A Lightweight Quantum-Secure Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks

Publication Type

Journal Article

Name of Author

• Lasseni Coulibaly, African Center of Excellence in Internet of Things (ACEIoT), University of Rwanda, Kigali, RwandaFollow
• Damien Hanyurwimfura, African Center of Excellence in Internet of Things (ACEIoT), University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
• Evariste Twahirwa, African Center of Excellence in Internet of Things (ACEIoT), University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
• Abubakar Diwani, Department of Computer Science and IT, The State University of Zanzibar, Zanzibar, Tanzania

Publication Date (Issue Year)

2026

Journal Name

Computers, Materials & Continua

Abstract

Intelligent transportation systems, a critical pillar for smart cities, enable real-time vehicular communications to prevent human errors and improve traffic safety and efficiency. However, the open and highly dynamic nature of vehicular networks exposes them to various security threats, including message tampering, impersonation, and privacy violations. Several authentication and key agreement (AKA) protocols have been proposed to mitigate these risks, but often fail to maintain future-proof security against emerging quantum threats or introduce significant latency that affects real-time applications by relying on computationally expensive public-key cryptography, blockchain or centralized architectures. This paper proposes a new AKA protocol that combines hash-based operations with the Blom’s key pre-distribution scheme and the standardized Module-Lattice-Based Key Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM) to achieve lightweight and quantum-secure mutual vehicular authentications in a decentralized architecture. Formal security verifications together with informal security analysis demonstrate resistance against common network attacks, while performance evaluations confirm reduced computational costs up to 99.95% and communication overhead reductions from 8.46% to 87.08% compared with related methods. Moreover, NS-3 simulations under varying densities and mobility conditions demonstrate high packet delivery reliability, low end-to-end authentication latency, and excellent scalability, making the proposed protocol a practical solution for next-generation quantum-secure vehicular networks.

Keywords

Authentication, key agreement, security and privacy, vehicular networks

Rsif Scholar Name

Lasseni Coulibaly

Rsif Scholar Nationality

Mali

Cohort

Cohort 4

Thematic Area

ICTs Including Big Data and Artificial Intelligence

Africa Host University (AHU)

University of Rwanda (UR), Rwanda

Recommended Citation

Coulibaly, L., Hanyurwimfura, D., Twahirwa, E., & Diwani, A. (2026). A Lightweight Quantum-Secure Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks. Computers, Materials & Continua, 89 https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2026.087148