Breaking an image encryption algorithm based on chaos

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the MCKBA chaos-based image encryption algorithm can be compromised with a differential attack requiring only four chosen images, revealing security flaws and insensitivity issues.

Contribution

It provides a security analysis of MCKBA, showing it can be broken with a simple differential attack and identifies its key weaknesses.

Findings

MCKBA can be broken with four chosen plain-images.

The attack's effectiveness is confirmed by experiments.

MCKBA exhibits insensitivity to changes in plain-image and secret key.

Abstract

Recently, a chaos-based image encryption algorithm called MCKBA (Modified Chaotic-Key Based Algorithm) was proposed. This paper analyzes the security of MCKBA and finds that it can be broken with a differential attack, which requires only four chosen plain-images. Performance of the attack is verified by experimental results. In addition, some defects of MCKBA, including insensitivity with respect to changes of plain-image/secret key, are reported.