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Security of the SMS4 Block Cipher Against Differential Cryptanalysis

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Abstract

SMS4 is a 128-bit block cipher used in the WAPI standard for wireless networks in China. In this paper, we analyze the security of the SMS4 block cipher against differential cryptanalysis. Firstly, we prove three theorems and one corollary that reflect relationships of 5- and 6-round SMS4. Next, by these relationships, we clarify the minimum number of active S-boxes in 6-, 7- and 12-round SMS4 respectively. Finally, based on the above results, we present a family of about 214 differential characteristics for 19-round SMS4, which leads to an attack on 23-round SMS4 with 2118 chosen plaintexts and 2126:7 encryptions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Information Security, Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Bo-Zhan Su, Wen-Ling Wu (Senior Member, CCF) & Wen-Tao Zhang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Information Security, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Bo-Zhan Su

Authors
  1. Bo-Zhan Su
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  2. Wen-Ling Wu
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  3. Wen-Tao Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bo-Zhan Su.

Additional information

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 60873259 and 60903212, and the Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Su, BZ., Wu, WL. & Zhang, WT. Security of the SMS4 Block Cipher Against Differential Cryptanalysis. J. Comput. Sci. Technol. 26, 130–138 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11390-011-9420-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11390-011-9420-y

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