Formal Verification of Physical Layer Security Protocols for Next-Generation Communication Networks (extended version)

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ye, Kangfeng, Metere, Roberto, Woodcock, Jim, Yadav, Poonam
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ye, Kangfeng
Metere, Roberto
Woodcock, Jim
Yadav, Poonam
author_facet Ye, Kangfeng
Metere, Roberto
Woodcock, Jim
Yadav, Poonam
contents Formal verification is crucial for ensuring the robustness of security protocols against adversarial attacks. The Needham-Schroeder protocol, a foundational authentication mechanism, has been extensively studied, including its integration with Physical Layer Security (PLS) techniques such as watermarking and jamming. Recent research has used ProVerif to verify these mechanisms in terms of secrecy. However, the ProVerif-based approach limits the ability to improve understanding of security beyond verification results. To overcome these limitations, we re-model the same protocol using an Isabelle formalism that generates sound animation, enabling interactive and automated formal verification of security protocols. Our modelling and verification framework is generic and highly configurable, supporting both cryptography and PLS. For the same protocol, we have conducted a comprehensive analysis (secrecy and authenticity in four different eavesdropper locations under both passive and active attacks) using our new web interface. Our findings not only successfully reproduce and reinforce previous results on secrecy but also reveal an uncommon but expected outcome: authenticity is preserved across all examined scenarios, even in cases where secrecy is compromised. We have proposed a PLS-based Diffie-Hellman protocol that integrates watermarking and jamming, and our analysis shows that it is secure for deriving a session key with required authentication. These highlight the advantages of our novel approach, demonstrating its robustness in formally verifying security properties beyond conventional methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_19430
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Formal Verification of Physical Layer Security Protocols for Next-Generation Communication Networks (extended version)
Ye, Kangfeng
Metere, Roberto
Woodcock, Jim
Yadav, Poonam
Cryptography and Security
Formal Languages and Automata Theory
Logic in Computer Science
Formal verification is crucial for ensuring the robustness of security protocols against adversarial attacks. The Needham-Schroeder protocol, a foundational authentication mechanism, has been extensively studied, including its integration with Physical Layer Security (PLS) techniques such as watermarking and jamming. Recent research has used ProVerif to verify these mechanisms in terms of secrecy. However, the ProVerif-based approach limits the ability to improve understanding of security beyond verification results. To overcome these limitations, we re-model the same protocol using an Isabelle formalism that generates sound animation, enabling interactive and automated formal verification of security protocols. Our modelling and verification framework is generic and highly configurable, supporting both cryptography and PLS. For the same protocol, we have conducted a comprehensive analysis (secrecy and authenticity in four different eavesdropper locations under both passive and active attacks) using our new web interface. Our findings not only successfully reproduce and reinforce previous results on secrecy but also reveal an uncommon but expected outcome: authenticity is preserved across all examined scenarios, even in cases where secrecy is compromised. We have proposed a PLS-based Diffie-Hellman protocol that integrates watermarking and jamming, and our analysis shows that it is secure for deriving a session key with required authentication. These highlight the advantages of our novel approach, demonstrating its robustness in formally verifying security properties beyond conventional methods.
title Formal Verification of Physical Layer Security Protocols for Next-Generation Communication Networks (extended version)
topic Cryptography and Security
Formal Languages and Automata Theory
Logic in Computer Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.19430