RFC 1319 HISTORIC CRYPTOGRAPHY · HASH FUNCTIONS · SIGNATURES

The MD2 Message-Digest Algorithm

The 1992 hash function that turns 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
WORKING BUFFER
48 bytes
ROUNDS PER BLOCK
18
PERMUTATION TABLE
256 bytes, from the digits of pi
PADDING
1 to 16 bytes, always added
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

ISO Plain Language

On this page
PROBLEMDigital signature schemes need a way to compress a large message, of any length, into a short fixed-size value that changes completely when the message changes, so a private key can sign the short value instead of the whole message.
MECHANISMMD2 pads the message to a multiple of 16 bytes, appends a 16-byte checksum built from a permutation table derived from the digits of pi, then runs each 16-byte block through 18 rounds of byte substitution and mixing in a 48-byte buffer, outputting the first 16 bytes as the digest.
STATUS TODAYThe RFC is Historic and has been obsoleted by RFC 6149; its own text calls the design new in 1992 and says further security analysis was justified.

§1What MD2 Is For

MD2 is a message-digest algorithm: it takes a message of arbitrary length and produces a 128-bit fingerprint, also called a message digest. The RFC states the design goal in the usual terms for such functions: it is conjectured to be computationally infeasible either to produce two messages with the same digest, or to produce any message that has a given, prechosen digest.

The intended use is digital signature applications. There a large file must be compressed in a secure manner before it is signed with a private key under a public-key cryptosystem such as RSA. License to use MD2 is granted for non-commercial Internet Privacy-Enhanced Mail.

RFC 1319 updates the August 1989 RFC 1115, which also contained a reference implementation. The main differences are that RFC 1319 adds a textual description of the algorithm and a more portable reference implementation. For OSI-based applications the RFC gives the algorithm's object identifier, md2 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= {iso(1) member-body(2) US(840) rsadsi(113549) digestAlgorithm(2) 2}, and says that in the X.509 AlgorithmIdentifier the parameters for MD2 should have type NULL.

MD2 compresses any message into a 128-bit fingerprint that can be signed with a private key. The document defines the algorithm, its identifier for directory systems, and a portable reference implementation.

§3The Five Steps of MD2

Take a message of b bytes, written as m_0 m_1 ... m_{b-1}, where b may be zero or arbitrarily large. Computing its digest takes five steps.

Step 1, append padding bytes. Extend the message so its length in bytes is a multiple of 16. Padding is always performed, even when the length already divides by 16: append i bytes of value i until the length is right, so at least one byte and at most 16 bytes are added. Call the result M[0 ... N-1], with N a multiple of 16.

Step 2, append checksum. Compute a 16-byte checksum C of the message and append it. The checksum uses a 256-byte permutation table S, constructed from the digits of pi, as a non-linear byte substitution. Starting with the checksum cleared and a carry byte L set to zero, each byte c of the message in turn is replaced by S[c xor L], and the new value becomes the next L, chaining through all 16 bytes of each block in order. The checksum is appended, giving a new length N' = N + 16.

Step 3, initialize the MD buffer. A 48-byte buffer X holds the running state and is initialized to zero.

Step 4, process the message in 16-byte blocks. For each block, copy it into X[16 ... 31], and fill X[32 ... 47] with the block exclusive-ored with the current state X[0 ... 15]. Then do 18 rounds. In each round every byte of the 48-byte buffer is exclusive-ored in turn with S entries selected by a running table index t, and after each round t advances by the round number, taken modulo 256.

Step 5, output. The message digest is the first 16 bytes of the buffer, X[0 ... 15].

The RFC's summary puts the security on numbers: the difficulty of finding two messages with the same digest is conjectured to be on the order of 2^64 operations, and the difficulty of finding any message with a given digest on the order of 2^128 operations.

The message is padded to a multiple of 16 bytes, then given a 16-byte checksum made from a table of numbers taken from the digits of pi. A 48-byte work area mixes each 16-byte block in 18 rounds, and its first 16 bytes are the fingerprint.

THE FIVE STEPS OF MD2 (RFC 1319)
  • 1Append padding — Extend the message to a multiple of 16 bytes with 1 to 16 padding bytes.
  • 2Append checksum — Add a 16-byte checksum computed through the 256-byte pi-derived permutation table.
  • 3Initialize buffer — Set a 48-byte working buffer to zero.
  • 4Process blocks — Mix each 16-byte block into the buffer in 18 rounds of byte substitutions.
  • 5Output — The first 16 bytes of the buffer are the message digest.

§4Reference Implementation and Test Suite

The appendix reproduces a reference implementation in C, taken from RSAREF, a cryptographic toolkit for Privacy-Enhanced Mail: a header file defining the MD2 context, with a 16-byte state, a 16-byte checksum, a byte count modulo 16 and a 16-byte input buffer, and the MD2 source itself with MD2Init, MD2Update and MD2Final as the entry points.

A test driver accompanies the implementation. It digests strings, times a run over 1000 blocks of 1000 bytes, digests a file or standard input, and can run a fixed test suite. The RFC prints the expected results of that suite, so any implementation can be checked against them, for example MD2("") = 8350e5a3e24c153df2275c9f80692773 and MD2("abc") = da853b0d3f88d99b30283a69e6ded6bb. The driver compiles for MD5 by default and for MD2 or MD4 when the MD symbol is set on the compiler command line.

The RFC ships working C code and a list of known-good outputs for sample inputs, so a new implementation can prove it behaves the same way.

EXCERPT OF THE MD2 TEST SUITE (RFC 1319)
MD2 test suite results
MD2 ("") = 8350e5a3e24c153df2275c9f80692773
MD2 ("a") = 32ec01ec4a6dac72c0ab96fb34c0b5d1
MD2 ("abc") = da853b0d3f88d99b30283a69e6ded6bb
MD2 ("message digest") = ab4f496bfb2a530b219ff33031fe06b0
MD2 ("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz") = 4e8ddff3650292ab5a4108c3aa47940b

§5Security Claim and Current Status

The RFC's own security assessment is brief: the level of security discussed is considered sufficient for implementing very high security hybrid digital signature schemes based on MD2 and a public-key cryptosystem. It also notes in the summary that MD2 had been carefully scrutinized for weaknesses, but was a relatively new algorithm, so further security analysis was justified, as with any new proposal of this sort.

RFC 1319 is an Informational memo that is now Historic, and RFC 6149 obsoletes it. That status, from the registry metadata, marks MD2 as no longer the specification to follow for new work.

In 1992 the authors considered MD2 strong enough for high-security signature systems, while noting that any new algorithm deserves more analysis. The RFC is now Historic, replaced by RFC 6149.

§5References