From d78ed6b5f245ec0028e4f7e5099e9bc6a867879b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Livio Spring <9405495+livio-a@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:57:32 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix: improve random string generation (#12266)

# Which Problems Are Solved

`GenerateRandomString` used for generating codes incl. OTP was
incorrectly ignoring the last rune of the possible set.

# How the Problems Are Solved

Refactored the function to get the full randomness.

# Additional Changes

None

# Additional Context

Thanks @AyushParkara for pointing this out.
---
 internal/crypto/code.go      | 23 +++++-----
 internal/crypto/code_test.go | 82 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 93 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/internal/crypto/code.go b/internal/crypto/code.go
index 96f1bba3a..5eaf6c5ba 100644
--- a/internal/crypto/code.go
+++ b/internal/crypto/code.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package crypto
 
 import (
 	"crypto/rand"
+	"math/big"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/zitadel/zitadel/internal/zerrors"
@@ -151,22 +152,20 @@ func GenerateRandomString(length uint, chars []rune) (string, error) {
 	if length == 0 {
 		return "", nil
 	}
-
-	max := len(chars) - 1
-	maxStr := int(length - 1)
+	if len(chars) == 0 {
+		return "", zerrors.ThrowInvalidArgument(nil, "CODE-aa1wf", "chars must not be empty")
+	}
 
 	str := make([]rune, length)
-	randBytes := make([]byte, length)
-	if _, err := rand.Read(randBytes); err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
-	for i, rb := range randBytes {
-		str[i] = chars[int(rb)%max]
-		if i == maxStr {
-			return string(str), nil
+	max := big.NewInt(int64(len(chars)))
+	for i := range str {
+		idx, err := rand.Int(rand.Reader, max)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
 		}
+		str[i] = chars[int(idx.Int64())]
 	}
-	return "", nil
+	return string(str), nil
 }
 
 func verifyEncryptedCode(cryptoCode *CryptoValue, verificationCode string, alg EncryptionAlgorithm) error {
diff --git a/internal/crypto/code_test.go b/internal/crypto/code_test.go
index e766871a3..fe818e895 100644
--- a/internal/crypto/code_test.go
+++ b/internal/crypto/code_test.go
@@ -207,3 +207,85 @@ func Test_verifyEncryptedCode(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestGenerateRandomString(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name    string
+		length  uint
+		chars   []rune
+		want    string
+		wantErr bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:    "empty chars returns error",
+			length:  5,
+			chars:   nil,
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "zero length returns empty string",
+			length: 0,
+			chars:  []rune{'a', 'b'},
+			want:   "",
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "single charset char is used for all positions",
+			length: 4,
+			chars:  []rune{'x'},
+			want:   "xxxx",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got, err := GenerateRandomString(tt.length, tt.chars)
+			if (err != nil) != tt.wantErr {
+				t.Fatalf("GenerateRandomString() error = %v, wantErr %v", err, tt.wantErr)
+			}
+			if got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("GenerateRandomString() = %q, want %q", got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGenerateRandomString_UsesOnlyProvidedChars(t *testing.T) {
+	chars := []rune("abcXYZ09")
+	got, err := GenerateRandomString(32, chars)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("GenerateRandomString() error = %v", err)
+	}
+	if len([]rune(got)) != 32 {
+		t.Fatalf("GenerateRandomString() length = %d, want %d", len([]rune(got)), 32)
+	}
+	allowed := make(map[rune]struct{}, len(chars))
+	for _, r := range chars {
+		allowed[r] = struct{}{}
+	}
+	for _, r := range got {
+		if _, ok := allowed[r]; !ok {
+			t.Fatalf("GenerateRandomString() produced rune %q not in charset", r)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGenerateRandomString_EveryCharCanBeGenerated(t *testing.T) {
+	// Regression test: a previous implementation indexed the charset with
+	// modulo len(chars)-1, so the last rune (e.g. '9' in numeric codes) could
+	// never be generated. With a uniform distribution, the chance of any of
+	// the 10 runes missing in 1000 draws is below 1e-45, so this cannot flake.
+	chars := []rune("0123456789")
+	got, err := GenerateRandomString(1000, chars)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("GenerateRandomString() error = %v", err)
+	}
+	seen := make(map[rune]struct{}, len(chars))
+	for _, r := range got {
+		seen[r] = struct{}{}
+	}
+	for _, r := range chars {
+		if _, ok := seen[r]; !ok {
+			t.Errorf("GenerateRandomString() never produced rune %q", r)
+		}
+	}
+}