In this paper, we study quantum key-recovery attacks on block ciphers. While it is well known that a quantum adversary can generically speed up an exhaustive search of the key, much less is known on how to use specific vulnerabilities of the cipher to accelerate this procedure. In this context, we show how to convert classical boomerang and mixing boomerang attacks into efficient quantum key-recovery attacks. In some cases, we can even obtain a quadratic speedup, the same as simple differential attacks. We apply this technique to a 5-round attack on SAFER++.

, , , ,
doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99277-4_16
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Algebraic Methods for Stronger Crypto
International Conference on Selected Areas in Cryptography

Frixons, P., Naya-Plasencia, M., & Schrottenloher, A. (2022). Quantum boomerang attacks and some applications. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Selected Areas in Cryptography (pp. 332–352). doi:10.1007/978-3-030-99277-4_16