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table-free AES
An AES encryption implementation that avoids memory lookup tables so its timing can't leak the secret key.
Classic fast AES uses precomputed lookup tables, but which table entries get read depends on the secret, and cache behaviour makes those accesses vary in timing — a side channel an attacker can measure. Table-free AES computes the same result using arithmetic or hardware instructions instead, so it runs in constant time regardless of the key. This resists cache-timing attacks.
See also
- timing leak / side channelWhen how long an operation takes secretly reveals the private data it worked on.
- test vectorsOfficial known input-and-expected-output pairs used to prove a crypto implementation is correct.
- TLSThe protocol that encrypts internet connections — the 's' in HTTPS.
Referenced by
stdint / stddef / stdbool · test vectors · timing leak / side channel