Performance measurements › arm_1 › kem-26 · system: x86_1 · arm_1

kem-26 NSS-HQC — performance on AArch64 (system arm_1)

Independent measurement following the structure of the NICCS ARM self-assessment guide, §3.5 (1)–(7). Not a submitter self-assessment.

1. Basic information

Category: public-key algorithm; function: key encapsulation
Algorithm: NSS-HQC
Implementation versions measured: reference
Parameter sets: HQC-128, HQC-256, HQC-384, HQC-512
Security evaluation: kem-26 report
Measurement method: arm_1 method
Submission: NICCS page

2. Assessment environment

item	value
processor	Qualcomm Oryon (CPU 2, one core)
machine	ASUS Vivobook S 15
clock	fixed 2.71 GHz (governor performance, minimum = maximum), boost off, SMT none
memory	30562 MiB
OS / kernel	Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS / 7.0.0-34-generic
compiler / build tool	gcc (Ubuntu 15.2.0-16ubuntu1) 15.2.0 / cmake version 4.2.3
campaign start / end (UTC)	2026-09-28T15:05:46 / 2026-09-29T08:43:52

3. Functional testing (KAT)

Each library was checked against the submitted KAT vectors (SHA-256 manifest kem-26/kat.sha256 in the harness) before timing.

instance	build flags	KAT
`HQC-128`	guide	PASS
`HQC-256`	guide	PASS
`HQC-384`	guide	PASS
`HQC-512`	guide	PASS

4. Performance

instance	operation	mean cycles	mean time	ops/s	median trial	n (trials × iters)
`HQC-128`	keygen	26.00 M	9.65 ms	104	9.65 ms	345 (5 × 69)
`HQC-128`	enc	46.47 M	17.2 ms	58	17.3 ms	185 (5 × 37)
`HQC-128`	dec	92.01 M	34.1 ms	29.3	34.1 ms	100 (5 × 20)
`HQC-256`	keygen	76.97 M	28.6 ms	35	28.6 ms	115 (5 × 23)
`HQC-256`	enc	139.39 M	51.7 ms	19.3	51.8 ms	100 (5 × 20)
`HQC-256`	dec	246.34 M	91.4 ms	10.9	91.4 ms	100 (5 × 20)
`HQC-384`	keygen	258.98 M	96.1 ms	10.4	96.1 ms	100 (5 × 20)
`HQC-384`	enc	469.63 M	174 ms	5.74	174 ms	100 (5 × 20)
`HQC-384`	dec	775.08 M	288 ms	3.48	288 ms	100 (5 × 20)
`HQC-512`	keygen	614.26 M	228 ms	4.39	228 ms	100 (5 × 20)
`HQC-512`	enc	1.12 G	416 ms	2.4	416 ms	100 (5 × 20)
`HQC-512`	dec	1.80 G	667 ms	1.5	667 ms	100 (5 × 20)

5. Resource consumption

Static memory is approximated by the library's loadable ELF segments; peak memory is the process high-water mark (VmHWM) including the benchmark driver and libc, so both are upper-bound proxies rather than isolated algorithm memory.

instance	operation	static: ELF image (bytes)	baseline RSS	peak RSS
`HQC-128`	keygen	39852	3468 KiB	3532 KiB
`HQC-128`	enc	39852	3484 KiB	3548 KiB
`HQC-128`	dec	39852	3584 KiB	3648 KiB
`HQC-256`	keygen	44408	1452 KiB	3680 KiB
`HQC-256`	enc	44408	1708 KiB	3760 KiB
`HQC-256`	dec	44408	1740 KiB	1804 KiB
`HQC-384`	keygen	40932	1472 KiB	4004 KiB
`HQC-384`	enc	40932	3688 KiB	3976 KiB
`HQC-384`	dec	40932	3548 KiB	3924 KiB
`HQC-512`	keygen	41076	1508 KiB	3888 KiB
`HQC-512`	enc	41076	2516 KiB	4456 KiB
`HQC-512`	dec	41076	3680 KiB	4604 KiB

6. Transmission and storage overhead

External public-key, ciphertext and signature sizes follow the curated performance/external_sizes.csv catalog; secret-key and shared-secret lengths remain API figures. See the size audit for disagreements.

instance	public key	secret key	ciphertext	shared secret
`HQC-128`	3713	3777	5185	32
`HQC-256`	6844	6908	9084	32
`HQC-384`	15371	15467	18571	48
`HQC-512`	27302	27430	31462	64

Symmetric primitives

Survey verdict: bypass — own inline Keccak (SHA3-512, SHAKE256) for everything; DRNG for randomness

Share of each operation spent in the ICCS placeholder hash functions and in the ICCS DRNG (reference build, measured in the same run with link-time wrappers):

instance	operation	pseudohash/XOF/sm3	DRNG	calls per operation
`HQC-128`	keygen	0.0%	0.0%	drng 3
`HQC-128`	enc	0.0%	0.0%	drng 2
`HQC-128`	dec	0.0%	0.0%	–
`HQC-256`	keygen	0.0%	0.0%	drng 3
`HQC-256`	enc	0.0%	0.0%	drng 2
`HQC-256`	dec	0.0%	0.0%	–
`HQC-384`	keygen	0.0%	0.0%	drng 3
`HQC-384`	enc	0.0%	0.0%	drng 2
`HQC-384`	dec	0.0%	0.0%	–
`HQC-512`	keygen	0.0%	0.0%	drng 3
`HQC-512`	enc	0.0%	0.0%	drng 2
`HQC-512`	dec	0.0%	0.0%	–

7. Raw evidence index

Paths are relative to performance/data/arm_1/ in the harness; each JSON file records its commands, environment and trials.

instance	item	file
`HQC-128`	KAT log (sha256 `c620e4db85598389…`)	`kat/kem-26/HQC-128.log`
`HQC-128`	timing dec	`records/kem-26/HQC-128__dec.json`
`HQC-128`	timing enc	`records/kem-26/HQC-128__enc.json`
`HQC-128`	timing keygen	`records/kem-26/HQC-128__keygen.json`
`HQC-128`	hash profile dec	`profile/kem-26/HQC-128__dec.json`
`HQC-128`	hash profile enc	`profile/kem-26/HQC-128__enc.json`
`HQC-128`	hash profile keygen	`profile/kem-26/HQC-128__keygen.json`
`HQC-256`	KAT log (sha256 `5db1c6724d4a0538…`)	`kat/kem-26/HQC-256.log`
`HQC-256`	timing dec	`records/kem-26/HQC-256__dec.json`
`HQC-256`	timing enc	`records/kem-26/HQC-256__enc.json`
`HQC-256`	timing keygen	`records/kem-26/HQC-256__keygen.json`
`HQC-256`	hash profile dec	`profile/kem-26/HQC-256__dec.json`
`HQC-256`	hash profile enc	`profile/kem-26/HQC-256__enc.json`
`HQC-256`	hash profile keygen	`profile/kem-26/HQC-256__keygen.json`
`HQC-384`	KAT log (sha256 `2d5f3b2fd30882ea…`)	`kat/kem-26/HQC-384.log`
`HQC-384`	timing dec	`records/kem-26/HQC-384__dec.json`
`HQC-384`	timing enc	`records/kem-26/HQC-384__enc.json`
`HQC-384`	timing keygen	`records/kem-26/HQC-384__keygen.json`
`HQC-384`	hash profile dec	`profile/kem-26/HQC-384__dec.json`
`HQC-384`	hash profile enc	`profile/kem-26/HQC-384__enc.json`
`HQC-384`	hash profile keygen	`profile/kem-26/HQC-384__keygen.json`
`HQC-512`	KAT log (sha256 `d581449c9afccafb…`)	`kat/kem-26/HQC-512.log`
`HQC-512`	timing dec	`records/kem-26/HQC-512__dec.json`
`HQC-512`	timing enc	`records/kem-26/HQC-512__enc.json`
`HQC-512`	timing keygen	`records/kem-26/HQC-512__keygen.json`
`HQC-512`	hash profile dec	`profile/kem-26/HQC-512__dec.json`
`HQC-512`	hash profile enc	`profile/kem-26/HQC-512__enc.json`
`HQC-512`	hash profile keygen	`profile/kem-26/HQC-512__keygen.json`

Scripts: performance/campaign.py, performance/ngcc_perf.c, performance/hashprof/ in the harness.