{"id":5312,"date":"2025-06-17T06:56:03","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T06:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/signmycode.com\/blog\/?p=5312"},"modified":"2025-06-17T06:56:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T06:56:04","slug":"aws-kms-embraces-the-quantum-era-with-ml-dsa-digital-signature-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/signmycode.com\/blog\/aws-kms-embraces-the-quantum-era-with-ml-dsa-digital-signature-support","title":{"rendered":"AWS KMS Embraces the Quantum Era with ML-DSA Digital Signature Support"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As quantum computing creeps closer, the cryptographic mechanisms on which today’s digital world relies are becoming more and more fragile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a prescient move, AWS Key Management Service (KMS)<\/a> now supports ML-DSA, one of the first post-quantum digital signatures, which has become a standard under FIPS 203.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an important step in AWS’s broader efforts to prepare customers for the post-quantum secure future. To protect against quantum attacks, Google uses two NIST-accepted PQC algorithms in Cloud KMS<\/a><\/strong>. One is the ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204), which is a lattice-based digital signature algorithm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other is SLH-DSA-SHA2-128S (FIPS 205), a stateless hash-based signature algorithm. These algorithms feature a quantum-attack-resistant mechanism for signing and verifying data, allowing organizations to continue using secure encryption even against powerful quantum attackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Leap Toward Quantum-Resistant Cryptography<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ML-DSA, or Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm, is one of the few standards approved by NIST for its robustness against quantum attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike traditional algorithms that can be broken by quantum computers (e.g., RSA or ECC), lattice-based algorithms like ML-DSA help protect your mechanisms against such risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is particularly relevant to sectors with embedded cryptographic signatures in firmware, such as IoT or long-lived hardware systems, where the signatures are baked in at production, with limited or no ability to apply updates afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, it is now critical to ensure that these signatures remain valid and secure in a future ecosystem with quantum computing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s New in AWS KMS?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AWS KMS has released three new key specs: ML_DSA_44, ML_DSA_65, and ML_DSA_87<\/strong>, which you can use with the new SigningAlgorithm ML_DSA_SHAKE_256, which is post-quantum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wanted to quickly highlight that, like the other signing algorithms, this name includes the hash function that is used in the signature scheme to digest messages before signing or verification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This hash function is SHAKE256, which is part of the SHA-3 family of hash functions that has become standardized and approved by NIST as part of FIPS 202.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table below provides the specifics on these key specs, their NIST security categories, and their key sizes in bytes. Each of the ML-DSA key specs represents a compromise between security strength and resource needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example<\/strong>, ML-DSA-44 is sufficient for applications that have security objectives that are similar to classical 128-bit encryption, and ML-DSA-65 and ML-DSA-87 provide stronger performance that have classical 192-bit and 256-bit encryption security strength, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you increase security strength, you will see increases in key and signature sizes, so you can select the key spec that matches your security objectives and engineering limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Spec<\/strong><\/td>Security Level (NIST)<\/strong><\/td>Public Key (Bytes)<\/strong><\/td>Private Key (Bytes)<\/strong><\/td>Signature Size (Bytes)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
ML_DSA_44<\/td>Level 1 (128-bit)<\/td>1312<\/td>2560<\/td>2420<\/td><\/tr>
ML_DSA_65<\/td>Level 3 (192-bit)<\/td>1952<\/td>4032<\/td>3309<\/td><\/tr>
ML_DSA_87<\/td>Level 5 (256-bit)<\/td>2592<\/td>4896<\/td>4627<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With AWS KMS Sign API, when using a RAW MessageType, the message to be signed is limited to 4096 bytes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For message inputs that are larger than 4096 bytes, the message must first be pre-processed, outside of the AWS KMS system, into what is known as \u00b5 (mu)<\/strong> to produce a smaller size message for the KMS Sign API.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This mu<\/strong> process will pre-digest the message, requiring only the public key of the ML-DSA signing key pair before generating a message with a size of 64 bytes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To support this launch, Amazon added a message type called EXTERNAL_MU<\/strong>, which can be used in either ML-DSA signing or verification calls, to identify when a message has gone through pre-processing that used \u00b5 (mu)<\/strong> before being submitted to AWS KMS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Availability and Use Cases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ML-DSA feature is currently available in the AWS US West (N. California) and Europe (Milan) regions, with a wider commercial roll-out to follow in the coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature is particularly useful to manufacturers of firmware and hardware who embed cryptographic roots of trust during manufacturing, and cannot update them after implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also useful to software developers and enterprises signing applications or documents that require long-term validity, and organisations that are preparing for compliance with post-quantum cryptographic standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, by supporting ML-DSA, AWS KMS opens the door to these use cases, believing that the signature integrity will carry far into the quantum future, without having to completely revamp their infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The addition of ML-DSA support to AWS KMS is evidence of AWS’s ongoing leadership in readiness for a post-quantum future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this release, organisations are now able to begin deploying and testing quantum-resistant cryptographic solutions using their trusted tools and APIs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This represents an important milestone for any party interested in securing their sensitive digital assets for the foreseeable future, now and even well beyond current cryptographic threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As quantum computing creeps closer, the cryptographic mechanisms on which today’s digital world relies are becoming more and more fragile. In a prescient move, AWS Key Management Service (KMS) now supports ML-DSA, one of the first post-quantum digital signatures, which has become a standard under FIPS 203. This is an important step in AWS’s broader… Read More AWS KMS Embraces the Quantum Era with ML-DSA Digital Signature Support<\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,457],"tags":[844,845],"class_list":["post-5312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-code-signing-updates","category-developers-guide","tag-aws-post-quantum-cryptography","tag-post-quantum-digital-signatures","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nAWS KMS Embraces the Quantum Era with ML-DSA Support<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"AWS KMS just announced support for post-quantum ML-DSA signatures (FIPS 204). 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