Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2014 05:18:25 -0400
From: Bill Cox <waywardgeek@...il.com>
To: discussions@...sword-hashing.net
Subject: Re: [PHC] Gambit review

On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 4:58 PM, Krisztián Pintér <pinterkr@...il.com> wrote:
>> If you
>> like, I could add your memory pattern to my pebbling algorithm to see
>> how it does.
>
> that would certainly be very useful, as it might discover some
> weakness. alas, it can not provide a proof for real life sizes. i
> tried to come up with proof, but i'm no math person.

I added a simplified approximation of Gambit to my pebble code, with
some interesting results.  Rather than XOR-ing onto memory, I modelled
Gambit's computation DAG as if Gambit overwrites memory, so my results
would probably require more pebbles if I took the XORs into account.
The DAGs I modeled had 4 rows, but may be more similar to Gambit with
5 rows because of the nodes on the first row in Gambit should all be
zero, and I didn't build nodes for them.

In short, the modified approximation is easy to pebble (exactly zero
recomputations) down to 1/8th pebbles (relative to a 4-row graph
size), and then my code fails completely to find any pebbling solution
for even 1 fewer pebbles.  I was not able to pebble any sized graph I
tried with 1/8th - 1 pebbles (actually, the boundary is always close
to 1/8th, but varies by a few - something about the step size maybe).

Most DAG architectures require almost no recomputations down to the
1/4 size, and then ramp up the pain until by the 1/8th size, there is
a significant penalty.  For example, Catena is pebbled by my code with
about a 9X penalty at the 1/8th mark.  My "sliding-reverse" pattern
can be done by my algorithm with a bit over a 900X recomputation
penalty.  The strongest I'd tested so far at the 1/8th mark was one I
call sliding-catena, which is basically sliding-reverse, but with a
half-sized sliding window.  Gambit seems to be even stronger at the
1/8th mark, providing the strongest pebbling defense against my
algorithm that I've tested yet.

One reason Gambit's DAG graph is so hard to pebble below the 1/8th
mark is that it has short graph edges compared to Catena.  Catena
edges are on average equal to the row length, while Gambit edges are
on average 1/2 the row length.  The impact of this is similar to
running Catena-7 rather than Catena-3 (8 rows rather than 4).  It
explains both why there is no pebbling resistance between the 1/8th
and 1/4 memory mark, and why the pain curve is so steep below 1/8th.
Also, Gambit has a lot more very short edges, which increases pebbling
difficulty greatly, in my experience so far.  This is one reason I
opted for the "sliding-reverse" DAG architecture in TwoCats - it also
has a lot of short edges, though the average is similar to Catena-3,
twice the length of Gambit's.

Because Gambit XORs over memory, the reality of pebbling Gambit may be
quite a bit harder.  It may, for example, start showing recomputation
pain closer to the 1/4 mark.  I haven't done any testing for this.
Modeling the XORs is not something I've added to my code.

I get a "feel" for pebbling with my pebbling algorithm, but it's only
an upper bound on recomputations, not a lower bound.  However, my
feeling for Gambit is that unless the XORs introduce some
recomputation weakness I haven't found, then it is *very* strong
against TMTO's below the 1/8th memory mark, very likely the strongest
cache-timing resistant entry in the PHC at the 1/8th mark.  All of the
cache-timing resistant algorithms are weak down to about the 1/4 mark,
but Catena kicks in with 2X penalty just below the 1/4 - 1 mark.
Gambit may be (not sure, because of the XORs) weak down to the 1/8th
mark, but then becomes very strong below that, much stronger than
Catena or TwoCats's first loop at that size of TMTO.

TwoCat's second loop is unpredictable, and does password dependent
addressing, which makes it difficult for an attacker to gain more than
about a 10% advantage on time*memory cost in a TMTO attack.  However,
with cache-timing information, an attacker can abort TwoCat's second
loop at the start, so only the first loop remains for defense.

In reality, I do not believe any attackers will ever benefit from any
TMTO against Catena.  Without the XORs, an attacker might be able to
gain a 2X time*memory advantage against Gambit.  With the XORs, I
simply don't know, but I suspect it helps eliminate benefits of a TMTO
attack.

I feel more work needs to be done analyzing the impact of the XORs.
I'm having difficulty proving to myself that the XORs don't introduce
a weakness.  I do not think they do, but I'd like to see more
analysis.

My other thoughts on Gambit vs Catena haven't changed.  Gambit does a
better job of having memory be undetectably non-random.  Catena uses a
faster hash function (Blake2b).  Catena also has many advanced
features fleshed-out, with implementations for the various modes of
operation, which partly explains the huge impact Catena had on many of
the other entries (and mine in particular).  However, that has little
to do with the underlying scrambling algorithm.  Gambit's
backwards-skipping pattern seems fine to me.

Bill

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