FIPS 204-Compatible Threshold ML-DSA via Shamir Nonce DKG
Abstract
We present the first threshold ML-DSA (FIPS 204) scheme achieving nonce share privacy (conditional min-entropy guarantee; no computational assumptions) with arbitrary thresholds, while producing standard 3.3 KB signatures verifiable by unmodified implementations. Our primary technique, Shamir nonce DKG, generates the signing nonce as a degree-(T-1) Shamir sharing, matching the structure of the long-term secret. This gives each honest party's nonce share conditional min-entropy exceeding 5× the secret-key entropy for signing sets of size at most 17. In coordinator-based profiles (P1, P3+), this removes the two-honest requirement (|S| ≥ T suffices); in the fully distributed profile (P2), mask-hiding additionally requires |S C| ≥ 2. Key privacy of the aggregate signature is an open problem, analogous to single-signer ML-DSA. As a secondary technique, pairwise-canceling PRF masks handle three challenges unique to lattice-based threshold signing: commitment binding, the r0-check predicate, and response aggregation.
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