List of Used Algorithms

The following algorithms are used in the PowerAuth cryptography scheme.

Cryptographic Algorithm Suite IDs (4.0)

The Cryptographic Algorithm Suite is a collection of specific cryptographic algorithms used throughout the various areas of the PowerAuth protocol. The main components are algorithms for key agreement and algorithms for digital signatures.

Suite ID	Status	Description
EC_P384_ML_L3	Current	Hybrid PQC Level 3<ul><li>Key agreement: ECDH (P-384) + ML-KEM-768. Secrets concatenated before KDF.</li><li>Digital signatures: ECDSA (P-384, SHA-384) + ML-DSA-65</li></ul>Targets NIST PQC Level 3.
EC_P384_ML_L5	Current	Hybrid PQC Level 5<ul><li>Key agreement: ECDH (P-384) + ML-KEM-1024. Secrets concatenated before KDF.</li><li>Digital signatures: ECDSA (P-384, SHA-384) + ML-DSA-87</li></ul>Targets NIST PQC Level 5.
EC_P384	Current	Curve: NIST P-384 (secp384r1)<ul><li>Key agreement: ECDH (P-384, SHA-3 KDF)</li><li>Digital signatures: ECDSA (P-384, SHA-384)</li></ul>No PQC component.
ML_L3	Testing	PQC-only Level 3<ul><li>Key agreement: ML-KEM-768</li><li>Digital signatures: ML-DSA-65</li></ul>Targets NIST PQC Level 3.
ML_L5	Testing	PQC-only Level 5<ul><li>Key agreement: ML-KEM-1024</li><li>Digital signatures: ML-DSA-87</li></ul>Targets NIST PQC Level 5.
EC_P256	Legacy	Curve: NIST P-256 (secp256r1)<ul><li>Key agreement: ECDH (P-256)</li><li>Digital signatures: ECDSA (P-256, SHA-256)</li></ul>Retained for 3.x compatibility only.

End‑to‑End Encryption

AEAD (Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data)

• Encryption: AES‑256 in CTR mode.
• Authentication: KMAC‑256.
• Properties: Confidentiality, integrity, authentication, replay protection, and crypto agility. Used uniformly across shared‑secret suites above, except legacy suite EC_P256, which uses the ECIES scheme.

Algorithm Selection & Negotiation

• Clients and servers negotiate the shared secret suite (e.g., EC_P384, EC_P384_ML_L3, EC_P384_ML_L5) during capability exchange.
• AEAD with AES‑256‑CTR + KMAC‑256 is used across 4.0 suites to streamline implementation.
• Hybrid suites concatenate classical and PQC secrets before KDF.

List of Used Algorithms

PowerAuth Protocol 4.x — Current

Current protocol version: 4.0

Cryptographic Primitives

Algorithm	Impacts	Note
AEAD	mobile, server	Symmetric encryption in AEAD scheme using AES with 256 bit keys. CTR mode is used for encryption, integrity guaranteed via KMAC‑256.
KMAC-256	mobile, server	Message authentication and AEAD tag, also used in KDF constructions and factor keys: Possession, Knowledge, Biometry. On mobile, KMAC-256 is used for PIN-to-ke derivation.
ECDH P-384	mobile, server	Key agreement for classical part of hybrid and for EC_P384 suite on curve secp384r1.
ECDSA P-384	mobile, server	Asymmetric signatures based on ECDSA with SHA‑384 on curve secp384r1.
ML-KEM-768/1024	mobile, server	PQC key encapsulation used in Level‑3/Level‑5 hybrid and PQC‑only suites.
ML-DSA-65/87	mobile, server	Asymmetric signatures based on the ML-DSA PQC signature scheme.
SHA3-256	mobile, server	Hash function based on Keccak, used in various situations across the protocol.
CRC-16	mobile, server	Checksum for activation code validation (2 bytes of 12).

PowerAuth Protocol 3.x — Legacy

Latest 3.x protocol version: 3.3

Cryptographic Primitives

Algorithm	Impacts	Note
AES-128	mobile, server	Symmetric encryption with 128 bit keys. Used in AES/CBC/PKCS7Padding or AES/CBC/NoPadding, depending on use-case.
CRC-16	mobile, server	Checksum algorithm, used to add a validation to the activation code (2 bytes out of 12 are allocated for checksum).
ECDH	mobile, server	Key agreement algorithm for ECC-based Diffie-Hellman, uses secp256r1 curve.
ECDSA	mobile, server	Asymmetric signatures based on ECC, with secp256r1 curve and SHA256 hash function (SHA256withECDSA).
ECIES	mobile, server	Asymmetric encryption scheme based on ECC, with secp256r1 and X9.63 (SHA256) KDF function.
HMAC-SHA256	mobile, server	MAC algorithm with SHA256 as underlying has function. Used in various situations across the protocol.
HMAC-SHA512	server	MAC algorithm with SHA512 as underlying has function. Currently only used when validating TOTP in proximity OTP feature.
PBKDF2	mobile	Derivation function, used with HMAC-SHA1 algorithm (PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1) and 10 000 iterations. Note: Used exclusively for deriving a symmetric encryption key from PIN code on a mobile device, and hence strength of the algorithm is unimportant.
SHA256	mobile, server	Hash function. Used in various situations across the protocol.
X9.63	mobile, server	Key derivation function with SHA256. Used for deriving keys with random index.

Algorithm Providers

• Server‑Side: Bouncy Castle
• Client‑Side: OpenSSL (libCrypto)