Security Analysis of A Time-bound Hierarchical Key Assignment Scheme
Jeng-Shyang Pan
College of Information Science and Engineering
Fujian University of Technology
Fuzhou 350118, China
jengshyangpan@gmail.com
Tsu-Yang Wu, Chien-Ming Chen, Eric Ke Wang
Shenzhen Graduate School
Harbin Institute of Technology
Shenzhen 518055, China
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Internet Information Collaboration
Shenzhen 518055, China
wutsuyang@gmail.com, chienming.taiwan@gmail.com
962982698@qq.com
Abstract—Recently, Wu et al. proposed a time-bound hi-
erarchical key assignment (TBHKA) scheme which supports
discrete time periods. In their scheme, it fused RSA and
pairing-based cryptosystems and is provably secure. In this
paper, we demonstrate a weakness of Wu et al.’s TBHKA
scheme, ie. a collusion attack. Any two users can collude to
compute an encryption key to access some class in an un-
scribing time period.
Keywords-hierarchical key assignment; time-bound, bilinear
pairing, security analysis.
I. INTRODUCTION
Time-bound hierarchical key assignment (TBHKA)
scheme is a cryptographic method. It can assign encryption
keys depending on time to a set of security classes in a
partially ordered hierarchy. Only the authorized user can
compute the encryption key to access the subscribing class
(including lower down class) according to the hierarchy.
In 2002, Tzeng [1] proposed the first time-bound hier-
archical key assignment scheme by using Lucas function.
However, Yi and Ye [2] showed that his scheme suffered
from a user colluding attack. In 2004, Chien [3] proposed
an efficient TBHKA scheme by using two hash values.
Unfortunately, his scheme also suffered from a user col-
luding attack [4]. In 2005, Yeh [5] proposed an RSA-
based hierarchical key assignment scheme. Yeh’s scheme
is the first TBHKA scheme supporting discrete time period.
However, his scheme also suffered a user colluding attack
[6]. In 2006, Ateniese et al. [6] defined a unconditionally
secure and computationally secure setting for a TBHKA
scheme. They also proposed a secure pairing-based TBHKA
scheme supporting discrete time period. In the same year,
Wang and Laih [7] proposed a TBHKA scheme by using
merging. In 2008, Yeh proposed an extension [8] of his
work [5]. Bertino et al. [9] proposed another TBHKA
scheme using elliptic-curve cryptography. However, Sun et
al. [10] demonstrated that this scheme is insecure against
the collusion attack. In 2012, Chen et al. [11] proposed a
TBHKA scheme without tamper-resistant device. Ateniese
et al. proposed an extension [12] of his work [6]. Tseng
et al. [13] also proposed two time-bound key management
schemes without hierarchy. Recently, many researchers focus
on the study of TBHKA in cloud computing. In 2013, Chen
et al. [14] proposed the first hierarchical access control
scheme in cloud computing named CloudHKA. They used
CloudHKA to encrypt outsourced data so that the resulted
data are secure against honest but curious cloud server. In
2014, Wu et al. [15] extended Chen et al.’s scheme [11] to
propose the first TBHKA scheme in cloud computing. Later
on, He et al. [16] proposed an efficient solution for TBHKA
in cloud environment.
Very recently, Wu et al. [17] proposed a TBHKA scheme
which supports discrete time period. In their scheme, it
fused RSA and pairing-based cryptosystems and is provably
secure. In this paper, we demonstrate a security weakness
of their scheme, ie. a collusion attack. Any two users can
collude to compute an encryption key to access some class
in an un-scribing time period.
II. P
RELIMINARIES
In this section, we introduce the related knowledge of Wu
et al.’s time-bound hierarchical key assignment scheme [17]
including ”bilinear pairings”, ”integer factorization problem
and RSA Cryptosystem”, and ”partially ordered hierarchy”.
A. Bilinear Pairings
Let G
1
and G
2
be two groups with a same large prime
order q, where G
1
is an additive cyclic group of an elliptic
curve E(F
p
) over a finite field F
p
and G
2
is a multiplicative
cyclic group of F
p
. A bilinear pairing e is a map defined
by e : G
1
× G
1
→ G
2
and satisfies the following three
properties:
1) Bilinear: For all P , Q ∈ G
1
, a, b ∈ Z
∗
q
,wehave
e(aP, bQ)=e(P, Q)
ab
.
2) Non-degenerate: For all P ∈ G
1
, there exists Q ∈ G
1
such that e(P, Q)=1
G
2
.
3) Computable: For all P, Q ∈ G
1
, there exists an
efficient algorithm to compute e(P, Q).
The detailed descriptions for bilinear pairings can be referred
to [18], [19].
2015 International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing
978-0-7695-5668-0/15 $31.00 © 2015 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/IIH-MSP.2015.66
203
2015 International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing
978-1-5090-0188-0/15 $31.00 © 2015 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/IIH-MSP.2015.66
203