Crypto Forum Research Group A. Huelsing
Internet-Draft TU Eindhoven
Intended status: Informational D. Butin
Expires: January 4, 2016 TU Darmstadt
S. Gazdag
genua GmbH
A. Mohaisen
Verisign Labs
July 3, 2015
XMSS: Extended Hash-Based Signatures
draft-irtf-cfrg-xmss-hash-based-signatures-01
Abstract
This note describes the eXtended Merkle Signature Scheme (XMSS), a
hash-based digital signature system. It follows existing
descriptions in scientific literature. The note specifies the WOTS+
one-time signature scheme, a single-tree (XMSS) and a multi-tree
variant (XMSS^MT) of XMSS. Both variants use WOTS+ as a main
building block. XMSS provides cryptographic digital signatures
without relying on the conjectured hardness of mathematical problems.
Instead, it is proven that it only relies on the properties of
cryptographic hash functions. XMSS provides strong security
guarantees and, besides some special instantiations, is even secure
when the collision resistance of the underlying hash function is
broken. It is suitable for compact implementations, relatively
simple to implement, and naturally resists side-channel attacks.
Unlike most other signature systems, hash-based signatures withstand
attacks using quantum computers.
Status of This Memo
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This Internet-Draft will expire on January 4, 2016.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. Conventions Used In This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1. Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2. Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3. Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4. Integer to Byte Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.5. Hash Function Address Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.6. Strings of Base w Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.7. Member Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3. Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1. WOTS+ One-Time Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.1. WOTS+ Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.1.1. WOTS+ Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.1.2. WOTS+ Chaining Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.1.3. WOTS+ Private Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.1.4. WOTS+ Public Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.1.5. WOTS+ Signature Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.1.6. WOTS+ Signature Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.1.7. Pseudorandom Key Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4. Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.1. XMSS: eXtended Merkle Signature Scheme . . . . . . . . . 17
4.1.1. XMSS Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.1.2. XMSS Hash Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.1.3. XMSS Private Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.1.4. Randomized Tree Hashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.1.5. L-Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.1.6. TreeHash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.1.7. XMSS Public Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.1.8. XMSS Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.1.9. XMSS Signature Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
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4.1.10. XMSS Signature Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.1.11. Pseudorandom Key Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.1.12. Free Index Handling and Partial Secret Keys . . . . . 26
4.2. XMSS^MT: Multi-Tree XMSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.2.1. XMSS^MT Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2.2. XMSS Algorithms Without Message Hash . . . . . . . . 27
4.2.3. XMSS^MT Private Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2.4. XMSS^MT Public Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.2.5. XMSS^MT Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.2.6. XMSS^MT Signature Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.2.7. XMSS^MT Signature Verification . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.2.8. Pseudorandom Key Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.2.9. Free Index Handling and Partial Secret Keys . . . . . 32
5. Parameter Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.1. WOTS+ Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.2. XMSS Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.3. XMSS^MT Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6. Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
8. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.1. Security Proofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
8.2. Security Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
8.3. Post-Quantum Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
9. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
10.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
10.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Appendix A. WOTS+ XDR Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Appendix B. XMSS XDR Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Appendix C. XMSS^MT XDR Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Appendix D. Changed since draft-irtf-cfrg-xmss-hash-based-
signatures-00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
1. Introduction
A (cryptographic) digital signature scheme provides asymmetric
message authentication. The key generation algorithm produces a key
pair consisting of a private and a public key. A message is signed
using a private key to produce a signature. A message/signature pair
can be verified using a public key. A One-Time Signature (OTS)
scheme allows using a key pair to sign exactly one message securely.
A many-time signature system can be used to sign multiple messages.
One-Time Signature schemes, and Many-Time Signature (MTS) schemes
composed of them, were proposed by Merkle in 1979 [Merkle79]. They
were well-studied in the 1990s and have regained interest from 2006
onwards because of their resistance against quantum-computer-aided
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attacks. These kinds of signature schemes are called hash-based
signature schemes as they are built out of a cryptographic hash
function. Hash-based signature schemes generally feature small
private and public keys as well as fast signature generation and
verification but large signatures and relatively slow key generation.
In addition, they are suitable for compact implementations that
benefit various applications and are naturally resistant to most
kinds of side-channel attacks.
Some progress has already been made toward standardizing and
introducing hash-based signatures. McGrew and Curcio have published
an Internet-Draft [DC14] specifying the "textbook" Lamport-Diffie-
Winternitz-Merkle (LDWM) scheme based on early publications.
Independently, Buchmann, Dahmen and Huelsing have proposed XMSS
[BDH11], the eXtended Merkle Signature Scheme, offering better
efficiency and a modern security proof. Very recently, the stateless
hash-based signature scheme SPHINCS was introduced [BHH15], with the
intent of being easier to deploy in current applications. A
reasonable next step toward introducing hash-based signatures would
be to complete the specifications of the basic algorithms - LDWM,
XMSS, SPHINCS and/or variants [Kaliski15].
The eXtended Merkle Signature Scheme (XMSS) [BDH11] is the latest
stateful hash-based signature scheme. It has the smallest signatures
out of such schemes and comes with a multi-tree variant that solves
the problem of slow key generation. Moreover, it can be shown that
XMSS is secure, making only mild assumptions on the underlying hash
function. Especially, it is not required that the cryptographic hash
function is collision-resistant for the security of XMSS.
This document describes a single-tree and a multi-tree variant of
XMSS. It also describes WOTS+, a variant of the Winternitz OTS
scheme introduced in [Huelsing13] that is used by XMSS. The schemes
are described with enough specificity to ensure interoperability
between implementations.
This document is structured as follows. Notation is introduced in
Section 2. Section 3 describes the WOTS+ signature system. MTS
schemes are defined in Section 4: the eXtended Merkle Signature
Scheme (XMSS) in Section 4.1, and its Multi-Tree variant (XMSS^MT) in
Section 4.2. Parameter sets are described in Section 5. Section 6
describes the rationale behind choices in this note. The IANA
registry for these signature systems is described in Section 7.
Finally, security considerations are presented in Section 8.
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1.1. Conventions Used In This Document
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
2. Notation
2.1. Data Types
Bytes and byte strings are the fundamental data types. A byte is a
sequence of eight bits. A single byte is denoted as a pair of
hexadecimal digits with a leading "0x". A byte string is an ordered
sequence of zero or more bytes and is denoted as an ordered sequence
of hexadecimal characters with a leading "0x". For example, 0xe534f0
is a byte string of length 3. An array of byte strings is an
ordered, indexed set starting with index 0 in which all byte strings
have identical length. If not stated or handled otherwise, we assume
big-endian representation of data types.
2.2. Operators
When a and b are integers, mathematical operators are defined as
follows:
^ : a ^ b denotes the result of a raised to the power of b.
* : a * b denotes the product of a and b. This operator is
sometimes used implicitly in the absence of ambiguity, as in usual
mathematical notation.
/ : a / b denotes the quotient of a by b.
% : a % b denotes the non-negative remainder of the integer
division of a by b.
+ : a + b denotes the sum of a and b.
- : a - b denotes the difference of a and b.
The standard order of operations is used when evaluating arithmetic
expressions.
Arrays are used in the common way, where the i^th element of an array
A is denoted A[i]. Byte strings are treated as arrays of bytes where
necessary: If X is a byte string, then X[i] denotes its i^th byte,
where X[0] is the leftmost byte.
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If A and B are byte strings of equal length, then:
A AND B denotes the bitwise logical conjunction operation.
A XOR B denotes the bitwise logical exclusive disjunction
operation.
When B is a byte and i is an integer, then B >> i denotes the logical
right-shift operation. Similarly, B << i denotes the logical left-
shift operation.
If X is a x-byte string and Y a y-byte string, then X || Y denotes
the concatenation of X and Y, with X || Y = X[0] ... X[x-1] Y[0] ...
Y[y-1].
2.3. Functions
If x is a non-negative real number, then we define the following
functions:
ceil(x) : returns the smallest integer greater or equal than x.
floor(x) : returns the largest integer less or equal than x.
lg(x) : returns the logarithm to base 2 of x.
2.4. Integer to Byte Conversion
If x and y are non-negative integers, we define Z = toByte(x,y) the
y-byte representation of x as the y-byte string that contains the
binary representation of x padded with zeros in the most significant
bit positions in little endian byte-order.
2.5. Hash Function Address Scheme
The schemes described in this document randomize each hash function
call. This means that aside of the initial message digest, for each
hash function call a different key and different bitmask is used.
These values are pseudorandomly generated using a pseudorandom
generator that takes a seed S and a 16-byte address A. The latter is
used to select the A-th n-byte block from the PRG output where n is
the security parameter. Here we explain the structure of address A.
We explain the construction of the addresses in the following
sections where they are used.
The schemes in the next two sections use two kinds of hash functions
parameterized by security parameter n. For the hash tree
constructions a hash function that maps 2n-byte inputs and an n-byte
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key to n-byte outputs is used. To randomize this function, 3n bytes
are needed - n bytes for the key and 2n bytes for a bitmask. For the
one-time signature scheme constructions a hash function that maps
n-byte inputs and n-byte keys to n-byte outputs is used. To
randomize this function, 2n bytes are needed - n bytes for the key
and n bytes for a bitmask. Consequently, three addresses are needed
for the first function and two addresses for the second one.
There are three different address formats for the different use
cases. One format for the hashes used in one-time signature schemes,
one for hashes used within the main Merkle-tree construction, and one
for hashes used in the L-trees. The latter being used to compress
one-time public keys. All these formats share as much format as
possible. In the following we describe these formats in detail.
An address is structured as follows. It always starts with 46 zero
bits in the most significant bits. These are followed by a layer
address of 8 bits, and a tree address of 24 bits. The next bit
decides whether it is an OTS construction or a hash tree address.
This OTS bit is set to zero for a tree hash address and it is set to
one for an OTS hash address.
We first describe the OTS address case as the hash tree case again
splits into two cases. In this case, the OTS bit is followed by a
24-bit OTS address that encodes the index of the OTS key pair within
a tree. The next 16 bits encode the chain address followed by 8 bits
that encode the address of the hash function call within a chain.
The key bit is used to generate two different addresses for one hash
function call. The bit is set to one to generate the key. To
generate the n-byte bitmask, the key bit is set to zero.
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Index i for OTS hash
+------------------------+
| Padding = 0 (46 bit)|
+------------------------+
| layer address (8 bit)|
+------------------------+
| tree address (24 bit)|
+------------------------+
| OTS bit = 1 (1 bit)|
+------------------------+
| OTS address (24 bit)|
+------------------------+
| chain address (16 bit)|
+------------------------+
| hash address (8 bit)|
+------------------------+
| key bit (1 bit)|
+------------------------+
Now we describe the hash tree address case. This case again splits
into two. The OTS bit is followed by an L-tree bit. This bit is set
to zero in case of an L-tree and set to one for main tree nodes. We
first discuss the L-tree case. In this case the L-tree bit is
followed by a 24 bit L-tree address, encoding the index of the leaf
computed with this L-tree. The next 6 bits encode the height of the
node inside the L-tree and the following 16 bit encode the index of
the node at that height, inside the L-tree. The last two bits are
used to generate three different addresses for one node. The first
of these bits is set to one to generate the key. In that case the
last bit is always zero. To generate the 2n-byte bitmask, the key
bit is set to zero. The most significant n bytes are generated using
the address with the last bit zero. The least significant bytes are
generated using the address with the last bit set to one.
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An L-tree address
+------------------------+
| Padding = 0 (46 bit)|
+------------------------+
| layer address (8 bit)|
+------------------------+
| tree address (24 bit)|
+------------------------+
| OTS bit = 0 (1 bit)|
+------------------------+
| L-tree bit = 1 (1 bit)|
+------------------------+
| L-tree address (24 bit)|
+------------------------+
| tree height (6 bit)|
+------------------------+
| tree index (16 bit)|
+------------------------+
| key bit (1 bit)|
+------------------------+
| block bit (1 bit)|
+------------------------+
We now describe the remaining format for the main tree hash
addresses. In this case the L-tree bit is set to zero and followed
by 14 zero bits padding as there are less hash tree addresses
required. The next 8 bits encode the height of the tree node to be
computed within the tree, followed by 24 bits that encode the index
of this node at that height. The last two bits are used to generate
three different addresses for one node as described for the L-tree
case. The first of these bits is set to one to generate the key. In
that case the last bit is always zero. To generate the 2n-byte
bitmask, the key bit is set to zero. The most significant n bytes
are generated using the address with the last bit zero. The least
significant bytes are generated using the address with the last bit
set to one.
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A hash tree address
+------------------------+
| Padding = 0 (46 bit)|
+------------------------+
| layer address (8 bit)|
+------------------------+
| tree address (24 bit)|
+------------------------+
| OTS bit = 0 (1 bit)|
+------------------------+
| L-tree bit = 0 (1 bit)|
+------------------------+
| Padding = 0 (14 bit)|
+------------------------+
| tree height (8 bit)|
+------------------------+
| tree index (24 bit)|
+------------------------+
| key bit (1 bit)|
+------------------------+
| block bit (1 bit)|
+------------------------+
All fields within these addresses encode unsigned integers. When
describing the generation of addresses we use setter-methods that
take positive integers and set the bits of a field to the binary
representation of that integer of the length of the field. We also
assume that setting the L-tree bit to zero, does also set the
(second) padding block to zero.
2.6. Strings of Base w Numbers
A byte string can be considered as a string of base w numbers, i.e.
integers in the set {0, ... , w - 1}. The correspondence is defined
by the function base_w(X, w) as follows. If X is an m-byte string, w
is a member of the set {4, 16}, then base_w(X, w) outputs a length 8
* m / lg(w) array of integers between 0 and w - 1.
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Algorithm 1: base_w(X, w)
int in = 0;
int out = 0;
unsigned int total = 0;
int bits = 0;
int consumed;
for ( consumed = 0; consumed < 8 * m; consumed += lg(w) ) {
if ( bits == 0 ) {
total = X[m - 1 - in];
in++;
bits += 8;
}
bits -= lg(w);
basew[out] = (total >> bits) AND (w - 1);
out++;
}
return basew;
For example, if X is the (big endian) byte string 0x1234, then
base_w(X, 4) returns the array a = {0, 3, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 2}.
X (represented as bits)
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
| 0| 0| 0| 1| 0| 0| 1| 0| 0| 0| 1| 1| 0| 1| 0| 0|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
X[0] | X[1]
X (represented as base 4 numbers)
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
base_w(X, 4)
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
a[0] a[1] a[2] a[3] a[4] a[5] a[6] a[7]
2.7. Member Functions
To simplify algorithm descriptions, we assume the existence of member
functions. If a complex data structure like a public key PK contains
a value X then getX(PK) returns the value of X for this public key.
Accordingly, setX(PK, X, Y) sets value X in PK to the value hold by
Y.
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3. Primitives
3.1. WOTS+ One-Time Signatures
This section describes the WOTS+ one-time signature system, in a
version similar to [Huelsing13]. WOTS+ is a one-time signature
scheme; while a private key can be used to sign any message, each
private key MUST be used only once to sign a single message. In
particular, if a secret key is used to sign two different messages,
the scheme becomes insecure.
The section starts with an explanation of parameters. Afterwards,
the so-called chaining function, which forms the main building block
of the WOTS+ scheme, is explained. It follows a description of the
algorithms for key generation, signing and verification. Finally,
pseudorandom key generation is discussed.
3.1.1. WOTS+ Parameters
WOTS+ uses the parameters m, n, and w; they all take positive integer
values. These parameters are summarized as follows:
m : the message length in bytes
n : the length, in bytes, of a secret key, public key, or
signature element
w : the Winternitz parameter; it is a member of the set {4, 16}
The parameters are used to compute values len, len_1 and len_2:
len : the number of n-byte string elements in a WOTS+ secret key,
public key, and signature. It is computed as len = len_1 + len_2,
with len_1 = ceil(8m/lg(w)) and len_2 =
floor(lg(len_1*(w-1))/lg(w)) + 1
The value of n is determined by the cryptographic hash function used
for WOTS+. The hash function is chosen to ensure an appropriate
level of security. The value of m is the input length that can be
processed by the signing algorithm. It is often the length of a
message digest. The parameter w can be chosen from the set {4, 16}.
A larger value of w results in shorter signatures but slower overall
signing operations; it has little effect on security. Choices of w
are limited to the values 4 and 16 since these values yield optimal
trade-offs and easy implementation.
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3.1.1.1. WOTS+ Functions
The WOTS+ algorithm uses a keyed cryptographic hash function F. F
accepts and returns byte strings of length n using keys of length n.
Security requirements on F are discussed in Section 8. In addition,
WOTS+ uses a pseudorandom generator G. G takes as input an n-byte
key and a 16-byte index and generates pseudorandom outputs of length
n. Security requirements on G are discussed in Section 8.
3.1.2. WOTS+ Chaining Function
The chaining function (Algorithm 2) computes an iteration of F on an
n-byte input using outputs of G. It takes a hash function address as
input. This address will have the first 119 bits set to encode the
address of this chain. In each iteration, one output of G is used as
key for F and a second output is XORed to the intermediate result
before it is processed by F. In the following, ADRS is a 16-byte
hash function address as specified in Section 2.5 and SEED is an
n-byte string, both used to generate the outputs of G. The chaining
function takes as input an n-byte string X, a start index i, a number
of steps s, as well as ADRS and SEED. The chaining function returns
as output the value obtained by iterating F for s times on input X,
using the outputs of G.
Algorithm 2: Chaining Function
if ( s is equal to 0 ) {
return X;
}
if ( (i+s) > w-1 ) {
return NULL;
}
byte[n] tmp = chain(X, i, s-1, SEED, ADRS);
ADRS.setHashAddress(i+s-1);
ADRS.setKeyBit(0);
BM = G(SEED, ADRS);
ADRS.setKeyBit(1);
KEY = G(SEED, ADRS);
tmp = F(KEY, tmp XOR BM);
return tmp;
3.1.3. WOTS+ Private Key
The private key in WOTS+, denoted by sk, is a length len array of
n-byte strings. This private key MUST be only used to sign exactly
one message. Each n-byte string MUST either be selected randomly
from the uniform distribution or using a cryptographically secure
pseudorandom procedure. In the latter case, the security of the used
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procedure MUST at least match that of the WOTS+ parameters used. For
a further discussion on pseudorandom key generation see the end of
this section. The following pseudocode (Algorithm 3) describes an
algorithm for generating sk.
Algorithm 3: Generating a WOTS+ Private Key
for ( i = 0; i < len; i = i + 1 ) {
set sk[i] to a uniformly random n-byte string;
}
return sk;
3.1.4. WOTS+ Public Key
A WOTS+ key pair defines a virtual structure that consists of len
hash chains of length w. The len n-byte strings in the secret key
each define the start node for one hash chain. The public key
consists of the end nodes of these hash chains. Therefore, like the
secret key, the public key is also a length len array of n-byte
strings. To compute the hash chain, the chaining function (Algorithm
2) is used. A hash function address ADRS and a seed SEED has to be
provided by the calling algorithm. This address will encode the
address of the WOTS+ key pair within a greater structure. Hence, a
WOTS+ algorithm MUST NOT manipulate any other fields of ADRS than
chain address, hash address and key bit. Please note that the SEED
used here is public information also available to a verifier. The
following pseudocode (Algorithm 4) describes an algorithm for
generating the public key pk, where sk is the private key.
Algorithm 4 (WOTS_genPK): Generating a WOTS+ Public Key From a
Private Key
for ( i = 0; i < len; i = i + 1 ) {
ADRS.setChainAddress(i);
pk[i] = chain(sk[i], 0, w-1, SEED, ADRS);
}
return pk;
3.1.5. WOTS+ Signature Generation
A WOTS+ signature is a length len array of n-byte strings. The WOTS+
signature is generated by mapping a message to len integers between 0
and w - 1. To this end, the message is transformed into base w
numbers using the base_w function defined in Section 2.6. Next, a
checksum is computed and appended to the transformed message as len_2
base w numbers using the base_w function. Each of the base w
integers is used to select a node from a different hash chain. The
signature is formed by concatenating the selected nodes. The
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pseudocode for signature generation is shown below (Algorithm 5),
where M is the message and sig is the resulting signature.
Algorithm 5 (WOTS_sign): Generating a signature from a private key
and a message
csum = 0;
// convert message to base w
msg = base_w(M,w);
// compute checksum
for ( i = 0; i < len_1; i = i + 1 ) {
csum = csum + w - 1 - msg[i];
}
// Convert csum to base w
csum = csum << ( 8 - ( len_2 % 8 ));
len_2_bytes = ceil( len_2 / 8 );
msg = msg || base_w(toByte(csum, len_2_bytes), w);
for ( i = 0; i < len; i = i + 1 ) {
ADRS.setChainAddress(i);
sig[i] = chain(sk[i], 0, msg[i], SEED, ADRS);
}
return sig;
The data format for a signature is given below.
WOTS+ Signature
+---------------------------------+
| algorithm OID |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| sig_ots[0] | n bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
~ .... ~
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| sig_ots[len-1] | n bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
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3.1.6. WOTS+ Signature Verification
In order to verify a signature sig on a message M, the verifier
computes a WOTS+ public key value from the signature. This can be
done by "completing" the chain computations starting from the
signature values, using the base w values of the message hash and its
checksum. This step, called WOTS_pkFromSig, is described below in
Algorithm 6. The result of WOTS_pkFromSig is then compared to the
given public key. If the values are equal, the signature is
accepted. Otherwise, the signature is rejected.
Algorithm 6 (WOTS_pkFromSig): Computing a WOTS+ public key from a
message and its signature
csum = 0;
// convert message to base w
msg = base_w(M,w);
// compute checksum
for ( i = 0; i < len_1; i = i + 1 ) {
csum = csum + w - 1 - msg[i];
}
// Convert csum to base w
csum = csum << ( 8 - ( len_2 % 8 ));
len_2_bytes = ceil( len_2 / 8 );
msg = msg || base_w(toByte(csum, len_2_bytes), w);
for ( i = 0; i < len; i = i + 1 ) {
ADRS.setChainAddress(i);
tmp_pk[i] = chain(sig[i], msg[i], w-1-msg[i], SEED, ADRS);
}
return tmp_pk;
Note: XMSS uses WOTS_pkFromSig to compute a public key value and
delays the comparison to a later point.
3.1.7. Pseudorandom Key Generation
An implementation MAY use a cryptographically secure pseudorandom
method to generate the secret key from a single n-byte value. For
example, the method suggested in [BDH11] and explained below MAY be
used. Other methods MAY be used. The choice of a pseudorandom
method does not affect interoperability, but the cryptographic
strength MUST match that of the used WOTS+ parameters.
The advantage of generating the secret key elements from a random
n-byte string is that only this n-byte string needs to be stored
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instead of the full secret key. The key can be regenerated when
needed. The suggested method from [BDH11] can be described using G.
During key generation a uniformly random n-byte string S is sampled
from a secure source of randomness. This string S is stored as
secret key. The secret key elements are computed as sk[i] = G'(S,
toByte(i,16)) whenever needed. Please note that this seed S MUST be
different from the seed SEED used to randomize the hash function
calls. Also, this seed S MUST be kept secret.
4. Schemes
In this section, the eXtended Merkle Signature Scheme (XMSS) is
described using WOTS+. XMSS comes in two flavors: First, a single-
tree variant (XMSS) and second a multi-tree variant (XMSS^MT). Both
allow combining a large number of WOTS+ key pairs under a single
small public key. The main ingredient added is a binary hash tree
construction. XMSS uses a single hash tree while XMSS^MT uses a tree
of XMSS key pairs.
4.1. XMSS: eXtended Merkle Signature Scheme
XMSS is a method for signing a potentially large but fixed number of
messages. It is based on the Merkle signature scheme. XMSS uses
five cryptographic components: WOTS+ as OTS method, two additional
cryptographic hash functions H and H_m, a pseudorandom function
PRF_m, and a pseudorandom generator G. One of the main advantages of
XMSS with WOTS+ is that it does not rely on the collision resistance
of the used hash functions but on weaker properties. Each XMSS
public/private key pair is associated with a perfect binary tree,
every node of which contains an n-byte value. Each tree leaf
contains a special tree hash of a WOTS+ public key value. Each non-
leaf tree node is computed by first concatenating the values of its
child nodes, computing the XOR with a bitmask, and applying the keyed
hash function H to the result. The bitmasks and the keys for the
hash function H are generated from a (public) seed that is part of
the public key using the pseudorandom generator G. The value
corresponding to the root of the XMSS tree forms the XMSS public key
together with the seed.
To generate a key pair that can be used to sign 2^h messages, a tree
of height h is used. XMSS is a stateful signature scheme, meaning
that the secret key changes after every signature. To prevent one-
time secret keys from being used twice, the WOTS+ key pairs are
numbered from 0 to (2^h)-1 according to the related leaf, starting
from index 0 for the leftmost leaf. The secret key contains an index
that is updated after every signature, such that it contains the
index of the next unused WOTS+ key pair.
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A signature consists of the index of the used WOTS+ key pair, the
WOTS+ signature on the message and the so-called authentication path.
The latter is a vector of tree nodes that allow a verifier to compute
a value for the root of the tree starting from a WOTS+ signature. A
verifier computes the root value and compares it to the respective
value in the XMSS public key. If they match, the signature is valid.
The XMSS secret key consists of all WOTS+ secret keys and the actual
index. To reduce storage, a pseudorandom key generation procedure,
as described in [BDH11], MAY be used. The security of the used
method MUST at least match the security of the XMSS instance.
4.1.1. XMSS Parameters
XMSS has the following parameters:
h : the height (number of levels - 1) of the tree
n : the length in bytes of each node
m : the length of the message digest
w : the Winternitz parameter as defined for WOTS+ in Section 3.1
There are N = 2^h leaves in the tree.
For XMSS and XMSS^MT, secret and public keys are denoted by SK and
PK. For WOTS+, secret and public keys are denoted by sk and pk,
respectively. XMSS and XMSS^MT signatures are denoted by Sig. WOTS+
signatures are denoted by sig.
4.1.2. XMSS Hash Functions
Besides the cryptographic hash function F required by WOTS+, XMSS
uses four more functions:
A cryptographic hash function H. H accepts n-byte keys and byte
strings of length (2 * n) and returns an n-byte string.
A cryptographic hash function H_m. H_m accepts m-byte keys and
byte strings of arbitrary length and returns an m-byte string.
A pseudorandom function PRF_m. PRF_m accepts byte strings of
arbitrary length and an m-byte key and returns an m-byte string.
A pseudorandom generator G. G takes as input an n-byte key and a
16-byte index and generates pseudorandom outputs of length n.
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4.1.3. XMSS Private Key
An XMSS private key contains N = 2^h WOTS+ private keys, the leaf
index idx of the next WOTS+ private key that has not yet been used
and SK_PRF, an m-byte key for the PRF. The leaf index idx is
initialized to zero when the XMSS private key is created. The PRF
key SK_PRF MUST be sampled from a secure source of randomness that
follows the uniform distribution. The WOTS+ secret keys MUST be
generated as described in Section 3.1. To reduce the secret key
size, a cryptographic pseudorandom method MAY be used as discussed at
the end of this section. For the following algorithm descriptions,
the existence of a method getWOTS_SK(SK,i) is assumed. This method
takes as inputs an XMSS secret key SK and an integer i and outputs
the i^th WOTS+ secret key of SK.
4.1.4. Randomized Tree Hashing
To improve readability we introduce a function RAND_HASH(LEFT, RIGHT,
SEED, ADRS) that does the randomized hashing. It takes as input two
n-byte values LEFT and RIGHT that represent the left and the right
half of the hash function input, the seed SEED for G and the address
ADRS of this hash function call. RAND_HASH first uses G with SEED
and ADRS to generate a key KEY and n-byte bitmasks BM_0, BM_1. Then
it returns the randomized hash H(KEY, (LEFT XOR BM_0)||(RIGHT XOR
BM_1)).
Algorithm 7: RAND_HASH
ADRS.setKeyBit(0);
ADRS.setBlockBit(0);
BM_0 = G(SEED, ADRS);
ADRS.setBlockBit(1);
BM_1 = G(SEED, ADRS);
ADRS.setKeyBit(1);
ADRS.setBlockBit(0);
KEY = G(SEED, ADRS);
return H(KEY, (LEFT XOR BM_0) || (RIGHT XOR BM_1));
4.1.5. L-Trees
To compute the leaves of the binary hash tree, a so-called L-tree is
used. An L-tree is an unbalanced binary hash tree, distinct but
similar to the main XMSS binary hash tree. The algorithm ltree
(Algorithm 8) takes as input a WOTS+ public key pk and compresses it
to a single n-byte value pk[0]. Towards this end it also takes an
address ADRS as input that encodes the address of the L-tree. The
algorithm uses G and the seed SEED generated during public key
generation.
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Algorithm 8: ltree
unsigned int len' = len;
unsigned int j = 0;
ADRS.setTreeHeight(0);
while ( len' > 1 ) {
for ( i = 0; i < floor(len' / 2); i = i + 1 ) {
ADRS.setTreeIndex(i);
pk[i] = RAND_HASH(pk[2i], pk[2i + 1], SEED, ADRS);
}
if ( len' % 2 == 1 ) {
pk[floor(len' / 2) + 1] = pk[len'];
}
len' = ceil(len' / 2);
ADRS.setTreeHeight(ADRS.getTreeHeight() + 1);
}
return pk[0];
4.1.6. TreeHash
For the computation of the internal n-byte nodes of a Merkle tree,
the subroutine treeHash (Algorithm 9) accepts an XMSS secret key SK,
an unsigned integer s (the start index), an unsigned integer t (the
target node height), a seed SEED, and an address ADRS that encodes
the address of the containing tree. For the height of a node within
a tree counting starts with the leaves at height zero. The treeHash
algorithm returns the root node of a tree of height t with the
leftmost leaf being the hash of the WOTS+ pk with index s. It is
REQUIRED that s % 2^t = 0, i.e. that the leaf at index s is a left
most leaf of a sub-tree of height t. Otherwise the hash-addressing
scheme fails. The treeHash algorithm uses a stack holding up to
(t-1) n-byte strings, with the usual stack functions push() and
pop().
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Algorithm 9: treeHash
if( s % (1 << t) != 0 ) return -1;
for ( i = 0; i < 2^t; i = i + 1 ) {
ADRS.setOTSBit(1);
ADRS.setOTSAddress(s+i);
pk = WOTS_genPK (getWOTS_SK(SK, s+i), SEED, ADRS);
ADRS.setOTSBit(0);
ADRS.setLTreeBit(1);
ADRS.setLTreeAddress(s+i);
node = ltree(pk, SEED, ADRS);
ADRS.setLTreeBit(0);
ADRS.setTreeHeight(0);
ADRS.setTreeIndex(i+s);
while ( Top node on Stack has same height t' as node ) {
ADRS.setTreeIndex((ADRS.getTreeIndex() - 1) / 2);
node = RAND_HASH(Stack.pop(), node, SEED, ADRS);
ADRS.setTreeHeight(ADRS.getTreeHeight() + 1);
}
Stack.push(node);
}
return Stack.pop();
4.1.7. XMSS Public Key
The XMSS public key is computed as described in XMSS_genPK (Algorithm
10). The algorithm takes the XMSS secret key SK, and the tree height
h. The XMSS public key PK consists of the root of the binary hash
tree and the seed SEED. SEED is generated as a uniformly random
n-byte string. Although SEED is public, it is important that it is
generated using a good entropy source. The root is computed using
treeHash. For XMSS, there is only a single main tree. Hence, the
used address is set to the all-zero-string.
Algorithm 10: XMSS_genPK - Generate an XMSS public key from an XMSS
private key
set SEED to a uniformly random n-byte string;
ADRS = toByte(0,16);
root = treeHash(SK, 0, h, SEED, ADRS);
PK = root || SEED;
return PK;
Public and private key generation MAY be interleaved to save space.
Especially, when a pseudorandom method is used to generate the secret
key, generation MAY be done when the respective WOTS+ key pair is
needed by treeHash.
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The format of an XMSS public key is given below.
XMSS Public Key
+---------------------------------+
| algorithm OID |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| root node | n bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| SEED | n bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
4.1.8. XMSS Signature
An XMSS signature is a (4 + m + (len + h) * n)-byte string consisting
of
the index idx_sig of the used WOTS+ key pair (4 bytes),
a byte string r used for randomized message hashing (m bytes),
a WOTS+ signature sig_ots (len * n bytes),
the so-called authentication path 'auth' for the leaf associated
with the used WOTS+ key pair (h * n bytes).
The authentication path is an array of h n-byte strings. It contains
the siblings of the nodes on the path from the used leaf to the root.
It does not contain the nodes on the path itself. These nodes are
needed by a verifier to compute a root node for the tree from the
WOTS+ public key. A node Node is addressed by its position in the
tree. Node(x,y) denotes the x^th node on level y with x = 0 being
the leftmost node on a level. The leaves are on level 0, the root is
on level h. An authentication path contains exactly one node on
every layer 0 <= x <= h-1. For the i^th WOTS+ key pair, counting
from zero, the j^th authentication path node is
Node(j, floor(i / (2^j)) XOR 1)
Given an XMSS secret key SK and seed SEED, all nodes in a tree are
determined. Their value is defined in terms of treeHash(Algorithm
9). Hence, one can compute the authentication path:
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ADRS = toByte(0, 16);
for (j = 0; j < h; j++) {
k = floor(i / (2^j)) XOR 1;
auth[j] = treeHash(SK, k * 2^j, j, SEED, ADRS);
}
The data format for a signature is given below.
XMSS Signature
+---------------------------------+
| |
| index idx_sig | 4 bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| randomness r | m bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| WOTS+ signature sig_ots | len * n bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| auth[0] | n bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
~ .... ~
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| auth[h-1] | n bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
4.1.9. XMSS Signature Generation
To compute the XMSS signature of a message M with an XMSS private
key, the signer first computes a randomized message digest. Then a
WOTS+ signature of the message is computed using the next unused
WOTS+ private key. Next, the authentication path is computed.
Finally, the secret key is updated, i.e. idx is incremented. An
implementation MUST NOT output the signature before the updated
private key.
The node values of the authentication path MAY be computed in any
way. This computation is assumed to be performed by the subroutine
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buildAuth for the function XMSS_sign, as below. The fastest
alternative is to store all tree nodes and set the array in the
signature by copying them, respectively. The least storage-intensive
alternative is to recompute all nodes for each signature online.
There exist several algorithms in between, with different time/
storage trade-offs. For an overview see [BDS09]. Note that the
details of this procedure are not relevant to interoperability; it is
not necessary to know any of these details in order to perform the
signature verification operation. As a consequence, buildAuth is not
specified here.
The algorithm XMSS_sign (Algorithm 11) described below calculates an
updated secret key SK and a signature on a message M. XMSS_sign
takes as inputs a message M of an arbitrary length, an XMSS secret
key SK and seed SEED. It returns the byte string containing the
concatenation of the updated secret key SK and the signature Sig.
Algorithm 11: XMSS_sign - Generate an XMSS signature and update the
XMSS secret key
idx_sig = getIdx(SK);
ADRS = toByte(0,16);
auth = buildAuth(SK, idx_sig, SEED, ADRS);
byte[m] r = PRF_m(getSK_PRF(SK), M);
byte[m] M' = H_m(r, M);
ADRS.setOTSBit(0);
ADRS.setOTSAddress(idx_sig);
sig_ots = WOTS_sign(getWOTS_SK(SK, idx_sig), M', SEED, ADRS);
Sig = (idx_sig || r || sig_ots || auth);
setIdx(SK, idx_sig + 1);
return (SK || Sig);
4.1.10. XMSS Signature Verification
An XMSS signature is verified by first computing the message digest
using randomness r and a message M. Then the used WOTS+ public key
pk_ots is computed from the WOTS+ signature using WOTS_pkFromSig.
The WOTS+ public key in turn is used to compute the corresponding
leaf using an L-tree. The leaf, together with index idx_sig and
authentication path auth is used to compute an alternative root value
for the tree. These first steps are done by XMSS_rootFromSig
(Algorithm 12). The verification succeeds if and only if the
computed root value matches the one in the XMSS public key. In any
other case it MUST return fail.
The main part of XMSS signature verification is done by the function
XMSS_rootFromSig (Algorithm 12) described below. XMSS_rootFromSig
takes as inputs an XMSS signature Sig, a message M, and seed SEED.
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XMSS_rootFromSig returns an n-byte string holding the value of the
root of a tree defined by the input data.
Algorithm 12: XMSS_rootFromSig - Compute a root node using an XMSS
signature, a message, and seed SEED
byte[m] M' = H_m(r, M);
ADRS = toByte(0,16);
ADRS.setOTSBit(1);
ADRS.setOTSAddress(idx_sig);
pk_ots = WOTS_pkFromSig(sig_ots, M', SEED, ADRS);
ADRS.setOTSBit(0);
ADRS.setLTreeBit(1);
ADRS.setLTreeAddress(idx_sig);
byte[n][2] node;
node[0] = ltree(pk_ots, SEED, ADRS);
ADRS.setLTreeBit(0);
ADRS.setTreeIndex(idx_sig);
for ( k = 0; k < h; k = k + 1 ) {
ADRS.setTreeHeight(k);
if ( floor(idx_sig / (2^k)) % 2 is equal to 0 ) {
ADRS.setTreeIndex(ADRS.getTreeIndex() / 2);
node[1] = RAND_HASH(node[0], auth[k], SEED, ADRS);
} else {
ADRS.setTreeIndex(ADRS.getTreeIndex() - 1 / 2);
node[1] = RAND_HASH(auth[k], node[0], SEED, ADRS);
}
node[0] = node[1];
}
return node[0];
The full XMSS signature verification is depicted below. XMSS^MT uses
only XMSS_rootFromSig and delegates the comparison to a later
comparison of data depending on its output.
Algorithm 13: XMSS_verify - Verify an XMSS signature using an XMSS
signature, the corresponding XMSS public key and a message
byte[n] node = XMSS_rootFromSig(Sig, M, getSEED(PK));
if ( node is equal to root in PK ) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
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4.1.11. Pseudorandom Key Generation
An implementation MAY use a cryptographically secure pseudorandom
method to generate the XMSS secret key from a single n-byte value.
For example, the method suggested in [BDH11] and explained below MAY
be used. Other methods MAY be used. The choice of a pseudorandom
method does not affect interoperability, but the cryptographic
strength MUST match that of the used XMSS parameters.
For XMSS a similar method than the one used for WOTS+ can be used.
The suggested method from [BDH11] can be described using G. During
key generation a uniformly random n-byte string S is sampled from a
secure source of randomness. This seed S MUST NOT be confused with
the public seed SEED. The seed S MUST be independent of SEED and as
it is the main secret, it MUST be kept secret. This seed S is used
to generate an n-byte value S_ots for each WOTS+ key pair. The
n-byte value S_ots can then be used to compute the respective WOTS+
secret key using the method described in Section 3.1.7. The seeds
for the WOTS+ key pairs are computed as S_ots[i] = G(S,i). The
second parameter of G is the index i of the WOTS+ key pair,
represented as 16-byte string in the common way. An advantage of
this method is that a WOTS+ key can be computed using only len + 1
evaluations of G when S is given.
4.1.12. Free Index Handling and Partial Secret Keys
Some applications might require to work with partial secret keys or
copies of secret keys. Examples include delegation of signing rights
/ proxy signatures, and load balancing. Such applications MAY use
their own key format and MAY use a signing algorithm different from
the one described above. The index in partial secret keys or copies
of a secret key MAY be manipulated as required by the applications.
However, applications MUST establish means that guarantee that each
index and thereby each WOTS+ key pair is used to sign only a single
message.
4.2. XMSS^MT: Multi-Tree XMSS
XMSS^MT is a method for signing a large but fixed number of messages.
It was first described in [HRB13]. It builds on XMSS. XMSS^MT uses
a tree of several layers of XMSS trees. The trees on top and
intermediate layers are used to sign the root nodes of the trees on
the respective layer below. Trees on the lowest layer are used to
sign the actual messages. All XMSS trees have equal height.
Consider an XMSS^MT tree of total height h that has d layers of XMSS
trees of height h / d. Then layer d - 1 contains one XMSS tree,
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layer d - 2 contains 2^(h / d) XMSS trees, and so on. Finally, layer
0 contains 2^(h - h / d) XMSS trees.
4.2.1. XMSS^MT Parameters
In addition to all XMSS parameters, an XMSS^MT system requires the
number of tree layers d, specified as an integer value that divides h
without remainder. The same tree height h / d and the same
Winternitz parameter w are used for all tree layers.
All the trees on higher layers sign root nodes of other trees which
are n-byte strings. Hence, no message compression is needed and
WOTS+ is used to sign the root nodes themselves instead of their hash
values. Hence the WOTS+ message length for these layers is n not m.
Accordingly, the values of len_1, len_2 and len change for these
layers. The parameters len_1_n, len_2_n, and len_n denote the
respective values computed using n as message length for WOTS+.
4.2.2. XMSS Algorithms Without Message Hash
As all XMSS trees besides those on layer 0 are used to sign short
fixed length messages, the initial message hash can be omitted. In
the description below XMSS_sign_wo_hash and XMSS_rootFromSig_wo_hash
are versions of XMSS_sign and XMSS_rootFromSig, respectively, that
omit the initial message hash. They are obtained by setting M' = M
in the above algorithms. Accordingly, the evaluations of H_m and
PRF_m MUST be omitted. This also means that no randomization element
r for the message hash is required. XMSS signatures generated by
XMSS_sign_wo_hash and verified by XMSS_rootFromSig_wo_hash MUST NOT
contain a value r.
4.2.3. XMSS^MT Private Key
An XMSS^MT private key SK_MT consists of one reduced XMSS private key
for each XMSS tree. These reduced XMSS private keys contain no
pseudorandom function key and no index. Instead, SK_MT contains a
single m-byte pseudorandom function key SK_PRF and a single (ceil(h /
8))-byte index idx_MT. The index is a global index over all WOTS+
key pairs of all XMSS trees on layer 0. It is initialized with 0.
It stores the index of the last used WOTS+ key pair on the bottom
layer, i.e. a number between 0 and 2^h - 1.
The algorithm descriptions below uses a function getXMSS_SK(SK, x, y)
that outputs the reduced secret key of the x^th XMSS tree on the y^th
layer.
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4.2.4. XMSS^MT Public Key
The XMSS^MT public key PK_MT contains the root of the single XMSS
tree on layer d-1 and the seed SEED. The pseudorandom generator G is
used with SEED to generate the bitmasks and keys for all XMSS trees.
Algorithm 14 shows pseudocode to generate PK_MT. First, the n-byte
SEED is chosen uniformly at random. The n-byte root node of the top
layer tree is computed using treeHash. The algorithm XMSSMT_genPK
takes the XMSS^MT secret key SK_MT as an input and outputs an XMSS^MT
public key PK_MT.
Algorithm 14: XMSSMT_genPK - Generate an XMSS^MT public key from an
XMSS^MT private key
set SEED to a uniformly random n-byte string;
ADRS = toByte(0,16);
ADRS.setLayerAddress(d-1);
root = treeHash(getXMSS_SK(SK_MT, 0, d - 1), 0, h / d, SEED, ADRS);
PK_MT = root || SEED;
return PK_MT;
The format of an XMSS^MT public key is given below.
XMSS^MT Public Key
+---------------------------------+
| algorithm OID |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| root node | n bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| SEED | n bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
4.2.5. XMSS^MT Signature
An XMSS^MT signature Sig_MT is a byte string of length (ceil(h / 8) +
m + (h + len + (d - 1) * len_n) * n). It consists of
the index idx_sig of the used WOTS+ key pair on the bottom layer
(ceil(h / 8) bytes),
a byte string r used for randomized message hashing (m bytes),
one reduced XMSS signature ((h + len) * n bytes),
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d-1 reduced XMSS signatures with message length n ((h + len_n) * n
bytes).
The reduced XMSS signatures contain no index idx and no byte string
r. They only contain a WOTS+ signature sig_ots and an authentication
path auth. The first reduced XMSS signature contains a WOTS+
signature that consists of len n-byte elements. The remaining
reduced XMSS signatures contain a WOTS+ signature on an n-byte
message that consists of len_n n-byte elements.
The data format for a signature is given below.
XMSS^MT signature
+---------------------------------+
| |
| index idx_sig | ceil(h / 8) bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| randomness r | m bytes
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| (reduced) XMSS signature Sig | (h + len) * n bytes
| (bottom layer 0) |
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| (reduced) XMSS signature Sig | (h + len_n) * n bytes
| (layer 1) |
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
~ .... ~
| |
+---------------------------------+
| |
| (reduced) XMSS signature Sig | (h + len_n) * n bytes
| (layer d-1) |
| |
+---------------------------------+
4.2.6. XMSS^MT Signature Generation
To compute the XMSS^MT signature Sig_MT of a message M using an
XMSS^MT private key SK_MT and seed SEED, XMSSMT_sign (Algorithm 15)
described below uses XMSS_sign and XMSS_sign_wo_hash as defined in
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Section 4.2.2. First, the signature index is set to idx. Next,
PRF_m is used to compute a pseudorandom m-byte string r. This m-byte
string is then used to compute a randomized message digest of length
m. The message digest is signed using the WOTS+ key pair on the
bottom layer with absolute index idx. The authentication path for
the WOTS+ key pair is computed as well as the root of the containing
XMSS tree. The root is signed by the parent XMSS tree. This is
repeated until the top tree is reached.
Algorithm 15: XMSSMT_sign - Generate an XMSS^MT signature and update
the XMSS^MT secret key
ADRS = toByte(0,16);
SK_PRF = getSK_PRF(SK_MT);
idx_sig = getIdx(SK_MT);
setIdx(SK_MT, idx_sig + 1);
Sig_MT = idx_sig;
unsigned int idx_tree = (h - h / d) most significant bits of idx_sig;
unsigned int idx_leaf = (h / d) least significant bits of idx_sig;
SK = idx_leaf || SK_PRF || getXMSS_SK(SK_MT, idx_tree, 0);
ADRS.setLayerAddress(0);
ADRS.setTreeAddress(idx_tree);
Sig_tmp = XMSS_sign(M, SK, SEED, ADRS);
Sig_tmp = Sig_tmp without idx;
Sig_MT = Sig_MT || Sig_tmp;
for ( j = 1; j < d; j = j + 1 ) {
root = treeHash(SK, 0, h / d, SEED, ADRS);
idx_leaf = (h / d) least significant bits of idx_tree;
idx_tree = (h - j * (h / d)) most significant bits of idx_tree;
SK = idx_leaf || SK_PRF || getXMSS_SK(SK_MT, idx_tree, j);
ADRS.setLayerAddress(j);
ADRS.setTreeAddress(idx_tree);
Sig_tmp = XMSS_sign_wo_hash(root, SK, SEED, ADRS)
with idx removed;
Sig_MT = Sig_MT || Sig_tmp;
}
return SK_MT || Sig_MT;
Algorithm 15 is only one method to compute XMSS^MT signatures.
Especially, there exist time-memory trade-offs that allow to reduce
the signing time to less than the signing time of an XMSS scheme with
tree height h / d. These trade-offs prevent certain values from
being recomputed several times by keeping a state and distribute all
computations over all signature generations. Details can be found in
[Huelsing13a].
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4.2.7. XMSS^MT Signature Verification
XMSS^MT signature verification (Algorithm 16) can be summarized as d
XMSS signature verifications with small changes. First, only the
message is hashed. The remaining XMSS signatures are on the root
nodes of trees which have a fixed length. Second, instead of
comparing the computed root node to a given value, a signature on the
root is verified. Only the root node of the top tree is compared to
the value in the XMSS^MT public key. XMSSMT_verify uses
XMSS_rootFromSig and XMSS_rootFromSig_wo_hash. XMSSMT_verify takes
as inputs an XMSS^MT signature Sig^MT, a message M and a public key
PK_MT. It outputs a boolean.
Algorithm 16: XMSSMT_verify - Verify an XMSS^MT signature Sig_MT on a
message M using an XMSS^MT public key PK_MT
idx = getIdx(Sig_MT);
SEED = getSEED(PK_MT);
ADRS = toByte(0,16);
unsigned int idx_leaf = (h / d) least significant bits of idx;
unsigned int idx_tree = (h - h / d) most significant bits of idx;
Sig' = leaf || setR(Sig_MT) || getXMSSSignature(Sig, 0);
ADRS.setLayerAddress(0);
ADRS.setTreeAddress(idx_tree);
byte[n] node = XMSS_rootFromSig(Sig', M, SEED, ADRS);
for ( j = 1; j < d; j = j + 1 ) {
idx_leaf = (h / d) least significant bytes of idx_tree;
idx_tree = (h - j * h / d) most significant bytes of idx_tree;
Sig' = idx_leaf || getXMSSSignature(Sig, j);
ADRS.setLayerAddress(j);
ADRS.setTreeAddress(idx_tree);
node = XMSS_rootFromSig_wo_hash(Sig', node, SEED, ADRS);
}
if ( node is equal to getRoot(PK_MT) ) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
4.2.8. Pseudorandom Key Generation
Like for XMSS, an implementation MAY use a cryptographically secure
pseudorandom method to generate the XMSS^MT secret key from a single
n-byte value. For example, the method explained below MAY be used.
Other methods MAY be used, too. The choice of a pseudorandom method
does not affect interoperability, but the cryptographic strength MUST
match that of the used XMSS parameters.
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For XMSS^MT a method similar to that for XMSS and WOTS+ can be used.
The method uses a G as pseudorandom generator. During key generation
a uniformly random n-byte string S_MT is sampled from a secure source
of randomness. This seed S_MT is used to generate one n-byte value S
for each XMSS key pair. This n-byte value can be used to compute the
respective XMSS secret key using the method described in
Section 4.1.11. Let S[x][y] be the seed for the x^th XMSS secret key
on layer y. The seeds are computed as S[x][y] = G(G(S, y), x). The
second parameter of G is the index x (resp. level y), represented as
16-byte string in the common way.
4.2.9. Free Index Handling and Partial Secret Keys
The content of Section 4.1.12 also applies to XMSS^MT.
5. Parameter Sets
This note provides a first basic set of parameter sets which are
assumed to cover most relevant applicants. Parameter sets for two
classical security levels are defined: 256 and 512 bits. Function
output sizes are n = m = 32 and 64 bytes. Considering quantum-
computer-aided attacks, these output sizes yield post-quantum
security of 128 and 256 bits, respectively.
For the n = m = 32 and n = m = 64 settings, we give parameters that
use SHA2-256 and SHA2-512 as defined in [FIPS180], respectively, and
ChaCha20 as defined in [RFC7539]. SHA2 does not provide a keyed-mode
itself. To implement a keyed hash-function, SHA2-256(toByte(0,32) ||
KEY || M) and SHA2-512(toByte(0,64) || KEY || M) are used. This
construction is used for the functions F, H, and H_m. To implement
PRF_m, HMAC-SHA2-256 and HMAC-SHA2-512 are used, respectively. The
pseudorandom generator G for n=32 is implemented as ChaCha20 using
SEED as key, the most significant 12 bytes of the address input as
nonce and the least significant 4 bytes as counter. The output
consists of the first 32 bytes of the key stream. The pseudorandom
generator G for n=64 is implemented as HMAC-SHA2-512.
5.1. WOTS+ Parameters
To fully describe a WOTS+ signature method, the parameters m, n, and
w, as well as the functions F and G MUST be specified. This section
defines several WOTS+ signature systems, each of which is identified
by a name. Values for len are provided for convenience.
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+------------------------+-------+----------+----+----+----+-----+
| Name | F | G | m | n | w | len |
+------------------------+-------+----------+----+----+----+-----+
| WOTSP_SHA2-256_M32_W16 | SHA-2 | ChaCha20 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 |
| | | | | | | |
| WOTSP_SHA2-512_M64_W16 | SHA-2 | SHA-2 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 |
+------------------------+-------+----------+----+----+----+-----+
Table 1
The implementation of the single functions is done as described
above. XDR formats for WOTS+ are listed in Appendix A.
5.2. XMSS Parameters
To fully describe an XMSS signature method, the parameters m, n, w,
and h, as well as the functions F, H, H_m, PRF_m, and G MUST be
specified. This section defines different XMSS signature systems,
each of which is identified by a name. We define parameter sets that
implement the functions using SHA2 and ChaCha20 for n = 32 and only
SHA2 for n=64 as described above.
+---------------------------+----+----+----+-----+----+
| Name | m | n | w | len | h |
+---------------------------+----+----+----+-----+----+
| XMSS_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H10 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 10 |
| | | | | | |
| XMSS_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H16 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 16 |
| | | | | | |
| XMSS_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H20 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 20 |
| | | | | | |
| XMSS_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H10 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 10 |
| | | | | | |
| XMSS_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H16 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 16 |
| | | | | | |
| XMSS_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H20 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 20 |
+---------------------------+----+----+----+-----+----+
Table 2
The XDR formats for XMSS are listed in Appendix B.
5.3. XMSS^MT Parameters
To fully describe an XMSS^MT signature method, the parameters m, n,
w, h, and d, as well as the functions F, H, H_m, PRF_m, and G MUST be
specified. This section defines several XMSS^MT signature systems,
each of which is identified by a name. We define parameter sets that
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implement the functions using SHA2 and ChaCha20 for n = 32 and only
SHA2 for n=64 as described above.
+---------------------------------+----+----+----+-----+----+----+
| Name | m | n | w | len | h | d |
+---------------------------------+----+----+----+-----+----+----+
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H20_D2 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 20 | 2 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H20_D4 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 20 | 4 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H40_D2 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 40 | 2 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H40_D4 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 40 | 4 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H40_D8 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 40 | 8 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H60_D3 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 60 | 3 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H60_D6 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 60 | 6 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H60_D12 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 60 | 12 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H20_D2 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 20 | 2 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H20_D4 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 20 | 4 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H40_D2 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 40 | 2 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H40_D4 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 40 | 4 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H40_D8 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 40 | 8 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H60_D3 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 60 | 3 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H60_D6 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 60 | 6 |
| | | | | | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H60_D12 | 64 | 64 | 16 | 131 | 60 | 12 |
+---------------------------------+----+----+----+-----+----+----+
Table 3
XDR formats for XMSS^MT are listed in Appendix C.
6. Rationale
The goal of this note is to describe the WOTS+, XMSS and XMSS^MT
algorithms following the scientific literature. Other signature
methods are out of scope and may be an interesting follow-on work.
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The description is done in a modular way that allows to base a
description of stateless hash-based signature algorithms like SPHINCS
[BHH15] on it.
The draft slightly deviates from the scientific literature using a
tweak that prevents multi-target attacks against the underlying hash-
function. The security assumptions for this tweak are discussed in
Section 8. The main difference to literature is that security now
relies either on the random oracle model or some other seemingly
natural heuristic assumptions.
We suggest the value w = 16 for the Winternitz parameter. No bigger
values are included since the decrease in signature size then becomes
less significant. Furthermore, the value w = 16 considerably
simplifies the implementations of some of the algorithms. Please
note that we do allow w = 4, but limit the specified parameter sets
to w = 16 for efficiency reasons.
The signature and public key formats are designed so that they are
easy to parse. Each format starts with a 32-bit enumeration value
that indicates all of the details of the signature algorithm and
hence defines all of the information that is needed in order to parse
the format.
The enumeration values used in this note are palindromes, which have
the same byte representation in either host order or network order.
This fact allows an implementation to omit the conversion between
byte order for those enumerations. Note however that the idx field
used in XMSS and XMSS^MT signatures and secret keys must be properly
converted to and from network byte order; this is the only field that
requires such conversion. There are 2^32 XDR enumeration values,
2^16 of which are palindromes, which is adequate for the foreseeable
future. If there is a need for more assignments, non-palindromes can
be assigned.
7. IANA Considerations
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is requested to create
three registries: one for WOTS+ signatures as defined in Section 3,
one for XMSS signatures and one for XMSS^MT signatures; the latter
two being defined in Section 4. For the sake of clarity and
convenience, the first sets of WOTS+, XMSS, and XMSS^MT parameter
sets are defined in Section 5. Additions to these registries require
that a specification be documented in an RFC or another permanent and
readily available reference in sufficient details to make
interoperability between independent implementations possible. Each
entry in the registry contains the following elements:
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a short name, such as "XMSS_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H20",
a positive number, and
a reference to a specification that completely defines the
signature method test cases that can be used to verify the
correctness of an implementation.
Requests to add an entry to the registry MUST include the name and
the reference. The number is assigned by IANA. These number
assignments SHOULD use the smallest available palindromic number.
Submitters SHOULD have their requests reviewed by the IRTF Crypto
Forum Research Group (CFRG) at cfrg@ietf.org. Interested applicants
that are unfamiliar with IANA processes should visit
http://www.iana.org.
The numbers between 0xDDDDDDDD (decimal 3,722,304,989) and 0xFFFFFFFF
(decimal 4,294,967,295) inclusive, will not be assigned by IANA, and
are reserved for private use; no attempt will be made to prevent
multiple sites from using the same value in different (and
incompatible) ways [RFC2434].
The WOTS+ registry is as follows.
+-------------------------+-------------+--------------------+
| Name | Reference | Numeric Identifier |
+-------------------------+-------------+--------------------+
| WOTSP_SHA2-256_M32_W16 | Section 5.1 | 0x01000001 |
| | | |
| WOTSP_SHA2-512_M64_W16 | Section 5.1 | 0x02000002 |
+-------------------------+-------------+--------------------+
Table 4
The XMSS registry is as follows.
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+----------------------------+-------------+--------------------+
| Name | Reference | Numeric Identifier |
+----------------------------+-------------+--------------------+
| XMSS_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H10 | Section 5.2 | 0x01000001 |
| | | |
| XMSS_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H16 | Section 5.2 | 0x02000002 |
| | | |
| XMSS_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H20 | Section 5.2 | 0x03000003 |
| | | |
| XMSS_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H10 | Section 5.2 | 0x04000004 |
| | | |
| XMSS_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H16 | Section 5.2 | 0x05000005 |
| | | |
| XMSS_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H20 | Section 5.2 | 0x06000006 |
+----------------------------+-------------+--------------------+
Table 5
The XMSS^MT registry is as follows.
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+---------------------------------+-------------+-------------------+
| Name | Reference | Numeric |
| | | Identifier |
+---------------------------------+-------------+-------------------+
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H20_D2 | Section 5.3 | 0x01000001 |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H20_D4 | Section 5.3 | 0x02000002 |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H40_D2 | Section 5.3 | 0x03000003 |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H40_D4 | Section 5.3 | 0x04000004 |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H40_D8 | Section 5.3 | 0x05000005 |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H60_D3 | Section 5.3 | 0x06000006 |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H60_D6 | Section 5.3 | 0x07000007 |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-256_M32_W16_H60_D12 | Section 5.3 | 0x08000008 |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H20_D2 | Section 5.3 | 0x09000009 |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H20_D4 | Section 5.3 | 0x0a00000a |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H40_D2 | Section 5.3 | 0x0b00000b |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H40_D4 | Section 5.3 | 0x0c00000c |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H40_D8 | Section 5.3 | 0x0d00000d |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H60_D3 | Section 5.3 | 0x0e00000e |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H60_D6 | Section 5.3 | 0x0f00000f |
| | | |
| XMSSMT_SHA2-512_M64_W16_H60_D12 | Section 5.3 | 0x01010101 |
+---------------------------------+-------------+-------------------+
Table 6
An IANA registration of a signature system does not constitute an
endorsement of that system or its security.
8. Security Considerations
A signature system is considered secure if it prevents an attacker
from forging a valid signature. More specifically, consider a
setting in which an attacker gets a public key and can learn
signatures on arbitrary messages of his choice. A signature system
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is secure if, even in this setting, the attacker can not produce a
message signature pair of his choosing such that the verification
algorithm accepts.
Preventing an attacker from mounting an attack means that the attack
is computationally too expensive to be carried out. There exist
various estimates when a computation is too expensive to be done.
For that reason, this note only describes how expensive it is for an
attacker to generate a forgery. Parameters are accompanied by a bit
security value. The meaning of bit security is as follows. A
parameter set grants b bits of security if the best attack takes at
least 2^(b-1) bit operations to achieve a success probability of 1/2.
Hence, to mount a successful attack, an attacker needs to perform 2^b
bit operations on average. How the given values for bit security
were estimated is described below.
8.1. Security Proofs
There exist formal security proofs for schemes very similar to those
described here in the literature [Huelsing13a]. These proofs show
that an attacker has to break at least one out of certain security
properties of the used hash functions and PRFs to forge a signature.
The proofs in [Huelsing13a] do not consider the initial message
compression and the extended randomized hashing used here. For the
original schemes, these proofs show that an attacker has to break
certain minimal security properties. In particular, it is not
sufficient to break the collision resistance of the hash functions to
generate a forgery.
It is folklore that one can securely combine a secure signature
scheme for fixed length messages with an initial message digest. It
is easy to prove that an attacker either must break the security of
the fixed-input-length signature scheme or the collision resistance
of the used hash function. The descriptions of XMSS and XMSS^MT in
this note use a known trick to prevent the applicability of collision
attacks. Namely, the schemes use a randomized message hash. For
technical reasons, it is not possible to formally prove in the
standard model that the resulting scheme is secure if the hash
function is not collision-resistant but fulfills some weaker security
properties. However, in the random oracle model such a proof is
trivial.
While the basic randomized hashing used in the original descriptions
of the schemes allows to prove that it is not enough for an adversary
to break the collision resistance of the underlying hash function.
However, it turns out that an attacker could launch a multi-target
second-preimage attack. The (simplified) reason is that the
adversary learns in the order of 2^h hash function input-output pairs
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and it suffices to find a second-preimage for one out of those.
Hence, an attacker can do a brute force search until he finds an
input that matches one of the given outputs.
The extended randomized hashing used here makes the hash function
calls position dependent. Hence, the above attack does not work
anymore because each hash function evaluation during an attack can
only target one output value. This can also be shown formally.
The given bit security values were estimated based on the complexity
of the best known generic attacks against the required security
properties of the used hash functions and PRFs.
8.2. Security Assumptions
The security assumptions made to argue for the security of the
described schemes are minimal. Any signature algorithm that allows
arbitrary size messages relies on the security of a cryptographic
hash function. For the schemes described here this is already
sufficient to be secure. In contrast, common signature schemes like
RSA, DSA, and ECDSA additionally rely on the conjectured hardness of
certain mathematical problems.
8.3. Post-Quantum Security
A post-quantum cryptosystem is a system that is secure against
attackers with access to a reasonably sized quantum computer. At the
time of writing this note, whether or not it is feasible to build
such machine is an open conjecture. However, significant progress
was made over the last few years in this regard.
In contrast to RSA, DSA, and ECDSA, the described signature systems
are post-quantum-secure if they are used with an appropriate
cryptographic hash function. In particular, for post-quantum
security, the size of m and n must be twice the size required for
classical security. This is in order to protect against quantum
square root attacks due to Grover's algorithm. It has been shown
that Grover's algorithm is optimal for finding preimages and
collisions.
9. Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Scott Fluhrer, Burt Kaliski, Adam Langley,
David McGrew, and Sean Parkinson for their help and comments.
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10. References
10.1. Normative References
[FIPS180] National Institute of Standards and Technology, "Secure
Hash Standard (SHS)", FIPS 180-4, 2012.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC2434] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 2434,
October 1998.
[RFC4506] Eisler, M., "XDR: External Data Representation Standard",
STD 67, RFC 4506, May 2006.
[RFC7539] Nir, Y. and A. Langley, "ChaCha20 and Poly1305 for IETF
Protocols", RFC 7539, May 2015.
10.2. Informative References
[BDH11] Buchmann, J., Dahmen, E., and A. Huelsing, "XMSS - A
Practical Forward Secure Signature Scheme Based on Minimal
Security Assumptions", Lecture Notes in Computer Science
volume 7071. Post-Quantum Cryptography, 2011.
[BDS09] Buchmann, J., Dahmen, E., and M. Szydlo, "Hash-based
Digital Signature Schemes", Book chapter Post-Quantum
Cryptography, Springer, 2009.
[BHH15] Bernstein, D., Hopwood, D., Huelsing, A., Lange, T.,
Niederhagen, R., Papachristodoulou, L., Schneider, M.,
Schwabe, P., and Z. Wilcox-O'Hearn, "SPHINCS: Practical
Stateless Hash-Based Signatures", Lecture Notes in
Computer Science volume 9056. Advances in Cryptology -
EUROCRYPT, 2015.
[DC14] McGrew, D. and M. Curcio, "Hash-based signatures", draft-
mcgrew-hash-sigs-02 (work in progress), July 2014.
[HRB13] Huelsing, A., Rausch, L., and J. Buchmann, "Optimal
Parameters for XMSS^MT", Lecture Notes in Computer Science
volume 8128. CD-ARES, 2013.
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[Huelsing13]
Huelsing, A., "W-OTS+ - Shorter Signatures for Hash-Based
Signature Schemes", Lecture Notes in Computer Science
volume 7918. Progress in Cryptology - AFRICACRYPT, 2013.
[Huelsing13a]
Huelsing, A., "Practical Forward Secure Signatures using
Minimal Security Assumptions", PhD thesis TU Darmstadt,
2013.
[Kaliski15]
Kaliski, B., "Panel: Shoring up the Infrastructure: A
Strategy for Standardizing Hash Signatures", NIST Workshop
on Cybersecurity in a Post-Quantum World, 2015.
[Merkle79]
Merkle, R., "Secrecy, Authentication, and Public Key
Systems", Stanford University Information Systems
Laboratory Technical Report 1979-1, 1979.
Appendix A. WOTS+ XDR Formats
The WOTS+ signature and public key formats are formally defined using
XDR [RFC4506] in order to provide an unambiguous, machine readable
definition. Though XDR is used, these formats are simple and easy to
parse without any special tools. To avoid the need to convert to and
from network / host byte order, the enumeration values are all
palindromes.
WOTS+ parameter sets are defined using XDR syntax as follows:
/* ots_algorithm_type identifies a particular
signature algorithm */
enum ots_algorithm_type {
wotsp_reserved = 0x00000000,
wotsp_sha2-256_m32_w16 = 0x01000001,
wotsp_sha2-512_m64_w16 = 0x02000002,
};
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WOTS+ signatures are defined using XDR syntax as follows:
/* Byte strings */
typedef opaque bytestring32[32];
typedef opaque bytestring64[64];
union ots_signature switch (ots_algorithm_type type) {
case wotsp_sha2-256_m32_w16:
bytestring32 ots_sig_m32_len67[67];
case wotsp_sha2-512_m64_w16:
bytestring64 ots_sig_m64_len18[131];
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
WOTS+ public keys are defined using XDR syntax as follows:
union ots_pubkey switch (ots_algorithm_type type) {
case wotsp_sha2-256_m32_w16:
bytestring32 ots_pubk_m32_len67[67];
case wotsp_sha2-512_m64_w16:
bytestring64 ots_pubk_m64_len18[131];
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
Appendix B. XMSS XDR Formats
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XMSS parameter sets are defined using XDR syntax as follows:
/* Byte strings */
typedef opaque bytestring4[4];
/* Definition of parameter sets */
enum xmss_algorithm_type {
xmss_reserved = 0x00000000,
/* 256 bit classical security, 128 bit post-quantum security */
xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h10 = 0x01000001,
xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h16 = 0x02000002,
xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20 = 0x03000003,
/* 512 bit classical security, 256 bit post-quantum security */
xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h10 = 0x04000004,
xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h16 = 0x05000005,
xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20 = 0x06000006,
};
XMSS signatures are defined using XDR syntax as follows:
/* Authentication path types */
union xmss_path switch (xmss_algorithm_type type) {
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h10:
bytestring32 path_n32_t10[10];
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h16:
bytestring32 path_n32_t16[16];
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20:
bytestring32 path_n32_t20[20];
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h10:
bytestring64 path_n64_t10[10];
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h16:
bytestring64 path_n64_t16[16];
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20:
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bytestring64 path_n64_t20[20];
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
/* Types for XMSS random strings */
union random_string_xmss switch (xmss_algorithm_type type) {
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h10:
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h16:
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20:
bytestring32 rand_m32;
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h10:
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h16:
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20:
bytestring64 rand_m64;
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
/* Corresponding WOTS+ type for given XMSS type */
union xmss_ots_signature switch (xmss_algorithm_type type) {
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h10:
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h16:
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20:
wotsp_sha2-256_m32_w16;
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h10:
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h16:
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20:
wotsp_sha2-512_m64_w16;
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
/* XMSS signature structure */
struct xmss_signature {
/* WOTS+ key pair index */
bytestring4 idx_sig;
/* Random string for randomized hashing */
random_string_xmss rand_string;
/* WOTS+ signature */
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xmss_ots_signature sig_ots;
/* authentication path */
xmss_path nodes;
};
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XMSS public keys are defined using XDR syntax as follows:
/* Types for bitmask seed */
union seed switch (xmss_algorithm_type type) {
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h10:
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h16:
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20:
bytestring32 seed_n32;
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h10:
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h16:
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20:
bytestring64 seed_n64;
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
/* Types for XMSS root node */
union xmss_root switch (xmss_algorithm_type type) {
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h10:
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h16:
case xmss_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20:
bytestring32 root_n32;
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h10:
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h16:
case xmss_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20:
bytestring64 root_n64;
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
/* XMSS public key structure */
struct xmss_public_key {
xmss_root root; /* Root node */
seed SEED; /* Seed for bitmasks */
};
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Appendix C. XMSS^MT XDR Formats
XMSS^MT parameter sets are defined using XDR syntax as follows:
/* Byte strings */
typedef opaque bytestring3[3];
typedef opaque bytestring5[5];
typedef opaque bytestring8[8];
/* Definition of parameter sets */
enum xmssmt_algorithm_type {
xmssmt_reserved = 0x00000000,
/* 256 bit classical security, 128 bit post-quantum security */
xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d2 = 0x01000001,
xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d4 = 0x02000002,
xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d2 = 0x03000003,
xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d4 = 0x04000004,
xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d8 = 0x05000005,
xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d3 = 0x06000006,
xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d6 = 0x07000007,
xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d12 = 0x08000008,
/* 512 bit classical security, 256 bit post-quantum security */
xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d2 = 0x09000009,
xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d4 = 0x0a00000a,
xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d2 = 0x0b00000b,
xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d4 = 0x0c00000c,
xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d8 = 0x0d00000d,
xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d3 = 0x0e00000e,
xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d6 = 0x0f00000f,
xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d12 = 0x01010101,
};
XMSS^MT signatures are defined using XDR syntax as follows:
/* Type for XMSS^MT key pair index */
/* Depends solely on h */
union idx_sig_xmssmt switch (xmss_algorithm_type type) {
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d2:
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case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d4:
bytestring3 idx3;
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d8:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d8:
bytestring5 idx5;
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d3:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d12:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d3:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d12:
bytestring8 idx8;
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
union random_string_xmssmt switch (xmssmt_algorithm_type type) {
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d8:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d3:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d12:
bytestring32 rand_m32;
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d8:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d3:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d12:
bytestring64 rand_m64;
default:
void; /* error condition */
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};
struct xmss_reduced_bottom {
xmss_ots_signature sig_ots; /* WOTS+ signature */
xmss_path nodes; /* authentication path */
};
/* Type for individual reduced XMSS signatures on higher layers */
union xmss_reduced_others (xmss_algorithm_type type) {
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d4:
bytestring32 xmss_reduced_n32_t87[87];
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d8:
bytestring32 xmss_reduced_n32_t107[107];
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d3:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d12:
bytestring32 xmss_reduced_n32_t127[127];
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d4:
bytestring64 xmss_reduced_n64_t151[151];
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d8:
bytestring64 xmss_reduced_n64_t171[171];
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d3:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d12:
bytestring64 xmss_reduced_n64_t191[191];
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
/* xmss_reduced_array depends on d */
union xmss_reduced_array (xmss_algorithm_type type) {
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d2:
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case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d2:
xmss_reduced_others xmss_red_arr_d2[1];
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d3:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d3:
xmss_reduced_others xmss_red_arr_d3[2];
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d4:
xmss_reduced_others xmss_red_arr_d4[3];
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d6:
xmss_reduced_others xmss_red_arr_d6[5];
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d8:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d8:
xmss_reduced_others xmss_red_arr_d8[7];
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d12:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d12:
xmss_reduced_others xmss_red_arr_d12[11];
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
/* XMSS^MT signature structure */
struct xmssmt_signature {
/* WOTS+ key pair index */
idx_sig_xmssmt idx_sig;
/* Random string for randomized hashing */
random_string_xmssmt randomness;
/* Reduced bottom layer XMSS signature */
xmss_reduced_bottom;
/* Array of reduced XMSS signatures with message length n */
xmss_reduced_array;
};
XMSS^MT public keys are defined using XDR syntax as follows:
/* Types for bitmask seed */
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union seed switch (xmssmt_algorithm_type type) {
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d8:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d12:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d3:
bytestring32 seed_n32;
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d8:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d12:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d3:
bytestring64 seed_n64;
default:
void; /* error condition */
};
/* Types for XMSS^MT root node */
union xmssmt_root switch (xmssmt_algorithm_type type) {
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h20_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h40_d8:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d3:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-256_m32_w16_h60_d12:
bytestring32 root_n32;
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h20_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d2:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d4:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h40_d8:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d3:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d6:
case xmssmt_sha2-512_m64_w16_h60_d12:
bytestring64 root_n64;
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default:
void; /* error condition */
};
/* XMSS^MT public key structure */
struct xmssmt_public_key {
xmssmt_root root; /* Root node */
seed SEED; /* Seed for bitmasks */
};
Appendix D. Changed since draft-irtf-cfrg-xmss-hash-based-signatures-00
Added keying of hash functions with pseudorandomly generated keys
for all hashes but the message hash. A Hash Function Address
Scheme is introduced that for. For further information please
take a look at sections Section 2.5 and Section 8.
Replaced bitmasks by pseudorandomly generated values.
Removed zero bitmasks, as we now only store a small seed (n bytes)
for bitmask generation, which is pretty small compared to the
bitmask solution before.
Removed w = 8 to reduce huge number of parameter sets. Simplified
algorithms (like base_w) as we don't need to support the w = 8
case now.
Removed w = 4 from the suggested parameter sets.
Changed 'l' to 'len, 'l_1' to 'len_1' and 'l_2' to 'len_2' to
avoid confusion between the characters 'l' and '1'.
Changed appearances of "is equal" or "mod" to % operator for
better readability.
Removed the OID in the XMSS and XMSS^MT signatures. This was
redundant, since the OID is already part of the public key in both
cases.
Replaced SHA-3 by SHA-2 in light of more widespread usage and
faster implementations for SHA-2.
Fixed the log notation in the Schemes section.
Removed AES-based parameter sets.
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Adapted XDR according to the changes.
Removed definitions like max() from notation, when no longer
needed in this document.
Authors' Addresses
Andreas Huelsing
TU Eindhoven
P.O. Box 513
Eindhoven 5600 MB
The Netherlands
Email: a.t.huelsing@tue.nl
Denis Butin
TU Darmstadt
Hochschulstrasse 10
Darmstadt 64289
Germany
Email: dbutin@cdc.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de
Stefan-Lukas Gazdag
genua GmbH
Domagkstrasse 7
Kirchheim bei Muenchen 85551
Germany
Email: stefan-lukas_gazdag@genua.eu
Aziz Mohaisen
Verisign Labs
12061 Bluemont Way
Reston, VA 20190
Phone: +1 703 948-3200
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Huelsing, et al. Expires January 4, 2016 [Page 54]