ECTester

Tests support and behavior of elliptic curve cryptography implementations on JavaCards (TYPE_EC_FP and TYPE_EC_F2M) and on selected software libraries. See our github for more info.

Support table Implementation guide Test runs Documentation

JavaCard Elliptic curve algorithm support#

The JavaCard API has support for basic Elliptic Curve Cryptography, such as ECDH and ECDSA. However not many cards actually support these algorithms. The table below displays support and performance obtained by ECTester for common curve sizes. For detailed support and implementation tests see test runs.

Legend

∗ ECDH types

ALG_EC_SVDP_DH
ALG_EC_SVDP_DHC
ALG_EC_SVDP_DH_PLAIN
ALG_EC_SVDP_DHC_PLAIN
ALG_EC_PACE_GM
ALG_EC_SVDP_DH_PLAIN_XY

† ECDSA types

ALG_ECDSA_SHA
ALG_ECDSA_SHA_224
ALG_ECDSA_SHA_256
ALG_ECDSA_SHA_384
ALG_ECDSA_SHA_512

‡ Colors

Full support
Some support
No support
Not defined

Card list

This page contains results for the following cards:

ACS ACOSJ 40K 3b69000241434f534a76313031
Athena IDProtect 3bd518ff8191fe1fc38073c8211309
Feitian A22CR 3b9c9580811f039067464a01003504f272fe00a1
G&D SmartCafe 6.0 3bfe1800008031fe4553434536302d43443038312d6e46a9
G&D SmartCafe 7.0 3bf99600008031fe4553434537200000202027
Infineon CJTOP 80K INF SLJ 52GLA080AL M8.4 3bfe1800008031fe45803180664090a5102e1083019000f2
Infineon SLE78 Universal JCard 3bfd9600008131fe45534c4a353247444c313238435257
NXP JCOP31 v2.4.1 3bf81300008131fe454a434f5076323431b7
NXP JCOP CJ2A081 3bf81300008131fe454a434f5076323431b7
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R2 3bf91300008131fe454a434f503234325232a3
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R3 3bf01300008131fe45e8
TaiSYS SIMoME VAULT 3b9f95803fc7a08031e073fa21106300000083f09000bb

$ \mathbb{F}_p $ support

Card^∗†‡	192b		256b		384b		521b
Card^∗†‡	ECDH	ECDSA	ECDH	ECDSA	ECDH	ECDSA	ECDH	ECDSA
ACS ACOSJ 40K	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	✘	✘
Athena IDProtect	1,2,3,4	a,b,c	1,2,3,4	a,b,c	1,2,3,4	a,b,c	1,2,3,4	a,b,c
Feitian A22CR
G&D SmartCafe 6.0	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,4,3	a,b,c,d,e	✘	✘	✘	✘
G&D SmartCafe 7.0	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,4,3	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e
Infineon CJTOP 80k	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	✘	✘
Infineon SLE78	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e
NXP JCOP31 v2.4.1	1,2	a	1,2	a	✘	✘	✘	✘
NXP JCOP CJ2A081	1,2	a	1,2	a	✘	✘	✘	✘
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R2	1,3	a,b,c	1,3	a,b,c	✘	✘	✘	✘
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R3	1,3	a,b,c	1,3	a,b,c	✘	✘	✘	✘
TaiSYS SIMoME VAULT	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e	1,2,3,4	a,b,c,d,e

$ \mathbb{F}_p $ performance

The following table shows performance of tested cards in ECDH and ECDSA over popular $ \mathbb{F}_p $ curve sizes. Key generation performance is similar to ECDH performance. ECDSA timings are split for sign+verify operations. Times are in milliseconds.

Card^‡	Type		192b		256b		384b		521b
Card^‡	^∗	^†	ECDH	ECDSA	ECDH	ECDSA	ECDH	ECDSA	ECDH	ECDSA
ACS ACOSJ 40K
	1	a	172	254+257	209	311+315	360	503+536	✘	✘
	2	b	172	255+256	209	311+316	360	505+535	✘	✘
	3	c	172	254+257	209	311+315	360	505+537	✘	✘
	4	d	172	255+261	210	310+316	360	505+537	✘	✘
	5	e	✘	255+260	✘	311+315	✘	505+538	✘	✘
	6		✘		✘		✘		✘
Athena IDProtect
	1	a	147	110+163	209	148+228	448	279+473	937	537+970
	2	b	147	113+167	209	150+230	448	281+477	938	540+973
	3	c	148	114+165	209	150+231	448	281+475	937	540+972
	4	d	146	✘	209	✘	448	✘	938	✘
	5	e	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	6		✘		✘		✘		✘
Feitian A22CR
	1	a
	2	b
	3	c
	4	d
	5	e
	6
G&D SmartCafe 6.0
	1	a	128	110+135	192	145+197	✘	✘	✘	✘
	2	b	128	122+147	193	158+210	✘	✘	✘	✘
	3	c	126	123+147	190	158+209	✘	✘	✘	✘
	4	d	126	127+152	191	162+214	✘	✘	✘	✘
	5	e	✘	127+152	✘	162+214	✘	✘	✘	✘
	6		✘		✘		✘		✘
G&D SmartCafe 7.0
	1	a	67	69+80	94	85+108	161	123+176	254	174+273
	2	b	67	71+82	94	87+111	161	128+180	255	177+275
	3	c	66	71+83	93	88+110	160	126+180	253	175+275
	4	d	66	72+83	93	87+111	161	126+180	253	177+276
	5	e	✘	72+83	✘	88+111	✘	126+180	✘	178+276
	6		✘		✘		✘		✘
Infineon CJTOP 80k
	1	a	138	144+113	167	175+138	240	254+202	✘	✘
	2	b	208	151+120	267	183+144	414	262+207	✘	✘
	3	c	207	151+121	263	182+145	408	261+207	✘	✘
	4	d	205	176+145	264	207+169	408	286+232	✘	✘
	5	e	✘	175+145	✘	208+171	✘	287+233	✘	✘
	6		✘		✘		✘		✘
Infineon SLE78
	1	a	83	170+201	109	226+275	177	367+467	315	650+806
	2	b	83	188+220	109	243+293	177	384+483	315	667+827
	3	c	79	188+219	105	243+293	173	384+482	308	667+826
	4	d	79	208+240	105	263+313	173	405+504	308	688+846
	5	e	✘	208+241	✘	264+314	✘	405+503	✘	688+847
	6		✘		✘		✘		✘
NXP JCOP31 v2.4.1
	1	a	122	140+167	190	192+260	✘	✘	✘	✘
	2	b	123	✘	191	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	3	c	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	4	d	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	5	e	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	6		✘		✘		✘		✘
NXP JCOP CJ2A081
	1	a	76	93+107	124	129+168	✘	✘	✘	✘
	2	b	76	✘	124	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	3	c	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	4	d	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	5	e	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	6		✘		✘		✘		✘
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R3
	1	a	101	111+111	154	151+172	✘	✘	✘	✘
	2	b	96	114+113	✘	154+178	✘	✘	✘	✘
	3	c	✘	114+114	✘	154+176	✘	✘	✘	✘
	4	d	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	5	e	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
	6		✘		✘		✘		✘
TaiSYS SIMoME VAULT
	1	a	109	217+288	132	267+352	202	439+585	340	935+1220
	2	b	108	211+282	135	251+340	201	443+590	346	922+1201
	3	c	105	226+293	130	271+356	198	460+586	341	923+1202
	4	d	106	222+289	125	259+348	198	433+579	341	913+1202
	5	e	✘	221+282	✘	261+349	✘	447+576	✘	912+1200
	6		✘		✘		✘		✘

$ \mathbb{F}_p $ default curves

The JavaCard API allows cards to specify default curves to be used when generating EC keys using the KeyPair class. Grey background shows that no default curve is present and one should be specified after creating the keypair, see the implementation guide.

Card	112b	128b	160b	192b	224b	256b
Athena IDProtect
Feitian A22 CR	secp112r1	secp128r1	secp160r1	P-192 secp192r1	P-224 secp224r1	SMP256V1
FeitianFeitian A22
G&D Smartcafe 6.0
G&D Smartcafe 7.0
Infineon CJTOP 80k			brainpoolP160r1	brainpoolP192r	brainpoolP224r1	brainpoolP256r1
Infineon SLE78						brainpoolP256r1
NXP JCOP31 v2.4.1		secp128r1	secp160r1	P-192 secp192r1
NXP JCOP CJ2A081		secp128r1	secp160r1	P-192 secp192r1
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R2
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R3
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R3 J2E145G
TaiSYS SIMoME VAULT	secp112r1	secp128r1	secp160r1	secp192r1	secp224r1	secp256r1

$ \mathbb{F}_{2^m} $

Support for binary field curves on cards is very weak, very little cards have any. For more information see JCAlgTest support table.

Implementation guide#

A basic example of EC KeyPair generation is visible below, for a more complete example see ECExample.java.

    
    // secp256r1 from http://www.secg.org/sec2-v2.pdf
    byte[] EC256_FP_P = new byte[]{
            (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x01,
            (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00,
            (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF,
            (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF};
    byte[] EC256_FP_A = new byte[]{
            (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x01,
            (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00,
            (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF,
            (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFC};
    byte[] EC256_FP_B = new byte[]{
            (byte) 0x5A, (byte) 0xC6, (byte) 0x35, (byte) 0xD8, (byte) 0xAA, (byte) 0x3A, (byte) 0x93, (byte) 0xE7,
            (byte) 0xB3, (byte) 0xEB, (byte) 0xBD, (byte) 0x55, (byte) 0x76, (byte) 0x98, (byte) 0x86, (byte) 0xBC,
            (byte) 0x65, (byte) 0x1D, (byte) 0x06, (byte) 0xB0, (byte) 0xCC, (byte) 0x53, (byte) 0xB0, (byte) 0xF6,
            (byte) 0x3B, (byte) 0xCE, (byte) 0x3C, (byte) 0x3E, (byte) 0x27, (byte) 0xD2, (byte) 0x60, (byte) 0x4B};
    byte[] EC256_FP_G = new byte[]{
            (byte) 0x04,
            (byte) 0x6B, (byte) 0x17, (byte) 0xD1, (byte) 0xF2, (byte) 0xE1, (byte) 0x2C, (byte) 0x42, (byte) 0x47,
            (byte) 0xF8, (byte) 0xBC, (byte) 0xE6, (byte) 0xE5, (byte) 0x63, (byte) 0xA4, (byte) 0x40, (byte) 0xF2,
            (byte) 0x77, (byte) 0x03, (byte) 0x7D, (byte) 0x81, (byte) 0x2D, (byte) 0xEB, (byte) 0x33, (byte) 0xA0,
            (byte) 0xF4, (byte) 0xA1, (byte) 0x39, (byte) 0x45, (byte) 0xD8, (byte) 0x98, (byte) 0xC2, (byte) 0x96,
            (byte) 0x4F, (byte) 0xE3, (byte) 0x42, (byte) 0xE2, (byte) 0xFE, (byte) 0x1A, (byte) 0x7F, (byte) 0x9B,
            (byte) 0x8E, (byte) 0xE7, (byte) 0xEB, (byte) 0x4A, (byte) 0x7C, (byte) 0x0F, (byte) 0x9E, (byte) 0x16,
            (byte) 0x2B, (byte) 0xCE, (byte) 0x33, (byte) 0x57, (byte) 0x6B, (byte) 0x31, (byte) 0x5E, (byte) 0xCE,
            (byte) 0xCB, (byte) 0xB6, (byte) 0x40, (byte) 0x68, (byte) 0x37, (byte) 0xBF, (byte) 0x51, (byte) 0xF5};
    byte[] EC256_FP_R = new byte[]{
            (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00, (byte) 0x00,
            (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF, (byte) 0xFF,
            (byte) 0xBC, (byte) 0xE6, (byte) 0xFA, (byte) 0xAD, (byte) 0xA7, (byte) 0x17, (byte) 0x9E, (byte) 0x84,
            (byte) 0xF3, (byte) 0xB9, (byte) 0xCA, (byte) 0xC2, (byte) 0xFC, (byte) 0x63, (byte) 0x25, (byte) 0x51};
    short EC256_FP_K = 1;

    // 1. Allocate the KeyPair object.
    // ! This should be done in the Applet constructor !
    KeyPair example = new KeyPair(KeyPair.ALG_EC_FP, (short) 256);

    // 2. If the key parts are not available, call genKeyPair.
    if (example.getPrivate() == null || example.getPublic() == null) {
        // Sometimes cards require this so we have the keyparts, to
        // set parameters on.
        try {
            example.genKeyPair();
        } catch (Exception ignored) {}
    }

    // 3. Get the key parts and set custom domain parameters on them.
    ECPrivateKey priv = (ECPrivateKey) example.getPrivate();
    ECPublicKey pub = (ECPublicKey) example.getPublic();

    priv.setFieldFP(EC256_FP_P, (short) 0, EC256_FP_P.length);
    pub.setFieldFP(EC256_FP_P, (short) 0, EC256_FP_P.length);

    priv.setA(EC256_FP_A, (short) 0, EC256_FP_A.length);
    pub.setA(EC256_FP_A, (short) 0, EC256_FP_A.length);

    priv.setB(EC256_FP_B, (short) 0, EC256_FP_B.length);
    pub.setB(EC256_FP_B, (short) 0, EC256_FP_B.length);

    priv.setG(EC256_FP_G, (short) 0, EC256_FP_G.length);
    pub.set(EC256_FP_G, (short) 0, EC256_FP_G.length);

    priv.setR(EC256_FP_R, (short) 0, EC256_FP_R.length);
    pub.setR(EC256_FP_R, (short) 0, EC256_FP_R.length);

    priv.setK(EC256_FP_K);
    pub.setK(EC256_FP_K);

    // 4. Generate the KeyPair over the custom set domain parameters.
    example.genKeyPair();
    // Now, the example keypair is ready for use.

Common JavaCard ECC usage pitfalls

The JavaCard ECC API is quite general in its requirements for implementations, which means different cards can behave differently and cause errors.

No curve is set by default

KeyPairs allocated with new KeyPair(type, size) might or might not have set some default domain parameters. Which means using keypair.genKeyPair() just after allocating a KeyPair object will probably result in an exception. Thus, it is always better to explicitly setup custom domain parameters, using a known/standard curve, before trying to generate the KeyPair.

genKeyPair() required to get key parts

On some cards a newly allocated KeyPair does not yet contain the individual key parts (the ECPublicKey and ECPrivateKey). Thus doing keypair.getPrivate() or keypair.getPublic() will return null. Which makes setting custom domain parameters on the key parts harder. This can usually be fixed by calling keypair.genKeyPair(), which however might throw an exception, and then setting the custom domain parameters on the now accessible key parts.

clearKey() behaviour

The keypair.clearKey() method might clear out the set domain parameters of the keypair as well as the key contents.

getK() behaviour

The ECKey.getK() method might throw an exception if the card does not support working with the cofactor value.

Test suite runs#

The results of various test suites, run on a set of cards are available below:

Card name	Default	Test vectors
Athena IDProtect
Feitian A22
Feitian A22CR
G&D Smartcafe 6.0
G&D Smartcafe 7.0
Infineon CJTOP
Infineon SLE78
JCardSim
NXP JCOP31 v2.4.1
NXP JCOP41 v2.3.1 72k
NXP JCOP CJ2A081
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R2
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R3
NXP JCOP v2.4.2 R3 J2E145G
TaiSYS SIMoME VAULT

Docs#

Test suites - Contains a list of implemented test suites and their descriptions.
Curve categories - Contains a list of known curve categories and their descriptions.
Libraries - Contains a list of software libraries with support for ECC, a brief description of their implementation and whether ECTester supports them.
Implementations - Contains information on implementing ECC, curve models, scalar multiplication, coordinates and implementation choices between them.