Abstract We address the problem of user fast revocation in the lattice-based Ciphertext Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) by extending the scheme originally introduced by Zhang and Zhang [Zhang J, Zhang Z. A ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption scheme without pairings . In: International Conference on Information Security and Cryptology. Springer; 2011. p. 324–40. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34704-7_23 .]. While a lot of work exists on the construction of revocable schemes for CP-ABE based on pairings, works based on lattices are not so common, and – to the best of our knowledge – we introduce the first server-aided revocation scheme in a lattice-based CP-ABE scheme, hence being embedded in a post-quantum secure environment. In particular, we rely on semi-trusted “mediators” to provide a multi-step decryption capable of handling mediation without re-encryption. We comment on the scheme and its application, and we provide performance experiments on a prototype implementation in the Attribute-Based Encryption spin-off library of Palisade to evaluate the overhead compared with the original scheme.
Abstract We address the problem of user fast revocation in the lattice-based Ciphertext Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) by extending the scheme originally introduced by Zhang and Zhang [Zhang J, Zhang Z. A ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption scheme without pairings . In: International Conference on Information Security and Cryptology. Springer; 2011. p. 324–40. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34704-7_23 .]. While a lot of work exists on the construction of revocable schemes for CP-ABE based on pairings, works based on lattices are not so common, and – to the best of our knowledge – we introduce the first server-aided revocation scheme in a lattice-based CP-ABE scheme, hence being embedded in a post-quantum secure environment. In particular, we rely on semi-trusted “mediators” to provide a multi-step decryption capable of handling mediation without re-encryption. We comment on the scheme and its application, and we provide performance experiments on a prototype implementation in the Attribute-Based Encryption spin-off library of Palisade to evaluate the overhead compared with the original scheme.
The advent of quantum computing poses a significant threat to traditional cryptographic algorithms, including RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and Elliptic Curve Cryptography, due to the capabilities of quantum algorithms like Shor’s algorithm. Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) has emerged to address these challenges, with lattice-based cryptography (LBC) being a prominent candidate. LBC, underpinned by hard mathematical problems like Learning with Errors (LWE) and Ring-LWE (RLWE), offers robust security against quantum and classical adversaries. In parallel, Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CPABE) has become a critical tool for enabling fine-grained access control in data-sharing scenarios, such as secure cloud storage and IoT. While existing CP-ABE implementations rely on bilinear pairings vulnerable to quantum attacks, lattice-based CPABE schemes provide a quantum-resistant alternative. Despite their potential, these schemes face challenges in computational efficiency, collusion resistance, and implementation correctness. Our contributions include a detailed mathematical breakdown of one of the state-of-the-art (SOTA) lattice-based CP-ABE schemes and a novel correctness proof for the same scheme.
Abstract Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) is a cornerstone technique for fine-grained access control in encrypted data sharing, with pairing-based schemes having established the de facto standard. However, their vulnerability to quantum attacks generated growing interest in alternatives rooted in quantum-secure primitives, with Learning With Errors (LWE) emerging as a prominent candidate. In this work, we present the first direct performance benchmark of lattice-versus pairings-based CP-ABE implementations. We compare two mature, widely adopted implementations – PALISADE-ABE’s LWE-based Zhang-Zhang scheme and OpenABE’s pairing-based Waters scheme – selected for their comparable development environments and assumptions. Our results highlight the practical trade-offs – both costs and benefits – of each paradigm, quantifying where lattice-based designs offer advantages and where they incur extra overhead. This comparison addresses a critical gap in the literature and provides direction for the design of future post-quantum secure systems.
With quantum computing, traditional methods of encryption have become insufficient. This has led to the need for a transition to more reliable and flexible encryption systems. In this context, we examine the latest approaches to attribute-based encryption ABE schemes based on lattice cryptography and hybrid ones that combine symmetric encryption with public key ABE. These systems give post-quantum security in addition to fine-grained control, adaptive policy dynamic enforcement, and multi-level hierarchical control. We examine the most significant gaps regarding revocation, multi-authority frameworks, and ciphertext-controlled policies using LWE and Ring-LWE. Text length, key management complexity, and system interoperability are practical concerns too. A comparative analysis of five schemes shows each one's strengths and weaknesses. Designating the encryption phase speeds up the key generation process, so we implemented a multithreaded structure to address some of the identified performance constraints. This worked with other researchers designing robust quantum-access-controlled systems.
The emergence of quantum computing threatens many classical cryptographic schemes, leading to the innovations in public-key cryptography for postquantum cryptography primitives and protocols that resist to quantum attacks. Lattice-based cryptography is considered to be one of the promising mathematical approaches to achieving security resistant to quantum attacks, which could be built on the learning with errors (LWE) problem and its variants. The fundamental building blocks of protocols for public-key encryption (PKE) and key encapsulation mechanism (KEM) submitted to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) based on LWE and its variants are called key consensus (KC) and asymmetric key consensus (AKC) by Jin et al. They are powerful tools for constructing PKE schemes. In this work, we further demonstrate the power of KC/AKC by proposing two special types of PKE schemes, namely, revocable attribute-based encryption (RABE). To be specific, on the basis of AKC and PKE/KEM protocols submitted to the NIST based on LWE and its variants, combined with full-rank difference, trapdoor on lattices, sampling algorithms, leftover hash lemma, and binary tree structure, we propose two directly revocable ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (DR-ABE) schemes from LWE, which support flexible threshold access policies on multivalued attributes, achieving user-level and attribute-level user revocation, respectively. Specifically, the construction of the ciphertext is derived from AKC, and the revocation list is defined and embedded into the ciphertext by the message sender to revoke a user in the user-level revocable scheme or revoke some attributes of a certain user in the attribute-level revocable scheme. We also discuss how to outsource decryption and reduce the workload for the end user. Our schemes proved to be secure in the standard model, assuming the hardness of the LWE problem. The two schemes imply the versatility of KC/AKC.
This article deals with designing an efficient post-quantum lattice based encryption scheme that relies on the multi-authority Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE). The security of the proposed scheme is based on the hardness of the ring learning with errors (RLWE) problem. The construction of the proposed scheme is done using the Shamir's threshold secret sharing along with the Lagrange interpolation during the key generation and decryption processes in order to achieve the segmentation and restoration of private keys. A comparative study with the existing state of art schemes has been performed to show the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed scheme. Furthermore, experiments on the proposed scheme have been conducted to illustrate the computational time required during the key generation, encryption and decryption processes.
In Ciphertext Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) system, a set of attributes is associated with the private keys of each user. Also, the ciphertext is attached with a policy which is defined over that set of attributes. A user can decrypt the ciphertext if the ciphertext’s policy is satisfied by the attributes associated hith her private key. Traditional CP-ABE schemes, based on number theoretic problems, rely on a trustworthy central authority. But in many distributed applications it is expected that such authorities should be decentralized to avoid the risks of single-point failure. While the number theory-based hardness problems are prone to quantum attacks, lattice-based hardness problems can resist such attacks. In this paper, we construct a Decentralized Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (DCP-ABE) scheme. Under this scheme, any participating entity can act as an authority by creating a public key. The athority utilizes the users’ attributes to generate the private keys for them. Any user can encrypt data in terms of any monotone access structure over attributes issued from any chosen set of authorities. Hence the protocol does not depend on any central authority. We utilize Learning With Errors over Rings (R-LWE) as the underlying hardness assumption for te protocol. The proposed post-quantum protocol achieves security under selective-set model whereby adversaries are allowed to corrupt any authority only statically through adaptive key queries.