Hawkynt

NLS2 (DarkCrypt)

NLSv2 stream cipher (SOBER-family eSTREAM candidate) as implemented in the DarkCrypt Total Commander plugin. 17-word register with a rotate-based nonlinear feedback and an S-box-free nonlinear filter. Keystream-only port; the plugin’s MAC mode is not exposed.

Properties

Property	Value
Category	Stream Ciphers
Sub-category	Stream Cipher
Security status	🎓 Educational Only
Complexity	Intermediate
Inventor	Philip Hawkes, Michael Paddon, Gregory G. Rose, Miriam Wiggers de Vries (Qualcomm)
Year	2006
Origin	🇦🇺 Australia
Source	algorithms/stream/darkcrypt-nls2.js

Parameters

Parameter	Supported values
Key sizes	16 bytes (128 bits)
Nonce sizes	16 bytes (128 bits)

Security

Status: 🎓 Educational Only

No vulnerabilities are recorded for this implementation.

Documentation

• Specification for NLSv2 (New Stream Cipher Designs, LNCS 4986)
• eSTREAM NLS project page
• DarkCrypt plugin (Total Commander PlugRing)

References

• eSTREAM NLSv2 reference implementation (nlsref.cpp / nlssbox.h)

Test vectors

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

Vector 1 — DarkCrypt Nls2lib — sequential key/IV, 128 zero bytes

Field	Value
key	000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f
iv	00000000000000000000000000000000
input	00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000
expected	f68ab7b995e75e768cc1b62082ea3117 a78d8d5bd0081ba01daeedd165c22813 ca93b50e5991c57484bd8bc1bff70982 82e68b572c2bfb7ad3803ff2581344f5 c66e2ae44dea01fb7b04b0c1c38f39e1 837c506f8d20a322241af75b7a9ba05e 79c89c8d9a5b21e0b5931fc148178ebe 7c1124908b8cb3121150d4c286a27d9c

Vector 2 — DarkCrypt Nls2lib — sequential key/IV, incrementing 64-byte input

Field	Value
key	000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f
iv	00000000000000000000000000000000
input	000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f 101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f 202122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f 303132333435363738393a3b3c3d3e3f
expected	f68bb5ba91e2587184c8bc2b8ee73f18 b79c9f48c41d0db705b7f7ca79df360c eab2972d7db4e353ac94a1ea93da27ad b2d7b964181ecd4debb905c9642e7aca

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