{"paper":{"title":"Analyzing Linear Layers in Related-Differential Cryptanalysis","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":[],"primary_cat":"cs.CR","authors_text":"Akshay Ankush Yadav, Susanta Samanta, Yogesh Kumar","submitted_at":"2026-05-26T18:07:27Z","abstract_excerpt":"In AES-like ciphers, diffusion layers are commonly instantiated using MDS matrices, since their optimal branch number yields strong diffusion guarantees and underpins classical resistance arguments against differential and linear cryptanalysis. However, Daemen and Rijmen (2009) showed that linear layers may still exhibit related-differential structure beyond what the MDS criterion captures, and Bardeh and Rijmen (2022) demonstrated that this phenomenon can be exploited in attacks on reduced-round AES. In this work, we systematically investigate the conditions under which linear layers avoid or"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2605.27535","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2605.27535/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}