Changes

This last part means that if it finds a NULL byte, it stops comparing, '''even if there is more data after the NULL'''.

This last part means that if it finds a NULL byte, it stops comparing, '''even if there is more data after the NULL'''.

This reduces the effective length of the hash to the number of bytes before the NULL byte. This means that the difficulty of finding a hash match is reduced from 2^(HASHLENGTH*8) to 2^(bytes before the null). That is a big change if the NULL is early in the hash. Assuming the NULL is at the 5th byte, that means that there is a one in 2^(4*8) chance that the hash matches, or one in 4 294 967 296, fairly computable within a reasonable time frame on a current computer that can check a few million hash inputs each sec.

This reduces the effective length of the hash to the number of bytes before the NULL byte. This means that the difficulty of finding a hash collision is reduced from 2^(HASHLENGTH*8) to 2^(bytes before the null). That is a big change if the NULL is early in the hash. Assuming the NULL is at the 5th byte, that means that there is a one in 2^(4*8) chance that the hash matches, or one in 4 294 967 296, fairly computable within a reasonable time frame on a current computer that can try a few million hash inputs each sec.