Paper 2026/194

A Unified Hardware Architecture for Stateful and Stateless Hash-Based Key/Signature Generations

Yuxuan Chu, Nanjing University

Yaodong Wei, Nanjing University

Yueqin Dai, Nanjing University

Qiu Shen, Nanjing University

Jing Tian, Nanjing University

Abstract

Hash-based signature (HBS) schemes, including LMS, XMSS, and SPHINCS+, have become crucial components of post-quantum cryptography. LMS and XMSS are stateful schemes, while SPHINCS+ is stateless, which can be applied in different scenarios. A variety of hash operations in these schemes lead to complex input/output patterns for the hash cores. In this paper, we present an efficient and configurable hardware architecture that supports key generation and signing for all three schemes. Their complex procedural flows are abstracted into 11 shared and parameterized tasks under a unified control module, avoiding controller state blow-up. Driven by hierarchical counters, this approach maximizes resource reuse and preserves scalability, occupying only 17\% of the total LUTs. Moreover, the design employs two hash cores with unroll-2 scheduling, which are experimentally validated to strike a favorable balance between area and time. We further introduce an asymmetric dual-path hash input logic (HIL) for each of them: a dedicated parallel lane for the high-frequency One-Time Signature (OTS) task and a flexible padding-shifter for all other tasks. This eliminates wide multiplexers and achieves a superior area-time balance. On Artix-7 FPGA, our unified design occupies 24.2k LUTs/13.7k FFs/16.5 BRAMs. Compared to state-of-the-art single-scheme designs, our architecture achieves up to $4.12\times/10.92\times$ lower Area-Time Product (ATP) for LMS/XMSS signing and $2.47\times/6.61\times$ lower ATP for key generation. More importantly, we provide a flexible, efficient, and scalable hardware foundation for the diverse practical deployments of HBS.

@misc{cryptoeprint:2026/194,
      author = {Yechu Zhang and Yuxuan Chu and Yaodong Wei and Yueqin Dai and Qiu Shen and Jing Tian},
      title = {A Unified Hardware Architecture for Stateful and Stateless Hash-Based Key/Signature Generations},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2026/194},
      year = {2026},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2026/194}
}