State Key Laboratory of Information Security, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O.Box 4588, Beijing 100049, China
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Abstract
In this paper, making use of the least significant bit and the most significant bits, we study Diffie-Hellman problem over any finite field of large characteristics and prove that hidden number problem with chosen multiplier is as hard as computational Diffie-Hellman problem. Furthermore, we prove the similar results of elliptic curve over any finite field and analyze bit security of tripartite Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol.
Kewei Lü, Kunpeng Wang, Bao Li.
On the Hidden Number Problem over any Finite Fields of Large Characteristics.
, 2026: 5-11DOI:10.1007/proceeding-000001
Discrete logarithm problem (DLP) relative to a base $\mathit{g}\in {\mathbf{Z}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ is to find x given gx. Assuming this problem to be hard, we recall that Diffie-Hellman key exchange scheme works in the finite cyclic group $\mathcal{G}=<\mathit{g}>\le {\mathbf{Z}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ of order T. To establish a common key, two communicating parties, Alice and Bob execute the following protocol [12]: Alice chooses a random integer $\mathit{x}\in [1,\mathit{T}-1]$, computes and sends X=gx to Bob. Bob chooses a random integer $\mathit{y}\in [1,\mathit{T}-1]$, computes and sends Y=gy to Alice. Now both Alice and Bob can compute the common Diffie-Hellman secret K=Yx=Xy=gxy. Many believe that computing Diffie-Hellman function DHg(gx,gy)=gxy is as hard as DLP. After the secret key agreement, Alice and Bob can secure the session using encryption with a block cipher. A natural way to derive the key for the cipher would be to use a block of bits from gxy. For example, if p is 1024 bit prime, one may use the 64 bit most significant bits of gxy. An attacker, who may not be able to compute the whole gxy, may nevertheless succeed in computing this part of the bits of gxy and crack the session. Hence it is important to know if the most significant bits (MSB) of gxy are secure from an adversary who knows both gx and gy. Boneh and Venkatesan [4] prove that computing the most significant bits of the secret key in a Diffie-Hellman key-exchange protocol from the public keys of the players is as hard as computing the secret key itself, by studying the following hidden number problem: Given an oracle ${\mathcal{O}}_{\mathit{\alpha }}\left(\mathit{x}\right)$ that on input x computes the k most significant bits of αgxmodp, find αmodp.
On the other hand, the computational Diffie-Hellman assumption (CDH) in group $\mathcal{G}$ states that no efficient algorithm can compute gxy given g,gx,gy. But this does not mean that one cannot compute a few bits of gxy or perhaps predict some bits of gxy. In fact, to use the Diffie-Hellman protocol in an efficient system one can usually relies on stronger Decisional Diffie-Hellman assumption (DDH)[2]. Ideally, one would like to show than an algorithm for DDH in group $\mathcal{G}$ implies an algorithm for CDH in $\mathcal{G}$. As a first step, Boneh and Shparlinski [3] show that, in the group of points of an elliptic curve over a finite field, predicting the least significant bit (LSB) of the Diffie-Hellman secret, for many curves in a family of curves, is as hard as computing the entire secret. The similar results were previously known for the RSA function [1] but not for Diffie-Hellman. Most of all work is based on the field Zp for a sufficient large prime p.
As applications, a number of cryptographic schemes proposed are related to or based on Diffie-Hellman function DHg(gx,gy)=gxy. They depend on the "hidden" nature of gxy. For examples, we refer to ElGamal's public key cryptosystem [5], Shamir's message passing scheme [6], Bellare-Micali non-interactive oblivious transfer [9] and Okamoto conference key sharing scheme [10], etc. Contribution. Making use of the least significant bit and the most significant bits, we first study the Diffie-Hellman (DH) problem over a general finite field of large characteristics and prove that the hidden number problem with chosen multiplier (HNP-CM) is as hard as computational DH problem. Then we prove the same results of the elliptic curve over the general finite field and analyze the bit security of tripartite DH key exchange protocol.
2 Hidden number problem with trace
2.1 On the most significant bits
Let p be a sufficient large prime, $\lfloor \mathit{s}{\rfloor }_{\mathit{p}}$ denote the remainder of an integer s on division by p and $\lceil \mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{x}\rceil $ be the length of x in binary. We use xmodp to denote unique integer a in the range [0,p-1] satisfying $\mathit{x}\equiv \mathit{a}\left(\mathrm{m}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{d}\mathit{p}\right)$. Let Fp=Zp be a finite field of p elements and Fpm be the finite extension of Fp. For an integer x, we define $\Vert \mathit{x}{\Vert }_{\mathit{p}}=\underset{\mathit{a}\in \mathbf{Z}}{\mathrm{m}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{n}} |\mathit{x}-\mathit{a}\mathit{p}|$ and for a given k>0, denote by MSBk,p(x) as the integer u,0≤u≤p-1, such that $\Vert \mathit{x}-\mathit{u}{\Vert }_{\mathit{p}}\le \frac{\mathit{p}}{{2}^{\mathit{k}+1}}$. Roughly speaking, a value of MSBk,p(x) gives the k most significant bits of the residue of x modulo p. We denote by $\mathrm{T}\mathrm{r}\left(\mathit{z}\right)=\sum _{\mathit{i}=0}^{\mathit{m}-1} {\mathit{z}}^{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{i}}}$ and $\mathrm{N}\mathrm{m}\left(\mathit{z}\right)=\prod _{\mathit{i}=0}^{\mathit{m}-1} {\mathit{z}}^{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{i}}}$ the trace and norm of $\mathit{z}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}$ to Fp respectively.
HNP-MSB The MSB hidden number problem with trace over a subgroup $\mathcal{G}\subseteq {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ can be formulated as follows: Givenrelements${\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}\in \mathcal{G}$, chosen independently and uniformly at random, the valuesMSBk,p(Tr(αti)) for$\mathit{i}=1,\cdots,\mathit{r}$and somek>0, recover the number$\mathit{\alpha }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$.
The case of m=1 and $\mathcal{G}={\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ corresponds to the hidden number problem introduced in [4], and for the case $\mathcal{G}\subseteq {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ see [7]. The case of $\mathit{m}\ge 2$ is more difficult because one of the crucial ingredients, a bound on exponential sums with elements of small subgroups of Fpm, is missing. nevertheless in some special cases results of a comparable strength have been obtained in [8]. In other cases, an alternative method from [11] can be used, leading to weaker results.
We denote by $\mathcal{N}$ the set of $\mathit{z}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}$ with norm equal to 1, thus $\left|\mathcal{N}\right|=\frac{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}-1}{\mathit{p}-1}$. The following statement a partial case of Theorem 2 of [8].
Lemma 1.Letpbe a sufficiently large prime and$\mathcal{G}$be a subgroup of $\mathcal{N}$of order l with $\mathit{l}\ge {\mathit{p}}^{(\mathit{m}-1)/2+\mathit{\rho }}$for some fixed ρ>0. Then for$\mathit{k}=\lceil 2\sqrt{\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p}}\rceil $ and r= $\lceil 4(\mathit{m}+1)\sqrt{\text{ }\text{logp}\text{ }}\rceil $, there is a deterministic polynomial time algorithm$\mathcal{A}$as follows. For any $\mathit{\alpha }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, if ${\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}$are chosen uniformly and independently at random from $\mathcal{G}$and ifui=MSBk,p(Tr(αti)) for$\mathit{i}=1,\cdots,\mathit{r}$, the output of$\mathcal{A}$on the 2r values (ti,ui) satisfies ${\mathrm{P}\mathrm{r}}_{{\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}\in \mathcal{G}}\left[\mathcal{A}\left({\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}};{\mathit{u}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{u}}_{\mathit{r}}\right)=\mathit{\alpha }\right]\ge 1-{\mathit{p}}^{-1}$.
For smaller groups, a weaker result is given by Theorem 1 of [11].
Lemma 2.Let p be a sufficiently large prime and$\mathcal{G}$be a subgroup of${\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$of prime orderlwith$\mathit{l}\ge {\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{\rho }}$for some fixedρ>0. Then for anyε>0, let$\mathit{k}=⌈\left(1-\frac{\mathit{\rho }}{\mathit{m}}+\mathit{\epsilon }\right)\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p}⌉$and $\mathit{r}=\lceil 4\mathit{m}/\mathit{\epsilon }\rceil $, there is a deterministic polynomial time algorithm $\mathcal{A}$as follows. For any $\mathit{\alpha }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, if${\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}$are chosen uniformly and independently at random from $\mathcal{G}$and ifui=MSBk,p(Tr(αti)) for$\mathit{i}=1,\cdots,\mathit{r}$, the output of $\mathcal{A}$ on the 2r values (ti,ui) satisfies ${\mathrm{P}\mathrm{r}}_{{\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}\in \mathcal{G}}\left[\mathcal{A}\left({\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}};{\mathit{u}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{u}}_{\mathit{r}}\right)=\mathit{\alpha }\right]\ge 1-{\mathit{p}}^{-\mathit{m}}$.
Here we can give a generalization of Lemma 1. We first generalize the HNP-MSB problem to be MSBd hidden number problem (HNP-MSBd ). HNP-MSBd with trace over a subgroup $\mathcal{G}\subseteq {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ can be defined as follows: Given relements${\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}\in \mathcal{G}$, chosen independently and uniformly at random, and the values $\mathit{M}\mathit{S}{\mathit{B}}_{\mathit{k},\mathit{p}}\left(\mathit{T}\mathit{r}\left(\mathit{\alpha }{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathit{d}}\right)\right)$ for $\mathit{i}=1,\cdots,\mathit{r}$, some k>0 and integer d>0, recover the number$\mathit{\alpha }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$. Obviously, when d=1, it is HNP-MSB. We define ${\mathcal{O}}_{{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{B}}^{1}}$ to be an oracle for ${\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{B}}_{\mathit{k},\mathit{p}}\left(\mathrm{T}\mathrm{r}\right(\mathit{t}\left)\right)$ for any t.
Lemma 3.Let p be a sufficiently large prime and$\mathcal{G}$be a subgroup of $\mathcal{N}$ of order l with $\mathit{l}\ge {\mathit{p}}^{(\mathit{m}-1)/2+\mathit{\rho }}$ for some fixedρ>0. Then for$\mathit{k}=\lceil 2\sqrt{\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p}}\rceil $and = $\lceil 4(\mathit{m}+1)\sqrt{\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p}}\rceil $, given an oracle ${\mathcal{O}}_{\mathit{M}\mathit{S}{\mathit{B}}^{1}}$, there is a deterministic polynomial time algorithm ${\mathcal{A}}^{{\mathcal{O}}_{\mathit{M}\mathit{S}{\mathit{B}}^{1}}}$for HNP-MSBdas follows. For any$\mathit{\alpha }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, if${\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}$are chosen uniformly and independently at random from $\mathcal{G}$ and make r calls to ${\mathcal{O}}_{\text{MSB}\text{ }}$, the output of ${\mathcal{A}}^{{\mathcal{O}}_{\mathit{M}\mathit{S}{\mathit{B}}^{1}}}$on the r values ti satisfies
Proof. Set ${\mathit{u}}^{\mathit{d}}\left(\mathit{\lambda }\right):={\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{B}}_{\mathit{k},\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{d}}\left(\mathrm{T}\mathrm{r}\right(\mathit{\alpha }\mathit{\lambda }\left)\right):={\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{B}}_{\mathit{k},\mathit{p}}\left(\mathrm{T}\mathrm{r}\left(\mathit{\alpha }{\mathit{\lambda }}^{\mathit{d}}\right)\right)$. Let $\mathit{R}:\mathcal{G}⟶{\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ be a random function chosen uniformly from the set of all functions from $\mathcal{G}$ to ${\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, and $\mathit{S}:{\mathcal{G}}^{\mathit{d}}⟶\mathcal{G}$ be a function satisfying $\mathit{S}(\mathit{\lambda }{)}^{\mathit{d}}\equiv \mathit{\lambda }\left(\mathrm{m}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{d}{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}\right)$. Here ${\mathcal{G}}^{\mathit{d}}$ is the set of d' th powers in $\mathcal{G}$. The function S is simply a function mapping a d 'th power $\mathit{x}\in {\mathcal{G}}^{\mathit{d}}$ to a randomly chosen d 'th root of x. Next, define the following function ${\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{B}}_{\mathit{k},\mathit{p}}\left(\mathrm{T}\mathrm{r}\right(\mathit{\alpha }\mathit{\lambda }\left)\right)$ :
If gcd(d,l)=1, then ${\mathcal{G}}^{\mathit{d}}=\mathcal{G}$. Choose ${\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}$ uniformly and independently at random from $\mathcal{G}$, then ${\mathit{t}}_{1}^{\mathit{\text{'}}}={\mathit{t}}_{1}^{\mathit{d}},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}^{\mathit{\text{'}}}={\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}^{\mathit{d}}$ is also distributed uniformly and independently in $\mathcal{G}$. Calling the oracle ${\mathcal{O}}_{{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{B}}^{1}}$ on ${\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathit{\text{'}}}$, we get ${\mathit{u}}_{1}^{\mathit{d}}:={\mathit{u}}^{\mathit{d}}\left({\mathit{t}}_{1}^{\mathit{\text{'}}}\right),\cdots,{\mathit{u}}_{\mathit{r}}^{\mathit{d}}:={\mathit{u}}^{\mathit{d}}\left({\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}^{\mathit{\text{'}}}\right)$. For the pairs $\left({\mathit{t}}_{1}^{\mathit{\text{'}}},{\mathit{u}}_{1}^{\mathit{d}}\right),\cdots,\left({\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}^{\mathit{\text{'}}},{\mathit{u}}_{\mathit{r}}^{\mathit{d}}\right)$, by Lemma 1, there is a deterministic polynomial time algorithm $\mathcal{B}$ such that
Now we define a algorithm ${\mathcal{A}}_{{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{B}}^{1}}$ to call the oracle ${\mathcal{O}}_{{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{B}}^{1}}$ and algorithm $\mathcal{B}$, then ${\mathcal{A}}^{{\mathcal{O}}_{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{B}1}}\left({\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}\right)=\mathcal{B}\left({\mathit{t}}_{1}^{\mathit{\text{'}}},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}^{\mathit{\text{'}}};{\mathit{u}}_{1}^{\mathit{d}},\cdots,{\mathit{u}}_{\mathit{r}}^{\mathit{d}}\right)$. So ${\mathcal{A}}^{{\mathcal{O}}_{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{B}1}}$ is a deterministic polynomial time algorithm satisfying
If gcd(d,l)=e>1, then ${\mathcal{G}}^{\mathit{d}}={\mathcal{G}}^{\mathit{e}}$ and $\left|{\mathcal{G}}^{\mathit{e}}\right|=\frac{\mathit{l}}{\mathit{e}}$. Similar to the above, we have a algorithm ${\mathcal{A}}^{{\mathcal{O}}_{\text{MSB}\text{ }}{\mathit{ }}^{1}}$ such that
We denote by LSB(z) the least significant bit of an integer $\mathit{z}\ge 0$. When $\mathit{z}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}$, we let LSB(z) be LSB(x) for the unique integer $\mathit{x}\in [0,\mathit{p}-1]$ such that $\mathit{x}\equiv \mathit{z}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{d}\mathit{p}$. Now we define the following variant of the Hidden Number Problem (HNP) presented in [4].
HNP-CMd : Fix an integer d>0 and an ε>0. Let p be a prime. For an $\mathit{\alpha }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, let ${\mathit{L}}^{\left(\mathit{d}\right)}:{\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}⟶\left\{\mathrm{0,1}\right\}$ be a function satisfying
The HNP-CMd problem is: Given an oracle forL(d)(t), findαin polynomial time. For small ε there might be multiple α satisfying condition (*) (polynomially many in ε-1 ). In this case the list-HNP-CM d problem is to find all such that $\mathit{\alpha }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$. Note that it is easy to verify that a given α belongs to the list of solutions by picking polynomially many random samples $\mathit{x}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}$ (say, O(1/ε2) samples suffice) and testing that L(d)(x)=LSB(⌊αxd⌋p) holds sufficiently often. We usually set d=1,2 or 3. We refer to the above problem as HNP-CM d to denote the fact that we are free to evaluate L(d)(t) at any multiplier t of our choice (the CM stands for Chosen Multiplier). When d=1, it is the well-known algorithm (ACGS algorithm) due to Alexi, Chor, Goldreich, and Schnorr [1]. In the original HNP studies in [4] one is only given samples (t,L1(t)=L(t)) for random t. The following result shows how to solve the HNP-CMd problem for any ε>0. The proof of it can be found in [1] and [3].
Lemma 4.Fixed an integerd>0. Let pbe a n-bit prime and let ε>0. Then given ε, the HNP-CM dproblem can be solved in expected polynomial time in logp and d/ε.
Notice. In particularly, in the following we usually set α=MSBk,p(Tr(uti)).
3 Security of bits of Diffie-Hellman scheme over a finite field
In this section, we make use of solutions, as shown in the preceding, to HNP of the most significant bits and the least significant bit respectively to prove that predicting the LSB of Diffie-Hellman secret is as hard as solving computational Diffie-Hellman problem. The following result show us that predicting LSB is not easier than trying to find MSB. We define ${\mathcal{O}}^{\mathit{L}}$ to be an oracle for L(1)(t):=L(t).
Theorem 1.Given oracle ${\mathcal{O}}^{\mathit{L}}$and a sufficient large primep. Then, given ε>0, HNP-MSB can be solved in expected polynomial time$\mathit{m}\cdot \mathit{T}\left(\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{p},\frac{1}{\mathit{\epsilon }}\right)$, where T is a fixed polynomial and m is the degree of extension of finite fields as above.
Proof. For $\mathit{\alpha }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, we choose independently and uniformly at random r elements ${\mathit{t}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{t}}_{\mathit{r}}\in \mathcal{G}$. By Lemma 1, if we find the values ui=MSBk,p(Tr(αti)) for $\mathit{i}=1,\cdots,\mathit{r}$ and some k>0, then we can recover the number $\mathit{\alpha }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ by a deterministic polynomial time algorithm $\mathcal{A}$, such that
Now we try to determine ui for $\mathit{i}=1,\cdots,\mathit{r}$. By the definition, we know that 0≤ui≤p-1. For any i and any $\mathit{t}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, we do with L(t)=LSB(⌊uit⌋p). Making use of the ACGS algorithm (the case d=1 of Lemma 3 ) and oracle ${\mathcal{O}}^{\mathit{L}},{\mathit{u}}_{\mathit{i}}$ could be found in expected polynomial time in n=logp and $\frac{1}{\mathit{\epsilon }}$. After repeating the procedure r times, we could find ${\mathit{u}}_{1},\cdots,{\mathit{u}}_{\mathit{r}}$ in expected polynomial time $\mathit{r}{\mathit{T}}^{\mathit{\text{'}}}\left(\mathit{n},\frac{1}{\mathit{\epsilon }}\right)$ for a fixed polynomial T'. This completes the proof.
In the following, given (g,gx,gy), we show that if there is an efficient algorithm for predicting the LSB of Tr(gab)t for $\mathit{t}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, then there is an algorithm for computing the Diffie-Hellman function, i.e., finding gab.
Corollary 1.Given (g,gx,gy) for$\mathit{g}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, if there is an efficient algorithm for predicting LSB(Tr(gab)t) for$\mathit{t}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, then there is an algorithm for computing the Diffie-Hellman function, i.e., findinggabin expected polynomial time.
Proof. It is easily to get the result by Theorem 3.1.
Remark 1. For smaller group, by Lemma 2, we can get similar results. these results also show that solving the hidden number problem with chosen multiplier (HNP-CM) is as hard as computing DH function. Furthermore, we know that if computing DH function is hard, then the least significant bits are unpredictable.
4 Security of bits of elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman scheme
In this section, we discuss the relations between Diffie-Hellman problem and LSB over elliptic curves. Let E be an elliptic curve over finite field Fpm of size pm, which is the finite extension of Fp, given by an affine Weierstrass equation of the form
It is well known that the set E(Fpm) of Fpm-rational points of E form an Abelian group under an appropriate composition rule and with the point at infinity O as the neutral element.
Let $\mathit{G}\in \mathbf{E}$ be a point of order q for some prime q. Then the common key established at the end of the Diffie-Hellman protocol with respect to the curve E and the point G is $\mathit{a}\mathit{b}\mathit{G}=(\mathit{x},\mathit{y})\in \mathbf{E}$ for some integers $\mathit{a},\mathit{b}\in [1,\mathit{q}-1]$. Throughout the rest, we use the fact that the representation of E contains the field of definition of E. With the convention, an algorithm given the representation of E/Fpm as input does not need to also be given pm and p. The algorithm obtains pm and p from the representation of E.
Diffie-Hellman Function: Let E be an elliptic curve over Fpm and let $\mathit{G}\in \mathbf{E}$ be a point of prime order q. We define Diffie-Hellman function as: DHE,G(aG,bG)=abG, where a,b are integers in [1,q-1]. The Diffie-Hellman problem on E is to compute DHE,G(P,Q) given E,P,G and Q. Usually, we mostly focus on curves in which Diffie-Hellman problem is believed to be hard. Throughout we say that a randomized algorithm $\mathcal{A}$ computes the Diffie-Hellman function if $\mathcal{A}(\mathbf{E},\mathit{G},\mathit{a}\mathit{G},\mathit{b}\mathit{G})=\mathit{a}\mathit{b}\mathit{G}$ holds with probability at least 1-1/pm. The probability is over the random bits used by $\mathcal{A}$.
Twists on elliptic curves: Let $\mathcal{G}$ be a subgroup of Fpm with $\left|\mathcal{G}\right|\ge {\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{\rho }}$ for ρ>0. For any $\mathit{\lambda }\in \mathcal{G}$, define ${\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left(\mathbf{E}\right)$ to be the twisted elliptic curve:
Hence, ${\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left(\mathbf{E}\right)$ is an elliptic curve for any $\mathit{\lambda }\in \mathcal{G}$. Throughout this section, we are working with the family of curves ${\left\{{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left({\mathbf{E}}_{0}\right)\right\}}_{\mathit{\lambda }\in \mathcal{G}}$ associated with a given curve E0. It is easy to verify that for any point $\mathit{P}=(\mathit{x},\mathit{y})\in \mathbf{E}$ and any $\mathit{\lambda }\in \mathcal{G}$ the point Pλ= $\left(\mathit{x}{\mathit{\lambda }}^{2},\mathit{y}{\mathit{\lambda }}^{3}\right)\in {\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left(\mathbf{E}\right)$ (see [3]). Moreover, for any points $\mathit{P},\mathit{Q},\mathit{R}\in \mathbf{E}$ with P+Q= R we also have Pλ+Qλ=Rλ. In particular, for any $\mathit{G}\in \mathbf{E}$ we have: xGλ=(xG)λ, yGλ=(yG)λ,xyGλ=(xyG)λ. So map ${\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}:\mathbf{E}⟶{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left(\mathbf{E}\right)$ mapping $\mathit{P}\in \mathbf{E}$ to ${\mathit{P}}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\in {\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left(\mathbf{E}\right)$. Indeed, it is easy to verify that ${\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}$ is an isomorphism of groups. So we also have ${\mathrm{D}\mathrm{H}}_{{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left(\mathbf{E}\right),{\mathit{G}}_{\mathit{\lambda }}}\left({\mathit{P}}_{\mathit{\lambda }},{\mathit{Q}}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\right)={\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left[{\mathrm{D}\mathrm{H}}_{\mathbf{E},\mathit{G}}(\mathit{P},\mathit{Q})\right]$, i.e. if the Diffie-Hellman function is hard to compute in E then it is also hard to compute for all curves in ${\left\{{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left(\mathbf{E}\right)\right\}}_{\mathit{\lambda }\in \mathcal{G}}$.
For any $\mathit{z}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}$, we let LSB(z) be LSB(x) for the unique integer $\mathit{x}\in [0,\mathit{p}-1]$ such that $\mathit{x}\equiv \mathit{z}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{d}\mathit{p}$. We say that an algorithm $\mathcal{A}$ has advantage ϵ in predicting the LSB of the trace of the x-coordinate of the Diffie-Hellman function on E if:
where $\mathit{a}\mathit{b}\mathit{G}=(\mathit{x},\mathit{y})\in \mathbf{E},\mathit{k}=\lceil 2\sqrt{\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p}}\rceil $ and a,b are chosen uniformly at random in [1,q-1]. We write ${\mathrm{A}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{v}}_{\mathbf{E},\mathit{G}}^{\mathit{X}}\left(\mathcal{A}\right)>\mathit{ϵ}$. Similarly, we say that algorithm $\mathcal{A}$ has advantage ϵ in predicting the LSB of the trace of the y-coordinate of the Diffie-Hellman function on E if:
where $\mathit{a}\mathit{b}\mathit{G}=(\mathit{x},\mathit{y})\in \mathbf{E}$. We write ${\mathrm{A}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{v}}_{\mathbf{E},\mathit{G}}^{\mathit{Y}}\left(\mathcal{A}\right)>\mathit{ϵ}$.
Due to some modification of proof of main theorem in [3], we can prove the following results which show that no algorithm can have a non-negligible advantage in predicting the LSB of the traces of the x or y coordinates of the Diffie-Hellman secret for many curves in ${\left\{{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left({\mathbf{E}}_{0}\right)\right\}}_{\mathit{\lambda }\in \mathcal{G}}$, unless Diffie-Hellman problem is easy on E0.
Theorem 2.Let $\mathit{ϵ},\mathit{\delta }\in \left(\mathrm{0,1}\right)$. LetE0be an elliptic curve over Fpmand$\mathit{G}\in {\mathbf{E}}_{0}$be a point of prime order. Suppose there is a t-time algorithm $\mathcal{A}$ such that either:
1. $\mathit{A}\mathit{d}{\mathit{v}}_{{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left({\mathbf{E}}_{0}\right),{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left(\mathit{G}\right)}^{\mathit{X}}\left(\mathcal{A}\right)>\mathit{ϵ}$for at least a $\mathit{\delta }$-fraction of the$\mathit{\lambda }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, or
2. $\mathit{A}\mathit{d}{\mathit{v}}_{{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}}^{\mathit{Y}}\left({\mathbf{E}}_{0}\right),{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left(\mathit{G}\right)\left(\mathcal{A}\right)>\mathit{ϵ}$for at least a $\mathit{\delta }$-fraction of the$\mathit{\lambda }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$.
Then the most significant bits of the traces ofDHfunctionDHE0,G(P,Q) can be computed in expected time$\mathit{t}\cdot \mathit{T}\left(\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p},\frac{1}{\mathit{ϵ}\mathit{\delta }}\right)$, where Tis some fixed polynomial independent of p andE0.
For any $\mathit{\mu }\in \mathcal{G}$ and $\mathit{k}=\lceil 2\sqrt{\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p}}\rceil $, let algorithm
(respectively, LSB(Tr(yμ3)) for the x-coordinate (resp. y-coordinate). We consider the curve ${\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\mu }}\left(\mathbf{E}\right)={\mathbf{E}}_{\mathit{\mu }}={\mathbf{E}}_{0}$ for any $\mathit{\mu }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, by Theorem 2, we get the following result:
Theorem 3.Let$\mathit{ϵ},\mathit{\delta }\in \left(\mathrm{0,1}\right)$. Let E0be an elliptic curve over${\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}},\mathit{G}\in {\mathbf{E}}_{0}$be a point of prime order q and$\mathcal{G}\le {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$of order$\mathit{l},\mathit{l}\ge {\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{\rho }}$forρ>0. For any$\mathit{\mu }\in \mathcal{G}$, suppose there is a t-time algorithm ${\mathcal{A}}^{\mathit{\mu }}$ such that either:
1. $\mathit{A}\mathit{d}{\mathit{v}}_{{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left({\mathbf{E}}_{0}\right),{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left({\mathit{G}}_{\mathit{\mu }}\right)}^{{\mathit{X}}_{\mathit{\mu }}}\left({\mathcal{A}}^{\mathit{\mu }}\right)>\mathit{ϵ}$for at least a $\mathit{\delta }$-fraction of the$\mathit{\lambda }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, or
2. $\mathit{A}\mathit{d}{\mathit{v}}_{{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left({\mathbf{E}}_{0}\right),{\mathit{\varphi }}_{\mathit{\lambda }}\left({\mathit{G}}_{\mathit{\mu }}\right)}^{{\mathit{Y}}_{\mathit{\mu }}}\left({\mathcal{A}}^{\mathit{\mu }}\right)>\mathit{ϵ}$for at least a $\mathit{\delta }$-fraction of the $\mathit{\lambda }\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$.
Then Diffie-Hellman functionDHE0,G(P,Q) can be computed in expected time ⋅t⋅ $\mathit{T}\left(\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p},\frac{1}{\mathit{ϵ}\mathit{\delta }}\right)\cdot \frac{{2}^{\mathit{r}}}{1-{\mathit{p}}^{-1}}$, where T is some fixed polynomial independent of p andE0and $\mathit{r}=\lceil 4(\mathit{m}+1)\sqrt{\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p}}\rceil $.
Remark 2. If $\left|\mathcal{G}\right|=\mathit{l}$ is a prime, then by Lemma 3, we get abG=(x,y) with probability $\ge \left(1-{\mathit{p}}^{-1}\right)$.
5 Bit security of tripartite Diffie-Hellman
In this section, we study the bit security of keys obtained using protocol based on pairings. Let p be a prime and Fp be the field of p elements, which we identify with the set $\{\mathrm{0,1},\cdots,\mathit{p}-1\}$. Let l be a prime which is coprime to p and l>pρ for some ρ>0, and define m to be the smallest positive integer such that ${\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}\equiv 1\mathrm{m}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{d}\mathit{l}$. Now we consider a non-degeneration bilinear pairing $\mathit{e}:{\mathbf{G}}_{1}\times {\mathbf{G}}_{2}⟶\mathcal{G}\subseteq {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, where G1,G2 and $\mathcal{G}$ are cyclic groups of order l.
Pairing have found many application in cryptography including the tripartite key exchange protocol of Joux [12]. We recall the tripartite Diffie-Hellman protocol in the original formulation:
To Set up the system, three communicating parties A,B and C choose suitable groupsG1and G2of order l and points $\mathit{P}\in {\mathbf{G}}_{1}$and$\mathit{Q}\in {\mathbf{G}}_{2}$with$1\ne \mathit{e}(\mathit{P},\mathit{Q})\in $${\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$.
To create a common secret key, A,B and C choose secret numbers$\mathit{a},\mathit{b},\mathit{c}\in $ [0,l-1] and publish pairs (aP,aQ),(bP,bQ) and (cP,cQ).
Now each of them is able to compute the common key K=e(P,Q)abc. For example, A can compute K as follows,
For $\mathit{k}=⌈\left(1-\frac{\mathit{\rho }}{\mathit{m}}+\mathit{\epsilon }\right)\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p}⌉$, let u=MBSk,p(Tr(e(P,Q)abc)). We define an oracle ${\mathcal{O}}^{\mathcal{L}}{\mathit{ }}_{\mathit{k}}$ as follows: For any $\mathit{a},\mathit{b},\mathit{c}\in [0,\mathit{l}-1]$ and $\mathit{t}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{\mathit{p}}^{\mathrm{*}}$, takes as input the pairs (P,Q), (aP,aQ),(bP,bQ) and (cP,cQ), and outputs L(t)=LSB(ut).
Theorem 4.Let$\mathit{ϵ}\in \left(\mathrm{0,1}\right),\mathit{p}$be a sufficient large prime, and l is the order of groupsG1,G2and$\mathcal{G}$such that gcd(l,pm-1(p-1))=1 and$\mathit{l}\ge {\mathit{p}}^{\frac{\mathit{m}-1}{2}+\mathit{\rho }}$for some fixedρ>0. Then there exists an algorithm$\mathcal{A}$which, given the pairs (P,Q),(aP,aQ),(bP,bQ) and (cP,cQ), makes$\mathit{r}=⌈4(\mathit{m}+1)\sqrt{\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p}}$calls of the oracle${\mathcal{O}}^{\mathcal{L}}{\mathit{ }}_{\mathit{k}}$and computese(P,Q)abccorrectly in expected time$\mathit{r}\cdot \mathit{T}\left(\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p},\frac{1}{\mathit{ϵ}}\right)$, whereTis an fixed polynomial.
Proof. The case when $\mathit{a}\mathit{b}\equiv 0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{d}\mathit{l}$ is trivial. In the general case, i.e., $\mathit{b}\not\equiv $ 0modl, choose a random $\mathit{d}\in \{0,\cdots,\mathit{l}-1\}$ and call the oracle ${\mathcal{O}}_{\mathit{k}}$ on the pairs (P,Q),(aP,aQ),(bP,bQ) and $\left(\right(\mathit{c}+\mathit{d})\mathit{P},(\mathit{c}+\mathit{d}\left)\mathit{Q}\right)$. Let α=e(P,Q)abc be the hidden number. By Theorem 3.1, we get ${\mathrm{M}\mathrm{B}\mathrm{S}}_{\mathit{k},\mathit{p}}\left(\mathrm{T}\mathrm{r}\left(\mathit{e}(\mathit{P},\mathit{Q}{)}^{\mathit{a}\mathit{b}\mathit{c}}\mathit{e}(\mathit{P},\mathit{Q}{)}^{\mathit{a}\mathit{b}\mathit{d}}\right)\right)=$ MBSk,p(Tr(αe(P,Q)abd)) in expected time $\mathit{T}\left(\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p},\frac{1}{\mathit{ϵ}}\right)$, where T is an fixed polynomial. Since l is a prime and $\mathit{a}\mathit{b}\not\equiv 0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{d}\mathit{l},\mathit{e}(\mathit{P},\mathit{Q}{)}^{\mathit{a}\mathit{b}\mathit{d}}$ are uniformly and independently distributed in $\mathcal{G}\in {\mathbf{F}}_{{\mathit{p}}^{\mathit{m}}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ of order l, when the shifts d are chosen uniformly and independently at random in $\{0,\cdots,\mathit{l}-1\}$. By Lemma 1, we can find alpha in expected time $\mathit{r}\cdot \mathit{T}\left(\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}\mathit{p},\frac{1}{\mathit{ϵ}}\right)$. This completes the proof.
Remark 3. For a small group $\mathcal{G}$, by Lemma 2, we can get similar result.
6 Conclusion
Making use of the reduction between the least significant bit and the most significant bits, we showed that, over a general finite field of large characteristics, the hidden number problem with chosen multiplier is as hard as computational DH problem. Furthermore, we prove the same results of the elliptic curve over the general finite field and analyze the bit security of tripartite Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol. We believe the technique of this reduction could be benefit to problem of bit security over any finite field.
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Funding
President's Foundation of Graduate University of CAS(yzjj2003010)