HMAC Test Cases: Test Cases for HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-SHA-1
Answer key to verify implementations of HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-SHA-1.
Cheng, P. and R. Glenn, "Test Cases for HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-SHA-1", RFC 2202, DOI 10.17487/RFC2202, September 1997, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2202>.
@misc{rfc2202,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 2202,
howpublished = {RFC 2202},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC2202},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2202},
author = {P. Cheng and R. Glenn},
title = {{Test Cases for HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-SHA-1}},
pagetotal = 9,
year = 1997,
month = sep,
} RFC text
Contents
Network Working Group P. Cheng
Request for Comments: 2202 IBM
Category: Informational R. Glenn
NIST
September 1997
Test Cases for HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-SHA-1
Status of This Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo
does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of
this memo is unlimited.
Abstract
This document provides two sets of test cases for HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-
SHA-1, respectively. HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-SHA-1 are two constructs of
the HMAC [HMAC] message authentication function using the MD5 [MD5]
hash function and the SHA-1 [SHA] hash function. Both constructs are
used by IPSEC [OG,CG] and other protocols to authenticate messages.
The test cases and results provided in this document are meant to be
used as a conformance test for HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-SHA-1
implementations.
1. Introduction
The general method for constructing a HMAC message authentication
function using a particular hash function is described in section 2
of [HMAC]. We will not repeat the description here. Section 5 of
[HMAC] also discusses truncating the output of HMAC; the rule is that
we should keep the more significant bits (the bits in the left,
assuming a network byte order (big-endian)).
In sections 2 and 3 we provide test cases for HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-SHA-
1, respectively. Each case includes the key, the data, and the
result. The values of keys and data are either hexadecimal numbers
(prefixed by "0x") or ASCII character strings in double quotes. If a
value is an ASCII character string, then the HMAC computation for the
corresponding test case DOES NOT include the trailing null character
('\0') in the string.
The C source code of the functions used to generate HMAC-SHA-1
results is listed in the Appendix. Note that these functions are
meant to be simple and easy to understand; they are not optimized in
any way. The C source code for computing HMAC-MD5 can be found in
[MD5]; or you can do a simple modification to HMAC-SHA-1 code to get
HMAC-MD5 code, as explained in the Appendix.
The test cases in this document are cross-verified by three
independent implementations, one from NIST and two from IBM Research.
One IBM implementation uses optimized code that is very different
from the code in the Appendix. An implemenation that concurs with the
results provided in this document should be interoperable with other
similar implemenations. We do not claim that such an implementation
is absolutely correct with respect to the HMAC definition in [HMAC].
2. Test Cases for HMAC-MD5
test_case = 1
key = 0x0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b
key_len = 16
data = "Hi There"
data_len = 8
digest = 0x9294727a3638bb1c13f48ef8158bfc9d
test_case = 2
key = "Jefe"
key_len = 4
data = "what do ya want for nothing?"
data_len = 28
digest = 0x750c783e6ab0b503eaa86e310a5db738
test_case = 3
key = 0xaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
key_len 16
data = 0xdd repeated 50 times
data_len = 50
digest = 0x56be34521d144c88dbb8c733f0e8b3f6
test_case = 4
key = 0x0102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f10111213141516171819
key_len 25
data = 0xcd repeated 50 times
data_len = 50
digest = 0x697eaf0aca3a3aea3a75164746ffaa79
test_case = 5
key = 0x0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c
key_len = 16
data = "Test With Truncation"
data_len = 20
digest = 0x56461ef2342edc00f9bab995690efd4c
digest-96 0x56461ef2342edc00f9bab995
test_case = 6
key = 0xaa repeated 80 times
key_len = 80
data = "Test Using Larger Than Block-Size Key - Hash Key First"
data_len = 54
digest = 0x6b1ab7fe4bd7bf8f0b62e6ce61b9d0cd
test_case = 7
key = 0xaa repeated 80 times
key_len = 80
data = "Test Using Larger Than Block-Size Key and Larger
Than One Block-Size Data"
data_len = 73
digest = 0x6f630fad67cda0ee1fb1f562db3aa53e
3. Test Cases for HMAC-SHA-1
test_case = 1
key = 0x0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b0b
key_len = 20
data = "Hi There"
data_len = 8
digest = 0xb617318655057264e28bc0b6fb378c8ef146be00
test_case = 2
key = "Jefe"
key_len = 4
data = "what do ya want for nothing?"
data_len = 28
digest = 0xeffcdf6ae5eb2fa2d27416d5f184df9c259a7c79
test_case = 3
key = 0xaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
key_len = 20
data = 0xdd repeated 50 times
data_len = 50
digest = 0x125d7342b9ac11cd91a39af48aa17b4f63f175d3
test_case = 4
key = 0x0102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f10111213141516171819
key_len = 25
data = 0xcd repeated 50 times
data_len = 50
digest = 0x4c9007f4026250c6bc8414f9bf50c86c2d7235da
test_case = 5
key = 0x0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c0c
key_len = 20
data = "Test With Truncation"
data_len = 20
digest = 0x4c1a03424b55e07fe7f27be1d58bb9324a9a5a04
digest-96 = 0x4c1a03424b55e07fe7f27be1
test_case = 6
key = 0xaa repeated 80 times
key_len = 80
data = "Test Using Larger Than Block-Size Key - Hash Key First"
data_len = 54
digest = 0xaa4ae5e15272d00e95705637ce8a3b55ed402112
test_case = 7
key = 0xaa repeated 80 times
key_len = 80
data = "Test Using Larger Than Block-Size Key and Larger
Than One Block-Size Data"
data_len = 73
digest = 0xe8e99d0f45237d786d6bbaa7965c7808bbff1a91
data_len = 20
digest = 0x4c1a03424b55e07fe7f27be1d58bb9324a9a5a04
digest-96 = 0x4c1a03424b55e07fe7f27be1
test_case = 6
key = 0xaa repeated 80 times
key_len = 80
data = "Test Using Larger Than Block-Size Key - Hash Key
First"
data_len = 54
digest = 0xaa4ae5e15272d00e95705637ce8a3b55ed402112
test_case = 7
key = 0xaa repeated 80 times
key_len = 80
data = "Test Using Larger Than Block-Size Key and Larger
Than One Block-Size Data"
data_len = 73
digest = 0xe8e99d0f45237d786d6bbaa7965c7808bbff1a91
4. Security Considerations
This docuemnt raises no security issues. Discussion on the strength
of the HMAC construction can be found in [HMAC].
References
[HMAC] Krawczyk, H., Bellare, M., and R. Canetti,
"HMAC: Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication",
RFC 2104, February 1997.
[MD5] Rivest, R., "The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm",
RFC 1321, April 1992.
[SHA] NIST, FIPS PUB 180-1: Secure Hash Standard, April 1995.
[OG] Oehler, M., and R. Glenn,
"HMAC-MD5 IP Authentication with Replay Prevention",
RFC 2085, February 1997.
[CG] Chang, S., and R. Glenn,
"HMAC-SHA IP Authentication with Replay Prevention",
Work in Progress.
Authors' Addresses
Pau-Chen Cheng
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
P.O.Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
EMail: pau@watson.ibm.com
Robert Glenn
NIST
Building 820, Room 455
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
EMail: rob.glenn@nist.gov
Appendix
This appendix contains the C reference code which implements HMAC-
SHA-1 using an existing SHA-1 library. It assumes that the SHA-1
library has similar API's as those of the MD5 code described in RFC
1321. The code for HMAC-MD5 is similar, just replace the strings
"SHA" and "sha" with "MD5" and "md5". HMAC-MD5 code is also listed in
RFC 2104.
#ifndef SHA_DIGESTSIZE
#define SHA_DIGESTSIZE 20
#endif
#ifndef SHA_BLOCKSIZE
#define SHA_BLOCKSIZE 64
#endif
#ifndef MD5_DIGESTSIZE
#define MD5_DIGESTSIZE 16
#endif
#ifndef MD5_BLOCKSIZE
#define MD5_BLOCKSIZE 64
#endif
/* Function to print the digest */
void
pr_sha(FILE* fp, char* s, int t)
{
int i ;
fprintf(fp, "0x") ;
for (i = 0 ; i < t ; i++)
fprintf(fp, "%02x", s[i]) ;
fprintf(fp, "0) ;
}
void truncate
(
char* d1, /* data to be truncated */
char* d2, /* truncated data */
int len /* length in bytes to keep */
)
{
int i ;
for (i = 0 ; i < len ; i++) d2[i] = d1[i];
}
/* Function to compute the digest */
void
hmac_sha
(
char* k, /* secret key */
int lk, /* length of the key in bytes */
char* d, /* data */
int ld, /* length of data in bytes */
char* out, /* output buffer, at least "t" bytes */
int t
)
{
SHA_CTX ictx, octx ;
char isha[SHA_DIGESTSIZE], osha[SHA_DIGESTSIZE] ;
char key[SHA_DIGESTSIZE] ;
char buf[SHA_BLOCKSIZE] ;
int i ;
if (lk > SHA_BLOCKSIZE) {
SHA_CTX tctx ;
SHAInit(&tctx) ;
SHAUpdate(&tctx, k, lk) ;
SHAFinal(key, &tctx) ;
k = key ;
lk = SHA_DIGESTSIZE ;
}
/**** Inner Digest ****/
SHAInit(&ictx) ;
/* Pad the key for inner digest */
for (i = 0 ; i < lk ; ++i) buf[i] = k[i] ^ 0x36 ;
for (i = lk ; i < SHA_BLOCKSIZE ; ++i) buf[i] = 0x36 ;
SHAUpdate(&ictx, buf, SHA_BLOCKSIZE) ;
SHAUpdate(&ictx, d, ld) ;
SHAFinal(isha, &ictx) ;
/**** Outter Digest ****/
SHAInit(&octx) ;
/* Pad the key for outter digest */
for (i = 0 ; i < lk ; ++i) buf[i] = k[i] ^ 0x5C ;
for (i = lk ; i < SHA_BLOCKSIZE ; ++i) buf[i] = 0x5C ;
SHAUpdate(&octx, buf, SHA_BLOCKSIZE) ;
SHAUpdate(&octx, isha, SHA_DIGESTSIZE) ;
SHAFinal(osha, &octx) ;
/* truncate and print the results */
t = t > SHA_DIGESTSIZE ? SHA_DIGESTSIZE : t ;
truncate(osha, out, t) ;
pr_sha(stdout, out, t) ;
}
AI ELI5
On this page
§1What This Document Is
RFC 2202 provides test cases for verifying the correctness of HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-SHA-1 implementations. HMAC (Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication) is a construction method that builds message authentication codes using existing hash functions. HMAC-MD5 uses the MD5 hash function, while HMAC-SHA-1 uses the SHA-1 hash function. Both constructs are used by IPsec and other protocols to authenticate messages and verify they have not been altered in transit.
The test cases are cross-verified by independent implementations from NIST and IBM Research, ensuring an implementation that produces matching results should be interoperable with other similar implementations.
HMAC is a method for using a secret password to create a unique fingerprint of a message. This document gives examples you can use to check if your fingerprint method is working correctly.
§2How to Use the Test Cases
Each test case specifies a key (in hexadecimal or as an ASCII string), the data to authenticate, and the expected digest (checksum). To use these test cases, implement HMAC according to the HMAC specification, run it with the test key and data, and verify the output matches the expected digest. If all test cases pass, the implementation is likely correct.
The test case values are given in hexadecimal notation (prefixed by 0x) or as ASCII character strings in double quotes. If a value is an ASCII string, HMAC computation does not include the trailing null character. Some test cases also provide a truncated digest output, showing how to keep only the more significant (leftmost) bits when a shorter authentication code is needed.
For each test case, you write the key and message into your program, let it calculate, and check if you get the same answer shown in the test case.
§3HMAC-MD5 Test Cases
RFC 2202 provides seven test cases for HMAC-MD5. Test case 1 uses a 16-byte key and the 8-byte message "Hi There", expecting the digest 0x9294727a3638bb1c13f48ef8158bfc9d. Test case 2 uses a 4-byte ASCII key "Jefe" with a longer message. Test case 3 uses a 16-byte key of repeated bytes with data repeated 50 times. Test cases 4 through 7 provide additional test inputs with various key and data lengths, including one case (case 5) that demonstrates digest truncation to 96 bits.
All HMAC-MD5 digests are 16 bytes (128 bits) when not truncated, as MD5 produces a 128-bit hash output.
The test cases show different situations: short messages, long messages, short keys, long keys, and cases where you only keep part of the answer. Your implementation should handle all of these correctly.
§4HMAC-SHA-1 Test Cases
Seven parallel test cases for HMAC-SHA-1 are provided, mirroring the structure of the HMAC-MD5 test cases. Test case 1 uses a 20-byte key with "Hi There", expecting the digest 0xb617318655057264e28bc0b6fb378c8ef146be00. The test cases cover similar scenarios to HMAC-MD5: short and long messages, short and long keys, and truncation examples (case 5 shows truncation to 96 bits).
All HMAC-SHA-1 digests are 20 bytes (160 bits) when not truncated, since SHA-1 produces a 160-bit hash output.
HMAC-SHA-1 is very similar to HMAC-MD5 but uses a different underlying hash function. The test cases follow the same pattern but produce longer answers because SHA-1 is larger than MD5.