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CBC-MAC and Variants

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Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security

Simple CBC-MAC

CBC-MAC is one of the oldest and most popular MAC algorithms. A MAC algorithm is a cryptographic algorithm that computes a complex function of a plaintext and a secret key; the resulting MAC value is typically appended to the plaintext to protect its authenticity. CBC-MAC is a MAC algorithm based on a block cipher; it is derived from the Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode of operation, which is a mode for encryption. CBC-MAC is very popular in financial applications and smart cards.

In the following, the block length and key length of the block cipher will be denoted by n and k respectively. The length (in bits) of the MAC value will be denoted by m. The encryption and decryption with the block cipher E using the key K will be denoted by \(E_K(\cdot)\) and \(D_K(\cdot)\), respectively. An n-bit string consisting of zeroes will be denoted by \(0^n\).

CBC-MAC is an iterated MAC algorithm, which consists of the following steps (see also Figure 1:

  • Padding and splitting of the...

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Authors
  1. B. Preneel
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Henk C. A. van Tilborg

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© 2005 International Federation for Information Processing

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Preneel, B. (2005). CBC-MAC and Variants. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA . https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23483-7_46

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