A high-performance cryptography library written in pure Rust, providing state-of-the-art implementations of modern cryptographic primitives with a focus on security, constant-time operations, and performance optimization.

Key Features

• High-Performance Implementations - Optimized using state-of-the-art algorithms and techniques from recent cryptographic research
• 100% Safe Rust - Memory-safe by design with minimal use of unsafe code (only in performance-critical SIMD operations)
• Constant-Time Operations - Protection against timing side-channel attacks for all cryptographic operations
• no_std Compatible - Runs in embedded and constrained environments without the standard library
• Standards Compliant - Implements NIST FIPS standards and IETF RFCs
• Post-Quantum Cryptography - Production-ready ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA implementations
• Comprehensive Testing - Validated against official NIST CAVP/ACVP test vectors, Wycheproof, and RFC test vectors
• Modular Architecture - Fine-grained crates for minimal dependencies

Performance Optimizations

HPCrypt incorporates cutting-edge optimization techniques from recent cryptographic research:

• Post-Quantum Cryptography (ML-KEM, ML-DSA) - "Deferred Reduction Optimizations for Post-Quantum Lattice Cryptography" - Tarsha Kurdi (2025)
• GCM Authentication - "Efficient GHASH and POLYVAL Implementation" - Tarsha Kurdi & Möller (2025)
• AES Implementation - "Fixslicing AES-like Ciphers" - Adomnicai & Peyrin (IACR TCHES 2021)
• Elliptic Curve Operations - "Fast constant-time gcd computation" - Bernstein & Yang (2019)

Cryptographic Primitives

HPCrypt provides a comprehensive suite of cryptographic algorithms organized into modular crates:

Symmetric Cryptography

Hash Functions (hpcrypt-hash)

• SHA-2 family: SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, SHA-512/256
• SHA-3 family: SHA3-224, SHA3-256, SHA3-384, SHA3-512
• Extendable output: SHAKE128, SHAKE256, TurboShake128, TurboShake256
• BLAKE family: BLAKE2b, BLAKE2s, BLAKE3

Block Ciphers & Modes (hpcrypt-cipher)

• Ciphers: AES-128/192/256 (fixsliced), ChaCha20
• Modes: CBC, CTR, CFB, OFB, XTS (disk encryption)

Message Authentication Codes (hpcrypt-mac)

• HMAC (with SHA-2, SHA-3, BLAKE2)
• KMAC128, KMAC256, cSHAKE
• CMAC (AES-based)
• Poly1305, GMAC
• Universal hashes: GHASH, Polyval

Authenticated Encryption (hpcrypt-aead)

• AES-GCM, AES-GCM-SIV (nonce misuse-resistant)
• AES-CCM, AES-SIV, AES-EAX, AES-OCB3
• ChaCha20-Poly1305, XChaCha20-Poly1305
• Ascon-128, Ascon-128a (NIST lightweight winner)

Key Derivation (hpcrypt-kdf)

• HKDF, PBKDF2, Argon2 (i/d/id), scrypt
• X9.63 KDF
• TLS 1.2 PRF, TLS 1.3 KDF, QUIC KDF

Specialized Encryption (hpcrypt-fpe)

• Format-Preserving Encryption (FF1) - NIST SP 800-38G

Public-Key Cryptography

Elliptic Curves (hpcrypt-curves)

• Curve25519 (X25519 ECDH, Ed25519 signatures)
• Curve448 (X448 ECDH, Ed448 signatures)
• NIST P-256, P-384, P-521
• secp256k1 (Bitcoin/Ethereum)

Digital Signatures (hpcrypt-signatures)

• Ed25519, Ed448 (EdDSA)
• ECDSA (NIST curves, secp256k1)
• Schnorr signatures (BIP-340)

RSA (hpcrypt-rsa)

• RSAES-OAEP encryption
• RSASSA-PSS and PKCS#1 v1.5 signatures
• 2048, 3072, 4096-bit keys

Hybrid Encryption (hpcrypt-hpke, hpcrypt-ecies)

• HPKE: Hybrid Public Key Encryption (RFC 9180)
• ECIES: Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme (ISO/IEC 18033-2)

Post-Quantum Cryptography

ML-KEM (hpcrypt-mlkem) - FIPS 203

• ML-KEM-512, ML-KEM-768, ML-KEM-1024
• Key encapsulation mechanism (KEM)
• Lattice-based cryptography

ML-DSA (hpcrypt-mldsa) - FIPS 204

• ML-DSA-44, ML-DSA-65, ML-DSA-87
• Digital signatures
• Lattice-based (Dilithium)

SLH-DSA (hpcrypt-slhdsa) - FIPS 205

• Stateless hash-based signatures
• Multiple parameter sets (SPHINCS+)

Password-Authenticated Protocols

PAKE (hpcrypt-pake)

• OPAQUE (RFC 9497)
• Resistant to offline dictionary attacks

SRP (hpcrypt-srp)

• Secure Remote Password protocol (RFC 2945, RFC 5054)
• Zero-knowledge password proof

Threshold Cryptography

Secret Sharing (hpcrypt-threshold)

• Shamir's Secret Sharing (1979)
• Split secrets across multiple parties

Quick Start

[dependencies]
hpcrypt-aead = "0.1"
hpcrypt-hash = "0.1"
hpcrypt-mldsa = "0.1"

Authenticated Encryption (AES-GCM)

use hpcrypt_aead::{Aes256Gcm, Aead};
use hpcrypt_rng::OsRng;

// Generate random key and nonce
let key = OsRng::generate_bytes::<32>();
let nonce = OsRng::generate_bytes::<12>();

// Encrypt with authentication
let cipher = Aes256Gcm::new(&key);
let plaintext = b"Secret message";
let ciphertext = cipher.encrypt(&nonce, plaintext, b"additional data")?;

// Decrypt and verify
let recovered = cipher.decrypt(&nonce, &ciphertext, b"additional data")?;
assert_eq!(recovered, plaintext);

Post-Quantum Digital Signatures (ML-DSA)

use hpcrypt_mldsa::{MlDsa65, keygen};

// Generate quantum-resistant keypair
let (public_key, secret_key) = keygen::<MlDsa65>();

// Sign message
let message = b"Future-proof signature";
let signature = secret_key.sign(message)?;

// Verify signature
assert!(public_key.verify(message, &signature));

Cryptographic Hashing (SHA-3)

use hpcrypt_hash::{Sha3_256, Hash};

let data = b"Data to hash";
let digest = Sha3_256::digest(data);

println!("SHA3-256: {:?}", digest);

Key Derivation (Argon2)

use hpcrypt_kdf::{Argon2id, Argon2Params};

let password = b"user_password";
let salt = b"random_salt_16bt";

// Derive key from password
let params = Argon2Params::default();
let mut key = [0u8; 32];
Argon2id::derive_key(password, salt, &params, &mut key)?;

Design Principles

Security First

Constant-Time Operations

• All cryptographic operations resist timing side-channel attacks
• Constant-time comparisons and conditional operations prevent timing leaks
• No data-dependent branches in critical code paths

Memory Safety

• Written in safe Rust with minimal unsafe code (limited to performance-critical SIMD)
• Automatic zeroization of sensitive data on drop via zeroize crate
• No buffer overflows or use-after-free vulnerabilities

Standards Compliance

• Validated against official NIST CAVP/ACVP test vectors
• Tested with Wycheproof for edge cases and known attacks
• RFC test vectors for protocol implementations

Modular Architecture

Clean Separation of Concerns

• hpcrypt-cipher: Block ciphers and modes of operation
• hpcrypt-mac: Message authentication codes and universal hashes
• hpcrypt-aead: Authenticated encryption (combines cipher + MAC)

Acyclic Dependencies

hpcrypt-cipher → hpcrypt-mac → hpcrypt-aead

This hierarchy eliminates circular dependencies and provides clear module boundaries.

Primitives Over Protocols

• Protocol-specific functions (TLS KDF, QUIC header protection) live in primitive crates
• Reduces crate proliferation while maintaining functionality
• Example: QUIC KDF is in hpcrypt-kdf, not a separate hpcrypt-quic crate

no_std Support

All crates support embedded and constrained environments:

[dependencies]
hpcrypt-hash = { version = "0.1", default-features = false }
hpcrypt-aead = { version = "0.1", default-features = false, features = ["alloc"] }

• std (default): Full standard library support
• alloc: Heap allocation without std

Development

Testing

Run all tests including CAVP, RFC, and Wycheproof test vectors:

# All tests
cargo test --workspace --all-features

# Specific crate
cargo test -p hpcrypt-mldsa
cargo test -p hpcrypt-aead

Benchmarks

cargo bench

Code Quality

cargo fmt --all
cargo clippy --workspace --all-features -- -D warnings

Requirements

Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV): 1.70+

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please ensure:

1. All tests pass: cargo test --workspace --all-features
2. Code is properly formatted: cargo fmt --all
3. No clippy warnings: cargo clippy --workspace --all-features -- -D warnings
4. New features include tests and documentation
5. Changes maintain constant-time properties for cryptographic operations

License

Dual-licensed under your choice of:

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT License (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

References

Standards

• NIST FIPS: 180-4 (SHA-2), 186-4 (DSA/ECDSA), 197 (AES), 198-1 (HMAC), 202 (SHA-3), 203 (ML-KEM), 204 (ML-DSA), 205 (SLH-DSA)
• NIST Special Publications: SP 800-38A (Block Cipher Modes), SP 800-38G (FPE), SP 800-185 (KMAC/cSHAKE)
• IETF RFCs: 2104 (HMAC), 2898 (PBKDF2), 5869 (HKDF), 7539 (ChaCha20-Poly1305), 8032 (EdDSA), 8017 (RSA), 9106 (Argon2), 9180 (HPKE), 9497 (OPAQUE)

Testing

• NIST CAVP/ACVP - Official test vectors
• Google Wycheproof - Known attack vectors and edge cases