FrodoKEM (Frodo)

Type

Key-encapsulation mechanism (KEM)

Family

Lattice (plain LWE, unstructured)

Standard

ISO/IEC 18033-2 amendment in progress; not selected by NIST

Standardized by

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 (in progress); recommended by BSI (Germany) and ANSSI (France)

Date

Dropped from NIST process after Round 3 (2022-07); ISO/IEC work ongoing

Status

Not a NIST standard; ISO/IEC process ongoing

Last reviewed 2026-09-12 by the PQC Audit Index editors.

Parameter sets and sizes (bytes)

NIST security categories: 1 ≈ AES-128, 2 ≈ SHA-256 collision, 3 ≈ AES-192, 5 ≈ AES-256.

Where FrodoKEM is deployed

• European government and regulated deployments; available in liboqs

What an audit of FrodoKEM checks

• Matrix generation from seed (AES vs SHAKE variants) and its performance/side-channel profile
• Constant-time sampling from the rounded-Gaussian table
• Ephemeral-only (eFrodoKEM) vs static-key variants and the implicit rejection differences between them

See the full post-quantum cryptography audit checklist.

Who audits FrodoKEM implementations

Firms with a cryptography practice that review FrodoKEM implementations and protocol integrations, in the order this index lists them:

1. zkSecurity — Cryptography audits: post-quantum, zero-knowledge proofs, MPC, FHE, TEEs
2. Trail of Bits — Software assurance with a dedicated cryptography practice
3. NCC Group (Cryptography Services) — Large security consultancy with a specialist Cryptography Services team
4. Cryspen — Formally verified cryptography and high-assurance post-quantum implementations
5. Kudelski Security — Cryptography audits and quantum-readiness assessments
6. Quarkslab — Reverse engineering, cryptography, and secure implementation research
7. Least Authority — Security audits of cryptographic protocols and privacy-preserving systems
8. Galois — Formal verification of cryptographic code
9. atsec information security — FIPS 140-3 and CAVP validation laboratory
10. Riscure (Keysight) — Side-channel and fault-injection evaluation of hardware implementations
11. Cure53 — Penetration testing and code audits of open-source and web software
12. X41 D-Sec — Source-code audits of open-source security and cryptographic software

Primary sources

• FrodoKEM project

Machine-readable: data.json · summary.txt