Canonical Byte-String Encoding for Finite-Ring Cryptosystems
This provides a foundational layer for ring-mapping protocols in cryptography, addressing a specific bottleneck for secure encryption systems.
The paper tackled the problem of canonical byte-to-residue encoding for finite-ring cryptosystems by introducing the base-m length codec, which maps byte strings to residues modulo m with exact decoding for all moduli within parameter bounds, as verified by a Lean 4 formalization and Rust implementation.
Ring-mapping protocols need a canonical byte-to-residue layer before any algebraic encryption step can begin. This paper isolates that layer and presents the base-m length codec, a canonical map from byte strings of length less than 2^64 to lists of residues modulo m. The encoder builds on and adapts an rANS-based system proposed by Duda. Decoding is exact for all moduli satisfying the paper's parameter bounds. Because the encoding carries the byte length in its fixed-width header, decoding is also tolerant to appended valid suffix digits. The paper is accompanied by a Rust implementation of the described protocol, a Lean 4 formalization of the abstract codec with machine-checked proofs, and performance benchmarks. The Lean 4 formalization establishes fixed-width prefix inversion and payload-state bounds below 2^64, stream-level roundtrip correctness, and that every emitted symbol is a valid residue modulo m. We conclude with a complexity analysis and a discussion of practical considerations arising in real-world use of the codec.