Vehicular ad hoc networks verification scheme based on bilinear pairings and networks reverse fuzzy extraction

Abduljabbar, Zaid Ameen; Nyangaresi, Vincent Omollo; Ahmed, Ahmed Ali; Ma, Junchao; Sibahee, Mustafa A. Al; Hussain, Mohammed Abdulridha; Hussien, Zaid Alaa; Ali, Ali Hasan; Aldarwish, Abdulla J. Y.; Neamah, Husam A. · 2025 · DOAJ

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-15011-x

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Summary

This paper addresses the critical security and privacy vulnerabilities inherent in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs), where the transmission of sensitive real-time data over public wireless channels exposes users to threats such as identity theft, message tampering, and denial-of-service attacks. While existing security schemes utilizing Public Key Infrastructure, blockchain, or group signatures offer some protection, they often suffer from high computational overheads, storage requirements, or susceptibility to specific attacks like key escrow and cloning. The authors aim to develop an efficient, anonymity-preserving authentication protocol that minimizes latency and computational costs while maintaining robust security against common VANET threats. To achieve this, the authors propose a novel authentication scheme integrating bilinear pairings, Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs), and Reverse Fuzzy Extractors (RFE). The protocol operates within a network model comprising Vehicles, Roadside Units (RSUs), and a Registration Authority (RA). PUFs are utilized to generate unique, unclonable device fingerprints based on physical manufacturing variations, while RFEs facilitate the secure extraction of keys from noisy PUF responses. Bilinear pairings are employed to introduce stochasticity in generating intermediary security tokens, enhancing resistance against impersonation and insider attacks. The protocol consists of system setup, registration, and authentication phases, with computationally intensive operations centralized at the RA to ensure lightweight execution for vehicles and RSUs during frequent authentication events. The study validates the protocol through rigorous formal security analysis and semantic security evaluations. The results demonstrate that the derived session keys are secure and that the scheme effectively mitigates typical attacks, including eavesdropping, packet replay, man-in-the-middle, impersonation, and de-synchronization. Performance comparisons against state-of-the-art schemes reveal significant efficiency gains. Specifically, the proposed protocol achieves a 66.696% reduction in computation costs and a 70% increment in supported security functionalities compared to existing methods. It also maintains relatively low communication costs, addressing the high overheads associated with Certificate Revocation Lists and blockchain-based approaches. The significance of this work lies in providing a practical, high-performance solution for VANET security that balances stringent privacy preservation with operational efficiency. By leveraging the unique properties of PUFs and RFEs alongside bilinear pairings, the scheme ensures conditional traceability and anonymity without the heavy computational burden of previous methods. This approach offers a viable path for securing future intelligent transportation systems, ensuring reliable data exchange for collision avoidance and traffic management while protecting user privacy and resisting advanced cyber threats.

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• v2x connected vehicle