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Publications

Publications by Manuel Barbosa

2024

Formally Verifying Kyber Episode V: Machine-Checked IND-CCA Security and Correctness of ML-KEM in EasyCrypt

Authors
Almeida, JB; Olmos, SA; Barbosa, M; Barthe, G; Dupressoir, F; Grégoire, B; Laporte, V; Lechenet, JC; Low, C; Oliveira, T; Pacheco, H; Quaresma, M; Schwabe, P; Strub, PY;

Publication
ADVANCES IN CRYPTOLOGY - CRYPTO 2024, PT II

Abstract
We present a formally verified proof of the correctness and IND-CCA security of ML-KEM, the Kyber-based Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) undergoing standardization by NIST. The proof is machine-checked in EasyCrypt and it includes: 1) A formalization of the correctness (decryption failure probability) and IND-CPA security of the Kyber base public-key encryption scheme, following Bos et al. at Euro S&P 2018; 2) A formalization of the relevant variant of the Fujisaki-Okamoto transform in the Random Oracle Model (ROM), which follows closely (but not exactly) Hofheinz, Hovelmanns and Kiltz at TCC 2017; 3) A proof that the IND-CCA security of the ML-KEM specification and its correctness as a KEM follows from the previous results; 4) Two formally verified implementations of ML-KEM written in Jasmin that are provably constant-time, functionally equivalent to the ML-KEM specification and, for this reason, inherit the provable security guarantees established in the previous points. The top-level theorems give self-contained concrete bounds for the correctness and security of ML-KEM down to (a variant of) Module-LWE. We discuss how they are built modularly by leveraging various EasyCrypt features.

2024

A Tight Security Proof for SPHINCS+, Formally Verified

Authors
Barbosa, M; Dupressoir, F; Hülsing, A; Meijers, M; Strub, PY;

Publication
Advances in Cryptology - ASIACRYPT 2024 - 30th International Conference on the Theory and Application of Cryptology and Information Security, Kolkata, India, December 9-13, 2024, Proceedings, Part IV

Abstract

2025

A Tight Security Proof for SPHINCS+, Formally Verified

Authors
Barbosa, M; Dupressoir, F; Hülsing, A; Meijers, M; Strub, P;

Publication
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)

Abstract
SPHINCS+ is a post-quantum signature scheme that, at the time of writing, is being standardized as SLH-DSA. It is the most conservative option for post-quantum signatures, but the original tight proofs of security were flawed — as reported by Kudinov, Kiktenko and Fedorov in 2020. In this work, we formally prove a tight security bound for SPHINCS+ using the EasyCrypt proof assistant, establishing greater confidence in the general security of the scheme and that of the parameter sets considered for standardization. To this end, we reconstruct the tight security proof presented by Hülsing and Kudinov (in 2022) in a modular way. A small but important part of this effort involves a complex argument relating four different games at once, of a form not yet formalized in EasyCrypt (to the best of our knowledge). We describe our approach to overcoming this major challenge, and develop a general formal verification technique aimed at this type of reasoning. Enhancing the set of reusable EasyCrypt  artifacts previously produced in the formal verification of stateful hash-based cryptographic constructions, we (1) improve and extend the existing libraries for hash functions and (2) develop new libraries for fundamental concepts related to hash-based cryptographic constructions, including Merkle trees. These enhancements, along with the formal verification technique we develop, further ease future formal verification endeavors in EasyCrypt, especially those concerning hash-based cryptographic constructions. © International Association for Cryptologic Research 2025.

2023

Mechanized Proofs of Adversarial Complexity and Application to Universal Composability

Authors
Barbosa, M; Barthe, G; Gregoire, B; Koutsos, A; Strub, PY;

Publication
ACM TRANSACTIONS ON PRIVACY AND SECURITY

Abstract
In this work, we enhance the EasyCrypt proof assistant to reason about the computational complexity of adversaries. The key technical tool is a Hoare logic for reasoning about computational complexity (execution time and oracle calls) of adversarial computations. Our Hoare logic is built on top of the module system used by EasyCrypt for modeling adversaries. We prove that our logic is sound w.r.t. the semantics of EasyCrypt programs-we also provide full semantics for the EasyCrypt module system, which was lacking previously. We showcase (for the first time in EasyCrypt and in other computer-aided cryptographic tools) how our approach can express precise relationships between the probability of adversarial success and their execution time. In particular, we can quantify existentially over adversaries in a complexity class and express general composition statements in simulation-based frameworks. Moreover, such statements can be composed to derive standard concrete security bounds for cryptographic constructions whose security is proved in a modular way. As a main benefit of our approach, we revisit security proofs of some well-known cryptographic constructions and present a new formalization of universal composability.

2023

Machine-Checked Security for $$\textrm{XMSS} $$ as in RFC 8391 and $$\mathrm {SPHINCS^{+}} $$

Authors
Barbosa, M; Dupressoir, F; Grégoire, B; Hülsing, A; Meijers, M; Strub, P;

Publication
Lecture Notes in Computer Science - Advances in Cryptology – CRYPTO 2023

Abstract

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