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Open AccessArticle
Verifiable Multi-Authority Attribute-Based Encryption with Keyword Search Based on MLWE
by
Saba Karimani
Saba Karimani 1 and
Taraneh Eghlidos
Taraneh Eghlidos 2,*
1
Department of Electrical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 14588-89694, Iran
2
Electronics Research Institute, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 14588-89694, Iran
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cryptography 2025, 9(4), 76; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography9040076 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 18 October 2025
/
Revised: 18 November 2025
/
Accepted: 24 November 2025
/
Published: 28 November 2025
Abstract
Searchable Encryption (SE) schemes enable data users to securely search over outsourced encrypted data stored in the cloud. To support fine-grained access control, Attribute-Based Encryption with Keyword Search (ABKS) extends SE by associating access policies with user attributes. However, existing ABKS schemes often suffer from limited security and functionality, such as lack of verifiability, vulnerability to collusion, and insider keyword-guessing attacks (IKGA), or inefficiency in multi-authority and post-quantum settings, restricting their practical deployment in real-world distributed systems. In this paper, we propose a verifiable ciphertext-policy multi-authority ABKS (MA-CP-ABKS) scheme based on the Module Learning with Errors (MLWE) problem, which provides post-quantum security, verifiability, and resistance to both collusion and IKGA. Moreover, the proposed scheme supports multi-keyword searchability and forward security, enabling secure and efficient keyword search in dynamic environments. We formally prove the correctness, verifiability, completeness, and security of the scheme under the MLWE assumption against selective chosen-keyword attacks (SCKA) in the standard model and IKGA in the random oracle model. The scheme also maintains efficient computation and manageable communication overhead. Implementation results confirm its practical performance, demonstrating that the proposed MA-CP-ABKS scheme offers a secure, verifiable, and efficient solution for multi-organizational cloud environments.
Share and Cite
MDPI and ACS Style
Karimani, S.; Eghlidos, T.
Verifiable Multi-Authority Attribute-Based Encryption with Keyword Search Based on MLWE. Cryptography 2025, 9, 76.
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography9040076
AMA Style
Karimani S, Eghlidos T.
Verifiable Multi-Authority Attribute-Based Encryption with Keyword Search Based on MLWE. Cryptography. 2025; 9(4):76.
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography9040076
Chicago/Turabian Style
Karimani, Saba, and Taraneh Eghlidos.
2025. "Verifiable Multi-Authority Attribute-Based Encryption with Keyword Search Based on MLWE" Cryptography 9, no. 4: 76.
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography9040076
APA Style
Karimani, S., & Eghlidos, T.
(2025). Verifiable Multi-Authority Attribute-Based Encryption with Keyword Search Based on MLWE. Cryptography, 9(4), 76.
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography9040076
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