Cryptology ePrint Archive: Report 2019/1091

Short Paper: XOR Arbiter PUFs have Systematic Response Bias

Nils Wisiol and Niklas Pirnay

Abstract: We demonstrate that XOR Arbiter PUFs with an even number of arbiter chains have inherently biased responses, even if all arbiter chains are perfectly unbiased. This rebukes the believe that XOR Arbiter PUFs are, like Arbiter PUFs, unbiased when ideally implemented and proves that independently manufactured Arbiter PUFs are not statistically independent.

As an immediate result of this work, we suggest to use XOR Arbiter PUFs with odd numbers of arbiter chains whenever possible. Furthermore, our analysis technique can be applied to future types of PUF designs and can hence be used to identify design weaknesses, in particular when using Arbiter PUFs as building blocks and when developing designs with challenge pre-processing. Finally, we discuss consequences for the parameter recommendations of the Interpose PUF.

Investigating the reason of the systematic bias of XOR Arbiter PUF, we exhibit that Arbiter PUFs suffer from a systematic uniqueness weakness.

Category / Keywords: applications / Physically Unclonable Function, Bias, Arbiter PUF, Interpose PUF

Date: received 24 Sep 2019

Contact author: nils wisiol at fu-berlin de

Available format(s): PDF | BibTeX Citation

Version: 20190929:183134 (All versions of this report)

Short URL: ia.cr/2019/1091