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The document outlines concepts related to RSA encryption, including Fermat's Little Theorem, the RSA scheme, and the roles of public and private keys. It discusses various scenarios involving RSA encryption, including potential vulnerabilities when using the same exponent across multiple keys and methods for encrypting messages securely. Additionally, it presents problems for evaluation and examples of how Eve, an eavesdropper, might exploit weaknesses in the encryption process.

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Ali Raza
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3 views

dis04a

The document outlines concepts related to RSA encryption, including Fermat's Little Theorem, the RSA scheme, and the roles of public and private keys. It discusses various scenarios involving RSA encryption, including potential vulnerabilities when using the same exponent across multiple keys and methods for encrypting messages securely. Additionally, it presents problems for evaluation and examples of how Eve, an eavesdropper, might exploit weaknesses in the encryption process.

Uploaded by

Ali Raza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CS 70 Discrete Mathematics and Probability Theory

Spring 2025 Rao DIS 4A

1 RSA Intro
Note 7 Fermat’s Little Theorem: For all primes p, a p−1 ≡ 1 (mod p) if a ̸= 0, and a p ≡ a (mod p) for all a.
RSA Scheme:

Public key: Private key:


(N = pq, e) primes p, q
d = e−1 (mod (p − 1)(q − 1))

Alice Eve Bob


x (mod N) xed ≡ x (mod N)
E(x) D(y)
y = xe (mod N)
xe (mod N) xe (mod N)

(a) Evaluate 312330 (mod 31).

(b) Suppose we would like to evaluate 141161 (mod 187).


(i) First, evaluate 141161 (mod 11) and 141161 (mod 17). Use the results of those computations to
evaluate 141161 (mod 187).

(ii) Alternatively we can evaluate 141161 (mod 187) by thinking of the computation as an instance
of the RSA equation xed ≡ x (mod pq). What are p, q, e, and d? What is the final result of the
computation? (Hint: We know that 187 = 11 × 17 and 161 = 23 × 7.)

CS 70, Spring 2025, DIS 4A 1


2 RSA Warm-Up
Note 7 Consider an RSA scheme with modulus N = pq, where p and q are distinct prime numbers larger than 3.
(a) What is wrong with using the exponent e = 2 in an RSA public key?

(b) Now suppose that p = 5, q = 17, and e = 3. What is the public key?

(c) What is the private key?

(d) Alice wants to send a message x = 10 to Bob. What is the encrypted message E(x) she sends using
the public key?

(e) Suppose Bob receives the message y = 19 from Alice. What equation would he use to decrypt the
message? What is the decrypted message?

(f) In RSA, we rely on the hardness of two different problems in order to guarantee the security of the
scheme. Which two problems are these? If their hardness is not guaranteed, what goes wrong?

CS 70, Spring 2025, DIS 4A 2


3 RSA with Multiple Keys
Note 7 Members of a secret society know a secret word. They transmit this secret word x between each other many
times, each time encrypting it with the RSA method. Eve, who is listening to all of their communications,
notices that in all of the public keys they use, the exponent e is the same. Therefore the public keys used look
like (N1 , e), . . . , (Nk , e) where no two Ni ’s are the same. Assume that the message is x such that 0 ≤ x < Ni
for every i.
Further, in all of the subparts, you may assume that Eve knows the details of the modified RSA schemes
(i.e. Eve knows the format of the Ni ’s, but not the specific values used to compute the Ni ’s).
(a) Suppose Eve sees the public keys (p1 q1 , 7) and (p1 q2 , 7) as well as the corresponding transmissions.
Can Eve use this knowledge to break the encryption? If so, how? Assume that Eve cannot compute
prime factors efficiently. Think of p1 , q1 , q2 as massive 1024-bit numbers. Assume p1 , q1 , q2 are all
distinct and are valid primes for RSA to be carried out.

(b) The secret society has wised up to Eve and changed their choices of N, in addition to changing their
word x. Now, Eve sees keys (p1 q1 , 3), (p2 q2 , 3), and (p3 q3 , 3) along with their transmissions. Argue
why Eve cannot break the encryption in the same way as above. Assume p1 , p2 , p3 , q1 , q2 , q3 are all
distinct and are valid primes for RSA to be carried out.

(c) Let’s say the secret x was not changed (e = 3), so they used the same public keys as before, but did
not transmit different messages. How can Eve figure out x?

CS 70, Spring 2025, DIS 4A 3


4 RSA for Concert Tickets
Note 7 Alice wants to tell Bob her concert ticket number, m, which is an integer between 0 and 100 inclusive. She
wants to tell Bob over an insecure channel that Eve can listen in on, but Alice does not want Eve to know
her ticket number.
(a) Bob announces his public key (N = pq, e), where N is large (512 bits). Alice encrypts her message
using RSA. Eve sees the encrypted message, and figures out what Alice’s ticket number is. How did
she do it?

(b) Alice decides to be a bit more elaborate. She picks a random number r that is 256 bits long, so that it
is too hard to guess. She encrypts that and sends it to Bob, and also computes rm, encrypts that, and
sends it to Bob. Eve is aware of what Alice did, but does not know the value of r. How can she figure
out m? (You may assume that r is coprime to N.)

CS 70, Spring 2025, DIS 4A 4

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