draft-ietf-hpke-pq

Post-Quantum and Post-Quantum/Traditional Hybrid Algorithms for HPKE

streamIETF grouphpke stateactive pages70 rev04 expires2026-09-03 canonicalhttps://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-hpke-pq/
Updating key exchange and public-key encryption protocols to resist attack by quantum computers is a high priority given the possibility of "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks. Hybrid Public Key Encryption (HPKE) is a widely-used public key encryption scheme based on combining a Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM), a Key Derivation Function (KDF), and an Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data (AEAD) scheme. In this document, we define KEM algorithms for HPKE based on both post-quantum KEMs and hybrid constructions of post- quantum KEMs with traditional KEMs, as well as a KDF based on SHA-3 that is suitable for use with these KEMs. When used with these algorithms, HPKE is resilient with respect to attacks by a quantum computer.