One For All: Formally Verifying Protocols which use Aggregate Signatures

Aggregate signatures are digital signatures that compress multiple signatures from different parties into a single signature, thereby reducing storage and bandwidth requirements. BLS aggregate signatures are a popular kind of aggregate signature, deployed by Ethereum, Dfinity, and Cloudflare amongst others, currently undergoing standardization at the IETF. However, BLS aggregate signatures are difficult to use correctly, with nuanced requirements that must be carefully handled by protocol developers. In this work, we design the first models of aggregate signatures that enable formal verification tools, such as Tamarin and ProVerif, to be applied to protocols using these signatures. We introduce general models that are based on the cryptographic security definition of generic aggregate signatures, allowing the attacker to exploit protocols where the security requirements are not satisfied. We also introduce a second family of models formalizing BLS aggregate signatures in particular. We demonstrate our approach's practical relevance by modelling and analyzing in Tamarin a device attestation protocol called SANA. Despite SANA's claimed correctness proof, with Tamarin we uncover undocumented assumptions that, when omitted, lead to attacks.

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Publication Details

Published
2025-06-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/csf64896.2025.00027
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Cryptography and Data Security
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
7.44
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article

One For All: Formally Verifying Protocols which use Aggregate Signatures

Dennis Jackson, David Bain, Ralf Sasse, Xenia Hofmeier et al.
3 citations
Cryptography and Data Security
7.44
article

One For All: Formally Verifying Protocols which use Aggregate Signatures

Dennis Jackson, David Bain, Ralf Sasse, Xenia Hofmeier, Andrea Raguso
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Aggregate signatures are digital signatures that compress multiple signatures from different parties into a single signature, thereby reducing storage and bandwidth requirements. BLS aggregate signatures are a popular kind of aggregate signature, deployed by Ethereum, Dfinity, and Cloudflare amongst others, currently undergoing standardization at the IETF. However, BLS aggregate signatures are difficult to use correctly, with nuanced requirements that must be carefully handled by protocol developers. In this work, we design the first models of aggregate signatures that enable formal verification tools, such as Tamarin and ProVerif, to be applied to protocols using these signatures. We introduce general models that are based on the cryptographic security definition of generic aggregate signatures, allowing the attacker to exploit protocols where the security requirements are not satisfied. We also introduce a second family of models formalizing BLS aggregate signatures in particular. We demonstrate our approach's practical relevance by modelling and analyzing in Tamarin a device attestation protocol called SANA. Despite SANA's claimed correctness proof, with Tamarin we uncover undocumented assumptions that, when omitted, lead to attacks.

Mozilla Foundation (US), ETH Zurich (CH)
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Cryptography and Data Security
7.44
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