Boomeyong Cryptanalysis of Reduced-Round mCrypton

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Electrical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

2 Information Systems and Security Lab (ISSL), Department of Electrical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

3 Electronics Research Institute, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Given the growing demand for secure yet lightweight encryption in constrained environments such as RFID tags and wireless sensor networks, resource-constrained devices are increasingly relying on lightweight block ciphers to protect sensitive data while meeting strict power, area, and latency requirements. In response to the challenge of designing such block ciphers, several lightweight block ciphers, such as the mCrypton, have been proposed. However, a thorough security evaluation of such ciphers is crucial, since their vulnerabilities can threaten the entire security architecture of systems. In this paper, we present the first application of the boomeyong attack—a hybrid technique combining boomerang and yoyo frameworks—on the reduced-round mCrypton block cipher. We formulate a novel 5-round distinguisher and demonstrate a key recovery attack that improves upon all previously known results. By refining structural definitions and adapting the boomeyong framework to the SPN-based design of mCrypton, our attack achieves a data complexity of \(2^{26}\), a time complexity of \(2^{23.02}\)En. \(+2^{25}\)XOR, and a memory complexity of \(2^{12}\) blocks.

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Main Subjects

Journal of Computing and Security

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 July 2026

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History

  • Receive Date: 06 December 2025
  • Revise Date: 28 June 2026
  • Accept Date: 13 July 2026

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