Inside the Hypercube

Bernstein’s CubeHash is a hash function family that includes four functions submitted to the NIST Hash Competition. A CubeHash function is parametrized by a number of rounds r, a block byte size b, and a digest bit length h (the compression function makes r rounds, while the finalization function makes 10r rounds). The 1024-bit internal state of CubeHash is represented as a five-dimensional hypercube. The submissions to NIST recommends r = 8, b = 1, and h ∈ {224, 256, 384, 512}. This paper presents the first external analysis of CubeHash, with • improved standard generic attacks for collisions and preimages • a multicollision attack that exploits fixed points • a study of the round function symmetries • a preimage attack that exploits these symmetries • a practical collision attack on a weakened version of CubeHash • a study of fixed points and an example of nontrivial fixed point • high-probability truncated differentials over 10 rounds Since the first public...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: ACISP
• Authors: Jean-Philippe Aumasson, Eric Brier, Willi Meier, María Naya-Plasencia, Thomas Peyrin
• Keywords: ACISP 2009, CubeHash, Hash Function Family, NIST Hash Competition, Security Privacy