w3c / w3c/webcrypto

Make small-order checks in EdDSA optional?

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Description

The current spec says:

  1. If the key data of key represents an invalid point or a small-order element on the Elliptic Curve of Ed25519, return false.

However, implementations don't consistently perform this check: https://wpt.fyi/results/WebCryptoAPI/sign_verify/eddsa_small_order_points.https.any.html?run_id=6218645916352512&run_id=4841029519015936&run_id=5149644930940928&run_id=5118414478901248

So, we may want to make it optional.


This is a copy of https://github.com/WICG/webcrypto-secure-curves/issues/27, to keep track of that issue after we archive WICG/webcrypto-secure-curves.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading the quoted Ed25519 requirement and comparing its behavior across the linked WPT results. Review the copied WICG issue for the surrounding discussion; the work is done when the specification has a settled decision and clearly defines whether small-order checks are required or optional.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
cryptography, security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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