Hash-Based Signature Schemes

This project uses the XMSS reference implementation that accompanies RFC 8391 to implement PRF-based OTS (POTS).

Added Implementation

PRF-based One-Time Signature (POTS)

• A novel implementation of a one-time signature scheme based on pseudorandom functions/permutations.
• Implemented in pots.c

Building and Running

Dependencies

• OpenSSL (required for SHA-256 and SHA-512 hash functions)
  • macOS: brew install openssl

Configuration

• Set OPENSSL_PREFIX in Makefile to your OpenSSL installation path
• macOS Homebrew installations are automatically detected

Benchmarks

# Compare AES vs SHA performance
make benchmark/aes_hash

# Measure POTS performance (keygen, sign, verify)
make benchmark/pots

# Measure WOTS performance (keygen, sign, verify)
make benchmark/wots

# Clean built files
make clean

License

This implementation extends the original XMSS reference code written by Andreas Hülsing and Joost Rijneveld. The original code and extensions are available under the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Note

This implementation is intended for research and experimentation. Production use requires careful consideration of deployment scenarios and threat models, particularly for stateful signature schemes.