[Resource Topic] 2024/1110: Legacy Encryption Downgrade Attacks against LibrePGP and CMS

Welcome to the resource topic for 2024/1110

Title:
Legacy Encryption Downgrade Attacks against LibrePGP and CMS

Authors: Falko Strenzke, Johannes Roth

Abstract:

This work describes vulnerabilities in the specification of the AEAD packets as introduced in the novel LibrePGP specification that is implemented by the widely used GnuPG application and the AES-based AEAD schemes as well as the Key Wrap
Algorithm specified in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS).
These new attacks exploit the possibility to downgrade AEAD or AES Key Wrap ciphertexts to valid legacy CFB- or CBC-encrypted related ciphertexts and require that the attacker learns the content of the legacy decryption result.
This can happen either due to the human recipient returning the decryption output, which has entirely pseudo-random appearance, to the attacker or due to a programmatic decryption oracle in the receiving system.
The attacks effect the decryption of low-entropy plaintext blocks in AEAD ciphertexts and, in the case of LibrePGP, also the manipulation of existing AEAD ciphertexts.
For AES Key Wrap in CMS, full key decryption is possible.
Some of the attacks require multiple successful oracle queries.
The attacks thus demonstrate that CCA2 security is not achieved by the LibrePGP and CMS AEAD or Key Wrap encryption in the presence of a legacy cipher mode decryption oracle.
The proper countermeasure to thwart the attacks is a key derivation that ensures the use of unrelated block cipher keys for the different encryption modes.

ePrint: https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/1110

See all topics related to this paper.

Feel free to post resources that are related to this paper below.

Example resources include: implementations, explanation materials, talks, slides, links to previous discussions on other websites.

For more information, see the rules for Resource Topics .