Rijndael MixColumns

Summary

The MixColumns operation performed by the Rijndael cipher or Advanced Encryption Standard is, along with the ShiftRows step, its primary source of diffusion. Each column of bytes is treated as a four-term polynomial , each byte representing an element in the Galois field . The coefficients are elements within the prime sub-field .

Each column is multiplied with the fixed polynomial modulo ; the inverse function is .

Demonstration edit

The polynomial   will be expressed as  .

Polynomial multiplication edit

 

where:

 

Modular reduction edit

The result   is a seven-term polynomial, which must be reduced to a four-byte word, which is done by doing the multiplication modulo  .

If we do some basic polynomial modular operations we can see that:

 

In general, we can say that  

So

 

where

 
 
 
 

Matrix representation edit

The coefficient  ,  ,   and   can also be expressed as follows:

 
 
 
 

And when we replace the coefficients of   with the constants   used in the cipher we obtain the following:

 
 
 
 

This demonstrates that the operation itself is similar to a Hill cipher. It can be performed by multiplying a coordinate vector of four numbers in Rijndael's Galois field by the following circulant MDS matrix:

 

Implementation example edit

This can be simplified somewhat in actual implementation by replacing the multiply by 2 with a single shift and conditional exclusive or, and replacing a multiply by 3 with a multiply by 2 combined with an exclusive or. A C example of such an implementation follows:

void gmix_column(unsigned char *r) {
    unsigned char a[4];
    unsigned char b[4];
    unsigned char c;
    unsigned char h;
    /* The array 'a' is simply a copy of the input array 'r'
     * The array 'b' is each element of the array 'a' multiplied by 2
     * in Rijndael's Galois field
     * a[n] ^ b[n] is element n multiplied by 3 in Rijndael's Galois field */ 
    for (c = 0; c < 4; c++) {
        a[c] = r[c];
        /* h is set to 0x01 if the high bit of r[c] is set, 0x00 otherwise */
        h = r[c] >> 7;    /* logical right shift, thus shifting in zeros */
        b[c] = r[c] << 1; /* implicitly removes high bit because b[c] is an 8-bit char, so we xor by 0x1b and not 0x11b in the next line */
        b[c] ^= h * 0x1B; /* Rijndael's Galois field */
    }
    r[0] = b[0] ^ a[3] ^ a[2] ^ b[1] ^ a[1]; /* 2 * a0 + a3 + a2 + 3 * a1 */
    r[1] = b[1] ^ a[0] ^ a[3] ^ b[2] ^ a[2]; /* 2 * a1 + a0 + a3 + 3 * a2 */
    r[2] = b[2] ^ a[1] ^ a[0] ^ b[3] ^ a[3]; /* 2 * a2 + a1 + a0 + 3 * a3 */
    r[3] = b[3] ^ a[2] ^ a[1] ^ b[0] ^ a[0]; /* 2 * a3 + a2 + a1 + 3 * a0 */
}

A C# example

private byte GMul(byte a, byte b) { // Galois Field (256) Multiplication of two Bytes
    byte p = 0;

    for (int counter = 0; counter < 8; counter++) {
        if ((b & 1) != 0) {
            p ^= a;
        }

        bool hi_bit_set = (a & 0x80) != 0;
        a <<= 1;
        if (hi_bit_set) {
            a ^= 0x1B; /* x^8 + x^4 + x^3 + x + 1 */
        }
        b >>= 1;
    }

    return p;
}

private void MixColumns() { // 's' is the main State matrix, 'ss' is a temp matrix of the same dimensions as 's'.
    Array.Clear(ss, 0, ss.Length);

    for (int c = 0; c < 4; c++) {
        ss[0, c] = (byte)(GMul(0x02, s[0, c]) ^ GMul(0x03, s[1, c]) ^ s[2, c] ^ s[3, c]);
        ss[1, c] = (byte)(s[0, c] ^ GMul(0x02, s[1, c]) ^ GMul(0x03, s[2, c]) ^ s[3,c]);
        ss[2, c] = (byte)(s[0, c] ^ s[1, c] ^ GMul(0x02, s[2, c]) ^ GMul(0x03, s[3, c]));
        ss[3, c] = (byte)(GMul(0x03, s[0,c]) ^ s[1, c] ^ s[2, c] ^ GMul(0x02, s[3, c]));
    }

    ss.CopyTo(s, 0);
}

Test vectors for MixColumn() edit

Hexadecimal Decimal
Before After Before After
db 13 53 45 8e 4d a1 bc 219 19 83 69 142 77 161 188
f2 0a 22 5c 9f dc 58 9d 242 10 34 92 159 220 88 157
01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
c6 c6 c6 c6 c6 c6 c6 c6 198 198 198 198 198 198 198 198
d4 d4 d4 d5 d5 d5 d7 d6 212 212 212 213 213 213 215 214
2d 26 31 4c 4d 7e bd f8 45 38 49 76 77 126 189 248

InverseMixColumns edit

The MixColumns operation has the following inverse (numbers are decimal):

 

Or:

 

Galois Multiplication lookup tables edit

Commonly, rather than implementing Galois multiplication, Rijndael implementations simply use pre-calculated lookup tables to perform the byte multiplication by 2, 3, 9, 11, 13, and 14.

For instance, in C# these tables can be stored in Byte[256] arrays. In order to compute

p * 3

The result is obtained this way:

result = table_3[(int)p]

Some of the most common instances of these lookup tables are as follows:

Multiply by 2:

0x00,0x02,0x04,0x06,0x08,0x0a,0x0c,0x0e,0x10,0x12,0x14,0x16,0x18,0x1a,0x1c,0x1e,
0x20,0x22,0x24,0x26,0x28,0x2a,0x2c,0x2e,0x30,0x32,0x34,0x36,0x38,0x3a,0x3c,0x3e,
0x40,0x42,0x44,0x46,0x48,0x4a,0x4c,0x4e,0x50,0x52,0x54,0x56,0x58,0x5a,0x5c,0x5e,
0x60,0x62,0x64,0x66,0x68,0x6a,0x6c,0x6e,0x70,0x72,0x74,0x76,0x78,0x7a,0x7c,0x7e,	
0x80,0x82,0x84,0x86,0x88,0x8a,0x8c,0x8e,0x90,0x92,0x94,0x96,0x98,0x9a,0x9c,0x9e,
0xa0,0xa2,0xa4,0xa6,0xa8,0xaa,0xac,0xae,0xb0,0xb2,0xb4,0xb6,0xb8,0xba,0xbc,0xbe,
0xc0,0xc2,0xc4,0xc6,0xc8,0xca,0xcc,0xce,0xd0,0xd2,0xd4,0xd6,0xd8,0xda,0xdc,0xde,
0xe0,0xe2,0xe4,0xe6,0xe8,0xea,0xec,0xee,0xf0,0xf2,0xf4,0xf6,0xf8,0xfa,0xfc,0xfe,
0x1b,0x19,0x1f,0x1d,0x13,0x11,0x17,0x15,0x0b,0x09,0x0f,0x0d,0x03,0x01,0x07,0x05,
0x3b,0x39,0x3f,0x3d,0x33,0x31,0x37,0x35,0x2b,0x29,0x2f,0x2d,0x23,0x21,0x27,0x25,
0x5b,0x59,0x5f,0x5d,0x53,0x51,0x57,0x55,0x4b,0x49,0x4f,0x4d,0x43,0x41,0x47,0x45,
0x7b,0x79,0x7f,0x7d,0x73,0x71,0x77,0x75,0x6b,0x69,0x6f,0x6d,0x63,0x61,0x67,0x65,
0x9b,0x99,0x9f,0x9d,0x93,0x91,0x97,0x95,0x8b,0x89,0x8f,0x8d,0x83,0x81,0x87,0x85,
0xbb,0xb9,0xbf,0xbd,0xb3,0xb1,0xb7,0xb5,0xab,0xa9,0xaf,0xad,0xa3,0xa1,0xa7,0xa5,
0xdb,0xd9,0xdf,0xdd,0xd3,0xd1,0xd7,0xd5,0xcb,0xc9,0xcf,0xcd,0xc3,0xc1,0xc7,0xc5,
0xfb,0xf9,0xff,0xfd,0xf3,0xf1,0xf7,0xf5,0xeb,0xe9,0xef,0xed,0xe3,0xe1,0xe7,0xe5

Multiply by 3:

0x00,0x03,0x06,0x05,0x0c,0x0f,0x0a,0x09,0x18,0x1b,0x1e,0x1d,0x14,0x17,0x12,0x11,
0x30,0x33,0x36,0x35,0x3c,0x3f,0x3a,0x39,0x28,0x2b,0x2e,0x2d,0x24,0x27,0x22,0x21,
0x60,0x63,0x66,0x65,0x6c,0x6f,0x6a,0x69,0x78,0x7b,0x7e,0x7d,0x74,0x77,0x72,0x71,
0x50,0x53,0x56,0x55,0x5c,0x5f,0x5a,0x59,0x48,0x4b,0x4e,0x4d,0x44,0x47,0x42,0x41,
0xc0,0xc3,0xc6,0xc5,0xcc,0xcf,0xca,0xc9,0xd8,0xdb,0xde,0xdd,0xd4,0xd7,0xd2,0xd1,
0xf0,0xf3,0xf6,0xf5,0xfc,0xff,0xfa,0xf9,0xe8,0xeb,0xee,0xed,0xe4,0xe7,0xe2,0xe1,
0xa0,0xa3,0xa6,0xa5,0xac,0xaf,0xaa,0xa9,0xb8,0xbb,0xbe,0xbd,0xb4,0xb7,0xb2,0xb1,
0x90,0x93,0x96,0x95,0x9c,0x9f,0x9a,0x99,0x88,0x8b,0x8e,0x8d,0x84,0x87,0x82,0x81,	
0x9b,0x98,0x9d,0x9e,0x97,0x94,0x91,0x92,0x83,0x80,0x85,0x86,0x8f,0x8c,0x89,0x8a,
0xab,0xa8,0xad,0xae,0xa7,0xa4,0xa1,0xa2,0xb3,0xb0,0xb5,0xb6,0xbf,0xbc,0xb9,0xba,
0xfb,0xf8,0xfd,0xfe,0xf7,0xf4,0xf1,0xf2,0xe3,0xe0,0xe5,0xe6,0xef,0xec,0xe9,0xea,	
0xcb,0xc8,0xcd,0xce,0xc7,0xc4,0xc1,0xc2,0xd3,0xd0,0xd5,0xd6,0xdf,0xdc,0xd9,0xda,	
0x5b,0x58,0x5d,0x5e,0x57,0x54,0x51,0x52,0x43,0x40,0x45,0x46,0x4f,0x4c,0x49,0x4a,
0x6b,0x68,0x6d,0x6e,0x67,0x64,0x61,0x62,0x73,0x70,0x75,0x76,0x7f,0x7c,0x79,0x7a,	
0x3b,0x38,0x3d,0x3e,0x37,0x34,0x31,0x32,0x23,0x20,0x25,0x26,0x2f,0x2c,0x29,0x2a,
0x0b,0x08,0x0d,0x0e,0x07,0x04,0x01,0x02,0x13,0x10,0x15,0x16,0x1f,0x1c,0x19,0x1a

Multiply by 9:

0x00,0x09,0x12,0x1b,0x24,0x2d,0x36,0x3f,0x48,0x41,0x5a,0x53,0x6c,0x65,0x7e,0x77,
0x90,0x99,0x82,0x8b,0xb4,0xbd,0xa6,0xaf,0xd8,0xd1,0xca,0xc3,0xfc,0xf5,0xee,0xe7,
0x3b,0x32,0x29,0x20,0x1f,0x16,0x0d,0x04,0x73,0x7a,0x61,0x68,0x57,0x5e,0x45,0x4c,
0xab,0xa2,0xb9,0xb0,0x8f,0x86,0x9d,0x94,0xe3,0xea,0xf1,0xf8,0xc7,0xce,0xd5,0xdc,
0x76,0x7f,0x64,0x6d,0x52,0x5b,0x40,0x49,0x3e,0x37,0x2c,0x25,0x1a,0x13,0x08,0x01,
0xe6,0xef,0xf4,0xfd,0xc2,0xcb,0xd0,0xd9,0xae,0xa7,0xbc,0xb5,0x8a,0x83,0x98,0x91,
0x4d,0x44,0x5f,0x56,0x69,0x60,0x7b,0x72,0x05,0x0c,0x17,0x1e,0x21,0x28,0x33,0x3a,
0xdd,0xd4,0xcf,0xc6,0xf9,0xf0,0xeb,0xe2,0x95,0x9c,0x87,0x8e,0xb1,0xb8,0xa3,0xaa,	
0xec,0xe5,0xfe,0xf7,0xc8,0xc1,0xda,0xd3,0xa4,0xad,0xb6,0xbf,0x80,0x89,0x92,0x9b,	
0x7c,0x75,0x6e,0x67,0x58,0x51,0x4a,0x43,0x34,0x3d,0x26,0x2f,0x10,0x19,0x02,0x0b,
0xd7,0xde,0xc5,0xcc,0xf3,0xfa,0xe1,0xe8,0x9f,0x96,0x8d,0x84,0xbb,0xb2,0xa9,0xa0,
0x47,0x4e,0x55,0x5c,0x63,0x6a,0x71,0x78,0x0f,0x06,0x1d,0x14,0x2b,0x22,0x39,0x30,
0x9a,0x93,0x88,0x81,0xbe,0xb7,0xac,0xa5,0xd2,0xdb,0xc0,0xc9,0xf6,0xff,0xe4,0xed,
0x0a,0x03,0x18,0x11,0x2e,0x27,0x3c,0x35,0x42,0x4b,0x50,0x59,0x66,0x6f,0x74,0x7d,	
0xa1,0xa8,0xb3,0xba,0x85,0x8c,0x97,0x9e,0xe9,0xe0,0xfb,0xf2,0xcd,0xc4,0xdf,0xd6,
0x31,0x38,0x23,0x2a,0x15,0x1c,0x07,0x0e,0x79,0x70,0x6b,0x62,0x5d,0x54,0x4f,0x46

Multiply by 11 (0xB):

0x00,0x0b,0x16,0x1d,0x2c,0x27,0x3a,0x31,0x58,0x53,0x4e,0x45,0x74,0x7f,0x62,0x69,
0xb0,0xbb,0xa6,0xad,0x9c,0x97,0x8a,0x81,0xe8,0xe3,0xfe,0xf5,0xc4,0xcf,0xd2,0xd9,
0x7b,0x70,0x6d,0x66,0x57,0x5c,0x41,0x4a,0x23,0x28,0x35,0x3e,0x0f,0x04,0x19,0x12,
0xcb,0xc0,0xdd,0xd6,0xe7,0xec,0xf1,0xfa,0x93,0x98,0x85,0x8e,0xbf,0xb4,0xa9,0xa2,
0xf6,0xfd,0xe0,0xeb,0xda,0xd1,0xcc,0xc7,0xae,0xa5,0xb8,0xb3,0x82,0x89,0x94,0x9f,
0x46,0x4d,0x50,0x5b,0x6a,0x61,0x7c,0x77,0x1e,0x15,0x08,0x03,0x32,0x39,0x24,0x2f,
0x8d,0x86,0x9b,0x90,0xa1,0xaa,0xb7,0xbc,0xd5,0xde,0xc3,0xc8,0xf9,0xf2,0xef,0xe4,
0x3d,0x36,0x2b,0x20,0x11,0x1a,0x07,0x0c,0x65,0x6e,0x73,0x78,0x49,0x42,0x5f,0x54,
0xf7,0xfc,0xe1,0xea,0xdb,0xd0,0xcd,0xc6,0xaf,0xa4,0xb9,0xb2,0x83,0x88,0x95,0x9e,
0x47,0x4c,0x51,0x5a,0x6b,0x60,0x7d,0x76,0x1f,0x14,0x09,0x02,0x33,0x38,0x25,0x2e,
0x8c,0x87,0x9a,0x91,0xa0,0xab,0xb6,0xbd,0xd4,0xdf,0xc2,0xc9,0xf8,0xf3,0xee,0xe5,
0x3c,0x37,0x2a,0x21,0x10,0x1b,0x06,0x0d,0x64,0x6f,0x72,0x79,0x48,0x43,0x5e,0x55,
0x01,0x0a,0x17,0x1c,0x2d,0x26,0x3b,0x30,0x59,0x52,0x4f,0x44,0x75,0x7e,0x63,0x68,
0xb1,0xba,0xa7,0xac,0x9d,0x96,0x8b,0x80,0xe9,0xe2,0xff,0xf4,0xc5,0xce,0xd3,0xd8,
0x7a,0x71,0x6c,0x67,0x56,0x5d,0x40,0x4b,0x22,0x29,0x34,0x3f,0x0e,0x05,0x18,0x13,
0xca,0xc1,0xdc,0xd7,0xe6,0xed,0xf0,0xfb,0x92,0x99,0x84,0x8f,0xbe,0xb5,0xa8,0xa3

Multiply by 13 (0xD):

0x00,0x0d,0x1a,0x17,0x34,0x39,0x2e,0x23,0x68,0x65,0x72,0x7f,0x5c,0x51,0x46,0x4b,
0xd0,0xdd,0xca,0xc7,0xe4,0xe9,0xfe,0xf3,0xb8,0xb5,0xa2,0xaf,0x8c,0x81,0x96,0x9b,
0xbb,0xb6,0xa1,0xac,0x8f,0x82,0x95,0x98,0xd3,0xde,0xc9,0xc4,0xe7,0xea,0xfd,0xf0,
0x6b,0x66,0x71,0x7c,0x5f,0x52,0x45,0x48,0x03,0x0e,0x19,0x14,0x37,0x3a,0x2d,0x20,
0x6d,0x60,0x77,0x7a,0x59,0x54,0x43,0x4e,0x05,0x08,0x1f,0x12,0x31,0x3c,0x2b,0x26,
0xbd,0xb0,0xa7,0xaa,0x89,0x84,0x93,0x9e,0xd5,0xd8,0xcf,0xc2,0xe1,0xec,0xfb,0xf6,
0xd6,0xdb,0xcc,0xc1,0xe2,0xef,0xf8,0xf5,0xbe,0xb3,0xa4,0xa9,0x8a,0x87,0x90,0x9d,
0x06,0x0b,0x1c,0x11,0x32,0x3f,0x28,0x25,0x6e,0x63,0x74,0x79,0x5a,0x57,0x40,0x4d,
0xda,0xd7,0xc0,0xcd,0xee,0xe3,0xf4,0xf9,0xb2,0xbf,0xa8,0xa5,0x86,0x8b,0x9c,0x91,
0x0a,0x07,0x10,0x1d,0x3e,0x33,0x24,0x29,0x62,0x6f,0x78,0x75,0x56,0x5b,0x4c,0x41,
0x61,0x6c,0x7b,0x76,0x55,0x58,0x4f,0x42,0x09,0x04,0x13,0x1e,0x3d,0x30,0x27,0x2a,
0xb1,0xbc,0xab,0xa6,0x85,0x88,0x9f,0x92,0xd9,0xd4,0xc3,0xce,0xed,0xe0,0xf7,0xfa,
0xb7,0xba,0xad,0xa0,0x83,0x8e,0x99,0x94,0xdf,0xd2,0xc5,0xc8,0xeb,0xe6,0xf1,0xfc,
0x67,0x6a,0x7d,0x70,0x53,0x5e,0x49,0x44,0x0f,0x02,0x15,0x18,0x3b,0x36,0x21,0x2c,
0x0c,0x01,0x16,0x1b,0x38,0x35,0x22,0x2f,0x64,0x69,0x7e,0x73,0x50,0x5d,0x4a,0x47,
0xdc,0xd1,0xc6,0xcb,0xe8,0xe5,0xf2,0xff,0xb4,0xb9,0xae,0xa3,0x80,0x8d,0x9a,0x97

Multiply by 14 (0xE):

0x00,0x0e,0x1c,0x12,0x38,0x36,0x24,0x2a,0x70,0x7e,0x6c,0x62,0x48,0x46,0x54,0x5a,
0xe0,0xee,0xfc,0xf2,0xd8,0xd6,0xc4,0xca,0x90,0x9e,0x8c,0x82,0xa8,0xa6,0xb4,0xba,
0xdb,0xd5,0xc7,0xc9,0xe3,0xed,0xff,0xf1,0xab,0xa5,0xb7,0xb9,0x93,0x9d,0x8f,0x81,
0x3b,0x35,0x27,0x29,0x03,0x0d,0x1f,0x11,0x4b,0x45,0x57,0x59,0x73,0x7d,0x6f,0x61,
0xad,0xa3,0xb1,0xbf,0x95,0x9b,0x89,0x87,0xdd,0xd3,0xc1,0xcf,0xe5,0xeb,0xf9,0xf7,
0x4d,0x43,0x51,0x5f,0x75,0x7b,0x69,0x67,0x3d,0x33,0x21,0x2f,0x05,0x0b,0x19,0x17,
0x76,0x78,0x6a,0x64,0x4e,0x40,0x52,0x5c,0x06,0x08,0x1a,0x14,0x3e,0x30,0x22,0x2c,
0x96,0x98,0x8a,0x84,0xae,0xa0,0xb2,0xbc,0xe6,0xe8,0xfa,0xf4,0xde,0xd0,0xc2,0xcc,
0x41,0x4f,0x5d,0x53,0x79,0x77,0x65,0x6b,0x31,0x3f,0x2d,0x23,0x09,0x07,0x15,0x1b,
0xa1,0xaf,0xbd,0xb3,0x99,0x97,0x85,0x8b,0xd1,0xdf,0xcd,0xc3,0xe9,0xe7,0xf5,0xfb,
0x9a,0x94,0x86,0x88,0xa2,0xac,0xbe,0xb0,0xea,0xe4,0xf6,0xf8,0xd2,0xdc,0xce,0xc0,
0x7a,0x74,0x66,0x68,0x42,0x4c,0x5e,0x50,0x0a,0x04,0x16,0x18,0x32,0x3c,0x2e,0x20,
0xec,0xe2,0xf0,0xfe,0xd4,0xda,0xc8,0xc6,0x9c,0x92,0x80,0x8e,0xa4,0xaa,0xb8,0xb6,
0x0c,0x02,0x10,0x1e,0x34,0x3a,0x28,0x26,0x7c,0x72,0x60,0x6e,0x44,0x4a,0x58,0x56,
0x37,0x39,0x2b,0x25,0x0f,0x01,0x13,0x1d,0x47,0x49,0x5b,0x55,0x7f,0x71,0x63,0x6d,
0xd7,0xd9,0xcb,0xc5,0xef,0xe1,0xf3,0xfd,0xa7,0xa9,0xbb,0xb5,0x9f,0x91,0x83,0x8d

References edit

  • FIPS PUB 197: the official AES standard (PDF file)