pqRPKI: A Practical RPKI Architecture for the Post-Quantum Era

Abstract

The Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) secures Internet routing by binding IP prefixes to authorized Autonomous Systems, yet its RSA foundations are vulnerable to quantum adversaries. A naive swap to post-quantum (PQ) signatures (eg Falcon) is a poor fit for RPKI's bulk model: every relying party (RP) repeatedly fetches and validates the entire global repository, so larger keys and signatures inflate bandwidth and CPU cost, especially during a long dual-stack transition. We present pqRPKI , a post-quantum RPKI framework that pairs a multi-layer Merkle Tree Ladder (MTL) with RPKI objects, customized to relocate per-object verification material from certificates into the Manifest. To update RPKI for Merkle tree based schemes, pqRPKI redesign the RPKI manifest and delegation chain, introduces a ladder-guided sync and bulk-verification workflow that lets validators localize diffs top-down and rebuild trees bottom-up. pqRPKI also preserves current RPKI objects and encodings, supports both hosted and delegated operation, and provides an additive migration path that coexists with today's trust anchors for dual-stack deployment with little size overhead. Implemented as a working publication point (PP) and RPs, we show that pqRPKI reduces repository footprint to 546.8 MB on average (65.5%/83.1% smaller than Falcon/ML-DSA), cuts full-cycle validation to 102.7 s, and achieves 118.3 s end-to-end PP to Router time, enabling sub-2-minute operating cadences with full-repository validation each cycle. Dual-stack deployment with RSA only adds just 3.4% size overhead versus today's RPKI repositories.