5Gen: A Framework for Prototyping Applications Using Multilinear Maps and Matrix Branching Programs

Secure multilinear maps (mmaps) have been shown to have remarkable applications in cryptography, such as multi-input functional encryption (MIFE) and program obfuscation. To date, there has been little evaluation of the performance of these applications. In this paper we initiate a systematic study of mmap-based constructions. We build a general framework, called 5Gen, to experiment with these applications. At the top layer we develop a compiler that takes in a high-level program and produces an optimized matrix branching program needed for the applications we consider. Next, we optimize and experiment with several MIFE and obfuscation constructions and evaluate their performance. The 5Gen framework is modular and can easily accommodate new mmap constructions as well as new MIFE and obfuscation constructions, as well as being an open-source tool that can be used by other research groups to experiment with a variety of mmap-based constructions.