How AES Works
Last updated
Last updated
Mathematical term for a one-to-one correspondence is bijection.
Flag: bijection
The best single-key attack against AES is the Biclique attack. When resisting quantum computers, only cuts the security of symmetric ciphers in half (Not completely broken unlike asymmetric ciphers using ). Therefore, AES-256 is recommended in place of AES-128.
Flag: biclique
This challenge simulates how you go from a plaintext/key string of 16 bytes length to a 4x4 matrix (which will then undergo a number of transformations). Here, we have to revert the given matrix back to its original string.
def bytes2matrix(text):
""" Converts a 16-byte array into a 4x4 matrix. """
return [list(text[i:i+4]) for i in range(0, len(text), 4)]
def matrix2bytes(matrix):
""" Converts a 4x4 matrix into a 16-byte array. """
return "".join(list(chr(j) for i in matrix for j in i))
matrix = [
[99, 114, 121, 112],
[116, 111, 123, 105],
[110, 109, 97, 116],
[114, 105, 120, 125],
]
print(matrix2bytes(matrix))Flag: crypto{inmatrix}
AddRoundKey is basically XOR-ing two matrix, the state and the key.
def bytes2matrix(text):
""" Converts a 16-byte array into a 4x4 matrix. """
return [list(text[i:i+4]) for i in range(0, len(text), 4)]
def matrix2bytes(matrix):
""" Converts a 4x4 matrix into a 16-byte array. """
return "".join(list(chr(j) for i in matrix for j in i))
def add_round_key(s, k):
""" Perform xor on matrix s using key k. """
for i in range(len(s)):
for j in range(len(s[i])):
s[i][j] = s[i][j] ^ k[i][j]
return s
state = [
[206, 243, 61, 34],
[171, 11, 93, 31],
[16, 200, 91, 108],
[150, 3, 194, 51],
]
round_key = [
[173, 129, 68, 82],
[223, 100, 38, 109],
[32, 189, 53, 8],
[253, 48, 187, 78],
]
print(matrix2bytes(add_round_key(state, round_key)))Flag: crypto{r0undk3y}
The process is similar to a simple substitution cipher.
s_box = (
0x63, 0x7C, 0x77, 0x7B, 0xF2, 0x6B, 0x6F, 0xC5, 0x30, 0x01, 0x67, 0x2B, 0xFE, 0xD7, 0xAB, 0x76,
0xCA, 0x82, 0xC9, 0x7D, 0xFA, 0x59, 0x47, 0xF0, 0xAD, 0xD4, 0xA2, 0xAF, 0x9C, 0xA4, 0x72, 0xC0,
0xB7, 0xFD, 0x93, 0x26, 0x36, 0x3F, 0xF7, 0xCC, 0x34, 0xA5, 0xE5, 0xF1, 0x71, 0xD8, 0x31, 0x15,
0x04, 0xC7, 0x23, 0xC3, 0x18, 0x96, 0x05, 0x9A, 0x07, 0x12, 0x80, 0xE2, 0xEB, 0x27, 0xB2, 0x75,
0x09, 0x83, 0x2C, 0x1A, 0x1B, 0x6E, 0x5A, 0xA0, 0x52, 0x3B, 0xD6, 0xB3, 0x29, 0xE3, 0x2F, 0x84,
0x53, 0xD1, 0x00, 0xED, 0x20, 0xFC, 0xB1, 0x5B, 0x6A, 0xCB, 0xBE, 0x39, 0x4A, 0x4C, 0x58, 0xCF,
0xD0, 0xEF, 0xAA, 0xFB, 0x43, 0x4D, 0x33, 0x85, 0x45, 0xF9, 0x02, 0x7F, 0x50, 0x3C, 0x9F, 0xA8,
0x51, 0xA3, 0x40, 0x8F, 0x92, 0x9D, 0x38, 0xF5, 0xBC, 0xB6, 0xDA, 0x21, 0x10, 0xFF, 0xF3, 0xD2,
0xCD, 0x0C, 0x13, 0xEC, 0x5F, 0x97, 0x44, 0x17, 0xC4, 0xA7, 0x7E, 0x3D, 0x64, 0x5D, 0x19, 0x73,
0x60, 0x81, 0x4F, 0xDC, 0x22, 0x2A, 0x90, 0x88, 0x46, 0xEE, 0xB8, 0x14, 0xDE, 0x5E, 0x0B, 0xDB,
0xE0, 0x32, 0x3A, 0x0A, 0x49, 0x06, 0x24, 0x5C, 0xC2, 0xD3, 0xAC, 0x62, 0x91, 0x95, 0xE4, 0x79,
0xE7, 0xC8, 0x37, 0x6D, 0x8D, 0xD5, 0x4E, 0xA9, 0x6C, 0x56, 0xF4, 0xEA, 0x65, 0x7A, 0xAE, 0x08,
0xBA, 0x78, 0x25, 0x2E, 0x1C, 0xA6, 0xB4, 0xC6, 0xE8, 0xDD, 0x74, 0x1F, 0x4B, 0xBD, 0x8B, 0x8A,
0x70, 0x3E, 0xB5, 0x66, 0x48, 0x03, 0xF6, 0x0E, 0x61, 0x35, 0x57, 0xB9, 0x86, 0xC1, 0x1D, 0x9E,
0xE1, 0xF8, 0x98, 0x11, 0x69, 0xD9, 0x8E, 0x94, 0x9B, 0x1E, 0x87, 0xE9, 0xCE, 0x55, 0x28, 0xDF,
0x8C, 0xA1, 0x89, 0x0D, 0xBF, 0xE6, 0x42, 0x68, 0x41, 0x99, 0x2D, 0x0F, 0xB0, 0x54, 0xBB, 0x16,
)
inv_s_box = (
0x52, 0x09, 0x6A, 0xD5, 0x30, 0x36, 0xA5, 0x38, 0xBF, 0x40, 0xA3, 0x9E, 0x81, 0xF3, 0xD7, 0xFB,
0x7C, 0xE3, 0x39, 0x82, 0x9B, 0x2F, 0xFF, 0x87, 0x34, 0x8E, 0x43, 0x44, 0xC4, 0xDE, 0xE9, 0xCB,
0x54, 0x7B, 0x94, 0x32, 0xA6, 0xC2, 0x23, 0x3D, 0xEE, 0x4C, 0x95, 0x0B, 0x42, 0xFA, 0xC3, 0x4E,
0x08, 0x2E, 0xA1, 0x66, 0x28, 0xD9, 0x24, 0xB2, 0x76, 0x5B, 0xA2, 0x49, 0x6D, 0x8B, 0xD1, 0x25,
0x72, 0xF8, 0xF6, 0x64, 0x86, 0x68, 0x98, 0x16, 0xD4, 0xA4, 0x5C, 0xCC, 0x5D, 0x65, 0xB6, 0x92,
0x6C, 0x70, 0x48, 0x50, 0xFD, 0xED, 0xB9, 0xDA, 0x5E, 0x15, 0x46, 0x57, 0xA7, 0x8D, 0x9D, 0x84,
0x90, 0xD8, 0xAB, 0x00, 0x8C, 0xBC, 0xD3, 0x0A, 0xF7, 0xE4, 0x58, 0x05, 0xB8, 0xB3, 0x45, 0x06,
0xD0, 0x2C, 0x1E, 0x8F, 0xCA, 0x3F, 0x0F, 0x02, 0xC1, 0xAF, 0xBD, 0x03, 0x01, 0x13, 0x8A, 0x6B,
0x3A, 0x91, 0x11, 0x41, 0x4F, 0x67, 0xDC, 0xEA, 0x97, 0xF2, 0xCF, 0xCE, 0xF0, 0xB4, 0xE6, 0x73,
0x96, 0xAC, 0x74, 0x22, 0xE7, 0xAD, 0x35, 0x85, 0xE2, 0xF9, 0x37, 0xE8, 0x1C, 0x75, 0xDF, 0x6E,
0x47, 0xF1, 0x1A, 0x71, 0x1D, 0x29, 0xC5, 0x89, 0x6F, 0xB7, 0x62, 0x0E, 0xAA, 0x18, 0xBE, 0x1B,
0xFC, 0x56, 0x3E, 0x4B, 0xC6, 0xD2, 0x79, 0x20, 0x9A, 0xDB, 0xC0, 0xFE, 0x78, 0xCD, 0x5A, 0xF4,
0x1F, 0xDD, 0xA8, 0x33, 0x88, 0x07, 0xC7, 0x31, 0xB1, 0x12, 0x10, 0x59, 0x27, 0x80, 0xEC, 0x5F,
0x60, 0x51, 0x7F, 0xA9, 0x19, 0xB5, 0x4A, 0x0D, 0x2D, 0xE5, 0x7A, 0x9F, 0x93, 0xC9, 0x9C, 0xEF,
0xA0, 0xE0, 0x3B, 0x4D, 0xAE, 0x2A, 0xF5, 0xB0, 0xC8, 0xEB, 0xBB, 0x3C, 0x83, 0x53, 0x99, 0x61,
0x17, 0x2B, 0x04, 0x7E, 0xBA, 0x77, 0xD6, 0x26, 0xE1, 0x69, 0x14, 0x63, 0x55, 0x21, 0x0C, 0x7D,
)
state = [
[251, 64, 182, 81],
[146, 168, 33, 80],
[199, 159, 195, 24],
[64, 80, 182, 255],
]
def sub_bytes(s, sbox=s_box):
""" Substitute a 4x4 matrix with a 4x4 S-Box """
for i in range(len(s)):
for j in range(len(s[i])):
s[i][j] = sbox[s[i][j]]
return s
def matrix2bytes(matrix):
""" Converts a 4x4 matrix into a 16-byte array. """
return "".join(list(chr(j) for i in matrix for j in i))
print(matrix2bytes(sub_bytes(state, sbox=inv_s_box)))Flag: crypto{l1n34rly}
Implement inv_shift_rows by applying some logic. For example, in shift_rows, s[0][1] = s[1][1], meaning that the value of [1][1] moved to [0][1]. Therefore, when inversing, we assign s[1][1] = s[0][1], bringing back the value to its original place. This applies for the rest of the matrix's elements.
def shift_rows(s):
s[0][1], s[1][1], s[2][1], s[3][1] = s[1][1], s[2][1], s[3][1], s[0][1]
s[0][2], s[1][2], s[2][2], s[3][2] = s[2][2], s[3][2], s[0][2], s[1][2]
s[0][3], s[1][3], s[2][3], s[3][3] = s[3][3], s[0][3], s[1][3], s[2][3]
def inv_shift_rows(s):
s[0][1], s[1][1], s[2][1], s[3][1] = s[3][1], s[0][1], s[1][1], s[2][1]
s[0][2], s[1][2], s[2][2], s[3][2] = s[2][2], s[3][2], s[0][2], s[1][2]
s[0][3], s[1][3], s[2][3], s[3][3] = s[1][3], s[2][3], s[3][3], s[0][3]
# learned from http://cs.ucsb.edu/~koc/cs178/projects/JT/aes.c
xtime = lambda a: (((a << 1) ^ 0x1B) & 0xFF) if (a & 0x80) else (a << 1)
def mix_single_column(a):
# see Sec 4.1.2 in The Design of Rijndael
t = a[0] ^ a[1] ^ a[2] ^ a[3]
u = a[0]
a[0] ^= t ^ xtime(a[0] ^ a[1])
a[1] ^= t ^ xtime(a[1] ^ a[2])
a[2] ^= t ^ xtime(a[2] ^ a[3])
a[3] ^= t ^ xtime(a[3] ^ u)
def mix_columns(s):
for i in range(4):
mix_single_column(s[i])
def inv_mix_columns(s):
# see Sec 4.1.3 in The Design of Rijndael
for i in range(4):
u = xtime(xtime(s[i][0] ^ s[i][2]))
v = xtime(xtime(s[i][1] ^ s[i][3]))
s[i][0] ^= u
s[i][1] ^= v
s[i][2] ^= u
s[i][3] ^= v
mix_columns(s)
def matrix2bytes(matrix):
""" Converts a 4x4 matrix into a 16-byte array. """
return "".join(list(chr(j) for i in matrix for j in i))
state = [
[108, 106, 71, 86],
[96, 62, 38, 72],
[42, 184, 92, 209],
[94, 79, 8, 54],
]
inv_mix_columns(state)
inv_shift_rows(state)
print(matrix2bytes(state))Flag: crypto{d1ffUs3R}
Here, we combine every function implementation from the previous challenges. One thing to note is that the round keys are used in reverse order, so start from N_ROUNDS and end in 0.
N_ROUNDS = 10
key = b'\xc3,\\\xa6\xb5\x80^\x0c\xdb\x8d\xa5z*\xb6\xfe\\'
ciphertext = b'\xd1O\x14j\xa4+O\xb6\xa1\xc4\x08B)\x8f\x12\xdd'
s_box = (
0x63, 0x7C, 0x77, 0x7B, 0xF2, 0x6B, 0x6F, 0xC5, 0x30, 0x01, 0x67, 0x2B, 0xFE, 0xD7, 0xAB, 0x76,
0xCA, 0x82, 0xC9, 0x7D, 0xFA, 0x59, 0x47, 0xF0, 0xAD, 0xD4, 0xA2, 0xAF, 0x9C, 0xA4, 0x72, 0xC0,
0xB7, 0xFD, 0x93, 0x26, 0x36, 0x3F, 0xF7, 0xCC, 0x34, 0xA5, 0xE5, 0xF1, 0x71, 0xD8, 0x31, 0x15,
0x04, 0xC7, 0x23, 0xC3, 0x18, 0x96, 0x05, 0x9A, 0x07, 0x12, 0x80, 0xE2, 0xEB, 0x27, 0xB2, 0x75,
0x09, 0x83, 0x2C, 0x1A, 0x1B, 0x6E, 0x5A, 0xA0, 0x52, 0x3B, 0xD6, 0xB3, 0x29, 0xE3, 0x2F, 0x84,
0x53, 0xD1, 0x00, 0xED, 0x20, 0xFC, 0xB1, 0x5B, 0x6A, 0xCB, 0xBE, 0x39, 0x4A, 0x4C, 0x58, 0xCF,
0xD0, 0xEF, 0xAA, 0xFB, 0x43, 0x4D, 0x33, 0x85, 0x45, 0xF9, 0x02, 0x7F, 0x50, 0x3C, 0x9F, 0xA8,
0x51, 0xA3, 0x40, 0x8F, 0x92, 0x9D, 0x38, 0xF5, 0xBC, 0xB6, 0xDA, 0x21, 0x10, 0xFF, 0xF3, 0xD2,
0xCD, 0x0C, 0x13, 0xEC, 0x5F, 0x97, 0x44, 0x17, 0xC4, 0xA7, 0x7E, 0x3D, 0x64, 0x5D, 0x19, 0x73,
0x60, 0x81, 0x4F, 0xDC, 0x22, 0x2A, 0x90, 0x88, 0x46, 0xEE, 0xB8, 0x14, 0xDE, 0x5E, 0x0B, 0xDB,
0xE0, 0x32, 0x3A, 0x0A, 0x49, 0x06, 0x24, 0x5C, 0xC2, 0xD3, 0xAC, 0x62, 0x91, 0x95, 0xE4, 0x79,
0xE7, 0xC8, 0x37, 0x6D, 0x8D, 0xD5, 0x4E, 0xA9, 0x6C, 0x56, 0xF4, 0xEA, 0x65, 0x7A, 0xAE, 0x08,
0xBA, 0x78, 0x25, 0x2E, 0x1C, 0xA6, 0xB4, 0xC6, 0xE8, 0xDD, 0x74, 0x1F, 0x4B, 0xBD, 0x8B, 0x8A,
0x70, 0x3E, 0xB5, 0x66, 0x48, 0x03, 0xF6, 0x0E, 0x61, 0x35, 0x57, 0xB9, 0x86, 0xC1, 0x1D, 0x9E,
0xE1, 0xF8, 0x98, 0x11, 0x69, 0xD9, 0x8E, 0x94, 0x9B, 0x1E, 0x87, 0xE9, 0xCE, 0x55, 0x28, 0xDF,
0x8C, 0xA1, 0x89, 0x0D, 0xBF, 0xE6, 0x42, 0x68, 0x41, 0x99, 0x2D, 0x0F, 0xB0, 0x54, 0xBB, 0x16,
)
inv_s_box = (
0x52, 0x09, 0x6A, 0xD5, 0x30, 0x36, 0xA5, 0x38, 0xBF, 0x40, 0xA3, 0x9E, 0x81, 0xF3, 0xD7, 0xFB,
0x7C, 0xE3, 0x39, 0x82, 0x9B, 0x2F, 0xFF, 0x87, 0x34, 0x8E, 0x43, 0x44, 0xC4, 0xDE, 0xE9, 0xCB,
0x54, 0x7B, 0x94, 0x32, 0xA6, 0xC2, 0x23, 0x3D, 0xEE, 0x4C, 0x95, 0x0B, 0x42, 0xFA, 0xC3, 0x4E,
0x08, 0x2E, 0xA1, 0x66, 0x28, 0xD9, 0x24, 0xB2, 0x76, 0x5B, 0xA2, 0x49, 0x6D, 0x8B, 0xD1, 0x25,
0x72, 0xF8, 0xF6, 0x64, 0x86, 0x68, 0x98, 0x16, 0xD4, 0xA4, 0x5C, 0xCC, 0x5D, 0x65, 0xB6, 0x92,
0x6C, 0x70, 0x48, 0x50, 0xFD, 0xED, 0xB9, 0xDA, 0x5E, 0x15, 0x46, 0x57, 0xA7, 0x8D, 0x9D, 0x84,
0x90, 0xD8, 0xAB, 0x00, 0x8C, 0xBC, 0xD3, 0x0A, 0xF7, 0xE4, 0x58, 0x05, 0xB8, 0xB3, 0x45, 0x06,
0xD0, 0x2C, 0x1E, 0x8F, 0xCA, 0x3F, 0x0F, 0x02, 0xC1, 0xAF, 0xBD, 0x03, 0x01, 0x13, 0x8A, 0x6B,
0x3A, 0x91, 0x11, 0x41, 0x4F, 0x67, 0xDC, 0xEA, 0x97, 0xF2, 0xCF, 0xCE, 0xF0, 0xB4, 0xE6, 0x73,
0x96, 0xAC, 0x74, 0x22, 0xE7, 0xAD, 0x35, 0x85, 0xE2, 0xF9, 0x37, 0xE8, 0x1C, 0x75, 0xDF, 0x6E,
0x47, 0xF1, 0x1A, 0x71, 0x1D, 0x29, 0xC5, 0x89, 0x6F, 0xB7, 0x62, 0x0E, 0xAA, 0x18, 0xBE, 0x1B,
0xFC, 0x56, 0x3E, 0x4B, 0xC6, 0xD2, 0x79, 0x20, 0x9A, 0xDB, 0xC0, 0xFE, 0x78, 0xCD, 0x5A, 0xF4,
0x1F, 0xDD, 0xA8, 0x33, 0x88, 0x07, 0xC7, 0x31, 0xB1, 0x12, 0x10, 0x59, 0x27, 0x80, 0xEC, 0x5F,
0x60, 0x51, 0x7F, 0xA9, 0x19, 0xB5, 0x4A, 0x0D, 0x2D, 0xE5, 0x7A, 0x9F, 0x93, 0xC9, 0x9C, 0xEF,
0xA0, 0xE0, 0x3B, 0x4D, 0xAE, 0x2A, 0xF5, 0xB0, 0xC8, 0xEB, 0xBB, 0x3C, 0x83, 0x53, 0x99, 0x61,
0x17, 0x2B, 0x04, 0x7E, 0xBA, 0x77, 0xD6, 0x26, 0xE1, 0x69, 0x14, 0x63, 0x55, 0x21, 0x0C, 0x7D,
)
def expand_key(master_key):
"""
Expands and returns a list of key matrices for the given master_key.
"""
# Round constants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AES_key_schedule#Round_constants
r_con = (
0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x04, 0x08, 0x10, 0x20, 0x40,
0x80, 0x1B, 0x36, 0x6C, 0xD8, 0xAB, 0x4D, 0x9A,
0x2F, 0x5E, 0xBC, 0x63, 0xC6, 0x97, 0x35, 0x6A,
0xD4, 0xB3, 0x7D, 0xFA, 0xEF, 0xC5, 0x91, 0x39,
)
# Initialize round keys with raw key material.
key_columns = bytes2matrix(master_key)
iteration_size = len(master_key) // 4
# Each iteration has exactly as many columns as the key material.
i = 1
while len(key_columns) < (N_ROUNDS + 1) * 4:
# Copy previous word.
word = list(key_columns[-1])
# Perform schedule_core once every "row".
if len(key_columns) % iteration_size == 0:
# Circular shift.
word.append(word.pop(0))
# Map to S-BOX.
word = [s_box[b] for b in word]
# XOR with first byte of R-CON, since the others bytes of R-CON are 0.
word[0] ^= r_con[i]
i += 1
elif len(master_key) == 32 and len(key_columns) % iteration_size == 4:
# Run word through S-box in the fourth iteration when using a
# 256-bit key.
word = [s_box[b] for b in word]
# XOR with equivalent word from previous iteration.
word = bytes(i^j for i, j in zip(word, key_columns[-iteration_size]))
key_columns.append(word)
# Group key words in 4x4 byte matrices.
return [key_columns[4*i : 4*(i+1)] for i in range(len(key_columns) // 4)]
def bytes2matrix(text):
""" Converts a 16-byte array into a 4x4 matrix. """
return [list(text[i:i+4]) for i in range(0, len(text), 4)]
def matrix2bytes(matrix):
""" Converts a 4x4 matrix into a 16-byte array. """
return "".join(list(chr(j) for i in matrix for j in i))
def add_round_key(s, k):
""" Perform xor on matrix s using key k. """
for i in range(len(s)):
for j in range(len(s[i])):
s[i][j] = s[i][j] ^ k[i][j]
return s
def sub_bytes(s, sbox=s_box):
""" Substitute a 4x4 matrix with a 4x4 S-Box """
for i in range(len(s)):
for j in range(len(s[i])):
s[i][j] = sbox[s[i][j]]
return s
def shift_rows(s):
s[0][1], s[1][1], s[2][1], s[3][1] = s[1][1], s[2][1], s[3][1], s[0][1]
s[0][2], s[1][2], s[2][2], s[3][2] = s[2][2], s[3][2], s[0][2], s[1][2]
s[0][3], s[1][3], s[2][3], s[3][3] = s[3][3], s[0][3], s[1][3], s[2][3]
def inv_shift_rows(s):
s[0][1], s[1][1], s[2][1], s[3][1] = s[3][1], s[0][1], s[1][1], s[2][1]
s[0][2], s[1][2], s[2][2], s[3][2] = s[2][2], s[3][2], s[0][2], s[1][2]
s[0][3], s[1][3], s[2][3], s[3][3] = s[1][3], s[2][3], s[3][3], s[0][3]
# learned from http://cs.ucsb.edu/~koc/cs178/projects/JT/aes.c
xtime = lambda a: (((a << 1) ^ 0x1B) & 0xFF) if (a & 0x80) else (a << 1)
def mix_single_column(a):
# see Sec 4.1.2 in The Design of Rijndael
t = a[0] ^ a[1] ^ a[2] ^ a[3]
u = a[0]
a[0] ^= t ^ xtime(a[0] ^ a[1])
a[1] ^= t ^ xtime(a[1] ^ a[2])
a[2] ^= t ^ xtime(a[2] ^ a[3])
a[3] ^= t ^ xtime(a[3] ^ u)
def mix_columns(s):
for i in range(4):
mix_single_column(s[i])
def inv_mix_columns(s):
# see Sec 4.1.3 in The Design of Rijndael
for i in range(4):
u = xtime(xtime(s[i][0] ^ s[i][2]))
v = xtime(xtime(s[i][1] ^ s[i][3]))
s[i][0] ^= u
s[i][1] ^= v
s[i][2] ^= u
s[i][3] ^= v
mix_columns(s)
def decrypt(key, ciphertext):
round_keys = expand_key(key)
print(round_keys)
# Convert ciphertext to state matrix
state = bytes2matrix(ciphertext)
# Initial add round key step
state = add_round_key(state, round_keys[N_ROUNDS])
for i in range(N_ROUNDS-1, 0, -1):
inv_shift_rows(state)
state = sub_bytes(state, sbox=inv_s_box)
state = add_round_key(state, round_keys[i])
inv_mix_columns(state)
pass # Do round
# Run final round (skips the InvMixColumns step)
inv_shift_rows(state)
state = sub_bytes(state, sbox=inv_s_box)
state = add_round_key(state, round_keys[0])
# Convert state matrix to plaintext
plaintext = matrix2bytes(state)
return plaintext
print(decrypt(key, ciphertext))Flag: crypto{MYAES128}