RFC 1319 HISTORIC CRYPTOGRAPHY · HASH FUNCTIONS · HISTORIC

The MD2 Message-Digest Algorithm

A cryptographic hash function that compresses any message into a 128-bit fingerprint.

On rfc-editor.org ↗
PUBLISHED
April 1992
AUTHORS
B. Kaliski
STREAM
IETF
OBSOLETED BY
RFC 6149 — MD2 Historic
DIGEST SIZE
128 bits
BLOCK SIZE
16 bytes
PROCESSING ROUNDS
18 per block
PERMUTATION TABLE SIZE
256 bytes
MESSAGE PADDING
1 to 16 bytes
DOI
10.17487/RFC1319
ERRATA
Reported errata

RFC text

Contents
Original text · RFC Editor View on rfc-editor.org ↗
Network Working Group                                         B. Kaliski
Request for Comments: 1319                              RSA Laboratories
Updates: RFC 1115                                             April 1992


                     The MD2 Message-Digest Algorithm

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard.  Distribution of this memo is
   unlimited.

Acknowlegements

   The description of MD2 is based on material prepared by John Linn and
   Ron Rivest.  Their permission to incorporate that material is greatly
   appreciated.

Table of Contents

   1. Executive Summary                                                1
   2. Terminology and Notation                                         2
   3. MD2 Algorithm Description                                        2
   4. Summary                                                          4
   References                                                          5
   APPENDIX A - Reference Implementation                               5
   Security Considerations                                            17
   Author's Address                                                   17

1. Executive Summary

   This document describes the MD2 message-digest algorithm. The
   algorithm takes as input a message of arbitrary length and produces
   as output a 128-bit "fingerprint" or "message digest" of the input.
   It is conjectured that it is computationally infeasible to produce
   two messages having the same message digest, or to produce any
   message having a given prespecified target message digest. The MD2
   algorithm is intended for digital signature applications, where a
   large file must be "compressed" in a secure manner before being
   signed with a private (secret) key under a public-key cryptosystem
   such as RSA.

   License to use MD2 is granted for non-commerical Internet Privacy-
   Enhanced Mail [1-3].

   This document is an update to the August 1989 RFC 1115 [3], which
   also gives a reference implementation of MD2. The main differences
   are that a textual description of MD2 is included, and that the
   reference implementation of MD2 is more portable.

   For OSI-based applications, MD2's object identifier is

   md2 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::=
   iso(1) member-body(2) US(840) rsadsi(113549) digestAlgorithm(2) 2}

   In the X.509 type AlgorithmIdentifier [4], the parameters for MD2
   should have type NULL.

2. Terminology and Notation

   In this document, a "byte" is an eight-bit quantity.

   Let x_i denote "x sub i". If the subscript is an expression, we
   surround it in braces, as in x_{i+1}. Similarly, we use ^ for
   superscripts (exponentiation), so that x^i denotes x to the i-th
   power.

   Let X xor Y denote the bit-wise XOR of X and Y.

3. MD2 Algorithm Description

   We begin by supposing that we have a b-byte message as input, and
   that we wish to find its message digest. Here b is an arbitrary
   nonnegative integer; b may be zero, and it may be arbitrarily large.
   We imagine the bytes of the message written down as follows:

                   m_0 m_1 ... m_{b-1}

   The following five steps are performed to compute the message digest
   of the message.

3.1 Step 1. Append Padding Bytes

   The message is "padded" (extended) so that its length (in bytes) is
   congruent to 0, modulo 16. That is, the message is extended so that
   it is a multiple of 16 bytes long. Padding is always performed, even
   if the length of the message is already congruent to 0, modulo 16.

   Padding is performed as follows: "i" bytes of value "i" are appended
   to the message so that the length in bytes of the padded message
   becomes congruent to 0, modulo 16. At least one byte and at most 16
   16 bytes are appended.

   At this point the resulting message (after padding with bytes) has a
   length that is an exact multiple of 16 bytes. Let M[0 ... N-1] denote
   the bytes of the resulting message, where N is a multiple of 16.

3.2 Step 2. Append Checksum

   A 16-byte checksum of the message is appended to the result of the
   previous step.

   This step uses a 256-byte "random" permutation constructed from the
   digits of pi. Let S[i] denote the i-th element of this table. The
   table is given in the appendix.

   Do the following:

      /* Clear checksum. */
      For i = 0 to 15 do:
         Set C[i] to 0.
      end /* of loop on i */

      Set L to 0.

      /* Process each 16-word block. */
      For i = 0 to N/16-1 do

         /* Checksum block i. */
         For j = 0 to 15 do
            Set c to M[i*16+j].
            Set C[j] to S[c xor L].
            Set L to C[j].
          end /* of loop on j */
       end /* of loop on i */

   The 16-byte checksum C[0 ... 15] is appended to the message. Let M[0
   with checksum), where N' = N + 16.

3.3 Step 3. Initialize MD Buffer

   A 48-byte buffer X is used to compute the message digest. The buffer
   is initialized to zero.

3.4 Step 4. Process Message in 16-Byte Blocks

   This step uses the same 256-byte permutation S as step 2 does.

   Do the following:

      /* Process each 16-word block. */
      For i = 0 to N'/16-1 do

         /* Copy block i into X. */
         For j = 0 to 15 do
            Set X[16+j] to M[i*16+j].
            Set X[32+j] to (X[16+j] xor X[j]).
          end /* of loop on j */

         Set t to 0.

         /* Do 18 rounds. */
         For j = 0 to 17 do

            /* Round j. */
            For k = 0 to 47 do
               Set t and X[k] to (X[k] xor S[t]).
            end /* of loop on k */

            Set t to (t+j) modulo 256.
         end /* of loop on j */

      end /* of loop on i */

3.5 Step 5. Output

   The message digest produced as output is X[0 ... 15]. That is, we
   begin with X[0], and end with X[15].

   This completes the description of MD2. A reference implementation in
   C is given in the appendix.

4. Summary

   The MD2 message-digest algorithm is simple to implement, and provides
   a "fingerprint" or message digest of a message of arbitrary length.
   It is conjectured that the difficulty of coming up with two messages
   having the same message digest is on the order of 2^64 operations,
   and that the difficulty of coming up with any message having a given
   message digest is on the order of 2^128 operations. The MD2 algorithm
   has been carefully scrutinized for weaknesses. It is, however, a
   relatively new algorithm and further security analysis is of course
   justified, as is the case with any new proposal of this sort.

References

   [1] Linn, J., "Privacy Enhancement for Internet Electronic Mail: Part
       I -- Message Encipherment and Authentication Procedures", RFC
       1113, DEC,  IAB Privacy Task Force, August 1989.

   [2] Kent, S., and J. Linn, "Privacy Enhancement for Internet
       Electronic Mail: Part II -- Certificate-Based Key Management",
       RFC 1114, BBNCC, DEC, IAB Privacy Task Force, August 1989.

   [3] Linn, J., "Privacy Enhancement for Internet Electronic Mail: Part
       III -- Algorithms, Modes, and Identifiers", RFC 1115 DEC, IAB
       Privacy Task Force, August 1989.

   [4] CCITT Recommendation X.509 (1988), "The Directory -
       Authentication Framework".

APPENDIX A - Reference Implementation

   This appendix contains the following files taken from RSAREF: A
   Cryptographic Toolkit for Privacy-Enhanced Mail:

     global.h -- global header file

     md2.h -- header file for MD2

     md2c.c -- source code for MD2

For more information on RSAREF, send email to <rsaref@rsa.com>.

The appendix also includes the following file:

     mddriver.c -- test driver for MD2, MD4 and MD5

The driver compiles for MD5 by default but can compile for MD2 or MD4 if
the symbol MD is defined on the C compiler command line as 2 or 4.

A.1 global.h

/* GLOBAL.H - RSAREF types and constants
 */

/* PROTOTYPES should be set to one if and only if the compiler supports
     function argument prototyping.
   The following makes PROTOTYPES default to 0 if it has not already
     been defined with C compiler flags.

 */
#ifndef PROTOTYPES
#define PROTOTYPES 0
#endif

/* POINTER defines a generic pointer type */
typedef unsigned char *POINTER;

/* UINT2 defines a two byte word */
typedef unsigned short int UINT2;

/* UINT4 defines a four byte word */
typedef unsigned long int UINT4;

/* PROTO_LIST is defined depending on how PROTOTYPES is defined above.
   If using PROTOTYPES, then PROTO_LIST returns the list, otherwise it
     returns an empty list.
 */
#if PROTOTYPES
#define PROTO_LIST(list) list
#else
#define PROTO_LIST(list) ()
#endif

A.2 md2.h

/* MD2.H - header file for MD2C.C
 */

/* Copyright (C) 1990-2, RSA Data Security, Inc. Created 1990. All
   rights reserved.

   License to copy and use this software is granted for
   non-commercial Internet Privacy-Enhanced Mail provided that it is
   identified as the "RSA Data Security, Inc. MD2 Message Digest
   Algorithm" in all material mentioning or referencing this software
   or this function.

   RSA Data Security, Inc. makes no representations concerning either
   the merchantability of this software or the suitability of this
   software for any particular purpose. It is provided "as is"
   without express or implied warranty of any kind.

   These notices must be retained in any copies of any part of this
   documentation and/or software.
 */

typedef struct {
  unsigned char state[16];                                 /* state */
  unsigned char checksum[16];                           /* checksum */
  unsigned int count;                 /* number of bytes, modulo 16 */
  unsigned char buffer[16];                         /* input buffer */
} MD2_CTX;

void MD2Init PROTO_LIST ((MD2_CTX *));
void MD2Update PROTO_LIST
  ((MD2_CTX *, unsigned char *, unsigned int));
void MD2Final PROTO_LIST ((unsigned char [16], MD2_CTX *));

A.3 md2c.c

/* MD2C.C - RSA Data Security, Inc., MD2 message-digest algorithm
 */

/* Copyright (C) 1990-2, RSA Data Security, Inc. Created 1990. All
   rights reserved.

   License to copy and use this software is granted for
   non-commercial Internet Privacy-Enhanced Mail provided that it is
   identified as the "RSA Data Security, Inc. MD2 Message Digest
   Algorithm" in all material mentioning or referencing this software
   or this function.

   RSA Data Security, Inc. makes no representations concerning either
   the merchantability of this software or the suitability of this
   software for any particular purpose. It is provided "as is"
   without express or implied warranty of any kind.

   These notices must be retained in any copies of any part of this
   documentation and/or software.
 */

#include "global.h"
#include "md2.h"

static void MD2Transform PROTO_LIST
  ((unsigned char [16], unsigned char [16], unsigned char [16]));
static void MD2_memcpy PROTO_LIST ((POINTER, POINTER, unsigned int));
static void MD2_memset PROTO_LIST ((POINTER, int, unsigned int));

/* Permutation of 0..255 constructed from the digits of pi. It gives a
   "random" nonlinear byte substitution operation.
 */
static unsigned char PI_SUBST[256] = {
  41, 46, 67, 201, 162, 216, 124, 1, 61, 54, 84, 161, 236, 240, 6,
  19, 98, 167, 5, 243, 192, 199, 115, 140, 152, 147, 43, 217, 188,
  76, 130, 202, 30, 155, 87, 60, 253, 212, 224, 22, 103, 66, 111, 24,
  138, 23, 229, 18, 190, 78, 196, 214, 218, 158, 222, 73, 160, 251,
  245, 142, 187, 47, 238, 122, 169, 104, 121, 145, 21, 178, 7, 63,
  148, 194, 16, 137, 11, 34, 95, 33, 128, 127, 93, 154, 90, 144, 50,
  39, 53, 62, 204, 231, 191, 247, 151, 3, 255, 25, 48, 179, 72, 165,
  181, 209, 215, 94, 146, 42, 172, 86, 170, 198, 79, 184, 56, 210,
  150, 164, 125, 182, 118, 252, 107, 226, 156, 116, 4, 241, 69, 157,
  112, 89, 100, 113, 135, 32, 134, 91, 207, 101, 230, 45, 168, 2, 27,
  96, 37, 173, 174, 176, 185, 246, 28, 70, 97, 105, 52, 64, 126, 15,
  85, 71, 163, 35, 221, 81, 175, 58, 195, 92, 249, 206, 186, 197,
  234, 38, 44, 83, 13, 110, 133, 40, 132, 9, 211, 223, 205, 244, 65,
  129, 77, 82, 106, 220, 55, 200, 108, 193, 171, 250, 36, 225, 123,
  8, 12, 189, 177, 74, 120, 136, 149, 139, 227, 99, 232, 109, 233,
  203, 213, 254, 59, 0, 29, 57, 242, 239, 183, 14, 102, 88, 208, 228,
  166, 119, 114, 248, 235, 117, 75, 10, 49, 68, 80, 180, 143, 237,
  31, 26, 219, 153, 141, 51, 159, 17, 131, 20
};

static unsigned char *PADDING[] = {
  (unsigned char *)"",
  (unsigned char *)"\001",
  (unsigned char *)"\002\002",
  (unsigned char *)"\003\003\003",
  (unsigned char *)"\004\004\004\004",
  (unsigned char *)"\005\005\005\005\005",
  (unsigned char *)"\006\006\006\006\006\006",
  (unsigned char *)"\007\007\007\007\007\007\007",
  (unsigned char *)"\010\010\010\010\010\010\010\010",
  (unsigned char *)"\011\011\011\011\011\011\011\011\011",
  (unsigned char *)"\012\012\012\012\012\012\012\012\012\012",
  (unsigned char *)"\013\013\013\013\013\013\013\013\013\013\013",
  (unsigned char *)"\014\014\014\014\014\014\014\014\014\014\014\014",
  (unsigned char *)
    "\015\015\015\015\015\015\015\015\015\015\015\015\015",
  (unsigned char *)
    "\016\016\016\016\016\016\016\016\016\016\016\016\016\016",
  (unsigned char *)
    "\017\017\017\017\017\017\017\017\017\017\017\017\017\017\017",
  (unsigned char *)
    "\020\020\020\020\020\020\020\020\020\020\020\020\020\020\020\020"
};

/* MD2 initialization. Begins an MD2 operation, writing a new context.
 */
void MD2Init (context)
MD2_CTX *context;                                        /* context */
{

  context->count = 0;
  MD2_memset ((POINTER)context->state, 0, sizeof (context->state));
  MD2_memset
    ((POINTER)context->checksum, 0, sizeof (context->checksum));
}

/* MD2 block update operation. Continues an MD2 message-digest
     operation, processing another message block, and updating the
     context.
 */
void MD2Update (context, input, inputLen)
MD2_CTX *context;                                        /* context */
unsigned char *input;                                /* input block */
unsigned int inputLen;                     /* length of input block */
{
  unsigned int i, index, partLen;

  /* Update number of bytes mod 16 */
  index = context->count;
  context->count = (index + inputLen) & 0xf;

  partLen = 16 - index;

  /* Transform as many times as possible.
    */
  if (inputLen >= partLen) {
    MD2_memcpy
      ((POINTER)&context->buffer[index], (POINTER)input, partLen);
    MD2Transform (context->state, context->checksum, context->buffer);

    for (i = partLen; i + 15 < inputLen; i += 16)
      MD2Transform (context->state, context->checksum, &input[i]);

    index = 0;
  }
  else
    i = 0;

  /* Buffer remaining input */
  MD2_memcpy
    ((POINTER)&context->buffer[index], (POINTER)&input[i],
     inputLen-i);
}

/* MD2 finalization. Ends an MD2 message-digest operation, writing the
     message digest and zeroizing the context.
 */
void MD2Final (digest, context)

unsigned char digest[16];                         /* message digest */
MD2_CTX *context;                                        /* context */
{
  unsigned int index, padLen;

  /* Pad out to multiple of 16.
   */
  index = context->count;
  padLen = 16 - index;
  MD2Update (context, PADDING[padLen], padLen);

  /* Extend with checksum */
  MD2Update (context, context->checksum, 16);

  /* Store state in digest */
  MD2_memcpy ((POINTER)digest, (POINTER)context->state, 16);

  /* Zeroize sensitive information.
   */
  MD2_memset ((POINTER)context, 0, sizeof (*context));
}

/* MD2 basic transformation. Transforms state and updates checksum
     based on block.
 */
static void MD2Transform (state, checksum, block)
unsigned char state[16];
unsigned char checksum[16];
unsigned char block[16];
{
  unsigned int i, j, t;
  unsigned char x[48];

  /* Form encryption block from state, block, state ^ block.
   */
  MD2_memcpy ((POINTER)x, (POINTER)state, 16);
  MD2_memcpy ((POINTER)x+16, (POINTER)block, 16);
  for (i = 0; i < 16; i++)
    x[i+32] = state[i] ^ block[i];

  /* Encrypt block (18 rounds).
   */
  t = 0;
  for (i = 0; i < 18; i++) {
    for (j = 0; j < 48; j++)
      t = x[j] ^= PI_SUBST[t];
    t = (t + i) & 0xff;
  }
  /* Save new state */
  MD2_memcpy ((POINTER)state, (POINTER)x, 16);

  /* Update checksum.
   */
  t = checksum[15];
  for (i = 0; i < 16; i++)
    t = checksum[i] ^= PI_SUBST[block[i] ^ t];

  /* Zeroize sensitive information.
   */
  MD2_memset ((POINTER)x, 0, sizeof (x));
}

/* Note: Replace "for loop" with standard memcpy if possible.
 */
static void MD2_memcpy (output, input, len)
POINTER output;
POINTER input;
unsigned int len;
{
  unsigned int i;

  for (i = 0; i < len; i++)
    output[i] = input[i];
}

/* Note: Replace "for loop" with standard memset if possible.
 */
static void MD2_memset (output, value, len)
POINTER output;
int value;
unsigned int len;
{
  unsigned int i;

  for (i = 0; i < len; i++)
    ((char *)output)[i] = (char)value;
}

A.4 mddriver.c

/* MDDRIVER.C - test driver for MD2, MD4 and MD5
 */

/* Copyright (C) 1990-2, RSA Data Security, Inc. Created 1990. All
   rights reserved.

   RSA Data Security, Inc. makes no representations concerning either
   the merchantability of this software or the suitability of this
   software for any particular purpose. It is provided "as is"
   without express or implied warranty of any kind.

   These notices must be retained in any copies of any part of this
   documentation and/or software.
 */

/* The following makes MD default to MD5 if it has not already been
     defined with C compiler flags.
 */
#ifndef MD
#define MD MD5
#endif

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <string.h>
#include "global.h"
#if MD == 2
#include "md2.h"
#endif
#if MD == 4
#include "md4.h"
#endif
#if MD == 5
#include "md5.h"
#endif

/* Length of test block, number of test blocks.
 */
#define TEST_BLOCK_LEN 1000
#define TEST_BLOCK_COUNT 1000

static void MDString PROTO_LIST ((char *));
static void MDTimeTrial PROTO_LIST ((void));
static void MDTestSuite PROTO_LIST ((void));
static void MDFile PROTO_LIST ((char *));
static void MDFilter PROTO_LIST ((void));
static void MDPrint PROTO_LIST ((unsigned char [16]));

#if MD == 2
#define MD_CTX MD2_CTX
#define MDInit MD2Init
#define MDUpdate MD2Update
#define MDFinal MD2Final
#endif

#if MD == 4
#define MD_CTX MD4_CTX
#define MDInit MD4Init
#define MDUpdate MD4Update
#define MDFinal MD4Final
#endif
#if MD == 5
#define MD_CTX MD5_CTX
#define MDInit MD5Init
#define MDUpdate MD5Update
#define MDFinal MD5Final
#endif

/* Main driver.

   Arguments (may be any combination):
     -sstring - digests string
     -t       - runs time trial
     -x       - runs test script
     filename - digests file
     (none)   - digests standard input
 */
int main (argc, argv)
int argc;
char *argv[];
{
  int i;

  if (argc > 1)
    for (i = 1; i < argc; i++)
      if (argv[i][0] == '-' && argv[i][1] == 's')
        MDString (argv[i] + 2);
      else if (strcmp (argv[i], "-t") == 0)
        MDTimeTrial ();
      else if (strcmp (argv[i], "-x") == 0)
        MDTestSuite ();
      else
        MDFile (argv[i]);
  else
    MDFilter ();

  return (0);
}

/* Digests a string and prints the result.
 */
static void MDString (string)
char *string;

{
  MD_CTX context;
  unsigned char digest[16];
  unsigned int len = strlen (string);

  MDInit (&context);
  MDUpdate (&context, string, len);
  MDFinal (digest, &context);

  printf ("MD%d (\"%s\") = ", MD, string);
  MDPrint (digest);
  printf ("\n");
}

/* Measures the time to digest TEST_BLOCK_COUNT TEST_BLOCK_LEN-byte
     blocks.
 */
static void MDTimeTrial ()
{
  MD_CTX context;
  time_t endTime, startTime;
  unsigned char block[TEST_BLOCK_LEN], digest[16];
  unsigned int i;

  printf
    ("MD%d time trial. Digesting %d %d-byte blocks ...", MD,
     TEST_BLOCK_LEN, TEST_BLOCK_COUNT);

  /* Initialize block */
  for (i = 0; i < TEST_BLOCK_LEN; i++)
    block[i] = (unsigned char)(i & 0xff);

  /* Start timer */
  time (&startTime);

  /* Digest blocks */
  MDInit (&context);
  for (i = 0; i < TEST_BLOCK_COUNT; i++)
    MDUpdate (&context, block, TEST_BLOCK_LEN);
  MDFinal (digest, &context);

  /* Stop timer */
  time (&endTime);

  printf (" done\n");
  printf ("Digest = ");
  MDPrint (digest);
  printf ("\nTime = %ld seconds\n", (long)(endTime-startTime));

  printf
    ("Speed = %ld bytes/second\n",
     (long)TEST_BLOCK_LEN * (long)TEST_BLOCK_COUNT/(endTime-startTime));
}
/* Digests a reference suite of strings and prints the results.
 */
static void MDTestSuite ()
{
  printf ("MD%d test suite:\n", MD);

  MDString ("");
  MDString ("a");
  MDString ("abc");
  MDString ("message digest");
  MDString ("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz");
  MDString
    ("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789");
  MDString
    ("1234567890123456789012345678901234567890\
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890");
}

/* Digests a file and prints the result.
 */
static void MDFile (filename)
char *filename;
{
  FILE *file;
  MD_CTX context;
  int len;
  unsigned char buffer[1024], digest[16];

  if ((file = fopen (filename, "rb")) == NULL)
    printf ("%s can't be opened\n", filename);

  else {
    MDInit (&context);
    while (len = fread (buffer, 1, 1024, file))
      MDUpdate (&context, buffer, len);
    MDFinal (digest, &context);

    fclose (file);

    printf ("MD%d (%s) = ", MD, filename);
    MDPrint (digest);
    printf ("\n");
  }
}

/* Digests the standard input and prints the result.
 */
static void MDFilter ()
{
  MD_CTX context;
  int len;
  unsigned char buffer[16], digest[16];

  MDInit (&context);
  while (len = fread (buffer, 1, 16, stdin))
    MDUpdate (&context, buffer, len);
  MDFinal (digest, &context);

  MDPrint (digest);
  printf ("\n");
}

/* Prints a message digest in hexadecimal.
 */
static void MDPrint (digest)
unsigned char digest[16];
{
  unsigned int i;

  for (i = 0; i < 16; i++)
    printf ("%02x", digest[i]);
}

A.5 Test suite

   The MD2 test suite (driver option "-x") should print the following
   results:

MD2 test suite:
MD2 ("") = 8350e5a3e24c153df2275c9f80692773
MD2 ("a") = 32ec01ec4a6dac72c0ab96fb34c0b5d1
MD2 ("abc") = da853b0d3f88d99b30283a69e6ded6bb
MD2 ("message digest") = ab4f496bfb2a530b219ff33031fe06b0
MD2 ("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz") = 4e8ddff3650292ab5a4108c3aa47940b
MD2 ("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789") =
da33def2a42df13975352846c30338cd
MD2 ("123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
78901234567890") = d5976f79d83d3a0dc9806c3c66f3efd8

Security Considerations

   The level of security discussed in this memo is considered to be
   sufficient for implementing very high security hybrid digital
   signature schemes based on MD2 and a public-key cryptosystem.

Author's Address

   Burton S. Kaliski Jr.
   RSA Laboratories (a division of RSA Data Security, Inc.)
   10 Twin Dolphin Drive
   Redwood City, CA  94065

   Phone: (415) 595-8782
   FAX: (415) 595-4126
   EMail: burt@rsa.com

AI ELI5

On this page
PROBLEMDigital signatures require compressing large files into small fixed-length fingerprints that change if the message is altered, without revealing the original message.
MECHANISMMD2 takes a message of any length, pads it to a multiple of 16 bytes, appends a checksum, and processes the result through 18 rounds of substitution and mixing to produce a 128-bit digest.
HISTORIC STATUSMD2 produces message fingerprints but is no longer secure against collision attacks. RFC 6149 retires it, and MD5 and SHA-family algorithms should be used instead.

§1What is MD2

MD2 is a cryptographic message-digest algorithm that compresses input of any length into a 128-bit fingerprint, also called a message digest. The algorithm is designed to be efficient, simple to implement, and secure: it is conjectured to be computationally infeasible to find two different messages with the same digest, or to construct a message with a specified digest without knowing the original.

MD2 was intended for use in digital signature applications, where a large document must be compressed and then signed with a private key. The 128-bit digest provides a compact representation of the message for signing and verification.

MD2 takes any message and creates a unique 128-bit fingerprint. If you change even one letter, the fingerprint completely changes. This lets you sign documents with digital signatures.

§2Algorithm Steps

MD2 processes a message through five steps. First, the message is padded so its length becomes a multiple of 16 bytes. Padding always occurs, even if the message is already the right length, using between 1 and 16 bytes where each byte contains the value of the padding length.

Second, a 16-byte checksum is computed from the message and appended. This checksum uses a 256-byte permutation table derived from the digits of pi, which provides a non-linear substitution.

Third, a 48-byte buffer is initialized to zero to hold intermediate values. Fourth, the padded message with checksum is processed in 16-byte blocks. For each block, the algorithm performs 18 rounds of mixing where each byte of the buffer is transformed using the permutation table. Fifth, the first 16 bytes of the buffer are output as the 128-bit digest.

The algorithm adds padding, then a checksum based on a special table of numbers. It uses a 48-byte work area and runs 18 rounds of mathematical operations on each block of the message. The final 16 bytes become the fingerprint.

MD2 Algorithm Processing Steps
  • 1Padding — Extend message to multiple of 16 bytes
  • 2Checksum — Append 16-byte checksum computed from message
  • 3Initialize — Set up 48-byte buffer to all zeros
  • 4Process — Transform message blocks through 18 rounds
  • 5Output — Extract first 16 bytes as 128-bit digest

§3Practical Use

The RFC includes a complete reference implementation in C that compiles on most systems. The implementation provides functions to initialize the digest computation, process message data in blocks, and finalize the digest. The algorithm is straightforward to implement and has been widely used in privacy-enhanced email and other applications.

MD2 uses a 256-byte table of permutation values based on the digits of pi (3.14159...). This table provides a pseudorandom byte substitution that makes the algorithm more resistant to cryptanalysis than would be possible with simpler operations.

Programmers can implement MD2 using C code. It uses a special 256-byte table of numbers that comes from the digits of pi. This makes the algorithm harder for attackers to break.

§4Security and Status

When MD2 was published in 1992, it was believed to offer sufficient security for high-security digital signature schemes. However, it is now known to have weaknesses. Cryptanalysts have found flaws that make it feasible to find collisions (two messages with the same digest) or forged messages.

MD2 is marked as Historic and should not be used for new security applications. RFC 6149 retires MD2 and recommends using stronger cryptographic hash functions from the SHA family (SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512) or other modern algorithms.

The algorithm's design is less robust than later algorithms like MD5 or SHA. The fixed digest size of 128 bits also provides less security margin than larger digests offered by newer algorithms.

MD2 was secure when it was invented, but cryptographers found ways to break it. It is now historic and should never be used for new work. Newer algorithms like SHA are much more secure.

§5References