass BitLocker full-disk encryption, reportedly enabling unrestricted access to protected volumes after copying an FsTx folder to a USB drive or the EFI partition and rebooting into Windows Recovery Environment. The researcher alleges this points to an intentional backdoor in a WinRE component present in Windows 11 and some Server 2022/2025 images (Windows 10 allegedly unaffected), and also introduced a second exploit, GreenPlasma, for privilege escalation. Some third-party researchers reportedly corroborate aspects of YellowKey in public GitHub materials, though full PoC details were not published and Microsoft has not publicly commented. Mitigation suggestions include not relying on a single encryption system and considering alternatives like VeraCrypt. Further details are expected around Patch Tuesday.
