self-stabilizing

Consider a fully-connected synchronous distributed system consisting of n nodes, where up to f nodes may be faulty and every node starts in an arbitrary initial state. In the synchronous C-counting problem, all nodes need to eventually agree on a counter that is increased by one modulo C in each round for given C>1. In the self-stabilising firing squad problem, the task is to eventually guarantee that all non-faulty nodes have simultaneous responses to external inputs: if a subset of the correct nodes receive an external “go” signal as input, then all correct nodes should agree on a round (in the not-too-distant future) in which to jointly output a “fire” signal. Moreover, no node should generate a “fire” signal without some correct node having previously received a “go” signal as input. We present a framework reducing both tasks to binary consensus at very small cost. For example, we obtain a deterministic algorithm for self-stabilising Byzantine firing squads with optimal resilience f<n/3, asymptotically optimal stabilisation and response time O(f), and message size O(log f). As our framework does not restrict the type of consensus routines used, we also obtain efficient randomised solutions

Near-optimal self-stabilising counting and firing squads

Consider a fully-connected synchronous distributed system consisting of n nodes, where up to f nodes may be faulty and every node starts in an arbitrary initial state. In the synchronous C-counting problem, all nodes need to eventually agree on a counter that is increased by one modulo C in each round for given C>1. In the self-stabilising firing squad problem, the task is to eventually guarantee that all non-faulty nodes have simultaneous responses to external inputs: if a subset of the correct nodes receive an external “go” signal as input, then all correct nodes should agree on a round (in the not-too-distant future) in which to jointly output a “fire” signal. Moreover, no node should generate a “fire” signal without some correct node having previously received a “go” signal as input. We present a framework reducing both tasks to binary consensus at very small cost. For example, we obtain a deterministic algorithm for self-stabilising Byzantine firing squads with optimal resilience f<n/3, asymptotically optimal stabilisation and response time O(f), and message size O(log f). As our framework does not restrict the type of consensus routines used, we also obtain efficient randomised solutions

Asynchronous Byzantine Systems: From Multivalued to Binary Consensus with t < n/3, O(n²) Messages, O(1) Time, and no Signature

International audienceThis paper presents a new algorithm that reduces multivalued consensus to binary consensus in an asyn-chronous message-passing system made up of n processes where up to t may commit Byzantine failures. This algorithm has the following noteworthy properties: it assumes t < n/3 (and is consequently optimal from a resilience point of view), uses O(n²) messages, has a constant time complexity, and does not use signatures. The design of this reduction algorithm relies on two new all-to-all communication abstractions. The first one allows the non-faulty processes to reduce the number of proposed values to c, where c is a small constant. The second communication abstraction allows each non-faulty process to compute a set of (proposed) values such that, if the set of a non-faulty process contains a single value, then this value belongs to the set of any non-faulty process. Both communication abstractions have an O(n²) message complexity and a constant time complexity. The reduction of multivalued Byzantine consensus to binary Byzantine consensus is then a simple sequential use of these communication abstractions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first asynchronous message-passing algorithm that reduces multivalued consensus to binary consensus with O(n²) messages and constant time complexity (measured with the longest causal chain of messages) in the presence of up to t < n/3 Byzantine processes, and without using cryptography techniques. Moreover, this reduction algorithm tolerates message reordering by Byzantine processes

Distributed Consensus in Networks

Distributed algorithms have gained a lot of attention during recent years. Their application in industry, particularly in wireless sensor networks has motivated researchers to try to design them in order to be less resource-consuming (e.g. memory and power), faster, and more reliable. There have been numerous distributed algorithms for different types of problems in the context of distributed algorithms. We are interested in a fundamental coordination problem namely the majority consensus problem. In the majority consensus problem nodes try to find the opinion of the majority in a network of interest. As our first contribution and motivated by the distributed binary consensus problem in [1] we propose a distributed algorithm for multivalued consensus in complete graphs. As our second contribution we propose an algorithm for the optimization of the binary interval consensus algorithm pioneered by Ben ezit et al in [2]. Finally we use binary interval consensus algorithm to design a framework for error-free consensus in dynamic networks using which nodes can leave or join the network during or after the consensus process.Open Acces

Asynchronous Byzantine Systems: From Multivalued to Binary Consensus with t < n/3, O(n 2 ) Messages, O(1) Time, and no Signature

This paper presents a new algorithm that reduces multivalued consensus to binary consensus in an asynchronous message-passing system made up of n processes where up to t may commit Byzantine failures. This algorithm has the following noteworthy properties: it assumes t < n/3 (and is consequently optimal from a resilience point of view), uses O(n 2) messages, has a constant time complexity, and does not use signatures. The design of this reduction algorithm relies on two new all-to-all communication abstractions. The first one allows the non-faulty processes to reduce the number of proposed values to c, where c is a small constant. The second communication abstraction allows each non-faulty process to compute a set of (proposed) values such that, if the set of a non-faulty process contains a single value, then this value belongs to the set of any non-faulty process. Both communication abstractions have an O(n 2) message complexity and a constant time complexity. The reduction of multivalued Byzantine consensus to binary Byzantine consensus is then a simple sequential use of these communication abstractions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first asynchronous message-passing algorithm that reduces multivalued consensus to binary consensus with O(n 2) messages and constant time complexity (measured with the longest causal chain of messages) in the presence of up to t < n/3 Byzantine processes, and without using cryptography techniques. Moreover, this reduction algorithm tolerates message re-ordering by Byzantine processes. Une réduction du consensus multivalué au consensus binaire en présence d'asynchronisme, de t < n/3 processus byzantins, avec un temps constant, O(n 2) messages, et pas de signatures Résumé : Cet article présente un algorithme réparti qui, dans un système asynchrone de n processus qui communiquent par passage de messages, et qui comprend jusqu'à t processus byzantins, ramène le problème du consensus multivalué au problème du consensus binaire. Cette réduction est optimale par rapport à t (t < n/3), requiert un temps constant et O(n 2) messages, et n'utilise aucun élément cryptographique (i.e., pas de signatures). Elle considère donc un adversaire donc la la puissance de calcul peut être illimitée

Network-Agnostic Security Comes (Almost) for Free in DKG and MPC

Distributed key generation (DKG) protocols are an essential building block for threshold cryptosystems. Many DKG protocols tolerate up to $t_s<n/2$ corruptions assuming a well-behaved synchronous network, but become insecure as soon as the network delay becomes unstable. On the other hand, solutions in the asynchronous model operate under arbitrary network conditions, but only tolerate $t_a<n/3$ corruptions, even when the network is well-behaved. In this work, we ask whether one can design a protocol that achieves security guarantees in either scenario. We show a complete characterization of network-agnostic DKG protocols, showing that the tight bound is $t_a+2t_s <n$. As a second contribution, we provide an optimized version of the network-agnostic MPC protocol by Blum, Liu-Zhang and Loss [CRYPTO\u2720] which improves over the communication complexity of their protocol by a linear factor. Moreover, using our DKG protocol, we can instantiate our MPC protocol in the plain PKI model, i.e., without the need to assume an expensive trusted setup. Our protocols incur the same communication complexity as state-of-the-art DKG and MPC protocols with optimal resilience in their respective purely synchronous and asynchronous settings, thereby showing that network-agnostic security comes (almost) for free