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7.3
The exchange with a composite modulus
The exchange follows the same commitment, challenge and response shape, with the composite arithmetic behind it. The verifier has to check the response against the right base and modulus, and a mismatch between the two is silent unless the test proves otherwise.
- What it asks
- Record the base and modulus the verifier uses, and show they match the ones the claimant used. Test a response computed under a different base, a replayed challenge and a wrong key, and keep the outputs with the release record.
- What the revision does
- The fourth edition will restate the exchange. No public copy of the new sequence exists yet. The 2009 wording is therefore superseded at publication.
- Who it binds
- The implementer and the tester.
- Evidence an auditor samples
- The exchange sequence with the base and modulus named (interface specification)
- The verifier configuration that pins both (configuration management database)
- The three negative tests and their outputs (test report)
- The test you can run
- Change the base in the verifier configuration and run the positive test. If it still passes, the base is not pinned.
- Common failures
- The verifier reads the base from the claimant message.
- The modulus is shared but the base is per deployment, with no record.
- How to close it
- Pin both values and test the pin by changing one. A verifier that accepts the claimant arithmetic context has no way to know which mechanism it is running. The artefact that opens the work is the exchange sequence with the base and modulus named; the row is only closed when that artefact is dated and has a person against it.
- Where it sits against the 2009 edition
- 7.3 is a 2009 clause that the revision replaces. For 7.3, the 2009 obligation is the one to evidence until publication; after it, this row is rebuilt against the published text.
For the file, this row closes when the exchange sequence with the base and modulus named exists with a date, a named holder and a pointer, and when the test above has been run and recorded. The implementer and the tester. owns that answer for 7.3.