Performance measurements › x86_1 › kex-08 · system: x86_1 · arm_1

kex-08 NIIKE — performance on x86-64 (system x86_1)

Independent measurement following the structure of the NICCS x86 self-assessment guide, §3.5 (1)–(7). Not a submitter self-assessment.

1. Basic information

Category: public-key algorithm; function: key exchange
Algorithm: NIIKE
Implementation versions measured: reference
Parameter sets: NIIKE-lv128, NIIKE-lv256
Security evaluation: kex-08 report
Measurement method: x86_1 method
Submission: NICCS page

2. Assessment environment

item	value
processor	12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700 (CPU 2, one core)
clock	max 2.10 GHz, governor performance, turbo off, SMT off
memory	31788 MiB
OS / kernel	Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) / 6.12.107+deb13-amd64
compiler / build tool	gcc (Debian 14.2.0-19) 14.2.0 / cmake version 3.31.6
campaign start / end (UTC)	2026-09-25T10:02:21 / 2026-09-28T10:51:21

3. Functional testing (KAT)

Each library was checked against the submitted KAT vectors (SHA-256 manifest kex-08/kat.sha256 in the harness) before timing.

instance	build flags	KAT
`NIIKE-lv128`	guide	PASS
`NIIKE-lv256`	guide	PASS

4. Performance

instance	operation	mean cycles	mean time	ops/s	median trial	n (trials × iters)
`NIIKE-lv128`	exchange	52.91 G	25.5 s	0.0393	25.5 s	35 (5 × 7)
`NIIKE-lv128`	init_a	14.44 G	6.93 s	0.144	6.93 s	35 (5 × 7)
`NIIKE-lv128`	init_b	14.44 G	6.92 s	0.144	6.93 s	35 (5 × 7)
`NIIKE-lv128`	derive_a	12.01 G	5.76 s	0.173	5.76 s	35 (5 × 7)
`NIIKE-lv128`	derive_b	12.01 G	5.76 s	0.173	5.76 s	35 (5 × 7)
`NIIKE-lv256`	exchange	935.98 G	456 s	0.00219	456 s	1 (1 × 1)
`NIIKE-lv256`	init_a	245.28 G	119 s	0.0084	119 s	1 (1 × 1)
`NIIKE-lv256`	init_b	245.41 G	119 s	0.0084	119 s	1 (1 × 1)
`NIIKE-lv256`	derive_a	222.88 G	108 s	0.00923	108 s	1 (1 × 1)
`NIIKE-lv256`	derive_b	222.76 G	108 s	0.00924	108 s	1 (1 × 1)

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
`NIIKE-lv128`	exchange	646597	2748 KiB	2820 KiB
`NIIKE-lv128`	init_a	646597	2744 KiB	2816 KiB
`NIIKE-lv128`	init_b	646597	2744 KiB	2816 KiB
`NIIKE-lv128`	derive_a	646597	2724 KiB	2820 KiB
`NIIKE-lv128`	derive_b	646597	2744 KiB	2816 KiB
`NIIKE-lv256`	exchange	972573	4236 KiB	5136 KiB
`NIIKE-lv256`	init_a	972573	4096 KiB	4932 KiB
`NIIKE-lv256`	init_b	972573	4160 KiB	4996 KiB
`NIIKE-lv256`	derive_a	972573	4208 KiB	5044 KiB
`NIIKE-lv256`	derive_b	972573	4100 KiB	4936 KiB

6. Transmission and storage overhead

Bandwidth counts all specified protocol messages and each required public key once. Public keys are transmitted bytes too. Certificates and transport framing are excluded. The published raw timing records are unchanged.

NIIKE sends no separate protocol message but requires both public keys. The specification lists 4,030/8,943-byte keys, while the submitted external encodings are 4,160/8,960 bytes; this table uses the latter.

instance	passes	messages (bytes; raw API)	protocol-message bytes	public key A / B	bandwidth (bytes)	long-term sk (API cap)	shared secret
`NIIKE-lv128`	0	0 / 0 / 0	0	4160 / 4160	8320	196	64
`NIIKE-lv256`	0	0 / 0 / 0	0	8960 / 8960	17920	336	128

Symmetric primitives

Survey verdict: bypass — no hash or KDF at all: raw j-invariant (known kex-08-1)

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
`NIIKE-lv128`	exchange	0.0%	0.0%	drng 174
`NIIKE-lv256`	exchange	0.0%	0.0%	drng 296

7. Raw evidence index

Paths are relative to performance/data/x86_1/ in the harness; each JSON file records its commands, environment and trials.

instance	item	file
`NIIKE-lv128`	KAT log (sha256 `db5247e7fcb3d1f1…`)	`kat/kex-08/NIIKE-lv128.log`
`NIIKE-lv128`	timing derive_a	`records/kex-08/NIIKE-lv128__derive_a.json`
`NIIKE-lv128`	timing derive_b	`records/kex-08/NIIKE-lv128__derive_b.json`
`NIIKE-lv128`	timing exchange	`records/kex-08/NIIKE-lv128__exchange.json`
`NIIKE-lv128`	timing init_a	`records/kex-08/NIIKE-lv128__init_a.json`
`NIIKE-lv128`	timing init_b	`records/kex-08/NIIKE-lv128__init_b.json`
`NIIKE-lv128`	hash profile exchange	`profile/kex-08/NIIKE-lv128__exchange.json`
`NIIKE-lv256`	KAT log (sha256 `7949b138d5b1919b…`)	`kat/kex-08/NIIKE-lv256.log`
`NIIKE-lv256`	timing derive_a	`records/kex-08/NIIKE-lv256__derive_a.json`
`NIIKE-lv256`	timing derive_b	`records/kex-08/NIIKE-lv256__derive_b.json`
`NIIKE-lv256`	timing exchange	`records/kex-08/NIIKE-lv256__exchange.json`
`NIIKE-lv256`	timing init_a	`records/kex-08/NIIKE-lv256__init_a.json`
`NIIKE-lv256`	timing init_b	`records/kex-08/NIIKE-lv256__init_b.json`
`NIIKE-lv256`	hash profile exchange	`profile/kex-08/NIIKE-lv256__exchange.json`

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