RFC 1319 (rfc1319) - Page 1 of 17

The MD2 Message-Digest Algorithm

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Network Working Group                                         B. Kaliski
Request for Comments: 1319                              RSA Laboratories
Updates: RFC 1115                                             April 1992


                     The MD2 Message-Digest Algorithm

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard.  Distribution of this memo is
   unlimited.

Acknowlegements

   The description of MD2 is based on material prepared by John Linn and
   Ron Rivest.  Their permission to incorporate that material is greatly
   appreciated.

Table of Contents

   1. Executive Summary                                                1
   2. Terminology and Notation                                         2
   3. MD2 Algorithm Description                                        2
   4. Summary                                                          4
   References                                                          5
   APPENDIX A - Reference Implementation                               5
   Security Considerations                                            17
   Author's Address                                                   17

1. Executive Summary

   This document describes the MD2 message-digest algorithm. The
   algorithm takes as input a message of arbitrary length and produces
   as output a 128-bit "fingerprint" or "message digest" of the input.
   It is conjectured that it is computationally infeasible to produce
   two messages having the same message digest, or to produce any
   message having a given prespecified target message digest. The MD2
   algorithm is intended for digital signature applications, where a
   large file must be "compressed" in a secure manner before being
   signed with a private (secret) key under a public-key cryptosystem
   such as RSA.

   License to use MD2 is granted for non-commerical Internet Privacy-
   Enhanced Mail [1-3].

   This document is an update to the August 1989 RFC 1115 [3], which
   also gives a reference implementation of MD2. The main differences



Kaliski
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