Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-computer-science-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/computer-security/3/e/iii/solution
Past exam of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2015 Computer security 3 e iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Choose any candidate digital signature , compute , and invoke the granted algorithm to find with . Output . Every chosen now leads to a valid message, with no need to search for a digest on which inversion happens to work.
This is stronger coverage than the generic failure discussed in solution, but it does not by itself give a universal forgery. For a target message fixed beforehand, the adversary needs satisfying , which inverts the trapdoor map . Inverting instead produces some message for a chosen digest and does not compute that .
Nor does an arbitrary preimage algorithm necessarily produce a message different from when invoked on : it may return itself. Thus a universal forgery under a chosen-message signature attack needs an additional alternative-preimage guarantee, precisely the distinction supplied in solution.
New to topics? Read the docs here!