Masking and Dual-Rail Logic Don't Add Up

TLDR: It is shown that the routing imbalances can be used to detect the value of the mask bit, and that this conclusion also holds for masked pre-charged logic styles and for all practical implementations of masked dual-rail logic styles.

Abstract: Masked logic styles use a random mask bit to de-correlate the power consumption of the circuit from the state of the algorithm. The effect of the random mask bit is that the circuit switches between two complementary states with a different power profile. Earlier work has shown that the mask-bit value can be estimated from the power consumption profile, and that masked logic remains susceptible to classic power attacks after only a simple filtering operation. In this contribution we will show that this conclusion also holds for masked pre-charged logic styles and for all practical implementations of masked dual-rail logic styles. Up to now, it was believed that masking and dual-rail can be combined to provide a routing-insensitive logic style. We will show that this assumption is not correct. We demonstrate that the routing imbalances can be used to detect the value of the mask bit. Simulations as well as analysis of design data from an AES chip support this conclusion.