On Unlinkability of Password-Based Anonymous Authentication

Abstract

Password-based anonymous authentication schemes provide not only password-based authentication but also user anonymity. In [15], Yang et al., proposed a password-based anonymous authentication scheme (we call it YZWB10 scheme) using the password-protected credentials. This scheme has being standardized in ISO/IEC 20009-4 that was approved to proceed to the CD stage in the 49th ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 Mexico meeting. In this paper, we analyze unlinkability of the YZWB10 scheme [15]. In particular, we show that a (malicious) server in the YZWB10 scheme can specify which user actually sent the login request to the server. Unlike Yang et al.,'s claim, the YZWB10 scheme [15] does not provide unlinkability against server.