The Crossbred algorithm is currently the state-of-the-art method for solving overdetermined multivariate polynomial systems over $\mathbb{F}_2$. Since its publication in 2017, several record breaking implementations have been proposed and demonstrate the power of this hybrid approach. Despite these practical results, the complexity of this algorithm and the choice of optimal parameters for it are difficult open questions. In this paper, we prove a bivariate generating series for potentially admissible parameters of the Crossbred algorithm.

The LowMC family of block ciphers was proposed by Albrecht et al. in Eurocrypt 2015, specifically targeting adoption in FHE and MPC applications due to its low multiplicative complexity. The construction operates a 3-bit quadratic S-box as the sole non-linear transformation in the algorithm. In contrast, both the linear layer and round key generation are achieved through multiplications of full rank matrices over GF(2). The cipher is instantiable using a diverse set of default configurations, some of which have partial non-linear layers i.e., in which the S-boxes are not applied over the entire internal state of the cipher.

The significance of cryptanalysing LowMC was elevated by its inclusion into the NIST PQC digital signature scheme PICNIC in which a successful key recovery using a single plaintext/ciphertext pair is akin to retrieving the secret signing key. The current state-of-the-art attack in this setting is due to Dinur at Eurocrypt 2021, in which a novel way of enumerating roots of a Boolean system of equation is morphed into a key-recovery procedure that undercuts an ordinary exhaustive search in terms of time complexity for the variants of the cipher up to five rounds.

In this work, we demonstrate that this technique can efficiently be enriched with a specific linearization strategy that reduces the algebraic degree of the non-linear layer as put forward by Banik et al. at IACR ToSC 2020(4). This amalgamation yields new attacks on certain instances of LowMC up to seven rounds.