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TOPCOAT: towards practical two-party Crystals-Dilithium

Nikita Snetkov, Jelizaveta Vakarjuk, Peeter Laud

Published Jul 10, 2024• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract The development of threshold protocols based on lattice-signature schemes has been of increasing interest in the past several years. The main research focus was towards protocols constructed for various variants of Crystals-Dilithium, future NIST digital signature standard known as ML-DSA. In this work, we propose TOPCOAT, a two-party lattice-based signature algorithm that embodies Dilithium's compression techniques. The aforesaid result is achieved by introducing a new hinting mechanism that allows parties to collaboratively calculate $\textsf{HighBits}$. Our hinting mechanism allows public key compression similar to Dilithium. Additionally, we suggest an optimization technique to minimize number of restarts both parties need to produce a valid signature. We prove security of our scheme under MLWE and MSIS assumptions in ROM, and provide implementation of our proposed scheme. As additional contribution, we present vulnerabilities and inconsistencies found in Liu et al. work which aimed to construct distributed lattice-based signature protocol.

DOI
10.1007/s10791-024-09449-2

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To sign a message μ, he gives a non-interactive zero-knowledge proof that he knows an x satisfying y = f(x), using the message μ to create the ‘challenge’ H(μ) for the proof (where H is a public function that maps μ to something ‘random looking’). If the function f is one way then the verifier should be convinced that the proof could have only been created by the entity who knows x. A classic example of this type of scheme is the Schnorr signature scheme [4] based on the hardness of the discrete logarithm problem. The second approach is to create a function f together with a trapdoor f−1, output f as the public key and keep f−1 as the secret key. A message μ is signed by using the secret trapdoor to create a pre-image x such that f(x) = H(μ). Again, if the function f is one way then only someone in possession of a trapdoor should be able to invert it. An example of such a construction based on a ‘factoring-like’ assumption is the RSA signature scheme [5]. 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Conflict of interest statement. None declared.

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JOURNAL OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY•Feb 19, 2020•3 citations
Abstract The development of threshold protocols based on lattice-signature schemes has been of increasing interest in the past several years. The main research focus was towards protocols constructed for various variants of Crystals-Dilithium, future NIST digital signature standard known as ML-DSA. In this work, we propose TOPCOAT, a two-party lattice-based signature algorithm that embodies Dilithium's compression techniques. The aforesaid result is achieved by introducing a new hinting mechanism that allows parties to collaboratively calculate HighBits\textsf{HighBits}HighBits. Our hinting mechanism allows public key compression similar to Dilithium. Additionally, we suggest an optimization technique to minimize number of restarts both parties need to produce a valid signature. We prove security of our scheme under MLWE and MSIS assumptions in ROM, and provide implementation of our proposed scheme. As additional contribution, we present vulnerabilities and inconsistencies found in Liu et al. work which aimed to construct distributed lattice-based signature protocol.
In this paper, we propose DiLizium: a new lattice-based two-party signature scheme. Our scheme is constructed from a variant of the Crystals-Dilithium post-quantum signature scheme. This allows for more efficient two-party implementation compared with the original but still derives its post-quantum security directly from the Module Learning With Errors and Module Short Integer Solution problems. We discuss our design rationale, describe the protocol in full detail, and provide performance estimates and a comparison with previous schemes. We also provide a security proof for the two-party signature computation protocol against a classical adversary. Extending this proof to a quantum adversary is subject to future studies. However, our scheme is secure against a quantum attacker who has access to just the public key and not the two-party signature creation protocol.
Threshold signature schemes enable a group of users to collaboratively produce digital signatures without revealing any individual share. With the current NIST post-quantum standardization underway, the lack of efficient and practical threshold variants of standardized schemes hinders adoption. We introduce the first threshold signature scheme compatible with the ML-DSA standard (Module-Lattice-based Digital Signature Algorithm), supporting up to 6 parties, while retaining efficient signing. Our work uses advanced short secret sharing techniques and optimized rejection sampling to balance communication and correctness in distributed settings. We implement our construction in Go and benchmark it in local, LAN, and WAN deployments. Results show that our threshold ML-DSA is both practical and compatible with real-world applications such as multi-device cryptocurrency wallets, threshold TLS, and Tor's directory authorities.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is in the process of selecting post-quantum public-key cryptography (PQC) algorithms through a public competition-like process. Dilithium, a lattice-based signature scheme, is a PQC candidate submitted to the NIST. It offers a fairly good performance with relatively straightforward implementation. In this study, we considered a secure two-party Dilithium signing protocol. We described how to build a distributed key generation and distributed signing protocol for Dilithium. Our protocol achieves a coordinated two-party Dilithium signature generation using Brakersiki/Fan-Vercauteren homomorphic encryption scheme. Our protocol is proven secure against active adversaries corrupting one of the players. Compared with other protocols, our protocol has advantage in resisting quantum computing attacks.
With the rapid development of post-quantum cryptography study, the Crystals-Dilithium digital signature algorithm based on the lattice has received much attention, and many extended studies have appeared on its basis. In this paper, we focus on the two-party signature protocol and(t, n)(t,\ n)(t, n)-threshold signature protocol based on Dilithium, and analyze their feasibility and security. After repeated experiments with the official rejection sampling code of the Aigis-sig scheme, it is shown that the two-party signature protocol basically cannot pass rejection sampling verification properly and is not feasible. At the same time, both protocols have a security risk that private key is divulged and internal members forge signatures. Through security analysis and experimental results, we found that there is close to 100% possibility that the internal members can crack the y value and private key information to complete the signature forgery. It will make the security of signatures unable to be guaranteed.
Digital signatures and key exchange protocols are the two most important public key cryptographic primitives used in the electronic transmission of data. The goal of key exchange is to preserve the secrecy of the communication, while the goal of digital signatures is to guarantee the authenticity of the exchanged messages. Constructions of digital signature schemes based on classical mathematical assumptions appeared shortly following the invention of public key cryptography in the late 1970s. And just like with key exchange, the most efficient variants are based on number-theoretic problems that are believed to be (sub)-exponentially hard for classical machines, but are solved in polynomial time by Shor’s algorithm on a powerful-enough quantum computer. Also, like for key exchange, the most efficient constructions that we believe to be quantum safe are based on the presumed hardness of lattice problems over polynomial rings. One interesting difference between key exchange and digital signatures is that key exchange appears to inherently require that some mathematical problem be computationally hard. Digital signatures, on the other hand, can be generically constructed from any one-way function [1,2]. So even though they certainly fall into the category of public key primitives based on their usage, their existence requires much weaker assumptions. Additionally, the transformation from a one-way function to a digital signature is not too inefficient. For example, the total parameter size (public key + signature) of the SPHINCS+ scheme [3] is around 40 kB. While these sizes are larger, and signing times considerably longer, than those of signatures based on factoring or discrete log, it is still a usable scheme for many applications. And being only based on symmetric assumptions (e.g. one wayness and collision resistance of cryptographic hash functions), its security is very attractive. In order to be considered an interesting alternative to the above-mentioned signature, a scheme based on a mathematical assumption would need to have significant performance advantages. Schemes based on factoring and the discrete logarithm problem were significantly shorter and faster, and so the generic approach lay dormant for over four decades. The new quantum-safe schemes will need to have similar performance advantages if they are to be used in lieu of this safe approach. Below, we describe two techniques for constructing lattice-based digital signatures with output sizes being just a few kilobytes. On a very high level, lattice-based signature constructions follow the two known approaches for constructing classical signatures. In the first approach, the signer outputs a function f and an image y = f(x) as his public key and keeps x as his secret key. To sign a message μ, he gives a non-interactive zero-knowledge proof that he knows an x satisfying y = f(x), using the message μ to create the ‘challenge’ H(μ) for the proof (where H is a public function that maps μ to something ‘random looking’). If the function f is one way then the verifier should be convinced that the proof could have only been created by the entity who knows x. A classic example of this type of scheme is the Schnorr signature scheme [4] based on the hardness of the discrete logarithm problem. The second approach is to create a function f together with a trapdoor f−1, output f as the public key and keep f−1 as the secret key. A message μ is signed by using the secret trapdoor to create a pre-image x such that f(x) = H(μ). Again, if the function f is one way then only someone in possession of a trapdoor should be able to invert it. An example of such a construction based on a ‘factoring-like’ assumption is the RSA signature scheme [5]. The high-level ideas for lattice-based signatures follow the above blueprints, but the technical details are significantly more involved. The main reason for the complications is the different algebraic structure of the hard one-way function underlying lattice cryptography. While the domain of the function in discrete log and RSA-based one-way functions are groups, the domains in lattice-based signatures are sets that are not closed under any operation—in particular, they are elements in a group that have small norms. This crucial small norm requirement precludes us from using uniformly random masking as in Schnorr signatures or having a trapdoor for a bijective one-way function as in RSA signatures. These barriers have, nevertheless, been overcome and the resulting digital signatures are quite practical. In 2017, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) began a ‘competition’ for a quantum-safe key exchange and digital signatures standard. At the time of this writing, this process is in the third round and there are two lattice-based signatures remaining—each following one of the above high-level designs. The CRYSTALS-Dilithium [6] scheme follows the Schnorr framework, but adds a crucial rejection-sampling step to keep the size of the coefficients small. The FALCON scheme [7] utilizes a randomized trapdoor sampling technique that uses a secret trapdoor for f−1 to produce random pre-images from a particular distribution. Because there is no longer a bijection, it is crucial to also have the property that the distribution of the outputted pre-images does not leak information about the trapdoor. Both schemes are relatively fast and their parameters (public key + signature size) are the shortest of all quantum-safe signature schemes. While both schemes are based on lattices, they have rather different characteristics. FALCON has very short parameters (see Table 1), but entails a rather complicated procedure for signature generation. In particular, it uses (an optimized version of) the GPV sampler [8], which requires floating-point arithmetic with approximately 64 bits of precision. Requiring such high precision means that subtle implementation errors may not get detected even with rigorous testing. Dilithium, on the other hand, has larger parameters but a very simple implementation where all the sampling in the signing is done in a power-of-2 range; it is thus much less prone to implementation errors. It is quite possible that in the future both schemes will be used for different applications. Approximate parameter sizes (in bytes) for the CRYSTALS-Dilithium and FALCON digital signature schemes at approximately 128-bit security levels. Approximate parameter sizes (in bytes) for the CRYSTALS-Dilithium and FALCON digital signature schemes at approximately 128-bit security levels. Conflict of interest statement. None declared.
The lattice-based signature schemes are promising quantum-resistant replacements for classical signature schemes based on number theoretical hard problems. An important approach to construct lattice-based signature is utilizing the Fiat-Shamir transform and rejection sampling techniques. There are two Fiat-Shamir signatures among five lattice signature schemes submitted to the post-quantum project initiated by National Institute of Standards and Technology. One of them is called Dilithium, which is based on Module-Learning-With-Errors (MLWE) problem, it features on its simple design in the signing algorithm by using uniform sampling. The Dilithium is built on the generic lattices, to make the size of public key more compact, Dilithium adopts compression technique. On the other hand, schemes using NTRU lattices outperform schemes using generic lattices in efficiency and parameter sizes. This paper devotes to designing an efficient NTRU variant of Dilithium, by combining the advantage of NTRU and uniform rejection sampling, this scheme enjoys a concise structure and gains performance improvement over other lattice-based Fiat-Shamir signature without using extra compression techniques.