Date Published: September 3, 2026
Comments Due:
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Author(s)
Meltem Sönmez Turan (NIST), Eric Hibbard (Samsung Semiconductor)
Announcement
Revision 1 updates the referenced specification to IEEE Std. 1619-2025 and clarifies NIST’s requirements for the approved use of XTS-AES, including its scope of use, data-unit and key-scope limits, key requirements, and the ordering convention for ciphertext stealing.
Rather than reproducing the XTS-AES specification, this recommendation incorporates IEEE Std. 1619-2025 by reference. To facilitate review of the draft SP, IEEE Std. 1619-2025 is publicly available during the public comment period.
The public comment period is open through October 16, 2026.
NOTE: A call for patent claims is included in this draft. For additional information, see the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) Patent Policy – Inclusion of Patents in ITL Publications.
Block cipher modes of operation specify how an approved block cipher, such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), is applied to provide cryptographic protection for particular applications, including storage encryption where data is organized in fixed-size units and encrypted without data expansion. Revision 1 of Special Publication (SP) 800-38E approves the XTS-AES mode as specified in IEEE Std. 1619-2025 for protecting the confidentiality of data on block-oriented storage devices. This approval is subject to the applicability statements, conformance requirements, and clarifications in this recommendation. XTS-AES does not provide authentication of the data or its source.
Block cipher modes of operation specify how an approved block cipher, such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), is applied to provide cryptographic protection for particular applications, including storage encryption where data is organized in fixed-size units and encrypted without data...
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Block cipher modes of operation specify how an approved block cipher, such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), is applied to provide cryptographic protection for particular applications, including storage encryption where data is organized in fixed-size units and encrypted without data expansion. Revision 1 of Special Publication (SP) 800-38E approves the XTS-AES mode as specified in IEEE Std. 1619-2025 for protecting the confidentiality of data on block-oriented storage devices. This approval is subject to the applicability statements, conformance requirements, and clarifications in this recommendation. XTS-AES does not provide authentication of the data or its source.
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Keywords
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES); block cipher; ciphertext stealing; confidentiality; cryptography; data at rest; encryption; information security; key scope; mode of operation; storage device; tweakable block cipher
Control Families
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