RFC 4503
A Description of the Rabbit Stream Cipher Algorithm
Network Working Group M. Boesgaard Request for Comments: 4503 M. Vesterager Category: Informational E. Zenner Cryptico A/S May 2006 A Description of the Rabbit Stream Cipher Algorithm Status of This Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).Abstract
This document describes the encryption algorithm Rabbit. It is a stream cipher algorithm with a 128-bit key and 64-bit initialization vector (IV). The method was published in 2003 and has been subject to public security and performance revision. Its high performance makes it particularly suited for the use with Internet protocols where large amounts of data have to be processed.Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................2 2. Algorithm Description ...........................................2 2.1. Notation ...................................................2 2.2. Inner State ................................................3 2.3. Key Setup Scheme ...........................................3 2.4. IV Setup Scheme ............................................3 2.5. Counter System .............................................4 2.6. Next-State Function ........................................4 2.7. Extraction Scheme ..........................................5 2.8. Encryption/Decryption Scheme ...............................5 3. Security Considerations .........................................6 3.1. Message Length .............................................6 3.2. Initialization Vector ......................................6 4. Informative References ..........................................7 Appendix A: Test Vectors ...........................................8 A.1. Testing without IV Setup ...................................8 A.2. Testing with IV Setup ......................................8 Appendix B: Debugging Vectors ......................................9
B.1. Testing Round Function and Key Setup .......................9
B.2. Testing the IV setup ......................................10
1. Introduction
Rabbit is a stream cipher algorithm that has been designed for high
performance in software implementations. Both key setup and
encryption are very fast, making the algorithm particularly suited
for all applications where large amounts of data or large numbers of
data packages have to be encrypted. Examples include, but are not
limited to, server-side encryption, multimedia encryption, hard-disk
encryption, and encryption on limited-resource devices.
The cipher is based on ideas derived from the behavior of certain
chaotic maps. These maps have been carefully discretized, resulting
in a compact stream cipher. Rabbit has been openly published in 2003
[1] and has not displayed any weaknesses as of the time of this
writing. To ensure ongoing security evaluation, it was also
submitted to the ECRYPT eSTREAM project[2].
Technically, Rabbit consists of a pseudorandom bitstream generator
that takes a 128-bit key and a 64-bit initialization vector (IV) as
input and generates a stream of 128-bit blocks. Encryption is
performed by combining this output with the message, using the
exclusive-OR operation. Decryption is performed in exactly the same
way as encryption.
Further information about Rabbit, including reference implementation,
test vectors, performance figures, and security white papers, is
available from http://www.cryptico.com/.
2. Algorithm Description
2.1. Notation
This document uses the following elementary operators:
+ integer addition.
* integer multiplication.
div integer division.
mod integer modulus.
^ bitwise exclusive-OR operation.
<<< left rotation operator.
|| concatenation operator.
When labeling bits of a variable, A, the least significant bit is
denoted by A[0]. The notation A[h..g] represents bits h through g of
variable A, where h is more significant than g. Similar variables
are labeled by A0,A1,... with the notation A(0),A(1),... being used to denote those same variables if this improves readability. Given a 64-bit word, the function MSW extracts the most significant 32 bits, whereas the function LSW extracts the least significant 32 bits. Constants prefixed with 0x are in hexadecimal notation. In particular, the constant WORDSIZE is defined to be 0x100000000.2.2. Inner State
The internal state of the stream cipher consists of 513 bits. 512 bits are divided between eight 32-bit state variables, X0,...,X7 and eight 32-bit counter variables, C0,...,C7. In addition, there is one counter carry bit, b.2.3. Key Setup Scheme
The counter carry bit b is initialized to zero. The state and counter words are derived from the key K[127..0]. The key is divided into subkeys K0 = K[15..0], K1 = K[31..16], ... K7 = K[127..112]. The initial state is initialized as follows: for j=0 to 7: if j is even: Xj = K(j+1 mod 8) || Kj Cj = K(j+4 mod 8) || K(j+5 mod 8) else: Xj = K(j+5 mod 8) || K(j+4 mod 8) Cj = Kj || K(j+1 mod 8) The system is then iterated four times, each iteration consisting of counter update (Section 2.5) and next-state function (Section 2.6). After that, the counter variables are reinitialized to for j=0 to 7: Cj = Cj ^ X(j+4 mod 8)2.4. IV Setup Scheme
If an IV is used for encryption, the counter variables are modified after the key setup. Denoting the IV bits by IV[63..0], the setup proceeds as follows: C0 = C0 ^ IV[31..0] C1 = C1 ^ (IV[63..48] || IV[31..16]) C2 = C2 ^ IV[63..32] C3 = C3 ^ (IV[47..32] || IV[15..0])
C4 = C4 ^ IV[31..0] C5 = C5 ^ (IV[63..48] || IV[31..16])
C6 = C6 ^ IV[63..32] C7 = C7 ^ (IV[47..32] || IV[15..0])
The system is then iterated another 4 times, each iteration
consisting of counter update (Section 2.5) and next-state function
(Section 2.6).
The relationship between key and IV setup is as follows:
- After the key setup, the resulting inner state is saved as a master
state. Then the IV setup is run to obtain the first encryption
starting state.
- Whenever re-initialization under a new IV is necessary, the IV
setup is run on the master state again to derive the next
encryption starting state.
2.5. Counter System
Before each execution of the next-state function (Section 2.6), the
counter system has to be updated. This system uses constants
A1,...,A7, as follows:
A0 = 0x4D34D34D A1 = 0xD34D34D3
A2 = 0x34D34D34 A3 = 0x4D34D34D
A4 = 0xD34D34D3 A5 = 0x34D34D34
A6 = 0x4D34D34D A7 = 0xD34D34D3
It also uses the counter carry bit b to update the counter system, as
follows:
for j=0 to 7:
temp = Cj + Aj + b
b = temp div WORDSIZE
Cj = temp mod WORDSIZE
Note that on exiting this loop, the variable b has to be preserved
for the next iteration of the system.
2.6. Next-State Function
The core of the Rabbit algorithm is the next-state function. It is
based on the function g, which transforms two 32-bit inputs into one
32-bit output, as follows:
g(u,v) = LSW(square(u+v)) ^ MSW(square(u+v))
where square(u+v) = ((u+v mod WORDSIZE) * (u+v mod WORDSIZE)).
Using this function, the algorithm updates the inner state as
follows:
for j=0 to 7:
Gj = g(Xj,Cj)
X0 = G0 + (G7 <<< 16) + (G6 <<< 16) mod WORDSIZE
X1 = G1 + (G0 <<< 8) + G7 mod WORDSIZE
X2 = G2 + (G1 <<< 16) + (G0 <<< 16) mod WORDSIZE
X3 = G3 + (G2 <<< 8) + G1 mod WORDSIZE
X4 = G4 + (G3 <<< 16) + (G2 <<< 16) mod WORDSIZE
X5 = G5 + (G4 <<< 8) + G3 mod WORDSIZE
X6 = G6 + (G5 <<< 16) + (G4 <<< 16) mod WORDSIZE
X7 = G7 + (G6 <<< 8) + G5 mod WORDSIZE
2.7. Extraction Scheme
After the key and IV setup are concluded, the algorithm is iterated
in order to produce one 128-bit output block, S, per round. Each
round consists of executing steps 2.5 and 2.6 and then extracting an
output S[127..0] as follows:
S[15..0] = X0[15..0] ^ X5[31..16]
S[31..16] = X0[31..16] ^ X3[15..0]
S[47..32] = X2[15..0] ^ X7[31..16]
S[63..48] = X2[31..16] ^ X5[15..0]
S[79..64] = X4[15..0] ^ X1[31..16]
S[95..80] = X4[31..16] ^ X7[15..0]
S[111..96] = X6[15..0] ^ X3[31..16]
S[127..112] = X6[31..16] ^ X1[15..0]
2.8. Encryption/Decryption Scheme
Given a 128-bit message block, M, encryption E and decryption M' are
computed via
E = M ^ S and
M' = E ^ S.
If S is the same in both operations (as it should be if the same key
and IV are used), then M = M'.
The encryption/decryption scheme is repeated until all blocks in the
message have been encrypted/decrypted. If the message size is not a
multiple of 128 bits, only the needed amount of least significant
bits from the last output block S is used for the last message block
M.
If the application requires the encryption of smaller blocks (or even individual bits), a 128-bit buffer is used. The buffer is initialized by generating a new value, S, and copying it into the buffer. After that, all data blocks are encrypted using the least significant bits in this buffer. Whenever the buffer is empty, a new value S is generated and copied into the buffer.3. Security Considerations
For an encryption algorithm, the security provided is, of course, the most important issue. No security weaknesses have been found to date, neither by the designers nor by independent cryptographers scrutinizing the algorithms after its publication in [1]. Note that a full discussion of Rabbit's security against known cryptanalytic techniques is provided in [3]. In the following, we restrict ourselves to some rules on how to use the Rabbit algorithm properly.3.1. Message Length
Rabbit was designed to encrypt up to 2 to the power of 64 128-bit message blocks under the same the key. Should this amount of data ever be exceeded, the key has to be replaced. It is recommended to follow this rule even when the IV is changed on a regular basis.3.2. Initialization Vector
It is possible to run Rabbit without the IV setup. However, in this case, the generator must never be reset under the same key, since this would destroy its security (for a recent example, see [4]). However, in order to guarantee synchronization between sender and receiver, ciphers are frequently reset in practice. This means that both sender and receiver set the inner state of the cipher back to a known value and then derive the new encryption state using an IV. If this is done, it is important to make sure that no IV is ever reused under the same key.
4. Informative References
[1] M. Boesgaard, M. Vesterager, T. Pedersen, J. Christiansen, O. Scavenius. "Rabbit: A New High-Performance Stream Cipher". Proc. Fast Software Encryption 2003, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2887, p. 307-329. Springer, 2003. [2] ECRYPT eSTREAM project, available from http://www.ecrypt.eu.org/stream/ [3] M. Boesgaard, T. Pedersen, M. Vesterager, E. Zenner. "The Rabbit Stream Cipher - Design and Security Analysis". Proc. SASC Workshop 2004, available from http://www.isg.rhul.ac.uk/research/ projects/ecrypt/stvl/sasc.html. [4] H. Wu. "The Misuse of RC4 in Microsoft Word and Excel". IACR eprint archive 2005/007, available from http://eprint.iacr.org/2005/007.pdf. [5] Jonsson, J. and B. Kaliski, "Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) #1: RSA Cryptography Specifications Version 2.1", RFC 3447, February 2003.
Appendix A: Test Vectors
This is a set of test vectors for conformance testing, given in octet form. For use with Rabbit, they have to be transformed into integers by the conversion primitives OS2IP and I2OSP, as described in [5].A.1. Testing without IV Setup
key = [00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00] S[0] = [B1 57 54 F0 36 A5 D6 EC F5 6B 45 26 1C 4A F7 02] S[1] = [88 E8 D8 15 C5 9C 0C 39 7B 69 6C 47 89 C6 8A A7] S[2] = [F4 16 A1 C3 70 0C D4 51 DA 68 D1 88 16 73 D6 96] key = [91 28 13 29 2E 3D 36 FE 3B FC 62 F1 DC 51 C3 AC] S[0] = [3D 2D F3 C8 3E F6 27 A1 E9 7F C3 84 87 E2 51 9C] S[1] = [F5 76 CD 61 F4 40 5B 88 96 BF 53 AA 85 54 FC 19] S[2] = [E5 54 74 73 FB DB 43 50 8A E5 3B 20 20 4D 4C 5E] key = [83 95 74 15 87 E0 C7 33 E9 E9 AB 01 C0 9B 00 43] S[0] = [0C B1 0D CD A0 41 CD AC 32 EB 5C FD 02 D0 60 9B] S[1] = [95 FC 9F CA 0F 17 01 5A 7B 70 92 11 4C FF 3E AD] S[2] = [96 49 E5 DE 8B FC 7F 3F 92 41 47 AD 3A 94 74 28]A.2. Testing with IV Setup
mkey = [00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00] iv = [00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00] S[0] = [C6 A7 27 5E F8 54 95 D8 7C CD 5D 37 67 05 B7 ED] S[1] = [5F 29 A6 AC 04 F5 EF D4 7B 8F 29 32 70 DC 4A 8D] S[2] = [2A DE 82 2B 29 DE 6C 1E E5 2B DB 8A 47 BF 8F 66] iv = [C3 73 F5 75 C1 26 7E 59] S[0] = [1F CD 4E B9 58 00 12 E2 E0 DC CC 92 22 01 7D 6D] S[1] = [A7 5F 4E 10 D1 21 25 01 7B 24 99 FF ED 93 6F 2E] S[2] = [EB C1 12 C3 93 E7 38 39 23 56 BD D0 12 02 9B A7] iv = [A6 EB 56 1A D2 F4 17 27] S[0] = [44 5A D8 C8 05 85 8D BF 70 B6 AF 23 A1 51 10 4D] S[1] = [96 C8 F2 79 47 F4 2C 5B AE AE 67 C6 AC C3 5B 03] S[2] = [9F CB FC 89 5F A7 1C 17 31 3D F0 34 F0 15 51 CB]
Appendix B: Debugging Vectors
The following set of vectors describes the inner state of Rabbit during key and iv setup. It is meant mainly for debugging purposes. Octet strings are written according to I2OSP conventions.B.1. Testing Round Function and Key Setup
key = [91 28 13 29 2E ED 36 FE 3B FC 62 F1 DC 51 C3 AC] Inner state after key expansion: b = 0 X0 = 0xDC51C3AC, X1 = 0x13292E3D, X2 = 0x3BFC62F1, X3 = 0xC3AC9128, X4 = 0x2E3D36FE, X5 = 0x62F1DC51, X6 = 0x91281329, X7 = 0x36FE3BFC, C0 = 0x36FE2E3D, C1 = 0xDC5162F1, C2 = 0x13299128, C3 = 0x3BFC36FE, C4 = 0xC3ACDC51, C5 = 0x2E3D1329, C6 = 0x62F13BFC, C7 = 0x9128C3AC Inner state after first key setup iteration: b = 1 X0 = 0xF2E8C8B1, X1 = 0x38E06FA7, X2 = 0x9A0D72C0, X3 = 0xF21F5334, X4 = 0xCACDCCC3, X5 = 0x4B239CBE, X6 = 0x0565DCCC, X7 = 0xB1587C8D, C0 = 0x8433018A, C1 = 0xAF9E97C4, C2 = 0x47FCDE5D, C3 = 0x89310A4B, C4 = 0x96FA1124, C5 = 0x6310605E, C6 = 0xB0260F49, C7 = 0x6475F87F Inner state after fourth key setup iteration: b = 0 X0 = 0x1D059312, X1 = 0xBDDC3E45, X2 = 0xF440927D, X3 = 0x50CBB553, X4 = 0x36709423, X5 = 0x0B6F0711, X6 = 0x3ADA3A7B, X7 = 0xEB9800C8, C0 = 0x6BD17B74, C1 = 0x2986363E, C2 = 0xE676C5FC, C3 = 0x70CF8432, C4 = 0x10E1AF9E, C5 = 0x018A47FD, C6 = 0x97C48931, C7 = 0xDE5D96F9 Inner state after final key setup xor: b = 0 X0 = 0x1D059312, X1 = 0xBDDC3E45, X2 = 0xF440927D, X3 = 0x50CBB553, X4 = 0x36709423, X5 = 0x0B6F0711, X6 = 0x3ADA3A7B, X7 = 0xEB9800C8, C0 = 0x5DA1EF57, C1 = 0x22E9312F, C2 = 0xDCACFF87, C3 = 0x9B5784FA, C4 = 0x0DE43C8C, C5 = 0xBC5679B8, C6 = 0x63841B4C, C7 = 0x8E9623AA Inner state after generation of 48 bytes of output: b = 1 X0 = 0xB5428566, X1 = 0xA2593617, X2 = 0xFF5578DE, X3 = 0x7293950F, X4 = 0x145CE109, X5 = 0xC93875B0, X6 = 0xD34306E0, X7 = 0x43FEEF87, C0 = 0x45406940, C1 = 0x9CD0CFA9, C2 = 0x7B26E725, C3 = 0x82F5FEE2, C4 = 0x87CBDB06, C5 = 0x5AD06156, C6 = 0x4B229534, C7 = 0x087DC224
The 48 output bytes:
S[0] = [3D 2D F3 C8 3E F6 27 A1 E9 7F C3 84 87 E2 51 9C]
S[1] = [F5 76 CD 61 F4 40 5B 88 96 BF 53 AA 85 54 FC 19]
S[2] = [E5 54 74 73 FB DB 43 50 8A E5 3B 20 20 4D 4C 5E]
B.2. Testing the IV Setup
key = [91 28 13 29 2E ED 36 FE 3B FC 62 F1 DC 51 C3 AC]
iv = [C3 73 F5 75 C1 26 7E 59]
Inner state during key setup:
as above
Inner state after IV expansion:
b = 0
X0 = 0x1D059312, X1 = 0xBDDC3E45, X2 = 0xF440927D, X3 = 0x50CBB553,
X4 = 0x36709423, X5 = 0x0B6F0711, X6 = 0x3ADA3A7B, X7 = 0xEB9800C8,
C0 = 0x9C87910E, C1 = 0xE19AF009, C2 = 0x1FDF0AF2, C3 = 0x6E22FAA3,
C4 = 0xCCC242D5, C5 = 0x7F25B89E, C6 = 0xA0F7EE39, C7 = 0x7BE35DF3
Inner state after first IV setup iteration:
b = 1
X0 = 0xC4FF831A, X1 = 0xEF5CD094, X2 = 0xC5933855, X3 = 0xC05A5C03,
X4 = 0x4A50522F, X5 = 0xDF487BE4, X6 = 0xA45FA013, X7 = 0x05531179,
C0 = 0xE9BC645B, C1 = 0xB4E824DC, C2 = 0x54B25827, C3 = 0xBB57CDF0,
C4 = 0xA00F77A8, C5 = 0xB3F905D3, C6 = 0xEE2CC186, C7 = 0x4F3092C6
Inner state after fourth IV setup iteration:
b = 1
X0 = 0x6274E424, X1 = 0xE14CE120, X2 = 0xDA8739D9, X3 = 0x65E0402D,
X4 = 0xD1281D10, X5 = 0xBD435BAA, X6 = 0x4E9E7A02, X7 = 0x9B467ABD,
C0 = 0xD15ADE44, C1 = 0x2ECFC356, C2 = 0xF32C3FC6, C3 = 0xA2F647D7,
C4 = 0x19F71622, C5 = 0x5272ED72, C6 = 0xD5CB3B6E, C7 = 0xC9183140
Authors' Addresses
Martin Boesgaard Cryptico A/S Fruebjergvej 3 2100 Copenhagen Denmark Phone: +45 39 17 96 06 EMail: mab@cryptico.com URL: http://www.cryptico.com Mette Vesterager Cryptico A/S Fruebjergvej 3 2100 Copenhagen Denmark Phone: +45 39 17 96 06 EMail: mvp@cryptico.com URL: http://www.cryptico.com Erik Zenner Cryptico A/S Fruebjergvej 3 2100 Copenhagen Denmark Phone: +45 39 17 96 06 EMail: ez@cryptico.com URL: http://www.cryptico.com
Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006). This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. This document and the information contained herein are provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Intellectual Property The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79. Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr. The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org. Acknowledgement Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA).