An In-Depth Analytical Cryptanalysis for Substitution Boxes: Odd Size Case Study

Abstract

From hieroglyphic writing in ancient Egypt to the post-quantum edge, cryptology is usually seen as an immortal concept that evolves within the enhancement of human civilization. However, modern cryptography primitives try to make revealing ciphered information as tough as possible for attackers. As a sort of enhancement, substitution boxes play an important role in leveraging security, especially for symmetric-based algorithms. The S-box concept is integrated internally into the encryption process for block ciphers and added as a strengthened layer for stream ciphers. Consequently, in-depth analytical considerations are always needed to gather the required information if any S-box wants to be integrated. For this reason, this paper is about providing a scrutiny cryptanalysis for these S-boxes and, more precisely, size ones, since they are not widely investigated.