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Is there a simple way if counting the number of $S$-Boxes of length $\ell$ over $\mathbb{F}_{2}$? By $S$-box I mean an $S$-box satisfying the avalanche condition.

I mean it is quite easy to see that for $\ell=2$ the answer is $0$ but I want to know if there is a general formula, specifically for $\ell=3$?

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    $\begingroup$ What are the requirements of an S box? $\endgroup$
    – Wilson
    May 21 at 0:12
  • $\begingroup$ I don't get the question. It states "for $\ell=2$ the answer is $0$"; but isn't $S(x_0,x_1)=x_0\mathbin|x_1$ "satisfying the avalanche condition" and even the Strict Avalanche Criterion? $\endgroup$
    – fgrieu
    May 22 at 7:36

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By definition, an S-box usually assumed to be one-to-one. From your question, you want it to be a fixed bitlength, say $n.$ So it is a one to one mapping from $\{0,1\}^n$ to itself, i.e., a permutation on $2^n$ point. This is usually referred to as an $n\times n$ S-box. There are $2^n!$ such mappings. You can use Stirling's formula or compute this for small $n.$

For example $$2^3!=2^3(2^3-1)\cdots 2\cdot 1=40320.$$

The question becomes more interesting and quite complex if we consider some S-boxes to be equivalent from a cryptographic point of view. For example let our S-box input be $(x_1,x_2,x_3)$ and output be $(y_1,y_2,y_3).$ One could argue that relabeling these gives you the same S-box. It gets quite complicated once we start thinking of counting distinct S-boxes under other equivalences.

Thinking of linear cryptanalysis for example, one might say, all $n\times n$ S-boxes which behave the same under analysis given by pre- and post-multiplication by non-singular $n\times n$ matrices and addition of constants at input and output are equivalent.

A nice paper addressing a lot of this is Saarinen, Cryptographic analysis of all $4\times 4$ S-boxes available here

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    $\begingroup$ I doubt the question is about one-to-one S-boxes, for it (now) states "satisfying the avalanche condition". I still find no way to read the question such that "for $\ell=2$ the answer is $0$" is correct. $\endgroup$
    – fgrieu
    May 22 at 8:16

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