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I wonder if there is any scheme or algorithm to generate HMACs that verify with multiple keys.

Suppose I have the secret keys K1, K2 and K3 and I have a message M1. Is the following possible?

  • Generate an HMAC1 with M1 that can be verified with K1 and K2 but not with K3

  • Generate a HMAC2 with M1 that can be verified with K2 and K3 but no longer with K1

  • Generate an HMAC3 with M1 that that can be verified with only K1 but not with K2 and K3

That is, to be able to authenticate a message to an arbitrary set of N keys. Maybe not with HMAC but with some other type of MAC algorithm.

I am analyzing if it is possible to issue OTPs (a truncated HMAC) against a series of devices (each one knows its key but not the key of the other devices) that authenticates a user only in an arbitrary subset of these devices.

Thanks.

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    $\begingroup$ "Generate an HMAC1 with M1 that can be verified with K1 and K2 but not with K3" - is there a reason that the obvious approach of 'HMAC(K1, M1) || HMAC(K2, M1)' is not acceptable? $\endgroup$
    – poncho
    Apr 17 at 1:39
  • $\begingroup$ Would be tricky to compress it further I guess. A hash over the authentication tags won't work if you can only calculate one of the tags. $\endgroup$
    – Maarten Bodewes ♦
    Apr 17 at 13:23
  • $\begingroup$ Hi @poncho, thanks for answering. How would you compress the HMAC(K1, M1) || HMAC(K2, M1) structure into a 6 to 8 digit OTP? Assuming you are a device that only knows K1, how would you validate that OTP? $\endgroup$
    – Different-March-5530
    Apr 17 at 13:44
  • $\begingroup$ @MaartenBodewes Yes, the idea is to issue OTPs to authenticate users in an arbirtary set of devices. The devices should be able to validate it only by knowing a key (their own). $\endgroup$
    – Different-March-5530
    Apr 17 at 13:54

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