PUF-AKA-IoD: A Provably Secure PUF-Based Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for IoD over 5G Networks

Maoxin Tang; Haonan Li

doi:10.62762/JRSC.2025.869145

Volume 1, Issue 1, Journal of Reliable and Secure Computing

Volume 1, Issue 1, 2025

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Journal of Reliable and Secure Computing, Volume 1, Issue 1, 2025: 25-40

Open Access | Research Article | 19 December 2025

PUF-AKA-IoD: A Provably Secure PUF-Based Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for IoD over 5G Networks

Maoxin Tang 1

Haonan Li 2 *

1 School of Computer Science, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China

2 Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

* Corresponding Author: Haonan Li, [email protected]

DOI: 10.62762/JRSC.2025.869145

ARK: ark:/57805/jrsc.2025.869145

Received: 03 October 2025, Accepted: 27 November 2025, Published: 19 December 2025

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Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a technological ecosystem that interconnects physical devices via the Internet to enable data exchange and coordinated operations, among which the Internet of Drones (IoD) represents a specialized application integrating drone technology with IoT for remote control and data transmission. With the adoption of fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication networks in IoD environments, drones can transmit high-quality data and respond to user requests with reduced latency. In recent years, various authentication schemes using temporary credentials have been proposed to allow users and drones to establish session keys with the assistance of a control server; however, many existing schemes remain vulnerable to drone capture attacks and known session-specific temporary information attacks. To address these security challenges, this paper proposes an enhanced authentication and key agreement scheme for IoD over 5G networks that incorporates physically unclonable functions (PUFs) to strengthen drone data security. The security of the proposed scheme is validated through informal security analysis, the ROR model, and the AVISPA tool. Furthermore, comparative security and performance evaluations demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves adequate security while maintaining competitive performance relative to existing schemes.

Graphical Abstract

PUF-AKA-IoD: A Provably Secure PUF-Based Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for IoD over 5G Networks

Keywords

IoD

5G networks

mutual authentication

key agreement

PUF

Data Availability Statement

Data will be made available on request.

Funding

This work was supported without any funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate

Not applicable.

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Tang, M., & Li, H. (2025). PUF-AKA-IoD: A Provably Secure PUF-Based Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for IoD over 5G Networks. Journal of Reliable and Secure Computing, 1(1), 25–40. https://doi.org/10.62762/JRSC.2025.869145

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Tang, Maoxin
AU  - Li, Haonan
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/19
TI  - PUF-AKA-IoD: A Provably Secure PUF-Based Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for IoD over 5G Networks
JO  - Journal of Reliable and Secure Computing
T2  - Journal of Reliable and Secure Computing
JF  - Journal of Reliable and Secure Computing
VL  - 1
IS  - 1
SP  - 25
EP  - 40
DO  - 10.62762/JRSC.2025.869145
UR  - https://www.icck.org/article/abs/JRSC.2025.869145
KW  - IoD
KW  - 5G networks
KW  - mutual authentication
KW  - key agreement
KW  - PUF
AB  - The Internet of Things (IoT) is a technological ecosystem that interconnects physical devices via the Internet to enable data exchange and coordinated operations, among which the Internet of Drones (IoD) represents a specialized application integrating drone technology with IoT for remote control and data transmission. With the adoption of fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication networks in IoD environments, drones can transmit high-quality data and respond to user requests with reduced latency. In recent years, various authentication schemes using temporary credentials have been proposed to allow users and drones to establish session keys with the assistance of a control server; however, many existing schemes remain vulnerable to drone capture attacks and known session-specific temporary information attacks. To address these security challenges, this paper proposes an enhanced authentication and key agreement scheme for IoD over 5G networks that incorporates physically unclonable functions (PUFs) to strengthen drone data security. The security of the proposed scheme is validated through informal security analysis, the ROR model, and the AVISPA tool. Furthermore, comparative security and performance evaluations demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves adequate security while maintaining competitive performance relative to existing schemes.
SN  - 3070-6424
PB  - Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge
LA  - English
ER  -

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@article{Tang2025PUFAKAIoD,
  author = {Maoxin Tang and Haonan Li},
  title = {PUF-AKA-IoD: A Provably Secure PUF-Based Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for IoD over 5G Networks},
  journal = {Journal of Reliable and Secure Computing},
  year = {2025},
  volume = {1},
  number = {1},
  pages = {25-40},
  doi = {10.62762/JRSC.2025.869145},
  url = {https://www.icck.org/article/abs/JRSC.2025.869145},
  abstract = {The Internet of Things (IoT) is a technological ecosystem that interconnects physical devices via the Internet to enable data exchange and coordinated operations, among which the Internet of Drones (IoD) represents a specialized application integrating drone technology with IoT for remote control and data transmission. With the adoption of fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication networks in IoD environments, drones can transmit high-quality data and respond to user requests with reduced latency. In recent years, various authentication schemes using temporary credentials have been proposed to allow users and drones to establish session keys with the assistance of a control server; however, many existing schemes remain vulnerable to drone capture attacks and known session-specific temporary information attacks. To address these security challenges, this paper proposes an enhanced authentication and key agreement scheme for IoD over 5G networks that incorporates physically unclonable functions (PUFs) to strengthen drone data security. The security of the proposed scheme is validated through informal security analysis, the ROR model, and the AVISPA tool. Furthermore, comparative security and performance evaluations demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves adequate security while maintaining competitive performance relative to existing schemes.},
  keywords = {IoD, 5G networks, mutual authentication, key agreement, PUF},
  issn = {3070-6424},
  publisher = {Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge}
}

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