29 December 2009. GSM A5 Files Published on Cryptome

23 October 1999


Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 21:02:09 -0700
From: Lucky Green <shamrock@cypherpunks.to>
To: "cypherpunks@Algebra. COM" <cypherpunks@Algebra.COM>
Subject:  A5/2 published

A5/2, the "weaker" of the GSM voice privacy ciphers, is now available for
download by North American citizens only at

http://cryptography.org/cgi-bin/crypto.cgi/libraries/a5_1_2.zip

The above distribution offers the combined A5/1 and A5/2 source code and
obsoletes our previous A5/1-only implementation at

http://www.scard.org/gsm/a51.html

Should this code, against all precautions and despite our strongest hopes,
become available on a site outside North America, I would like to hear about
it.

Thanks,
--Lucky Green <shamrock@cypherpunks.to>


/* * A pedagogical implementation of the GSM A5/1 and A5/2 "voice privacy" * encryption algorithms. * * Copyright (C) 1998-1999: Marc Briceno, Ian Goldberg, and David Wagner * * The source code below is optimized for instructional value and clarity. * Performance will be terrible, but that's not the point. * * This software may be export-controlled by US law. * * This software is free for commercial and non-commercial use as long as * the following conditions are adhered to. * Copyright remains the authors' and as such any Copyright notices in * the code are not to be removed. * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions * are met: * * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the copyright * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. * * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED * WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF * MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. * IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY * DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE * GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS * INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER * IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR * OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN * IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. * * The license and distribution terms for any publicly available version * or derivative of this code cannot be changed. i.e. this code cannot * simply be copied and put under another distribution license * [including the GNU Public License]. * * Background: The Global System for Mobile communications is the most * widely deployed digital cellular telephony system in the world. GSM * makes use of four core cryptographic algorithms, none of which has * been published by the GSM MOU. This failure to subject the * algorithms to public review is all the more puzzling given that over * 215 million GSM subscribers are expected to rely on the claimed * security of the system. * * The four core GSM cryptographic algorithms are: * A3 authentication algorithm * A5/1 "stronger" over-the-air voice-privacy algorithm * A5/2 "weaker" over-the-air voice-privacy algorithm * A8 voice-privacy key generation algorithm * * In April of 1998, our group showed that COMP128, the algorithm used by the * overwhelming majority of GSM providers for both A3 and A8 functionality * is fatally flawed and allows for cloning of GSM mobile phones. * * Furthermore, we demonstrated that all A8 implementations we could locate, * including the few that did not use COMP128 for key generation, had been * deliberately weakened by reducing the keyspace from 64 bits to 54 bits. * The remaining 10 bits are simply set to zero! * * See http://www.scard.org/gsm for additional information. * * [May 1999] * One question so far unanswered is if A5/1, the "stronger" of the two * widely deployed voice-privacy algorithm is at least as strong as the * key. Meaning: "Does A5/1 have a work factor of at least 54 bits"? * Absent a publicly available A5/1 reference implementation, this question * could not be answered. We hope that our reference implementation below, * which has been verified against official A5/1 test vectors, will provide * the cryptographic community with the base on which to construct the * answer to this important question. * * Initial indications about the strength of A5/1 are not encouraging. * A variant of A5, while not A5/1 itself, has been estimated to have a * work factor of well below 54 bits. See http://jya.com/crack-a5.htm for * background information and references. * * With COMP128 broken and A5/1 published below, we will now turn our * attention to A5/2. * * [August 1999] * 19th Annual International Cryptology Conference - Crypto'99 * Santa Barbara, California * * A5/2 has been added to the previously published A5/1 source. Our * implementation has been verified against official test vectors. * * This means that our group has now reverse engineered the entire set * of cryptographic algorithms used in the overwhelming majority of GSM * installations, including all the over-the-air "voice privacy" algorithms. * * The "voice privacy" algorithm A5/2 proved especially weak. Which perhaps * should come as no surprise, since even GSM MOU members have admitted that * A5/2 was designed with heavy input by intelligence agencies to ensure * breakability. Just how insecure is A5/2? It can be broken in real time * with a work factor of a mere 16 bits. GSM might just as well use no "voice * privacy" algorithm at all. * * We announced the break of A5/2 at the Crypto'99 Rump Session. * Details will be published in a scientific paper following soon. * * * -- Marc Briceno <marc@scard.org> * Voice: +1 (925) 798-4042 * */ #include <stdio.h> /* Masks for the shift registers */ #define R1MASK 0x07FFFF /* 19 bits, numbered 0..18 */ #define R2MASK 0x3FFFFF /* 22 bits, numbered 0..21 */ #define R3MASK 0x7FFFFF /* 23 bits, numbered 0..22 */ #ifdef A5_2 #define R4MASK 0x01FFFF /* 17 bits, numbered 0..16 */ #endif /* A5_2 */ #ifndef A5_2 /* Middle bit of each of the three shift registers, for clock control */ #define R1MID 0x000100 /* bit 8 */ #define R2MID 0x000400 /* bit 10 */ #define R3MID 0x000400 /* bit 10 */ #else /* A5_2 */ /* A bit of R4 that controls each of the shift registers */ #define R4TAP1 0x000400 /* bit 10 */ #define R4TAP2 0x000008 /* bit 3 */ #define R4TAP3 0x000080 /* bit 7 */ #endif /* A5_2 */ /* Feedback taps, for clocking the shift registers. * These correspond to the primitive polynomials * x^19 + x^5 + x^2 + x + 1, x^22 + x + 1, * x^23 + x^15 + x^2 + x + 1, and x^17 + x^5 + 1. */ #define R1TAPS 0x072000 /* bits 18,17,16,13 */ #define R2TAPS 0x300000 /* bits 21,20 */ #define R3TAPS 0x700080 /* bits 22,21,20,7 */ #ifdef A5_2 #define R4TAPS 0x010800 /* bits 16,11 */ #endif /* A5_2 */ typedef unsigned char byte; typedef unsigned long word; typedef word bit; /* Calculate the parity of a 32-bit word, i.e. the sum of its bits modulo 2 */ bit parity(word x) { x ^= x>>16; x ^= x>>8; x ^= x>>4; x ^= x>>2; x ^= x>>1; return x&1; } /* Clock one shift register. For A5/2, when the last bit of the frame * is loaded in, one particular bit of each register is forced to '1'; * that bit is passed in as the last argument. */ #ifndef A5_2 word clockone(word reg, word mask, word taps) { #else /* A5_2 */ word clockone(word reg, word mask, word taps, word loaded_bit) { #endif /* A5_2 */ word t = reg & taps; reg = (reg << 1) & mask; reg |= parity(t); #ifdef A5_2 reg |= loaded_bit; #endif /* A5_2 */ return reg; } /* The three shift registers. They're in global variables to make the code * easier to understand. * A better implementation would not use global variables. */ word R1, R2, R3; #ifdef A5_2 word R4; #endif /* A5_2 */ /* Return 1 iff at least two of the parameter words are non-zero. */ bit majority(word w1, word w2, word w3) { int sum = (w1 != 0) + (w2 != 0) + (w3 != 0); if (sum >= 2) return 1; else return 0; } /* Clock two or three of R1,R2,R3, with clock control * according to their middle bits. * Specifically, we clock Ri whenever Ri's middle bit * agrees with the majority value of the three middle bits. For A5/2, * use particular bits of R4 instead of the middle bits. Also, for A5/2, * always clock R4. * If allP == 1, clock all three of R1,R2,R3, ignoring their middle bits. * This is only used for key setup. If loaded == 1, then this is the last * bit of the frame number, and if we're doing A5/2, we have to set a * particular bit in each of the four registers. */ void clock(int allP, int loaded) { #ifndef A5_2 bit maj = majority(R1&R1MID, R2&R2MID, R3&R3MID); if (allP || (((R1&R1MID)!=0) == maj)) R1 = clockone(R1, R1MASK, R1TAPS); if (allP || (((R2&R2MID)!=0) == maj)) R2 = clockone(R2, R2MASK, R2TAPS); if (allP || (((R3&R3MID)!=0) == maj)) R3 = clockone(R3, R3MASK, R3TAPS); #else /* A5_2 */ bit maj = majority(R4&R4TAP1, R4&R4TAP2, R4&R4TAP3); if (allP || (((R4&R4TAP1)!=0) == maj)) R1 = clockone(R1, R1MASK, R1TAPS, loaded<<15); if (allP || (((R4&R4TAP2)!=0) == maj)) R2 = clockone(R2, R2MASK, R2TAPS, loaded<<16); if (allP || (((R4&R4TAP3)!=0) == maj)) R3 = clockone(R3, R3MASK, R3TAPS, loaded<<18); R4 = clockone(R4, R4MASK, R4TAPS, loaded<<10); #endif /* A5_2 */ } /* Generate an output bit from the current state. * You grab a bit from each register via the output generation taps; * then you XOR the resulting three bits. For A5/2, in addition to * the top bit of each of R1,R2,R3, also XOR in a majority function * of three particular bits of the register (one of them complemented) * to make it non-linear. Also, for A5/2, delay the output by one * clock cycle for some reason. */ bit getbit() { bit topbits = (((R1 >> 18) ^ (R2 >> 21) ^ (R3 >> 22)) & 0x01); #ifndef A5_2 return topbits; #else /* A5_2 */ static bit delaybit = 0; bit nowbit = delaybit; delaybit = ( topbits ^ majority(R1&0x8000, (~R1)&0x4000, R1&0x1000) ^ majority((~R2)&0x10000, R2&0x2000, R2&0x200) ^ majority(R3&0x40000, R3&0x10000, (~R3)&0x2000) ); return nowbit; #endif /* A5_2 */ } /* Do the A5 key setup. This routine accepts a 64-bit key and * a 22-bit frame number. */ void keysetup(byte key[8], word frame) { int i; bit keybit, framebit; /* Zero out the shift registers. */ R1 = R2 = R3 = 0; #ifdef A5_2 R4 = 0; #endif /* A5_2 */ /* Load the key into the shift registers, * LSB of first byte of key array first, * clocking each register once for every * key bit loaded. (The usual clock * control rule is temporarily disabled.) */ for (i=0; i<64; i++) { clock(1,0); /* always clock */ keybit = (key[i/8] >> (i&7)) & 1; /* The i-th bit of the key */ R1 ^= keybit; R2 ^= keybit; R3 ^= keybit; #ifdef A5_2 R4 ^= keybit; #endif /* A5_2 */ } /* Load the frame number into the shift registers, LSB first, * clocking each register once for every key bit loaded. * (The usual clock control rule is still disabled.) * For A5/2, signal when the last bit is being clocked in. */ for (i=0; i<22; i++) { clock(1,i==21); /* always clock */ framebit = (frame >> i) & 1; /* The i-th bit of the frame # */ R1 ^= framebit; R2 ^= framebit; R3 ^= framebit; #ifdef A5_2 R4 ^= framebit; #endif /* A5_2 */ } /* Run the shift registers for 100 clocks * to mix the keying material and frame number * together with output generation disabled, * so that there is sufficient avalanche. * We re-enable the majority-based clock control * rule from now on. */ for (i=0; i<100; i++) { clock(0,0); } /* For A5/2, we have to load the delayed output bit. This does _not_ * change the state of the registers. For A5/1, this is a no-op. */ getbit(); /* Now the key is properly set up. */ } /* Generate output. We generate 228 bits of * keystream output. The first 114 bits is for * the A->B frame; the next 114 bits is for the * B->A frame. You allocate a 15-byte buffer * for each direction, and this function fills * it in. */ void run(byte AtoBkeystream[], byte BtoAkeystream[]) { int i; /* Zero out the output buffers. */ for (i=0; i<=113/8; i++) AtoBkeystream[i] = BtoAkeystream[i] = 0; /* Generate 114 bits of keystream for the * A->B direction. Store it, MSB first. */ for (i=0; i<114; i++) { clock(0,0); AtoBkeystream[i/8] |= getbit() << (7-(i&7)); } /* Generate 114 bits of keystream for the * B->A direction. Store it, MSB first. */ for (i=0; i<114; i++) { clock(0,0); BtoAkeystream[i/8] |= getbit() << (7-(i&7)); } } /* Test the code by comparing it against * a known-good test vector. */ void test() { #ifndef A5_2 byte key[8] = {0x12, 0x23, 0x45, 0x67, 0x89, 0xAB, 0xCD, 0xEF}; word frame = 0x134; byte goodAtoB[15] = { 0x53, 0x4E, 0xAA, 0x58, 0x2F, 0xE8, 0x15, 0x1A, 0xB6, 0xE1, 0x85, 0x5A, 0x72, 0x8C, 0x00 }; byte goodBtoA[15] = { 0x24, 0xFD, 0x35, 0xA3, 0x5D, 0x5F, 0xB6, 0x52, 0x6D, 0x32, 0xF9, 0x06, 0xDF, 0x1A, 0xC0 }; #else /* A5_2 */ byte key[8] = {0x00, 0xfc, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff}; word frame = 0x21; byte goodAtoB[15] = { 0xf4, 0x51, 0x2c, 0xac, 0x13, 0x59, 0x37, 0x64, 0x46, 0x0b, 0x72, 0x2d, 0xad, 0xd5, 0x00 }; byte goodBtoA[15] = { 0x48, 0x00, 0xd4, 0x32, 0x8e, 0x16, 0xa1, 0x4d, 0xcd, 0x7b, 0x97, 0x22, 0x26, 0x51, 0x00 }; #endif /* A5_2 */ byte AtoB[15], BtoA[15]; int i, failed=0; keysetup(key, frame); run(AtoB, BtoA); /* Compare against the test vector. */ for (i=0; i<15; i++) if (AtoB[i] != goodAtoB[i]) failed = 1; for (i=0; i<15; i++) if (BtoA[i] != goodBtoA[i]) failed = 1; /* Print some debugging output. */ printf("key: 0x"); for (i=0; i<8; i++) printf("%02X", key[i]); printf("\n"); printf("frame number: 0x%06X\n", (unsigned int)frame); printf("known good output:\n"); printf(" A->B: 0x"); for (i=0; i<15; i++) printf("%02X", goodAtoB[i]); printf(" B->A: 0x"); for (i=0; i<15; i++) printf("%02X", goodBtoA[i]); printf("\n"); printf("observed output:\n"); printf(" A->B: 0x"); for (i=0; i<15; i++) printf("%02X", AtoB[i]); printf(" B->A: 0x"); for (i=0; i<15; i++) printf("%02X", BtoA[i]); printf("\n"); if (!failed) { printf("Self-check succeeded: everything looks ok.\n"); exit(0); } else { /* Problems! The test vectors didn't compare*/ printf("\nI don't know why this broke; contact the authors.\n"); } } int main(void) { test(); return 0; }