DV Sorder: Privacy Flaw in Dominion Election Systems (DVS)

Key Information Summary Vulnerability Name: DV Sorder Vulnerability Description: A privacy flaw affecting Dominion Voting Systems (DVS) ImageCast Precinct (ICP) and ImageCast Evolution (ICE) ballot scanners, which are partially used in 31 states in the United States. In certain circumstances, the flaw allows the public to identify other voters’ ballots and determine how they voted. Impact: 21 states and Puerto Rico use these machines and have been confirmed to be affected. The vulnerability can be exploited by anyone using only publicly available information, without requiring access to any devices or control systems. Although deleting data can prevent public exploitation, the original records remain vulnerable to attack. Technical Details: How DV Sorder Works: 1. Ballots are assigned a randomly generated "flight ID" when scanned, used to identify each ballot within a batch of the same model scanned by a particular scanner. 2. Voter record data is loaded into a central computer by the scanner’s Election Management System (EMS), which shuffles ballot order to obscure the voting sequence. However, each ballot still retains its original record ID. 3. As a result, some jurisdictions publicly release ballot-level data, typically in the form of individual ballot images or vote records (containing the vote contents of each ballot). This data can be distributed safely without compromising voter privacy, according to Dominion’s documentation and information provided during state equipment procurement: “The filenames of these ballot images are assigned random ID numbers, and when selected, they are randomized, ensuring ballot images are decoupled from voting order.” However, a flaw in Dominion ICP and ICE scanner software causes ballot record IDs to be assigned in a predictable manner. This enables anyone to reassemble ballot images or vote records and reconstruct the order in which they were cast. Mitigation: Use data hygiene tools to sanitize ballot-level data, preventing public exploitation of DV Sorder. Manually remove the “RecordID” column from CSV-formatted CVR (DVS-exported ballot-level data) to prevent exploitation of DV Sorder. The DV Sorder Data Hygiene Tool is open-source software that automatically reprocesses DVS CVR and ballot files to render DV Sorder unexploitable. Patch: The most comprehensive mitigation requires Dominion to update ICP and ICE firmware to use secure random number generation. No patch is currently available.

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DV Sorder: Privacy Flaw in Dominion Election Systems (DVS)