Systematic Cryptanalysis of PUF-Based Authentication Protocols for IoT, A Case Study

Almost all IoT applications require secure user authentication protocols. Due to the limitations of most IoT devices and the possibility of physical attacks, lightweight authentication protocols based on Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) are widely used. To design an efficient scheme, it is helpful to learn weaknesses of existing protocols and provide guidelines for future protocol designers. In this letter, using a formal framework, we discuss the vulnerabilities of a recent PUF-based protocol proposed by Gope et al. We prove our claims concerning protocol vulnerabilities in this framework according to propositional logic. Moreover, we suggest countermeasures for improving the protocol’s security.