Constant-time reviewsign-17

Constant-time review — 17 OPS-SIG

Scope: reference implementation, representative instance only: Implementations and Test_Vectors/Implementations/Reference_Implementation/OPSsig-512/sign.c. Other instances and optimized implementations have not been proven source-equivalent. This is a source-level triage, not a constant-time certification.

Secret: signing-key polynomials/basis, per-signature masks and sampler state. Public: verification key, algorithm parameters, message and serialized signature.

Assessment: No new vulnerability report is promoted from this representative source triage. A compiler/architecture-specific timing and cache test is still needed before claiming constant-time behavior or exploitable leakage.

Recheck the cited source line and its caller before reusing this result. A timing claim requires controlled same-public-input tests with changed secret state and a public-value control.

Hint follow-up: sign.c:142-147 calls polyveck_make_hint on private signing intermediates and rejects when the count exceeds OMEGA; rounding.c:36-52 has value-dependent make_hint/use_hint tests. The accepted signature makes its hint public, but rejected-attempt traces are not part of that output. Whether this reveals an exploitable predicate beyond the public transcript remains untested.