Crypto: ML-DSA

The ML-DSA sample demonstrates how to use the PSA Crypto API to verify a message signature using the ML-DSA-65 post-quantum signature algorithm.

Requirements

The sample supports the following development kits:

Hardware platforms

PCA

Board name

Board target

nRF54LV10 DK

PCA10188

nrf54lv10dk

nrf54lv10dk/nrf54lv10a/cpuapp

nRF54LM20 DK

PCA10184

nrf54lm20dk

nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20b/cpuapp nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20a/cpuapp

nRF54L15 DK

PCA10156

nrf54l15dk

nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp

nRF54L15 DK (emulating nRF54L10)

PCA10156

nrf54l15dk

nrf54l15dk/nrf54l10/cpuapp

nRF54L15 DK (emulating nRF54L05)

PCA10156

nrf54l15dk

nrf54l15dk/nrf54l05/cpuapp

Overview

The sample enables PSA Crypto API and configures the following Kconfig options for the cryptographic features:

Once built and run, the sample performs the following operations:

  1. Initialization:

    1. The PSA Crypto API is initialized using the psa_crypto_init() function.

    2. A known ML-DSA-65 public key is imported using the psa_import_key() function. The public key is configured with usage flags for verification. The public key, the message, and the signature used in this sample are taken from a NIST ACVP ML-DSA signature verification test vector.

  2. ML-DSA signature verification:

    The signature is verified using the psa_verify_message() function with the imported public key.

  3. Cleanup:

    The public key is removed from the PSA crypto keystore using the psa_destroy_key() function.

Building and running

This sample can be found under samples/crypto/ml_dsa in the nRF Connect SDK folder structure.

To build the sample, follow the instructions in Building an application for your preferred building environment. See also Programming an application for programming steps and Testing and optimization for general information about testing and debugging in the nRF Connect SDK.

Note

When building repository applications in the SDK repositories, building with sysbuild is enabled by default. If you work with out-of-tree freestanding applications, you need to manually pass the --sysbuild parameter to every build command or configure west to always use it.

Testing

After programming the sample to your development kit, complete the following steps to test it:

  1. Connect to the kit with a terminal emulator (for example, the Serial Terminal app). See Testing and optimization for the required settings and steps.

  2. Build and program the application.

  3. Observe the logs from the application using the terminal emulator. For example, the log output should look like this:

*** Booting nRF Connect SDK v3.4.99-baaa74699d09 ***
*** Using Zephyr OS v4.4.0-bc35f6fe0b34 ***
[00:00:00.003,144] <inf> ml_dsa: Starting ML-DSA example...
[00:00:00.003,152] <inf> ml_dsa: Importing an ML-DSA-65 public key...
[00:00:00.003,368] <inf> ml_dsa: ML-DSA-65 public key imported successfully!
[00:00:00.003,383] <inf> ml_dsa: ---- ML-DSA-65 public key (total len: 1952, printing 16 bytes): ----
[00:00:00.003,393] <inf> ml_dsa: Content:
                                 91 52 c0 c6 86 77 60 8f  42 6f b1 6f 8f 75 f7 6c |.R...w`. Bo.o.u.l
[00:00:00.003,403] <inf> ml_dsa: ---- ML-DSA-65 public key end  ----
[00:00:00.003,409] <inf> ml_dsa: Verifying the ML-DSA signature...
[00:00:00.138,565] <inf> ml_dsa: ---- Message (total len: 1554, printing 16 bytes): ----
[00:00:00.138,578] <inf> ml_dsa: Content:
                                 88 45 ad 39 4b ce 60 b2  84 76 b2 13 99 b0 d4 72 |.E.9K.`. .v.....r
[00:00:00.138,588] <inf> ml_dsa: ---- Message end  ----
[00:00:00.138,597] <inf> ml_dsa: ---- Signature (total len: 3309, printing 16 bytes): ----
[00:00:00.138,606] <inf> ml_dsa: Content:
                                 6e 8c 4b 20 61 c2 cd f2  71 54 bf 70 85 f6 3c b1 |n.K a... qT.p..<.
[00:00:00.138,615] <inf> ml_dsa: ---- Signature end  ----
[00:00:00.138,620] <inf> ml_dsa: Signature verification was successful!
[00:00:00.138,730] <inf> ml_dsa: Example finished successfully!