A 10-bit S-box generated by Feistel construction from cellular automata

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel 10-bit S-box constructed via a Feistel network using cellular automata, demonstrating strong cryptographic properties and potential for replacing existing substitution boxes in cryptographic algorithms.

Contribution

The paper presents a new 10-bit S-box generated from a Feistel construction with cellular automata, showing promising cryptographic security and practical applicability.

Findings

Cryptanalysis shows security comparable or superior to AES S-box

Cellular automaton rule chosen for pseudorandomness based on empirical tests

Potential application in replacing 5-bit S-boxes in ciphers like ASCON

Abstract

We propose a new 10-bit S-box generated from a Feistel construction. The subpermutations are generated by a 5-cell cellular automaton based on a unique well-chosen rule and bijective affine transformations. In particular, the cellular automaton rule is chosen based on empirical tests of its ability to generate good pseudorandom output on a ring cellular automaton. Similarly, Feistel's network layout is based on empirical data regarding the quality of the output S-box. We perform cryptanalysis of the generated 10-bit S-box, and we find security properties comparable to or sometimes even better than those of the standard AES S-box. We believe that our S-box could be used to replace the 5-bit substitution of ciphers like ASCON.