Cryptanalysis of LC-MUME: A Lightweight Certificateless Multi-User Matchmaking Encryption for Mobile Devices

Abstract: Yang et al. proposed a lightweight certificateless multiuser matchmaking encryption (LC-MUME) scheme for mobile devices, published in IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security (TIFS) (DOI: 10.1109/TIFS.2023.3321961). Their construction aims to reduce computational and communication overhead within a one-to-many certificateless cryptographic framework. The authors claim that their scheme satisfies existential unforgeability under chosen-message attacks (EUF-CMA) in the random oracle model. However, our cryptanalytic study demonstrates that the scheme fails to meet this critical security requirement. In particular, we show that a Type-I adversary can successfully forge a valid ciphertext without possessing the complete private key of the sender. Both theoretical analysis and practical implementation confirm that this attack can be mounted with minimal computational cost. To address these weaknesses, we propose a modification strategy to strengthen the security of matchmaking encryption schemes in mobile computing environments.