DROPS

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2026.1

Tight Lower Bound for Approximating Parametrized Maximum Likelihood Decoding Under ETH

Authors: Rishav Gupta, Bingkai Lin, and Xin Zheng

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 383, 41st Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2026)

Abstract

We present a simple deterministic reduction which, assuming the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH), yields tight lower bounds for approximating the parameterized Maximum Likelihood Decoding problem (MLD) and the parameterized Nearest Codeword Problem (NCP) within some fixed constant factor. Our starting point is the ETH-based exponential-time hardness of (c, s)-Gap MAXLIN established in [Nir Bitansky et al., 2024]. We transform a (c, s)-Gap MAXLIN instance into an instance of γ-Gap k-MLD via a novel combinatorial object that we call a cover family. We provide both a randomized construction of the required cover families and a subsequent derandomization. Prior to our work, n^{Ω(k)} hardness for constant-factor approximation was only shown under the randomized Gap Exponential Time Hypothesis Gap-ETH [Pasin Manurangsi, 2020], which is a much stronger assumption than ETH. Under ETH, the strongest known lower bound was n^{Ω(k/poly log k)} due to [Mitali Bafna et al., 2025]. Unlike previous approaches that rely on reductions from the hardness of approximating 2-CSP, our reduction provides a more direct and conceptually simpler route to achieving the optimal lower bounds.

Cite as

Rishav Gupta, Bingkai Lin, and Xin Zheng. Tight Lower Bound for Approximating Parametrized Maximum Likelihood Decoding Under ETH. In 41st Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 383, pp. 1:1-1:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{gupta_et_al:LIPIcs.CCC.2026.1,
  author =	{Gupta, Rishav and Lin, Bingkai and Zheng, Xin},
  title =	{{Tight Lower Bound for Approximating Parametrized Maximum Likelihood Decoding Under ETH}},
  booktitle =	{41st Computational Complexity Conference (CCC 2026)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-437-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{383},
  editor =	{Moshkovitz, Dana},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2026.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-270439},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CCC.2026.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Maximum Likelihood Decoding, Parameterized Complexity, Hardness of Approximation, Exponential Time Hypothesis}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.23

Decoding Balanced Linear Codes with Preprocessing

Authors: Andrej Bogdanov, Rohit Chatterjee, Yunqi Li, and Prashant Nalini Vasudevan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)

Abstract

Prange’s information set algorithm is a well-known decoding algorithm for linear codes. It decodes corrupted codewords of most 𝔽₂-linear codes C of message length n up to relative error rate O(log n / n) in poly(n) time. We show that the error rate can be improved to O((log n)² / n), provided: (1) the decoder has access to a polynomial-length advice string that depends on C only, and (2) C is n^{-Ω(1)}-balanced. As a consequence we improve the error tolerance in decoding random linear codes if inefficient preprocessing of the code is allowed. This reveals potential vulnerabilities in cryptographic applications of Learning Noisy Parities with low noise rate. Our main technical result is that the Hamming weight of Hw, where the rows of H are a random sample of short dual codewords, measures the proximity of a received word w to the code in the regime of interest. Given such H as advice, our algorithm corrects errors by locally minimizing this measure. We show that for most codes, the error rate tolerated by our decoder is asymptotically optimal among all algorithms whose decision is based on thresholding Hw for an arbitrary polynomial-size advice matrix H.

Cite as

Andrej Bogdanov, Rohit Chatterjee, Yunqi Li, and Prashant Nalini Vasudevan. Decoding Balanced Linear Codes with Preprocessing. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 23:1-23:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{bogdanov_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.23,
  author =	{Bogdanov, Andrej and Chatterjee, Rohit and Li, Yunqi and Vasudevan, Prashant Nalini},
  title =	{{Decoding Balanced Linear Codes with Preprocessing}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253107},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: Linear codes, nearest codeword problem, learning parity with noise}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.62

Improved Rate for Non-Malleable Codes and Time-Lock Puzzles

Authors: Cody Freitag, Ilan Komargodski, Manu Kondapaneni, and Jad Silbak

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)

Abstract

Non-malleable codes allow a sender to transmit a message to a receiver, while providing a "best-possible" integrity guarantee to ensure that no attacker - who cannot already decode the message - can meaningfully tamper the message in transit. If tampered, the received message should either be invalid or unrelated to the original message. Non-malleable time-lock puzzles (TLPs) are a special case of non-malleable codes for bounded polynomial-depth tampering with very efficient encoding. In this work, we give generic techniques for constructing non-malleable codes and non-malleable TLPs with improved rate, which captures the ratio of a message’s length to its encoding length. A key contribution of our work is identifying a security notion for non-malleability, which we term "CCA-hiding", sufficient for our compilers. CCA-hiding is a relaxation of CCA-security for encryption or commitments to the fine-grained setting of codes, and requires that the encoded message remains hidden, even given a decoding oracle for any other codeword. Intriguingly, CCA-hiding does not imply non-malleability in the fine-grained setting, as is the case for encryption and commitments. Using our new techniques, we give the following constructions: - Rate-1 CCA-hiding TLPs in the plain model. - Rate-1 non-malleable codes for bounded polynomial-depth tampering in the auxiliary-input random oracle model (AI-ROM). - Rate-(1/2) non-malleable TLPs in the AI-ROM.

Cite as

Cody Freitag, Ilan Komargodski, Manu Kondapaneni, and Jad Silbak. Improved Rate for Non-Malleable Codes and Time-Lock Puzzles. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 62:1-62:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{freitag_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.62,
  author =	{Freitag, Cody and Komargodski, Ilan and Kondapaneni, Manu and Silbak, Jad},
  title =	{{Improved Rate for Non-Malleable Codes and Time-Lock Puzzles}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{62:1--62:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.62},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253490},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.62},
  annote =	{Keywords: Non-malleable codes, Time-lock puzzles}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.69

Computing Equilibrium Points of Electrostatic Potentials

Authors: Abheek Ghosh, Paul W. Goldberg, and Alexandros Hollender

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)

Abstract

We study the computation of equilibrium points of electrostatic potentials: locations in space where the electrostatic force arising from a collection of charged particles vanishes. This is a novel scenario of optimization in which solutions are guaranteed to exist due to a nonconstructive argument, but gradient descent is unreliable due to the presence of singularities. We present an algorithm based on piecewise approximation of the potential function by Taylor series. The main insight is to divide the domain into a grid with variable coarseness, where grid cells are exponentially smaller in regions where the function changes rapidly compared to regions where it changes slowly. Our algorithm finds approximate equilibrium points in time poly-logarithmic in the approximation parameter, but these points are not guaranteed to be close to exact solutions. Nevertheless, we show that such points can be computed efficiently under a mild assumption that we call "strong non-degeneracy". We complement these algorithmic results by studying a generalization of this problem and showing that it is CLS-hard and in PPAD, leaving its precise classification as an intriguing open problem.

Cite as

Abheek Ghosh, Paul W. Goldberg, and Alexandros Hollender. Computing Equilibrium Points of Electrostatic Potentials. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 69:1-69:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{ghosh_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.69,
  author =	{Ghosh, Abheek and Goldberg, Paul W. and Hollender, Alexandros},
  title =	{{Computing Equilibrium Points of Electrostatic Potentials}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{69:1--69:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.69},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253566},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.69},
  annote =	{Keywords: Total search problems, TFNP, PPAD, CLS, polynomial equations}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.6

Model-Generic Incrementally Verifiable Computation from Updatable BARGs

Authors: Eden Aldema Tshuva and Rotem Oshman

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)

Abstract

Incrementally verifiable computation (IVC) is a computationally sound proof system that allows a prover to certify the correctness of a long or ongoing computation in an incremental manner, by repeatedly updating a proof certifying the computation so far. Updating the proof does not require access to the entire trace of the computation, which makes the IVC-prover memory efficient. Recently, such schemes were constructed for deterministic Turing machines from standard cryptographic assumptions (Paneth and Pass, FOCS 2022, and Devadas et al., FOCS 2022). In this work we generalize and extend IVC to support incremental certification and verifiability of a large set of computation models, focusing on distributed and online computation. This allows distributed algorithms to efficiently certify their own execution using low memory and communication overhead. We construct IVC for a variety of computation models by proving one generic lifting theorem from a classical (non-incremental) delegation scheme (also known as SNARG) into full-fledged IVC, while preserving the delegation scheme’s succinctness properties (up to an additive factor which is polynomial in the security parameter and independent of the size of the computation). Using this lifting theorem, we obtain IVC for the following computation models: - RAM and exclusive-read exclusive-write (EREW) PRAM algorithms, using existing delegation schemes for these models. - Streaming algorithms, using the natural memory-efficiency properties of the model. - Massively parallel computation (MPC). Notably, in this model, memory efficiency is a critical bottleneck: the machines participating in an MPC algorithm usually cannot store the entire trace of their computation. Thus, certifying MPC algorithms naturally benefits from IVC. Moreover, since prior to our work, no delegation scheme for this model was known, we also construct a delegation scheme for one-round massively parallel computations, and then apply our lifting theorem to it. - Distributed graph algorithms, using existing distributed delegation schemes (also known as locally verifiable distributed SNARGs). Here, in order to use our lifting theorem we have to first make some observations about the verification procedure of these existing schemes. At the heart of this work is a new abstraction, updatable batch arguments for NP (UpBARGs), which we define and construct. Standard BARGs allow one to prove a batch of k NP-statements using a proof whose length barely grows with k; however, the statements and their witnesses must all be known in advance. In contrast, UpBARGs support adding statements and witnesses on the fly, making them a flexible tool for constructing IVC across different computational models.

Cite as

Eden Aldema Tshuva and Rotem Oshman. Model-Generic Incrementally Verifiable Computation from Updatable BARGs. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 6:1-6:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{aldematshuva_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.6,
  author =	{Aldema Tshuva, Eden and Oshman, Rotem},
  title =	{{Model-Generic Incrementally Verifiable Computation from Updatable BARGs}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252931},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: incrementally verifiable computation, massively parallel computation, streaming, parallel RAM, batch arguments, SNARG}
}

Document

Brief Announcement

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.44

Brief Announcement: Incrementally Verifiable Distributed Computation

Authors: Eden Aldema Tshuva and Rotem Oshman

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 356, 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)

Abstract

Incrementally verifiable computation (IVC) is a cryptographic scheme that allows a prover to certify the correctness of a long or ongoing computation in an incremental manner, by repeatedly updating a proof certifying the computation so far. Updating the proof does not require access to the entire trace of the computation, which makes the IVC prover memory efficient. In this work we construct incrementally verifiable distributed computation, which allows a distributed algorithm to efficiently certify its own execution using low memory and communication overhead. Our primary motivation is massively-parallel computation (MPC), where memory efficiency is make-or-break: the machines participating in an MPC algorithm usually cannot store the entire trace of their computation. Thus, certifying MPC algorithms essentially requires distributed IVC. At the heart of this work is a new abstraction, updatable batch arguments for {NP} (UpBARGs), which we define and construct. Standard BARGs allow one to prove a batch of k {NP}-statements using a proof whose length barely grows with k; however, the statements and their witnesses must all be known in advance. In contrast, UpBARGs support adding statements and witnesses on the fly, making them a flexible tool for constructing IVC across different computational models. We use UpBARGs to construct IVC for streaming algorithms, for MPC algorithms, and for PRAM algorithms in the exclusive-read exclusive-write (EREW) model.

Cite as

Eden Aldema Tshuva and Rotem Oshman. Brief Announcement: Incrementally Verifiable Distributed Computation. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 44:1-44:7, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{aldematshuva_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.44,
  author =	{Aldema Tshuva, Eden and Oshman, Rotem},
  title =	{{Brief Announcement: Incrementally Verifiable Distributed Computation}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{44:1--44:7},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-402-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{356},
  editor =	{Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.44},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248829},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.44},
  annote =	{Keywords: Incrementally verifiable computation, massively parallel computation, streaming, parallel RAM, batch arguments, SNARG}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.AFT.2025.1

Cache Timing Leakages in Zero-Knowledge Protocols

Authors: Shibam Mukherjee, Christian Rechberger, and Markus Schofnegger

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 354, 7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025)

Abstract

The area of modern zero-knowledge proof systems has seen a significant rise in popularity over the last couple of years, with new techniques and optimized constructions emerging on a regular basis. As the field matures, the aspect of implementation attacks becomes more relevant, however side-channel attacks on zero-knowledge proof systems have seen surprisingly little treatment so far. In this paper, we give an overview of potential attack vectors and show that some of the underlying finite field libraries, and implementations of heavily used components like hash functions using them, are vulnerable w.r.t. cache attacks on CPUs. On the positive side, we demonstrate that the computational overhead to protect against these attacks is relatively small.

Cite as

Shibam Mukherjee, Christian Rechberger, and Markus Schofnegger. Cache Timing Leakages in Zero-Knowledge Protocols. In 7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 354, pp. 1:1-1:26, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{mukherjee_et_al:LIPIcs.AFT.2025.1,
  author =	{Mukherjee, Shibam and Rechberger, Christian and Schofnegger, Markus},
  title =	{{Cache Timing Leakages in Zero-Knowledge Protocols}},
  booktitle =	{7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:26},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-400-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{354},
  editor =	{Avarikioti, Zeta and Christin, Nicolas},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.AFT.2025.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-247201},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.AFT.2025.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: zero-knowledge, protocol, cache timing, side-channel, leakage}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITC.2025.12

Key-Agreement with Perfect Completeness from Random Oracles

Authors: Noam Mazor

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 343, 6th Conference on Information-Theoretic Cryptography (ITC 2025)

Abstract

In the Random Oracle Model (ROM) all parties have oracle access to a common random function, and the parties are limited in the number of queries they can make to the oracle. The Merkle’s Puzzles protocol, introduced by Merkle [CACM '78], is a key-agreement protocol in the ROM with a quadratic gap between the query complexity of the honest parties and the eavesdropper. This quadratic gap is known to be optimal, by the works of Impagliazzo and Rudich [STOC ’89] and Barak and Mahmoody [Crypto ’09]. When the oracle function is injective or a permutation, Merkle’s Puzzles has perfect completeness. That is, it is certain that the protocol results in agreement between the parties. However, without such an assumption on the random function, there is a small error probability, and the parties may end up holding different keys. This fact raises the question: Is there a key-agreement protocol with perfect completeness and super-linear security in the ROM? In this paper we give a positive answer to the above question, showing that changes to the query distribution of the parties in Merkle’s Puzzles, yield a protocol with perfect completeness and roughly the same security.

Cite as

Noam Mazor. Key-Agreement with Perfect Completeness from Random Oracles. In 6th Conference on Information-Theoretic Cryptography (ITC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 343, pp. 12:1-12:11, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{mazor:LIPIcs.ITC.2025.12,
  author =	{Mazor, Noam},
  title =	{{Key-Agreement with Perfect Completeness from Random Oracles}},
  booktitle =	{6th Conference on Information-Theoretic Cryptography (ITC 2025)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:11},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-385-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{343},
  editor =	{Gilboa, Niv},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITC.2025.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243628},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITC.2025.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Key-Agreement, Random Oracle, Merkle’s Puzzles, Perfect Completeness}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITC.2025.2

Powerful Primitives in the Bounded Quantum Storage Model

Authors: Mohammed Barhoush and Louis Salvail

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 343, 6th Conference on Information-Theoretic Cryptography (ITC 2025)

Abstract

The bounded quantum storage model aims to achieve security against computationally unbounded adversaries that are restricted only with respect to their quantum memories. In this work, we provide the following contributions in this model: 1) We build one-time programs and utilize them to construct CCA1-secure symmetric key encryption and message authentication codes. These schemes require no quantum memory from honest users, yet they provide information-theoretic security against adversaries with arbitrarily large quantum memories, as long as the transmission length is suitably large. 2) We introduce the notion of k-time program broadcast which is a form of program encryption that allows multiple users to each learn a single evaluation of the encrypted program, while preventing any one user from learning more than k evaluations of the program. We build this primitive unconditionally and employ it to construct CCA1-secure asymmetric key encryption, encryption tokens, signatures, and signature tokens. All these schemes are information-theoretically secure against adversaries with roughly e^√m quantum memory where m is the quantum memory required for the honest user. All of the constructions additionally satisfy disappearing security, essentially preventing an adversary from storing and using a transmission later on.

Cite as

Mohammed Barhoush and Louis Salvail. Powerful Primitives in the Bounded Quantum Storage Model. In 6th Conference on Information-Theoretic Cryptography (ITC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 343, pp. 2:1-2:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{barhoush_et_al:LIPIcs.ITC.2025.2,
  author =	{Barhoush, Mohammed and Salvail, Louis},
  title =	{{Powerful Primitives in the Bounded Quantum Storage Model}},
  booktitle =	{6th Conference on Information-Theoretic Cryptography (ITC 2025)},
  pages =	{2:1--2:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-385-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{343},
  editor =	{Gilboa, Niv},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITC.2025.2},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243523},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITC.2025.2},
  annote =	{Keywords: Quantum Cryptography, Bounded Quantum Storage Model, Information-Theoretic Security}
}

Document

Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.56

Boosting SNARKs and Rate-1 Barrier in Arguments of Knowledge

Authors: Jiaqi Cheng and Rishab Goyal

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 334, 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)

Abstract

We design a generic compiler to boost any non-trivial succinct non-interactive argument of knowledge (SNARK) to full succinctness. Our results come in two flavors: 1) For any constant ε > 0, any SNARK with proof size |π| < |ω|/(λ^ε) + poly(λ, |x|) can be upgraded to a fully succinct SNARK, where all system parameters (such as proof/CRS sizes and setup/verifier run-times) grow as fixed polynomials in λ, independent of witness size. 2) Under an additional assumption that the underlying SNARK has as an efficient knowledge extractor, we further improve our result to upgrade any non-trivial SNARK. For example, we show how to design fully succinct SNARKs from SNARKs with proofs of length |ω| - Ω(λ), or |ω|/(1+ε) + poly(λ, |x|), any constant ε > 0. Our result reduces the long-standing challenge of designing fully succinct SNARKs to designing arguments of knowledge that beat the trivial construction. It also establishes optimality of rate-1 arguments of knowledge (such as NIZKs [Gentry-Groth-Ishai-Peikert-Sahai-Smith; JoC'15] and BARGs [Devadas-Goyal-Kalai-Vaikuntanathan, Paneth-Pass; FOCS'22]), and suggests any further improvement is tantamount to designing fully succinct SNARKs, thus requires bypassing established black-box barriers [Gentry-Wichs; STOC'11].

Cite as

Jiaqi Cheng and Rishab Goyal. Boosting SNARKs and Rate-1 Barrier in Arguments of Knowledge. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 56:1-56:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{cheng_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.56,
  author =	{Cheng, Jiaqi and Goyal, Rishab},
  title =	{{Boosting SNARKs and Rate-1 Barrier in Arguments of Knowledge}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{56:1--56:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.56},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234339},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.56},
  annote =	{Keywords: SNARGs, RAM Delegation}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.14

The More the Merrier! On Total Coding and Lattice Problems and the Complexity of Finding Multicollisions

Authors: Huck Bennett, Surendra Ghentiyala, and Noah Stephens-Davidowitz

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)

Abstract

We show a number of connections between two types of search problems: (1) the problem of finding an L-wise multicollision in the output of a function; and (2) the problem of finding two codewords in a code (or two vectors in a lattice) that are within distance d of each other. Specifically, we study these problems in the total regime, in which L and d are chosen so that such a solution is guaranteed to exist, though it might be hard to find. In more detail, we study the total search problem in which the input is a function 𝒞 : [A] → [B] (represented as a circuit) and the goal is to find L ≤ ⌈A/B⌉ distinct elements x_1,…, x_L ∈ A such that 𝒞(x_1) = ⋯ = 𝒞(x_L). The associated complexity classes Polynomial Multi-Pigeonhole Principle ((A,B)-PMPP^L) consist of all problems that reduce to this problem. We show close connections between (A,B)-PMPP^L and many celebrated upper bounds on the minimum distance of a code or lattice (and on the list-decoding radius). In particular, we show that the associated computational problems (i.e., the problem of finding two distinct codewords or lattice points that are close to each other) are in (A,B)-PMPP^L, with a more-or-less smooth tradeoff between the distance d and the parameters A, B, and L. These connections are particularly rich in the case of codes, in which case we show that multiple incomparable bounds on the minimum distance lie in seemingly incomparable complexity classes. Surprisingly, we also show that the computational problems associated with some bounds on the minimum distance of codes are actually hard for these classes (for codes represented by arbitrary circuits). In fact, we show that finding two vectors within a certain distance d is actually hard for the important (and well-studied) class PWPP = (B²,B)-PMPP² in essentially all parameter regimes for which an efficient algorithm is not known, so that our hardness results are essentially tight. In fact, for some d (depending on the block length, message length, and alphabet size), we obtain both hardness and containment. We therefore completely settle the complexity of this problem for such parameters and add coding problems to the short list of problems known to be complete for PWPP. We also study (A,B)-PMPP^L as an interesting family of complexity classes in its own right, and we uncover a rich structure. Specifically, we use recent techniques from the cryptographic literature on multicollision-resistant hash functions to (1) show inclusions of the form (A,B)-PMPP^L ⊆ (A',B')-PMPP^L' for certain non-trivial parameters; (2) black-box separations between such classes in different parameter regimes; and (3) a non-black-box proof that (A,B)-PMPP^L ∈ FP if (A',B')-PMPP^L' ∈ FP for yet another parameter regime. We also show that (A,B)-PMPP^L lies in the recently introduced complexity class Polynomial Long Choice for some parameters.

Cite as

Huck Bennett, Surendra Ghentiyala, and Noah Stephens-Davidowitz. The More the Merrier! On Total Coding and Lattice Problems and the Complexity of Finding Multicollisions. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 14:1-14:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bennett_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.14,
  author =	{Bennett, Huck and Ghentiyala, Surendra and Stephens-Davidowitz, Noah},
  title =	{{The More the Merrier! On Total Coding and Lattice Problems and the Complexity of Finding Multicollisions}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226424},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: Multicollisions, Error-correcting codes, Lattices}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.23

Accumulation Without Homomorphism

Authors: Benedikt Bünz, Pratyush Mishra, Wilson Nguyen, and William Wang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)

Abstract

Accumulation schemes are a simple yet powerful primitive that enable highly efficient constructions of incrementally verifiable computation (IVC). Unfortunately, all prior accumulation schemes rely on homomorphic vector commitments whose security is based on public-key assumptions. It is an interesting open question to construct efficient accumulation schemes that avoid the need for such assumptions. In this paper, we answer this question affirmatively by constructing an accumulation scheme from non-homomorphic vector commitments which can be realized from solely symmetric-key assumptions (e.g., Merkle trees). We overcome the need for homomorphisms by instead performing spot-checks over error-correcting encodings of the committed vectors. Unlike prior accumulation schemes, our scheme only supports a bounded number of accumulation steps. We show that such bounded-depth accumulation still suffices to construct proof-carrying data (a generalization of IVC). We also demonstrate several optimizations to our PCD construction which greatly improve concrete efficiency.

Cite as

Benedikt Bünz, Pratyush Mishra, Wilson Nguyen, and William Wang. Accumulation Without Homomorphism. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 23:1-23:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bunz_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.23,
  author =	{B\"{u}nz, Benedikt and Mishra, Pratyush and Nguyen, Wilson and Wang, William},
  title =	{{Accumulation Without Homomorphism}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226510},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: Proof-carrying data, incrementally verifiable computation, accumulation schemes}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.8

Single-Round Proofs of Quantumness from Knowledge Assumptions

Authors: Petia Arabadjieva, Alexandru Gheorghiu, Victor Gitton, and Tony Metger

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)

Abstract

A proof of quantumness is an efficiently verifiable interactive test that an efficient quantum computer can pass, but all efficient classical computers cannot (under some cryptographic assumption). Such protocols play a crucial role in the certification of quantum devices. Existing single-round protocols based solely on a cryptographic hardness assumption (like asking the quantum computer to factor a large number) require large quantum circuits, whereas multi-round ones use smaller circuits but require experimentally challenging mid-circuit measurements. In this work, we construct efficient single-round proofs of quantumness based on existing knowledge assumptions. While knowledge assumptions have not been previously considered in this context, we show that they provide a natural basis for separating classical and quantum computation. Our work also helps in understanding the interplay between black-box/white-box reductions and cryptographic assumptions in the design of proofs of quantumness. Specifically, we show that multi-round protocols based on Decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) or Learning With Errors (LWE) can be "compiled" into single-round protocols using a knowledge-of-exponent assumption [Bitansky et al., 2012] or knowledge-of-lattice-point assumption [Loftus et al., 2012], respectively. We also prove an adaptive hardcore-bit statement for a family of claw-free functions based on DDH, which might be of independent interest.

Cite as

Petia Arabadjieva, Alexandru Gheorghiu, Victor Gitton, and Tony Metger. Single-Round Proofs of Quantumness from Knowledge Assumptions. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 8:1-8:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{arabadjieva_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.8,
  author =	{Arabadjieva, Petia and Gheorghiu, Alexandru and Gitton, Victor and Metger, Tony},
  title =	{{Single-Round Proofs of Quantumness from Knowledge Assumptions}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226364},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: Proofs of quantumness, Knowledge assumptions, Learning with errors, Decisional Diffie-Hellman}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.56

Incompressible Functional Encryption

Authors: Rishab Goyal, Venkata Koppula, Mahesh Sreekumar Rajasree, and Aman Verma

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)

Abstract

Incompressible encryption (Dziembowski, Crypto'06; Guan, Wichs, Zhandry, Eurocrypt'22) protects from attackers that learn the entire decryption key, but cannot store the full ciphertext. In incompressible encryption, the attacker must try to compress a ciphertext within pre-specified memory bound S before receiving the secret key. In this work, we generalize the notion of incompressibility to functional encryption. In incompressible functional encryption, the adversary can corrupt non-distinguishing keys at any point, but receives the distinguishing keys only after compressing the ciphertext to within S bits. An important efficiency measure for incompressible encryption is the ciphertext-rate (i.e., rate = |m|/|ct|). We give many new results for incompressible functional encryption for circuits, from minimal assumption of (non-incompressible) functional encryption, with 1) ct-rate-1/2 and short secret keys, 2) ct-rate-1 and large secret keys. Along the way, we also give a new incompressible attribute-based encryption for circuits from standard assumptions, with ct-rate-1/2 and short secret keys. Our results achieve optimal efficiency, as incompressible attribute-based/functional encryption with ct-rate-1 as well as short secret keys has strong barriers for provable security from standard assumptions. Moreover, our assumptions are minimal as incompressible attribute-based/functional encryption are strictly stronger than their non-incompressible counterparts.

Cite as

Rishab Goyal, Venkata Koppula, Mahesh Sreekumar Rajasree, and Aman Verma. Incompressible Functional Encryption. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 56:1-56:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{goyal_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.56,
  author =	{Goyal, Rishab and Koppula, Venkata and Rajasree, Mahesh Sreekumar and Verma, Aman},
  title =	{{Incompressible Functional Encryption}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{56:1--56:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.56},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-226849},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.56},
  annote =	{Keywords: functional encryption, attribute-based encryption, incompressible encryption}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2023.17

Bootstrapping Homomorphic Encryption via Functional Encryption

Authors: Nir Bitansky and Tomer Solomon

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 251, 14th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2023)

Abstract

Homomorphic encryption is a central object in modern cryptography, with far-reaching applications. Constructions supporting homomorphic evaluation of arbitrary Boolean circuits have been known for over a decade, based on standard lattice assumptions. However, these constructions are leveled, meaning that they only support circuits up to some a-priori bounded depth. These leveled constructions can be bootstrapped into fully homomorphic ones, but this requires additional circular security assumptions, which are construction-dependent, and where reductions to standard lattice assumptions are no longer known. Alternative constructions are known based on indistinguishability obfuscation, which has been recently constructed under standard assumptions. However, this alternative requires subexponential hardness of the underlying primitives. We prove a new bootstrapping theorem based on functional encryption, which is known based on standard polynomial hardness assumptions. As a result we obtain the first fully homomorphic encryption scheme that avoids both circular security assumptions and super-polynomial hardness assumptions. The construction is secure against uniform adversaries, and can be made non-uniformly secure assuming a generalization of the time-hierarchy theorem, which follows for example from non-uniform ETH. At the heart of the construction is a new proof technique based on cryptographic puzzles and decomposable obfuscation. Unlike most cryptographic reductions, our security reduction does not fully treat the adversary as a black box, but rather makes explicit use of its running time (or circuit size).

Cite as

Nir Bitansky and Tomer Solomon. Bootstrapping Homomorphic Encryption via Functional Encryption. In 14th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 251, pp. 17:1-17:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{bitansky_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2023.17,
  author =	{Bitansky, Nir and Solomon, Tomer},
  title =	{{Bootstrapping Homomorphic Encryption via Functional Encryption}},
  booktitle =	{14th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2023)},
  pages =	{17:1--17:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-263-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{251},
  editor =	{Tauman Kalai, Yael},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2023.17},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-175200},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2023.17},
  annote =	{Keywords: Fully Homomorphic Encryption, Polynomial Assumptions, Cryptographic Puzzles}
}

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