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International Conference on Generative Artificial Intelligence and Information Security (GAIIS)

High-Performing Quantum-Safe Password-Authenticated Key Exchange for Mobile Devices

Peixin Ren, Xiaozhuo Gu, Kaibo Liu

Published Mar 27, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Password-Authenticated Key Exchange (PAKE) protocol is a useful tool for establishing secure remote communication between users, especially given the prevalence of amplifying a human-memorable password into a strong session key in the age of hand-held devices. Recent advances in quantum computing have stimulated interest in quantum-safe cryptographic schemes. Therefore, we propose QSPAK and QSPPK, two post-quantum and efficient PAKE protocols which are parallel extensions of PAK and PPK, but based on the hardness assumption over module lattices. Specifically, we make a comprehensive trade-off among multiple significant performance indicators such as the post-quantum security, the failure rate, the communication cost and the running time to guide optimal parameter choices. This rigorous instantiation has never been seen in previous PAKE papers. Additionally, utilizing the flexibility of module lattices, we provide three parameter sets (#1, #2, and #3) matching different security scenarios. We implement and benchmark QSPAK and QSPPK against other competitive proposals. The performance results indicate that our QSPAK and QSPPK, besides being more efficient, exhibit the flexibility and security advantages over the latter schemes. Furthermore, we construct a post-quantum password-authenticated TLS 1.3 framework, aimed towards provide a further suggestion for IETF standardization of quantum-safe PAKE.

DOI
10.1109/gaiis69281.2026.11519167

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The Password-Authenticated Key Exchange (PAKE) protocol is a useful tool for establishing secure remote communication between users, especially given the prevalence of amplifying a human-memorable password into a strong session key in the age of hand-held devices. Recent advances in quantum computing have stimulated interest in quantum-safe cryptographic schemes. Therefore, we propose QSPAK and QSPPK, two post-quantum and efficient PAKE protocols which are parallel extensions of PAK and PPK, but based on the hardness assumption over module lattices. Specifically, we make a comprehensive trade-off among multiple significant performance indicators such as the post-quantum security, the failure rate, the communication cost and the running time to guide optimal parameter choices. This rigorous instantiation has never been seen in previous PAKE papers. Additionally, utilizing the flexibility of module lattices, we provide three parameter sets (#1, #2, and #3) matching different security scenarios. We implement and benchmark QSPAK and QSPPK against other competitive proposals. The performance results indicate that our QSPAK and QSPPK, besides being more efficient, exhibit the flexibility and security advantages over the latter schemes. Furthermore, we construct a post-quantum password-authenticated TLS 1.3 framework, aimed towards provide a further suggestion for IETF standardization of quantum-safe PAKE.
Abstract Password‐authenticated key exchange ( PAKE ) is a cryptographic primitive that can establish secure remote communications between the client and the server, especially with the advantage of amplifying memorable passwords into strong session keys. However, the arrival of the quantum computing era has brought new challenges to traditional PAKE protocols. Thus, designing an efficient post‐quantum PAKE scheme becomes an open research question. In this paper, the authors construct a quantum‐safe PAKE protocol, which is a horizontal extension of the password‐authenticated key (PAK) protocol in the field of module lattices. Subsequently, the authors accompany the proposed protocol with a rigorous security proof in the random oracle model with two adaptions: applying the CDF‐Zipf model to characterise the ability of the adversary and using the pairing with errors assumption to simplify the proof. Taking the flexibility of the module learning with errors ( MLWE ) problem, the authors elaborately select three parameter sets to meet different application scenarios. Specifically, the authors’ Recommended‐PAKE implementation achieves 177‐bit post‐quantum security with a generous margin to cope with later improvement in cryptanalysis. The performance results indicate that the authors’ MLWE‐PAKE is quite practical: compared with the latest Yang‐PAK , the authors’ Recommended‐PAK reduces the communication cost and the running time by 36.8% and 13.8%, respectively.
Password authentication is a prevalent method of user verification across the Internet, and its use extends to scenarios where resources are limited. However, current password authentication protocols primarily rely on traditional password authenticated key exchange (PAKE) protocols (e.g., SRP, OPAQUE), which are vulnerable to attacks by quantum adversaries. To date, no efficient quantum algorithm has been found to solve the common challenges in lattice-based cryptography. Therefore, quantum-resistant PAKE protocols are generally built upon lattice-based cryptography. In this work, we propose a threshold verifiable oblivious pseudorandom function () protocol based on secret sharing. We then integrate it into a PAKE protocol and present an instantiation of a quantum-safe threshold PAKE protocol () based on the Ring Learning with Errors (RLWE) assumption. This integration gives our PAKE protocol resistance to precomputation attacks, similar to OPAQUE. Furthermore, by incorporating thresholding techniques into the PAKE protocol, we mitigate the risk of single points of failure on the server side. Our protocol not only preserves the security guarantees of traditional PAKE schemes but also resists attacks from quantum adversaries. We also provide a comprehensive security analysis and evaluation of, providing valuable insights for its practical implementation.
Password Authenticated Key Exchange (PAKE) establishes secure communication channels using passwords for authentication. Currently, standardized PAKEs rely on classical asymmetric cryptography. However, these PAKEs may become insecure should the expected quantum threat become a reality. Despite the growing interest in realizing quantum-safe PAKEs, they did not receive much attention from the ongoing Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) integration efforts. Hence, there is a significant awareness gap compared to PQC primitives subject to the official standardization processes. We provide a comprehensive overview of existing PQC PAKEs, classify their design rationales and authentication methods, and address aspects related to their security and performance. We identify PAKE designs that are still unexplored in the PQC realm and discuss the possibility of their adaptation. Thus, we offer a detailed reference for future work on PQC PAKEs.
Password-based authenticated key exchange (PAKE) allows participants sharing low-entropy passwords to agree on cryptographically strong session keys over insecure networks. In this paper, we present two PAKE protocols from lattices in the two-party and three-party settings, respectively, which can resist quantum attacks and achieve mutual authentication. The protocols in this paper achieve two rounds of communication by carefully utilizing the splittable properties of the underlying primitive, a CCA (Chosen-Ciphertext Attack)-secure public key encryption (PKE) scheme with associated nonadaptive approximate smooth projection hash (NA-ASPH) system. Compared with other related protocols, the proposed two-round PAKE protocols have relatively less communication and computation overhead. In particular, the two-round 3PAKE is more practical in large-scale communication systems.
ABSTRACT In this paper, we introduce a lattice‐based authenticated three‐party key agreement scheme for mobile devices with the aim of achieving both post‐quantum security and efficiency. Our scheme is inspired by the authenticated key exchange protocol developed. We revisit the recently suggested system, which is a communication‐efficient three‐party password‐authenticated key exchange, in which we found that the scheme is not fully correct and also demonstrate that the scheme is not safe from user's anonymity and impersonation assaults. We provide an enhanced scheme that is both effective and resistant to the mentioned assault. We also demonstrate its security in a ROM (Random Oracle Model). A comparison analysis that includes performance, security evaluations, energy consumption, and packet loss rate is also provided, proving the suitability of the suggested design.
A three-party authenticated key exchange protocol enables two entities to agree on a session key with the help of a dedicated server through an insecure channel. Lattice based cryptography plays a very important role in authentication and key exchanges that protects against the threat of quantum attacks. However, it is not easy to design quantum resistant password based three-party protocol due to the high demand for security requirements and the limited resources nature of mobile devices. In this article, we have proposed a new post quantum three party key exchange based on a variant of lattice assumption, the ring learning errors. The protocol ensures security against impersonation attack, stolen smartcard attack, password guessing attack, and other existing attacks. In authentication phase, the protocol have used lattice based cryptography that plays a very important role in authentication and key exchanges that protects against the threat of quantum attacks. The proposed protocol ensures both securities against quantum attacks and efficiency due to simple algebraic operations that are polynomial addition and multiplications.