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Digital Signature

UOV

Unbalanced Oil and Vinegar Signatures

non-FIPSmultivariate1 parameter setsQNSP tier: default+provider: liboqsalso called: Oil-and-Vinegar
Multivariate signature scheme based on the Unbalanced Oil and Vinegar (UOV) construction, one of the longest-studied multivariate schemes.

Mechanism

How it works

UOV is built on the difficulty of solving structured systems of multivariate quadratic equations where some variables are 'oil' (random) and others are 'vinegar' (chosen). The asymmetric structure enables efficient signing while preserving the MQ hardness.

Parameter Sets

1 variants shipped

Each variant trades security category against key, ciphertext, or signature size. QNSP exposes all variants via the @cuilabs/liboqs-native binding; tenant crypto-policy determines which are allowed.

VariantNIST LevelPublic KeySecret KeySignatureNote
OV-Is / Ip / III / V (multiple param sets)L5412,160 B348,704 B96 B

NIST ACVP

Conformance evidence

QNSP runs the official NIST ACVP test vectors against every shipped algorithm. Live evidence + SHA-3-256 tamper digest at /verify/conformance.

@noble/post-quantum
non-addressable
Pure-JavaScript reference; cross-verification secondary on Maximum + Government tiers.
@cuilabs/liboqs-native
non-addressable
Native-C primary production engine. Runs across every QNSP backend service.
View live ACVP evidence →

Use Cases

When to use it

  • Compact signatures (96 bytes) for size-constrained signature transport
  • Multivariate diversification away from lattice-based signatures

Trade-offs

What you give up, what you get

  • Smallest signatures in the catalogue (96 bytes)
  • Very large public keys (hundreds of KB)
  • 30+ years of cryptanalysis on UOV foundations

FAQ

UOV — frequently asked questions

Concise, source-of-truth answers to the questions buyers and engineers ask most about this algorithm.

What is UOV?

UOV (Unbalanced Oil and Vinegar Signatures) is a multivariate post-quantum digital signature scheme. It is designed to resist attacks from both classical and quantum computers, and QNSP ships 1 of its parameter sets. It is also known as Oil-and-Vinegar.

Is UOV NIST-standardized?

UOV is not a finalized NIST FIPS standard. QNSP ships it as a non-FIPS post-quantum option, typically to add an independent cryptographic assumption (multivariate) alongside the FIPS-standardized ML-KEM and ML-DSA for defence-in-depth.

What is UOV used for?

On QNSP, UOV is used for Compact signatures (96 bytes) for size-constrained signature transport; Multivariate diversification away from lattice-based signatures. It is available from the default crypto-policy tier upward via the liboqs provider.

References

Primary sources