noble-post-quantum

Auditable & minimal JS implementation of post-quantum public-key cryptography.

• 🔒 Auditable
• 🔻 Tree-shakeable: unused code is excluded from your builds
• 🔍 Reliable: tests ensure correctness
• 🦾 ML-KEM & CRYSTALS-Kyber: lattice-based KEM from FIPS-203
• 🔋 ML-DSA & CRYSTALS-Dilithium: lattice-based signatures from FIPS-204
• 🐈 SLH-DSA & SPHINCS+: hash-based Winternitz signatures from FIPS-205
• 🍡 Hybrid algorithms, combining classic & post-quantum: Concrete, XWing, KitchenSink
• 🪶 16KB (gzipped) for everything, including bundled hashes & curves

Take a glance at GitHub Discussions for questions and support.

[!IMPORTANT] NIST published IR 8547, prohibiting classical cryptography (RSA, DSA, ECDSA, ECDH) after 2035. Australian ASD does same thing after 2030. Take it into an account while designing a new cryptographic system.

This library belongs to noble cryptography

noble cryptography — high-security, easily auditable set of contained cryptographic libraries and tools.

• Zero or minimal dependencies
• Highly readable TypeScript / JS code
• PGP-signed releases and transparent NPM builds
• All libraries: ciphers, curves, hashes, post-quantum, 5kb secp256k1 / ed25519
• Check out the homepage for reading resources, documentation, and apps built with noble

Usage

npm install @noble/post-quantum

deno add jsr:@noble/post-quantum

We support all major platforms and runtimes. For React Native, you may need a polyfill for getRandomValues. A standalone file noble-post-quantum.js is also available.

// import * from '@noble/post-quantum'; // Error: use sub-imports instead
import { ml_kem512, ml_kem768, ml_kem1024 } from '@noble/post-quantum/ml-kem.js';
import { ml_dsa44, ml_dsa65, ml_dsa87 } from '@noble/post-quantum/ml-dsa.js';
import {
  slh_dsa_sha2_128f,
  slh_dsa_sha2_128s,
  slh_dsa_sha2_192f,
  slh_dsa_sha2_192s,
  slh_dsa_sha2_256f,
  slh_dsa_sha2_256s,
  slh_dsa_shake_128f,
  slh_dsa_shake_128s,
  slh_dsa_shake_192f,
  slh_dsa_shake_192s,
  slh_dsa_shake_256f,
  slh_dsa_shake_256s,
} from '@noble/post-quantum/slh-dsa.js';
import {
  ml_kem768_x25519, ml_kem768_p256, ml_kem1024_p384,
  KitchenSink_ml_kem768_x25519, XWing,
  QSF_ml_kem768_p256, QSF_ml_kem1024_p384,
} from '@noble/post-quantum/hybrid.js';

• ML-KEM / Kyber
• ML-DSA / Dilithium
• SLH-DSA / SPHINCS+
• hybrid: XWing, KitchenSink and others
• What should I use?
• Security
• Speed
• Contributing & testing
• License

ML-KEM / Kyber shared secrets

import { ml_kem512, ml_kem768, ml_kem1024 } from '@noble/post-quantum/ml-kem.js';
import { randomBytes } from '@noble/post-quantum/utils.js';
const seed = randomBytes(64); // seed is optional
const aliceKeys = ml_kem768.keygen(seed);
const { cipherText, sharedSecret: bobShared } = ml_kem768.encapsulate(aliceKeys.publicKey);
const aliceShared = ml_kem768.decapsulate(cipherText, aliceKeys.secretKey);

// Warning: Can be MITM-ed
const malloryKeys = ml_kem768.keygen();
const malloryShared = ml_kem768.decapsulate(cipherText, malloryKeys.secretKey); // No error!
notDeepStrictEqual(aliceShared, malloryShared); // Different key!

Lattice-based key encapsulation mechanism, defined in FIPS-203. Can be used as follows:

1. Alice generates secret & public keys, then sends publicKey to Bob
2. Bob generates shared secret for Alice publicKey. bobShared never leaves Bob system and is unknown to other parties
3. Alice gets and decrypts cipherText from Bob Now, both Alice and Bob have same sharedSecret key without exchanging in plainText: aliceShared == bobShared.

See website and repo. There are some concerns with regards to security: see djb blog and mailing list. Old, incompatible version (Kyber) is not provided. Open an issue if you need it.

[!WARNING] Unlike ECDH, KEM doesn't verify whether it was "Bob" who've sent the ciphertext. Instead of throwing an error when the ciphertext is encrypted by a different pubkey, decapsulate will simply return a different shared secret. ML-KEM is also probabilistic and relies on quality of CSPRNG.

ML-DSA / Dilithium signatures

import { ml_dsa44, ml_dsa65, ml_dsa87 } from '@noble/post-quantum/ml-dsa.js';
import { randomBytes } from '@noble/post-quantum/utils.js';
const seed = randomBytes(32); // seed is optional
const keys = ml_dsa65.keygen(seed);
const msg = new TextEncoder().encode('hello noble');
const sig = ml_dsa65.sign(msg, keys.secretKey);
const isValid = ml_dsa65.verify(sig, msg, keys.publicKey);

Lattice-based digital signature algorithm, defined in FIPS-204. See website and repo. The internals are similar to ML-KEM, but keys and params are different.

SLH-DSA / SPHINCS+ signatures

import {
  slh_dsa_sha2_128f as sph,
  slh_dsa_sha2_128s,
  slh_dsa_sha2_192f,
  slh_dsa_sha2_192s,
  slh_dsa_sha2_256f,
  slh_dsa_sha2_256s,
  slh_dsa_shake_128f,
  slh_dsa_shake_128s,
  slh_dsa_shake_192f,
  slh_dsa_shake_192s,
  slh_dsa_shake_256f,
  slh_dsa_shake_256s,
} from '@noble/post-quantum/slh-dsa.js';

const keys2 = sph.keygen();
const msg2 = new TextEncoder().encode('hello noble');
const sig2 = sph.sign(msg2, keys2.secretKey);
const isValid2 = sph.verify(sig2, msg2, keys2.publicKey);

Hash-based digital signature algorithm, defined in FIPS-205. See website and repo. We implement spec v3.1 with FIPS adjustments.

There are many different kinds, but basically sha2 / shake indicate internal hash, 128 / 192 / 256 indicate security level, and s /f indicate trade-off (Small / Fast). SLH-DSA is slow: see benchmarks for key size & speed.

hybrid: XWing, KitchenSink and others

import {
  ml_kem768_x25519, ml_kem768_p256, ml_kem1024_p384,
  KitchenSink_ml_kem768_x25519, XWing,
  QSF_ml_kem768_p256, QSF_ml_kem1024_p384,
} from '@noble/post-quantum/hybrid.js';

Hybrid submodule combine post-quantum algorithms with elliptic curve cryptography:

• ml_kem768_x25519: ML-KEM-768 + X25519 (CG Framework, same as XWing)
• ml_kem768_p256: ML-KEM-768 + P-256 (CG Framework)
• ml_kem1024_p384: ML-KEM-1024 + P-384 (CG Framework)
• KitchenSink_ml_kem768_x25519: ML-KEM-768 + X25519 with HKDF-SHA256 combiner
• QSF_ml_kem768_p256: ML-KEM-768 + P-256 (QSF construction)
• QSF_ml_kem1024_p384: ML-KEM-1024 + P-384 (QSF construction)

The following spec drafts are matched:

• irtf-cfrg-hybrid-kems-07
• irtf-cfrg-concrete-hybrid-kems-02
• connolly-cfrg-xwing-kem-09
• tls-westerbaan-xyber768d00-03

What should I use?

	Speed	Key size	Sig size	Created in	Popularized in	Post-quantum?
RSA	Normal	256B - 2KB	256B - 2KB	1970s	1990s	No
ECC	Normal	32 - 256B	48 - 128B	1980s	2010s	No
ML-KEM	Fast	1.6 - 31KB	1KB	1990s	2020s	Yes
ML-DSA	Normal	1.3 - 2.5KB	2.5 - 4.5KB	1990s	2020s	Yes
SLH-DSA	Slow	32 - 128B	17 - 50KB	1970s	2020s	Yes
FN-DSA	Slow	0.9 - 1.8KB	0.6 - 1.2KB	1990s	2020s	Yes

We suggest to use ECC + ML-KEM for key agreement, ECC + SLH-DSA for signatures.

ML-KEM and ML-DSA are lattice-based. SLH-DSA is hash-based, which means it is built on top of older, more conservative primitives. NIST guidance for security levels:

• Category 3 (~AES-192): ML-KEM-768, ML-DSA-65, SLH-DSA-192
• Category 5 (~AES-256): ML-KEM-1024, ML-DSA-87, SLH-DSA-256

NIST recommends to use cat-3+, while australian ASD only allows cat-5 after 2030.

It's also useful to check out NIST SP 800-131Ar3 for "Transitioning the Use of Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Lengths".

For hashes, use SHA512 or SHA3-512 (not SHA256); and for ciphers ensure AES-256 or ChaCha.

Security

The library has not been independently audited yet.

If you see anything unusual: investigate and report.

Constant-timeness

There is no protection against side-channel attacks. We actively research how to provide this property for post-quantum algorithms in JS. Keep in mind that even hardware versions ML-KEM are vulnerable.

Supply chain security

• Commits are signed with PGP keys to prevent forgery. Be sure to verify the commit signatures
• Releases are made transparently through token-less GitHub CI and Trusted Publishing. Be sure to verify the provenance logs for authenticity.
• Rare releasing is practiced to minimize the need for re-audits by end-users.
• Dependencies are minimized and strictly pinned to reduce supply-chain risk.
  • We use as few dependencies as possible.
  • Version ranges are locked, and changes are checked with npm-diff.
• Dev dependencies are excluded from end-user installs; they're only used for development and build steps.

For this package, there is 1 dependency; and a few dev dependencies:

• noble-hashes provides cryptographic hashing functionality
• jsbt is used for benchmarking / testing / build tooling and developed by the same author
• prettier, fast-check and typescript are used for code quality / test generation / ts compilation

Randomness

We rely on the built-in crypto.getRandomValues, which is considered a cryptographically secure PRNG.

Browsers have had weaknesses in the past - and could again - but implementing a userspace CSPRNG is even worse, as there’s no reliable userspace source of high-quality entropy.

Speed

npm run bench

Noble is the fastest JS implementation of post-quantum algorithms. WASM libraries can be faster.

Benchmarks on Apple M4 (higher is better):

OPs/sec	Keygen	Signing	Verification	Shared secret
ECC x/ed25519	14216	6849	1400	1981
ML-KEM-768	3778			3750
ML-DSA65	580	272	546
SLH-DSA-SHA2-192f	245	8	169

# ML-KEM768
keygen x 3,778 ops/sec @ 264μs/op
encapsulate x 3,220 ops/sec @ 310μs/op
decapsulate x 4,029 ops/sec @ 248μs/op
# ML-DSA65
keygen x 580 ops/sec @ 1ms/op
sign x 272 ops/sec @ 3ms/op
verify x 546 ops/sec @ 1ms/op
# SLH-DSA SHA2 192f
keygen x 245 ops/sec @ 4ms/op
sign x 8 ops/sec @ 114ms/op
verify x 169 ops/sec @ 5ms/op

SLH-DSA:

	sig size	keygen	sign	verify
sha2_128f	18088	4ms	90ms	6ms
sha2_192f	35664	6ms	160ms	9ms
sha2_256f	49856	15ms	340ms	9ms
sha2_128s	7856	260ms	2000ms	2ms
sha2_192s	16224	380ms	3800ms	3ms
sha2_256s	29792	250ms	3400ms	4ms
shake_192f	35664	21ms	553ms	29ms
shake_192s	16224	260ms	2635ms	2ms

Contributing & testing

• npm install && npm run build && npm test will build the code and run tests.
• npm run lint / npm run format will run linter / fix linter issues.
• npm run bench will run benchmarks
• npm run build:release will build single file

Check out github.com/paulmillr/guidelines for general coding practices and rules.

See paulmillr.com/noble for useful resources, articles, documentation and demos related to the library.

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2024 Paul Miller (https://paulmillr.com)

See LICENSE file.