The shuffle model is a widely used abstraction for non-interactive anonymous communication. It allows n parties holding private inputs x1,…,xn to simultaneously send messages to an evaluator, so that the messages are received in a random order. The evaluator can then compute a joint function f(x1,…,xn), ideally while learning nothing else about the private inputs. The model has become increasingly popular both in cryptography, as an alternative to non-interactive secure computation in trusted setup models, and even more so in differential privacy, as an intermediate between the high-privacy, little-utility local model and the little-privacy, high-utility central curator model.

A dot-product proof (DPP) is a simple probabilistic proof system in which the input statement$\boldsymbol{x}$and the proof$\boldsymbol{\pi}$are vectors over a finite field$\mathbb{F}$, and the proof is verified by making a single dot-product query$\langle \boldsymbol{q}, (\boldsymbol{x}\Vert\boldsymbol{\pi})\rangle$jointly to$\boldsymbol{x}$and$\boldsymbol{\pi}$. A DPP can be viewed as a 1-query fully linear PCP. We study the feasibility and efficiency of D PPs, obtaining the following results: •Small-field DPP. For any finite field$\mathbb{F}$and Boolean circuit$C$of size$S$, there is a D PP for proving that there exists$\boldsymbol{w}$such that$C(\boldsymbol{x},\ \boldsymbol{w})=1$with a proof$\boldsymbol{\pi}$of length$S\cdot \text{poly}(\vert \mathbb{F}\vert)$and soundness error$\varepsilon=O(1/\sqrt{\vert \mathbb{F}\vert })$. We show this error to be asymptotically optimal. In particular, and in contrast to the best known PCPs, there exist strictly linear-length DPPs over constant-size fields. •Large-field DPP. If$\vert \mathbb{F}\vert\geq$poly$(S/\varepsilon)$, there is a similar DPP with soundness error$\varepsilon$and proof length$O(S)$(in field elements). The above results do not rely on the PCP theorem and their proofs are considerably simpler. We apply our DPP constructions toward two kinds of applications. •Hardness of approximation. We obtain a simple proof for the NP-hardness of approximating MAXLIN (with dense instances) over any finite field$\mathbb{F}$up to some constant factor$c > 1$, independent of F. Unlike previous PCP-based proofs, our proof yields exponential-time hardness under the exponential time hypothesis (ETH). •Succinct arguments. We improve the concrete efficiency of succinct interactive arguments in the generic group model using input-independent preprocessing. In particular, the communication is comparable to sending two group elements and the verifier's computation is dominated by a single group exponentiation. We also show how to use DPPs together with linear-only encryption to construct succinct commit-and-prove arguments.

Batch proofs are proof systems that convince a verifier that x1,…,xt ∈ L, for some NP language L, with communication that is much shorter than sending the t witnesses. In the case of statistical soundness (where the cheating prover is unbounded but the honest prover is efficient given the witnesses), interactive batch proofs are known for UP, the class of unique-witness NP languages. In the case of computational soundness (where both honest and dishonest provers are efficient), non-interactive solutions are now known for all of NP, assuming standard lattice or group assumptions. We exhibit the first negative results regarding the existence of batch proofs and arguments: - Statistically sound batch proofs for L imply that L has a statistically witness indistinguishable (SWI) proof, with inverse polynomial SWI error, and a non-uniform honest prover. The implication is unconditional for obtaining honest-verifier SWI or for obtaining full-fledged SWI from public-coin protocols, whereas for private-coin protocols full-fledged SWI is obtained assuming one-way functions. This poses a barrier for achieving batch proofs beyond UP (where witness indistinguishability is trivial). In particular, assuming that NP does not have SWI proofs, batch proofs for all of NP do not exist. - Computationally sound batch proofs (a.k.a batch arguments or BARGs) for NP, together with one-way functions, imply statistical zero-knowledge (SZK) arguments for NP with roughly the same number of rounds, an inverse polynomial zero-knowledge error, and non-uniform honest prover. Thus, constant-round interactive BARGs from one-way functions would yield constant-round SZK arguments from one-way functions. This would be surprising as SZK arguments are currently only known assuming constant-round statistically-hiding commitments. We further prove new positive implications of non-interactive batch arguments to non-interactive zero knowledge arguments (with explicit uniform prover and verifier): - Non-interactive BARGs for NP, together with one-way functions, imply non-interactive computational zero-knowledge arguments for NP. Assuming also dual-mode commitments, the zero knowledge can be made statistical. Both our negative and positive results stem from a new framework showing how to transform a batch protocol for a language L into an SWI protocol for L.

Abstract Succinct non-interactive arguments (SNARGs) enable verifying NP statements with lower complexity than required for classical NP verification. Traditionally, the focus has been on minimizing the length of such arguments; nowadays, researchers have focused also on minimizing verification time, by drawing motivation from the problem of delegating computation. A common relaxation is a preprocessing SNARG, which allows the verifier to conduct an expensive offline phase that is independent of the statement to be proven later. Recent constructions of preprocessing SNARGs have achieved attractive features: they are publicly-verifiable, proofs consist of only O (1) encrypted (or encoded) field elements, and verification is via arithmetic circuits of size linear in the NP statement. Additionally, these constructions seem to have “escaped the hegemony” of probabilistically-checkable proofs (PCPs) as a basic building block of succinct arguments. We present a general methodology for the construction of preprocessing $$\text{ SNARG } $$ SNARG s, as well as resulting new efficiency features. Our contribution is threefold: (1) We introduce and study a natural extension of the interactive proof model that considers algebraically-bounded provers; this new setting is analogous to the common study of algebraically-bounded “adversaries” in other fields, such as pseudorandomness and randomness extraction. More concretely, in this work we focus on linear (or affine) provers, and provide several constructions of (succinct two-message) linear interactive proofs (LIPs) for NP. Our constructions are based on general transformations applied to both linear PCPs (LPCPs) and traditional “unstructured” PCPs. (2) We give conceptually simple cryptographic transformations from LIPs to preprocessing SNARGs, whose security can be based on different forms of linear targeted malleability (implied by previous knowledge assumptions). Our transformations convert arbitrary (two-message) LIPs into designated-verifier SNARGs, and LIPs with degree-bounded verifiers into publicly-verifiable SNARGs. We also extend our methodology to obtain zero-knowledge LIPs and SNARGs. Our techniques yield SNARGs of knowledge and thus can benefit from known recursive composition and bootstrapping techniques. (3) Following this methodology, we exhibit several constructions achieving new efficiency features, such as “single-ciphertext preprocessing SNARGs.” We also offer a new perspective on existing constructions of preprocessing SNARGs, revealing a direct connection of these to LPCPs and LIPs.

Abstract We show a general compiler that transforms a large class of erroneous cryptographic schemes (such as public-key encryption, indistinguishability obfuscation, and secure multiparty computation schemes) into perfectly correct ones. The transformation works for schemes that arecorrect on all inputs with probability noticeably larger than half, and are secure under parallel repetition. We assume the existence of one-way functions and of functions with deterministic (uniform) time complexity $$2^{O(n)}$$ 2O(n) and non-deterministic circuit complexity $$2^{\Omega (n)}$$ 2Ω(n) . Our transformation complements previous results that showed how public-key encryption and indistinguishability obfuscation that err on a noticeable fraction of inputs can be turned into ones thatfor all inputsare often correct, showing that they can be made perfectly correct. The technique relies on the idea of “reverse randomization” [Naor, Crypto 1989] and on Nisan–Wigderson style derandomization, previously used in cryptography to remove interaction from witness-indistinguishable proofs and commitment schemes [Barak, Ong and Vadhan, Crypto 2003].

Much of modern cryptography, starting from public-key encryption and going beyond, is based on the hardness of structured (mostly algebraic) problems like factoring, discrete log, or finding short lattice vectors. While structure is perhaps what enables advanced applications, it also puts the hardness of these problems in question. In particular, this structure often puts them in low (and so-called structured) complexity classes such as $\mathsf{NP}\cap \mathsf{coNP}$ or statistical zero-knowledge ($\mathsf{SZK}$). Is this structure really necessary? For some cryptographic primitives, such as one-way permutations and homomorphic encryption, we know that the answer is yes---they imply hard problems in $\mathsf{NP}\cap \mathsf{coNP}$ and $\mathsf{SZK}$, respectively. In contrast, one-way functions do not imply such hard problems, at least not by black-box reductions. Yet, for many basic primitives such as public-key encryption, oblivious transfer, and functional encryption, we do not have any answer. We show that the above primitives, and many others, do not imply hard problems in $\mathsf{NP}\cap\mathsf{coNP}$ or $\mathsf{SZK}$ via black-box reductions. In fact, we first show that even the very powerful notion of indistinguishability obfuscation (IO) does not imply such hard problems, and then deduce the same for a large class of primitives that can be constructed from IO.

In 1988, Johnson, Papadimitriou and Yannakakis wrote that "Practically all the empirical evidence would lead us to conclude that finding locally optimal solutions is much easier than solving NP-hard problems". Since then the empirical evidence has continued to amass, but formal proofs of this phenomenon have remained elusive. A canonical (and indeed complete) example is the local max-cut problem, for which no polynomial time method is known. In a breakthrough paper, Etscheid and Röglin proved that the smoothed complexity of local max-cut is quasi-polynomial, i.e., if arbitrary bounded weights are randomly perturbed, a local maximum can be found in $n^{O(\log n)}$ steps. In this paper we prove smoothed polynomial complexity for local max-cut, thus confirming that finding local optima for max-cut is much easier than solving it.

We consider the problem of amplifying two-party coin-tossing protocols: given a protocol where it is possible to bias the common output by at most ρ, we aim to obtain a new protocol where the output can be biased by at most ρ* < ρ. We rule out the existence of a natural type of amplifiers called oblivious amplifiers for every ρ* < ρ. Such amplifiers ignore the way that the underlying ρ-bias protocol works and can only invoke an oracle that provides ρ-bias bits. We provide two proofs of this impossibility. The first is by a reduction to the impossibility of deterministic randomness extraction from Santha-Vazirani sources. The second is a direct proof that is more general and also rules outs certain types of asymmetric amplification. In addition, it gives yet another proof for the Santha-Vazirani impossibility.

We construct a constant-round zero-knowledge classical argument for NP secure against quantum attacks. We assume the existence of Quantum Fully-Homomorphic Encryption and other standard primitives, known based on the Learning with Errors Assumption for quantum algorithms. As a corollary, we also obtain a constant-round zero-knowledge quantum argument for QMA.

The round complexity of zero-knowledge protocols is a long-standing open question, yet to be settled under standard assumptions. So far, the question has appeared equally challenging for relaxations such as weak zero-knowledge and witness hiding. Protocols satisfying these relaxed notions under standard assumptions have at least four messages, just like full-fledged zero-knowledge. The difficulty in improving round complexity stems from a fundamental barrier: none of these notions can be achieved in three messages via reductions (or simulators) that treat the verifier as a black box.

We introduce a new notion of multi-collision resistance for keyless hash functions. This is a natural relaxation of collision resistance where it is hard to find multiple inputs with the same hash in the following sense. The number of colliding inputs that a polynomial-time non-uniform adversary can find is not much larger than its advice. We discuss potential candidates for this notion and study its applications.

Indistinguishability obfuscation (IO) is a tremendous notion, powerful enough to give rise to almost any known cryptographic object. Prior candidate IO constructions were based on specific assumptions on algebraic objects called multi-linear graded encodings. We present a generic construction of indistinguishability obfuscation from public-key functional encryption with succinct encryption circuits and subexponential security. This shows the equivalence of indistinguishability obfuscation and public-key functional encryption, a primitive that has previously seemed to be much weaker, lacking the power and the staggering range of applications of indistinguishability obfuscation. Our main construction can be based on functional encryption schemes that support a single functional key , and where the encryption circuit grows sub-linearly in the circuit-size of the function. We further show that sublinear succinctness in circuit-size for single-key schemes can be traded with sublinear succinctness in the number of keys (also known as the collusion-size ) for multi-key schemes. We also show that, under the Learning with Errors assumption, our techniques imply that any indistinguishability obfuscator can be converted into one where the size of obfuscated circuits is twice that of the original circuit plus an additive overhead that is polynomial in its depth, input length, and the security parameter.

We show how to construct indistinguishability obfuscation (\bf iO) for RAM programs with bounded space, assuming \bf iO for circuits and one-way functions, both with subexponential security. That is, given a RAM program whose computation requires space $s(n)$ in the worst case for inputs of length at most $n$, we generate an obfuscated RAM program that, for inputs of size at most $n$, runs in roughly the same time as the original program, using space roughly $s(n)$. The obfuscation process is quasi-linear in the description length of the input program and $s(n)$. At the heart of our construction are succinct randomized encodings for RAM programs. We present two very different constructions of such encodings, each with its own unique properties. Beyond their use as a tool in obfuscation for RAM programs, we show that succinct randomized encodings are interesting objects in their own right. We demonstrate the power of succinct randomized encodings in applications such as publicly verifiable delegation, functional encryption for RAMs, and key-dependent security amplification.

Time-lock puzzles are a mechanism for sending messages "to the future". A sender can quickly generate a puzzle with a solution s that remains hidden until a moderately large amount of time t has elapsed. The solution s should be hidden from any adversary that runs in time significantly less than t, including resourceful parallel adversaries with polynomially many processors.

A function $f$ is extractable if it is possible to algorithmically “extract,” from any adversarial program that outputs a value $y$ in the image of $f$, a preimage of $y$. When combined with hardness properties such as one-wayness or collision-resistance, extractability has proven to be a powerful tool. However, so far, extractability has not been explicitly shown. Instead, it has only been considered as a nonstandard knowledge assumption on certain functions. We make headway in the study of the existence of extractable one-way functions (EOWFs) along two directions. On the negative side, we show that if there exist indistinguishability obfuscators for circuits, then there do not exist EOWFs where extraction works for any adversarial program with auxiliary input of unbounded polynomial length. On the positive side, for adversarial programs with bounded auxiliary input (and unbounded polynomial running time), we give the first construction of EOWFs with an explicit extraction procedure, based on relatively standard assumptions (such as subexponential hardness of learning with errors). We then use these functions to construct the first 2-message zero-knowledge arguments and 3-message zero-knowledge arguments of knowledge, against verifiers in the same class of adversarial programs, from essentially the same assumptions.

We prove that finding a Nash equilibrium of a game is hard, assuming the existence of indistinguishability obfuscation and one-way functions with sub-exponential hardness. We do so by showing how these cryptographic primitives give rise to a hard computational problem that lies in the complexity class PPAD, for which finding Nash equilibrium is complete. Previous proposals for basing PPAD-hardness on program obfuscation considered a strong "virtual black-box" notion that is subject to severe limitations and is unlikely to be realizable for the programs in question. In contrast, for indistinguishability obfuscation no such limitations are known, and recently, several candidate constructions of indistinguishability obfuscation were suggested based on different hardness assumptions on multilinear maps. Our result provides further evidence of the intractability of finding a Nash equilibrium, one that is extrinsic to the evidence presented so far.

Indistinguishability obfuscation (IO) is a tremendous notion, powerful enough to give rise to almost any known cryptographic object. So far, candidate IO constructions were based on specific assumptions on algebraic objects called multi-linear graded encodings. We present a generic construction of indistinguishability obfuscation from public-key functional encryption with succinct cipher texts and sub-exponential security. This shows the equivalence of indistinguishability obfuscation and public-key functional encryption, a primitive that has so far seemed to be much weaker, lacking the power and the staggering range of applications of indistinguishability obfuscation. As an application, we obtain a new candidate IO construction based on the functional encryption scheme of Garg, Gentry, Halevi, and Zhan dry [Eprint 14] under their assumptions on multi-linear graded encodings. We also show that, under the Learning with Errors assumptions, our techniques imply that any indistinguishability obfuscator can be converted to one where obfuscated circuits are of linear size in the size of the original circuit plus a polynomial overhead in its depth. Our reduction highlights the importance of cipher text succinctness in functional encryption schemes, which we hope will serve as a pathway to new IO constructions based on solid cryptographic foundations.

A randomized encoding allows to express a "complex" computation, given by a function f and input x, by a "simple to compute" randomized representation f(x) whose distribution encodes f(x), while revealing nothing else regarding f and x. Existing randomized encodings, geared mostly to allow encoding with low parallel-complexity, have proven instrumental in various strong applications such as multiparty computation and parallel cryptography. This work focuses on another natural complexity measure: the time required to encode. We construct succinct randomized encodings where the time to encode a computation, given by a program Π and input x, is essentially independent of Π's time complexity, and only depends on its space complexity, as well as the size of its input, output, and description. The scheme guarantees computational privacy of (Π,x), and is based on indistinguishability obfuscation for a relatively simple circuit class, for which there exist instantiations based on polynomial hardness assumptions on multi-linear maps.

The introduction of a non-black-box simulation technique by Barak (FOCS 2001) has been a major landmark in cryptography, breaking the previous barriers of black-box impossibility. Barak's technique has given rise to various powerful applications and is a key component in all known protocols with non-black-box simulation. We present the first non-black-box simulation technique that does not rely on Barak's technique (or on nonstandard assumptions). Invoking this technique, we obtain new and improved protocols resilient to various resetting attacks. These improvements include weaker computational assumptions and better round complexity. A prominent feature of our technique is its compatibility with rewinding techniques from classic black-box zero-knowledge protocols. The combination of rewinding with non-black-box simulation has proven instrumental in coping with challenging goals such as simultaneously resettable zero-knowledge, proofs of knowledge, and resettable security from one-way functions. While previous works required tailored modifications to Barak's technique, we give a general recipe for combining our technique with rewinding. This yields simplified resettable protocols in the above settings, as well as improvements in round complexity and required computational assumptions. The main ingredient in our technique is a new impossibility result for general program obfuscation. The results extend the impossibility result of Barak et al. (CRYPTO 2001) to the case of obfuscation with approximate functionality, thus settling a question left open by Barak et al. In the converse direction, we show a generic transformation from any resettably sound zero-knowledge protocol to a family of functions that cannot be obfuscated.

A function f is extractable if it is possible to algorithmically "extract," from any adversarial program that outputs a value y in the image of f; a preimage of y. When combined with hardness properties such as one-wayness or collision-resistance, extractability has proven to be a powerful tool. However, so far, extractability has not been explicitly shown. Instead, it has only been considered as a non-standard knowledge assumption on certain functions.

Succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge (SNARKs) enable verifying NP statements with complexity that is essentially independent of that required for classical NP verification. In particular, they provide strong solutions to the problem of verifiably delegating computation. We construct the first fully-succinct publicly-verifiable SNARK. To do that, we first show how to "bootstrap" any SNARK that requires expensive preprocessing to obtain a SNARK that does not, while preserving public verifiability. We then apply this transformation to known SNARKs with preprocessing. Moreover, the SNARK we construct only requires of the prover time and space that are essentially the same as that required for classical NP verification. Our transformation assumes only collision-resistant hashing; curiously, it does not rely on PCPs. We also show an analogous transformation for privately-verifiable SNARKs, assuming fully-homomorphic encryption.

The traditional notion of program obfuscation requires that an obfuscation ~Prog of a program Prog computes the exact same function as Prog, but beyond that, the code of ~Prog should not leak any information about Prog. This strong notion of virtual black-box security was shown by Barak et al. (CRYPTO 2001) to be impossible to achieve, for certain unobfuscatable function families. The same work raised the question of approximate obfuscation, where the obfuscated ~Prog is only required to approximate Prog; that is, ~Prog only agrees with Prog with high enough probability on some input distribution.

The introduction of a non-black-box simulation technique by Barak (FOCS 2001) has been a major landmark in cryptography, breaking the previous barriers of black-box impossibility. Barak's techniques were subsequently extended and have given rise to various powerful applications. We present the first non-black-box simulation technique that does not rely on Barak's technique (or on nonstandard assumptions). Our technique is based on essentially different tools: it does not invoke universal arguments, nor does it rely on collision-resistant hashing. Instead, the main ingredient we use is the impossibility of general program obfuscation (Barak et al., CRYPTO 2001). Using our technique, we construct a new resettably-sound zero-knowledge (rsZK) protocol. rsZK protocols remain sound even against cheating provers that can repeatedly reset the verifier to its initial state and random tape. Indeed, for such protocols black-box simulation is impossible. Our rsZK protocol is the first to be based solely on semi-honest oblivious transfer and does not rely on collision-resistant hashing; in addition, our protocol does not use PCP machinery. In the converse direction, we show a generic transformation from any rsZK protocol to a family of functions that cannot be obfuscated.

The existence of succinct non-interactive arguments for NP (i.e., non-interactive computationally-sound proofs where the verifier's work is essentially independent of the complexity of the NP nondeterministic verifier) has been an intriguing question for the past two decades. Other than CS proofs in the random oracle model [Micali, FOCS '94], the only existing candidate construction is based on an elaborate assumption that is tailored to a specific protocol [Di Crescenzo and Lipmaa, CiE '08].