Hawkynt

WAKE (DarkCrypt)

David Wheeler’s WAKE stream cipher as implemented in the DarkCrypt Total Commander plugin: a 257-word table-driven M() cascade over four running registers, with ciphertext-autokeyed feedback between words. Only a 128-bit key is actually consumed despite the algorithm’s commonly documented 256-bit key.

Properties

Property	Value
Category	Stream Ciphers
Sub-category	Stream Cipher
Security status	❌ Broken
Complexity	Intermediate
Inventor	David Wheeler
Year	1993
Origin	🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Source	algorithms/stream/darkcrypt-wake.js

Parameters

Parameter	Supported values
Key sizes	16 bytes (128 bits)
Block sizes	1 byte (8 bits) to 65536 bytes (524288 bits)

Security

Status: ❌ Broken

Known vulnerabilities

Issue	Description	Mitigation
Chosen plaintext/ciphertext attacks	WAKE’s M() cascade is known to be vulnerable to chosen plaintext/ciphertext attacks; the DarkCrypt variant additionally autokeys on its own ciphertext output.	Use a vetted stream cipher.

Documentation

• Wheeler: A Bulk Data Encryption Algorithm
• DarkCrypt plugin (Total Commander PlugRing)

Test vectors

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

Vector 1 — DarkCrypt Wake — keystream from incrementing key, zero input

Field	Value
key	000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f
input	00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000
expected	0c0d0e0fadce43a5bd2e485c632d8608 d6695564b103608d49b8c481e7a9d859 66147da4967a7d9b18978fbf39356747 98116f610e7f0bd118355b7a0167a3b1 737e20e2aeaffc47f2f082e4396e023e 119c52e454e50e9dc9e311f0c91a88bb 07efb68dc574f32ad06b7c3ec545539b 3e9fd0da3015901b8c5102d72dd203ae

Vector 2 — DarkCrypt Wake — incrementing key/plaintext

Field	Value
key	000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f
input	000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f 101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f 202122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f 303132333435363738393a3b3c3d3e3f
expected	0c0c0c0c9995d326fda1a6bbe95a8976 35a9235a80fcce412c604bee1f002bb3 97b0726ba90e21f0d735c8b9eae292d1 6e917dee685ce2d93d1d11c50e8f5683

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