TY - GEN
T1 - New Techniques for Analyzing Differentials with Application to AES
AU - Dinur, Itai
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© International Association for Cryptologic Research 2026.
PY - 2026/1/1
Y1 - 2026/1/1
N2 - We propose new techniques for estimating the probability that an input difference leads to an output difference in a block cipher (i.e., the probability of a differential) under the assumption of independent round-keys. We apply our techniques to AES, and show that the probability of every non-trivial differential in 8-round AES is within an additive factor of 2-128·150 from the expected value of 12128-1. We further apply our techniques to prove that 40-round AES is at most 2-135-close to a pairwise independent permutation. This improves upon the work of Liu, Tessaro and Vaikuntanathan [CRYPTO 2021], who proved a similar bound for 9000-round AES. To obtain our results, we develop and adapt a variety of techniques for analyzing differentials using functional analysis. We expect these techniques to be useful for analyzing differentials in additional block ciphers besides the AES.
AB - We propose new techniques for estimating the probability that an input difference leads to an output difference in a block cipher (i.e., the probability of a differential) under the assumption of independent round-keys. We apply our techniques to AES, and show that the probability of every non-trivial differential in 8-round AES is within an additive factor of 2-128·150 from the expected value of 12128-1. We further apply our techniques to prove that 40-round AES is at most 2-135-close to a pairwise independent permutation. This improves upon the work of Liu, Tessaro and Vaikuntanathan [CRYPTO 2021], who proved a similar bound for 9000-round AES. To obtain our results, we develop and adapt a variety of techniques for analyzing differentials using functional analysis. We expect these techniques to be useful for analyzing differentials in additional block ciphers besides the AES.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105039951696
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-032-25333-0_8
DO - 10.1007/978-3-032-25333-0_8
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105039951696
SN - 9783032253323
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science
SP - 211
EP - 242
BT - Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT 2026 - 45th Annual International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Cryptographic Techniques, Proceedings
A2 - Daemen, Joan
A2 - Thomé, Emmanuel
PB - Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
T2 - 45th Annual International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Cryptographic Techniques, EUROCRYPT 2026
Y2 - 10 May 2026 through 14 May 2026
ER -