LUD-24 – pinLimit for withdrawRequest (PIN protection for NFC/Boltcard)

[AxelHamburch]

Summary

Clean resubmission of PR #200 (pinLimit for withdrawRequest), open since
February 2023 without being merged.

Supersedes #200. Related to governance discussion: #289.

Spec file: 24.md

What this adds

An optional pinLimit field to the withdrawRequest response (LUD-03 extension).
When present and the withdrawal amount meets or exceeds the threshold, the wallet
must collect a 4-digit numeric PIN before sending the callback. If the PIN is
absent or wrong, the SERVICE MUST reject the request — there is no fallback.

Assigned as LUD-24.

Why now

• PR LUD-21: pinLimit for withdrawRequest - resolves #201 #200 has 2 approvals and is already running in production
• LUD-24 is now the assigned, unreserved LUD number
• The proposal has a verified terminal and service implementation

Changes vs PR #200

	PR #200	This PR
LUD number	LUD-21 (conflict)	LUD-24
HTTPS	implicit	explicit MUST
Brute-force protection	SHOULD	MUST
Service rejection if PIN missing	unclear	explicit MUST
Mermaid diagram	none	added (aligned with LUD-03)
Prior art reference	none	PR #200 cited

Known implementations (verified)

Project	Evidence
SwissBitcoinPay/boltcard-tools-terminal	PR #33 merged 2024-05-26
boltcard/boltcard-lndhub	Release v0.2.0 (2023-08-06): "PIN feature added"

[AxelHamburch]

Known Implementations of LUD-XX pinLimit

The following open-source projects implement the draft
LUD-XX pinLimit for withdrawRequest
spec. They were developed independently against the same draft and interoperate
end-to-end, demonstrating production readiness prior to formal number assignment.

---

Service-side implementations

These projects serve the withdrawRequest JSON and validate the pin parameter
on the callback.

lnbits/boltcards — LNbits extension

• PR: lnbits/boltcards#67
• Key commit: dc46cd1
• Adds pinLimit field to withdrawRequest response
• PIN stored as pbkdf2_hmac hash; validated on callback
• Card disabled after 3 consecutive failures
• PIN failure count persisted across taps (pin_total_attempts)
• Frontend form fields for setting PIN and threshold (sats/msats)

bitPOS-app/bitpos — self-hosted Lightning PoS

• File: artifacts/api-server/src/routes/lnurlw.ts
• pinLimit included in withdrawRequest when card has a PIN set
• pinLimitMsats = null maps to 0 on the wire (PIN always required)
• PIN verified via bcrypt against stored hash
• Atomic k1 consumption includes pinLockedAt guard (defence-in-depth)
• Card locked in DB after 3 failures; fail counter reset on success

---

Terminal / wallet-side implementations

These projects read the withdrawRequest, detect pinLimit, and collect the
PIN from the user before sending the callback.

AxelHamburch/zapbox_extension — ZapBox NFC touch terminal (LNbits extension)

• Commit: c111234
• Detects pinLimit in withdrawRequest; compares price_msat >= pin_limit_msat
• Sends pin_required WebSocket event to the ZapBox touch display with amount_sat, session_id, max_attempts
• Device renders PIN pad and POSTs 4-digit PIN to /nfc/pin_submit?session_id=&pin=
• Server-side coroutine awaits PIN via asyncio.Event (max 180 s timeout)
• On wrong PIN: sends pin_error WS event with remaining attempts
• On 3rd failure: raises HTTP 403; device shows blocked screen
• Appends &pin=XXXX to the boltcards callback URL

Buho-Ecosystem/Buho_go — BuhoGO mobile wallet (Android/iOS)

• Commit: 38ada0a
• Branch: feature/bolt-card-pin-limit
• pinLimit forwarded from fetchLNURLInfo into pendingPayment
• After invoice creation, checks amount_sats × 1000 >= pinLimit
• Shows fullscreen PinEntryDialog (4-digit numeric, spec-compliant)
• User cancels → withdrawal resets silently; no callback sent
• PIN appended as &pin=XXXX to callback URL via submitWithdrawCallback
• Wrong PIN → service error surfaced to user; retry by sliding again
• No PIN prompt when pinLimit absent or amount below threshold (existing flow unchanged)

---

End-to-end interoperability

NFC Card tap
     │
     ▼
LNURL-withdraw Service ──────────────────────── boltcards (LNbits)   PR #67
  returns withdrawRequest                        bitpos (self-hosted)  merged
  with optional pinLimit field
     │
     ▼
Terminal / Wallet ────────────────────────────── zapbox_extension      merged
  detects pinLimit                               Buho_go (mobile)      open PR
  prompts user for 4-digit PIN
  sends ?pin= in callback
     │
     ▼
Service validates PIN
  wrong PIN  → ERROR + attempts remaining
  3 failures → card blocked
  correct    → OK, payment settles

A card provisioned against boltcards or bitpos can be tapped at a
zapbox_extension terminal or paid via Buho_go — the PIN flow works
end-to-end across all combinations.

[andrerfneves]

Assigning LUD 24