CRYPTOGRAPHY / RESEARCH
PITHOS
A draft post-quantum object-sealing construction that specifies how standardized cryptographic components fit into a strict binary object format.
- Current state
- Specification draft
- Discipline
- Cryptography · Research
- Built with
- Cryptographic protocol design / ML-KEM / AES-GCM / ML-DSA / SHA-384 / Binary format specification / Python documentation checks
The idea
Object encryption needs more than a choice of cipher: keys, recipients, metadata, chunk boundaries and signatures must agree on one format. PITHOS explores that composition through an explicit post-quantum sealing specification.
How it works
The proposed PITHOS-1 profile combines ML-KEM-1024, a SHA-384-based derivation, AES-256-GCM chunk protection and optional ML-DSA-87 signatures. The repository defines wire encodings, parser requirements, security goals, review questions and a future validation path.
What’s implemented
- Normative draft, equation transcript and canonical wire-format definitions
- Recipient and associated-data binding requirements
- Explicit chunking, parser bounds and algorithm-profile rules
- Published review agenda and validation roadmap
PROJECT STATUS / SPECIFICATION DRAFT
Where it stands
Experimental specification draft
- Specification only; no reference implementation or generated test-vector corpus
- Composition and misuse-resistance questions remain open for review
- No algorithm/module validation or government approval
Source & resources
Documentation behind this project page
Reviewed October 1, 2026. Project descriptions reflect a source review; repository validation claims were not independently reproduced.