Finding state collisions in the authenticated encryption stream cipher ACORN

Md Iftekhar Salam; Leonie Simpson; Kenneth Koon Ho Wong; Ed Dawson; Harry Bartlett; Josef Pieprzyk

doi:10.1145/2843043.2843353

Finding state collisions in the authenticated encryption stream cipher ACORN

Md Iftekhar Salam, Leonie Simpson, Kenneth Koon Ho Wong, Ed Dawson, Harry Bartlett, Josef Pieprzyk

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the authenticated encryption algorithm ACORN, a candidate in the CAESAR cryptographic competition. We identify weaknesses in the state update function of ACORN which result in collisions in the internal state of ACORN. This paper shows that for a given set of key and initialization vector values we can construct two distinct input messages which result in a collision in the ACORN internal state. Using a standard PC the collision can be found almost instantly when the secret key is known. This flaw can be used by a message sender to create a forged message which will be accepted as legitimate.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference, ACSW 2016
Place of Publication	New York
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	1-10
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450340427
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2843043.2843353
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2016
Externally published	Yes
Event	Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference, ACSW 2016 - Canberra, Australia Duration: 1 Feb 2016 → 5 Feb 2016

Other

Other	Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference, ACSW 2016
Country/Territory	Australia
City	Canberra
Period	1/02/16 → 5/02/16

Keywords

ACORN
AEAD
Authenticated encryption
CAESAR
Collision
Integrity
MAC
Stream cipher
Symmetric encryption

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10.1145/2843043.2843353

Cite this

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title = "Finding state collisions in the authenticated encryption stream cipher ACORN",

abstract = "This paper analyzes the authenticated encryption algorithm ACORN, a candidate in the CAESAR cryptographic competition. We identify weaknesses in the state update function of ACORN which result in collisions in the internal state of ACORN. This paper shows that for a given set of key and initialization vector values we can construct two distinct input messages which result in a collision in the ACORN internal state. Using a standard PC the collision can be found almost instantly when the secret key is known. This flaw can be used by a message sender to create a forged message which will be accepted as legitimate.",

keywords = "ACORN, AEAD, Authenticated encryption, CAESAR, Collision, Integrity, MAC, Stream cipher, Symmetric encryption",

author = "Salam, {Md Iftekhar} and Leonie Simpson and Wong, {Kenneth Koon Ho} and Ed Dawson and Harry Bartlett and Josef Pieprzyk",

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booktitle = "Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference, ACSW 2016",

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Salam, MI, Simpson, L, Wong, KKH, Dawson, E, Bartlett, H & Pieprzyk, J 2016, Finding state collisions in the authenticated encryption stream cipher ACORN. in Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference, ACSW 2016., 36, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, pp. 1-10, Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference, ACSW 2016, Canberra, Australia, 1/02/16. https://doi.org/10.1145/2843043.2843353

Finding state collisions in the authenticated encryption stream cipher ACORN. / Salam, Md Iftekhar; Simpson, Leonie; Wong, Kenneth Koon Ho et al.
Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference, ACSW 2016. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 2016. p. 1-10 36.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

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KW - ACORN

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T2 - Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference, ACSW 2016

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Finding state collisions in the authenticated encryption stream cipher ACORN

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