Date Published: 04/13/2026
Comments Due:
Email Comments to:
Author(s)
Dustin Moody (NIST), Quynh Dang (NIST)
Announcement
NIST is seeking public comments on the initial public draft (ipd) of Special Publication (SP) 800-230, Additional SLH-DSA Parameter Sets for Limited-Signature Use Cases. This document serves as a technical extension to FIPS 205 by specifying six additional parameter sets for security levels 1, 3, and 5. These variants are specifically tailored for use cases that require fast verification and reduced signature sizes, such as the signing of software, firmware, and digital certificates. These optimizations are achieved by establishing a strict limit of 2^24 signatures per signing key; therefore, these sets are not approved for general-purpose use.
NIST requests feedback on the suitability of these additional parameter sets, specifically asking reviewers to identify applications for which these variants might incur unacceptable performance or to suggest alternative sets that are better suited for such use cases. Users must perform a thorough evaluation to ensure that the signature limit is never exceeded during a key's lifetime. Please submit comments to [email protected] by June 12, 2026
This Special Publication serves as a technical extension of FIPS 205, the specification for the Stateless Hash-based Digital Signature Algorithm (SLHsig). While standard SLHsig parameter sets are designed to maintain full security for up to 2^64 signatures, the resulting signature sizes and/or verification times are undesirable or prohibitive for certain applications. To address these performance constraints, this document specifies six additional SLHsig parameter sets for security levels 1, 3, and 5. These new variants are specifically tailored for use cases that require fast verification and reduced signature sizes, such as the signing of software, firmware, and digital certificates. These optimizations are achieved by establishing a strict limit of 2^24 signatures per signing key. Because of this operational limit, these parameter sets are not approved for general-purpose use, and users must perform a thorough evaluation to ensure that the signature limit is never exceeded during any signing key's lifetime.
This Special Publication serves as a technical extension of FIPS 205, the specification for the Stateless Hash-based Digital Signature Algorithm (SLHsig). While standard SLHsig parameter sets are designed to maintain full security for up to 2^64 signatures, the resulting signature sizes and/or...
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This Special Publication serves as a technical extension of FIPS 205, the specification for the Stateless Hash-based Digital Signature Algorithm (SLHsig). While standard SLHsig parameter sets are designed to maintain full security for up to 2^64 signatures, the resulting signature sizes and/or verification times are undesirable or prohibitive for certain applications. To address these performance constraints, this document specifies six additional SLHsig parameter sets for security levels 1, 3, and 5. These new variants are specifically tailored for use cases that require fast verification and reduced signature sizes, such as the signing of software, firmware, and digital certificates. These optimizations are achieved by establishing a strict limit of 2^24 signatures per signing key. Because of this operational limit, these parameter sets are not approved for general-purpose use, and users must perform a thorough evaluation to ensure that the signature limit is never exceeded during any signing key's lifetime.
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Keywords
cryptography; digital signatures; FIPS 205; hash-based signatures; post-quantum; post-quantum digital signatures; public-key cryptography; SLHsig; \sphincsp; stateless hash-based signatures
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