Ultra lightweight post-quantum resistant 5G-AKA protocol

Abstract

As constrained devices like Internet of Things (IoT) devices become increasingly integrated with 5G networks, efficient and secure authentication and key management mechanisms are essential to ensure seamless and protected communication with the core 5G infrastructure. However, the current 5G-AKA (Authentication and Key Agreement) protocol lacks resistance against perfect forward secrecy (PFS) and post-quantum security, making it vulnerable to future adversarial threats, particularly quantum-enabled attacks. Most existing research provides partial solutions addressing either PFS or post-quantum security, no approach fully resolves both issues simultaneously in an efficient manner. This paper presents a novel authentication mechanism that relies solely on symmetric key cryptography, ensuring both high performance and robust security. Our innovation lies in replacing the conventional use of identical key material with a hybrid setup, where the user and 5G core each hold both common and distinct key components . By eliminating the computational overhead associated with asymmetric cryptography, our proposed solution offers an extremely efficient and scalable security solution, having almost 5 times lower energy consumption as the current 5G-AKA standard and requiring almost three times less security material to be sent during the protocol. As a consequence, this protocol offers a sustainable solution both with respect to energy and security aspects.