QNSP implements NIST-standardized post-quantum cryptographic primitives via the @cuilabs/qnsp-cryptography package.

PQC Primitives Overview

QNSP implements NIST-standardized post-quantum cryptographic primitives via the @cuilabs/qnsp-cryptography package.

Supported Algorithms

The PqcAlgorithm type defines all supported algorithms:

// Source: packages/cryptography/src/provider.ts
type PqcAlgorithm =
  | "kyber-512" | "kyber-768" | "kyber-1024"      // KEM
  | "dilithium-2" | "dilithium-3" | "dilithium-5" // Signatures
  | "falcon-512" | "falcon-1024"                   // Signatures
  | "sphincs-shake-128f-simple"                    // Hash-based
  | "sphincs-shake-256f-simple";

Signature Algorithms

Algorithm	JWT Header	NIST Level	Use Case
`dilithium-2`	`Dilithium2`	2	JWT signing (default)
`dilithium-3`	`Dilithium3`	3	High-security tokens
`dilithium-5`	`Dilithium5`	5	Maximum security
`falcon-512`	`Falcon512`	1	Size-constrained
`falcon-1024`	`Falcon1024`	5	Size-constrained, high security
`sphincs-shake-128f-simple`	`SPHINCS+-SHAKE-128f-simple`	1	Stateless hash-based
`sphincs-shake-256f-simple`	`SPHINCS+-SHAKE-256f-simple`	5	Stateless hash-based

Key Encapsulation (KEM)

Algorithm	NIST Level	Use Case
`kyber-512`	1	Development/testing
`kyber-768`	3	Production default
`kyber-1024`	5	Maximum security

QNSP Defaults

From apps/auth-service/src/config/env.ts:

Setting	Default Value
`JWT_SIGNING_ALGORITHM`	`dilithium-2`
`AUTH_PQC_TLS_KEM_ALGORITHM`	`kyber-768`
`AUTH_PQC_TLS_SIGNATURE_ALGORITHM`	`dilithium-2`

Provider Interface

// Source: packages/cryptography/src/provider.ts
interface PqcProvider {
  readonly name: string;
  generateKeyPair(options: GenerateKeyPairOptions): Promise<{ keyPair: PqcKeyPair }>;
  encapsulate(options: EncapsulateOptions): Promise<EncapsulationResult>;
  decapsulate(options: DecapsulateOptions): Promise<Uint8Array>;
  sign(options: SignOptions): Promise<SignatureResult>;
  verify(options: VerifyOptions): Promise<boolean>;
  hash(data: Uint8Array, algorithm?: string): Promise<HashResult>;
}

Implementation

Production: liboqs provider via @cuilabs/liboqs-native 0.15.1 (Open Quantum Safe liboqs 0.15.0, custom-built with cmake -GNinja -DOQS_USE_OPENSSL=ON -DOQS_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF; statically linked, served from ECR qnsp/liboqs-builder-base:0.15.0 and recompiled on every backend Docker build)
Cross-verification secondary: @noble/post-quantum 0.6.0 (pure-JS) registered alongside liboqs in kms-service + audit-service for dual-provider attestation on Maximum / Government policy tiers
Browser SDK: @noble/post-quantum (pure-JS, no native bindings)
Testing: deterministic-pqc provider for reproducible tests; NIST ACVP test-vector harness at apps/web/scripts/run-nist-acvp-conformance.ts
Constant-time implementations
Side-channel resistance

NIST ACVP conformance evidence

noble (cross-verification reference): 435/435 ACVP test cases passed — full coverage of FIPS 203 (ML-KEM keyGen + encapDecap including §7.2/§7.3 input validation), FIPS 204 (ML-DSA keyGen), FIPS 205 (SLH-DSA keyGen, all 12 parameter sets).
liboqs (primary production engine): 240/240 ML-KEM ACVP test cases passed via OQS_KEM_keypair_derand and OQS_KEM_encaps_derand bindings shipped in @cuilabs/liboqs-native 0.15.1. The remaining 195 signature-keyGen tests (ML-DSA + SLH-DSA) are deferred upstream because liboqs C library 0.15.0 does not yet expose OQS_SIG_keypair_derand — a PR is pending against open-quantum-safe/liboqs.
Live evidence renders at https://qnsp.cuilabs.io/verify/conformance with a SHA-3-256 tamper digest binding the evidence JSON.

Entropy chain

CSPRNG path (default + strict tiers): OpenSSL SP 800-90A AES-CTR-DRBG seeded from Linux getrandom(2) which mixes Intel RDRAND/RDSEED (x86_64) / ARM TRNG (Graviton) / AWS Nitro Security Chip TRNG. liboqs is built with OQS_USE_OPENSSL=ON so randombytes() calls route through the same OpenSSL DRBG.
HSM-DRBG path (maximum + government tiers): customer-managed FIPS 140-3 L3 HSM via PKCS#11 (8 supported vendors).
QRNG mix-in path (sales-assisted add-on byoh-qrng-mixin): customer-supplied QRNG mixed into the HSM DRBG seed per NIST SP 800-90C RBG3 prediction-resistance reseed.
Full chain documentation at https://qnsp.cuilabs.io/trust/entropy.