On Authentication With HMAC and Non-Random Properties

MAC algorithms can provide cryptographically secure authentication services. One of the most popular algorithms in commercial applications is HMAC based on the hash functions MD5 or SHA-1. In the light of new collision search methods for members of the MD4 family including SHA-1, the security of HMAC based on these hash functions is reconsidered. The authors present a new method to recover both the inner- and the outer key used in HMAC when instantiated with a concrete hash function by observing text/MAC pairs. In addition to collisions, also other non-random properties of the hash function are used in this new attack. Among the examples of the proposed method, the first theoretical full key recovery attack on NMAC- MD5 is presented.