Hawkynt

MARS-1248 (DarkCrypt)

MARS variant from the DarkCrypt Total Commander plugin: standard MARS round structure (8 forward mixing + 16 keyed core + 8 backward mixing rounds) with the key expansion generalized to a 156-byte (1248-bit) key via modulo indexing into the key-word array, beyond the official spec’s 56-byte maximum.

Properties

Property	Value
Category	Block Ciphers
Sub-category	Block Cipher
Security status	🎓 Educational Only
Complexity	Advanced
Inventor	IBM (Carolynn Burwick, Don Coppersmith, et al.); DarkCrypt variant by Alexander Myasnikov
Year	1998
Origin	🇷🇺 Russia
Source	algorithms/block/darkcrypt-mars-1248.js

Parameters

Parameter	Supported values
Key sizes	156 bytes (1248 bits)
Block sizes	16 bytes (128 bits)

Security

Status: 🎓 Educational Only

Known vulnerabilities

Issue	Description	Mitigation
Non-standard key size	1248-bit key vastly exceeds the official MARS specification’s 448-bit maximum; the key-expansion generalization used to support it (arbitrary Nk via modulo indexing) is an unanalyzed DarkCrypt-specific extension.	Use AES or another vetted cipher.

Documentation

• DarkCrypt plugin (Total Commander PlugRing)
• IBM MARS Specification

Test vectors

3 vectors ship with this algorithm and run in the test suite. Byte values are hexadecimal.

Vector 1 — DarkCrypt Mars1248 — zero key/plaintext

Field	Value
key	00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000
input	00000000000000000000000000000000
expected	2242d12bd3949549c1ecb9f797e0be96

Vector 2 — DarkCrypt Mars1248 — incrementing key/plaintext

Field	Value
key	000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f 101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f 202122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f 303132333435363738393a3b3c3d3e3f 404142434445464748494a4b4c4d4e4f 505152535455565758595a5b5c5d5e5f 606162636465666768696a6b6c6d6e6f 707172737475767778797a7b7c7d7e7f 808182838485868788898a8b8c8d8e8f 909192939495969798999a9b
input	000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f
expected	1193e3e356685cd532a0d40d7919c3e5

Vector 3 — DarkCrypt Mars1248 — shifted incrementing key/plaintext

Field	Value
key	0102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f10 1112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f20 2122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f30 3132333435363738393a3b3c3d3e3f40 4142434445464748494a4b4c4d4e4f50 5152535455565758595a5b5c5d5e5f60 6162636465666768696a6b6c6d6e6f70 7172737475767778797a7b7c7d7e7f80 8182838485868788898a8b8c8d8e8f90 9192939495969798999a9b9c
input	101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f
expected	455291d62e31b03112052d0373e019cf

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