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6. Computing the Message Digest

The output of each of the secure hash functions, after being applied to a message of N blocks, is the hash quantity H(N). For SHA-224 and SHA-256, H(i) can be considered to be eight 32-bit words, H(i)0, H(i)1, ... H(i)7. For SHA-384 and SHA-512, it can be considered to be eight 64-bit words, H(i)0, H(i)1, ..., H(i)7.

As described below, the hash words are initialized, modified as each message block is processed, and finally concatenated after processing the last block to yield the output. For SHA-256 and SHA-512, all of the H(N) variables are concatenated while the SHA-224 and SHA-384 hashes are produced by omitting some from the final concatenation.

6.1. SHA-224 and SHA-256 Initialization​

For SHA-224, the initial hash value, H(0), consists of the following 32-bit words in hex:

H(0)0 = c1059ed8
H(0)1 = 367cd507
H(0)2 = 3070dd17
H(0)3 = f70e5939
H(0)4 = ffc00b31
H(0)5 = 68581511
H(0)6 = 64f98fa7
H(0)7 = befa4fa4

For SHA-256, the initial hash value, H(0), consists of the following eight 32-bit words, in hex. These words were obtained by taking the first 32 bits of the fractional parts of the square roots of the first eight prime numbers.

H(0)0 = 6a09e667
H(0)1 = bb67ae85
H(0)2 = 3c6ef372
H(0)3 = a54ff53a
H(0)4 = 510e527f
H(0)5 = 9b05688c
H(0)6 = 1f83d9ab
H(0)7 = 5be0cd19

6.2. SHA-224 and SHA-256 Processing​

SHA-224 and SHA-256 perform identical processing on message blocks and differ only in how H(0) is initialized and how they produce their final output. They may be used to hash a message, M, having a length of L bits, where 0 <= L < 2^64. The algorithm uses (1) a message schedule of sixty-four 32-bit words, (2) eight working variables of 32 bits each, and (3) a hash value of eight 32-bit words.

The words of the message schedule are labeled W0, W1, ..., W63. The eight working variables are labeled a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h. The words of the hash value are labeled H(i)0, H(i)1, ..., H(i)7, which will hold the initial hash value, H(0), replaced by each successive intermediate hash value (after each message block is processed), H(i), and ending with the final hash value, H(N), after all N blocks are processed. They also use two temporary words, T1 and T2.

The input message is padded as described in Section 4.1 above, then parsed into 512-bit blocks that are considered to be composed of sixteen 32-bit words M(i)0, M(i)1, ..., M(i)15. The following computations are then performed for each of the N message blocks. All addition is performed modulo 2^32.

For i = 1 to N

  1. Prepare the message schedule W:
For t = 0 to 15
   Wt = M(i)t
For t = 16 to 63
   Wt = SSIG1(W(t-2)) + W(t-7) + SSIG0(W(t-15)) + W(t-16)
  1. Initialize the working variables:
a = H(i-1)0
b = H(i-1)1
c = H(i-1)2
d = H(i-1)3
e = H(i-1)4
f = H(i-1)5
g = H(i-1)6
h = H(i-1)7
  1. Perform the main hash computation:
For t = 0 to 63
   T1 = h + BSIG1(e) + CH(e,f,g) + Kt + Wt
   T2 = BSIG0(a) + MAJ(a,b,c)
   h = g
   g = f
   f = e
   e = d + T1
   d = c
   c = b
   b = a
   a = T1 + T2
  1. Compute the intermediate hash value H(i):
H(i)0 = a + H(i-1)0
H(i)1 = b + H(i-1)1
H(i)2 = c + H(i-1)2
H(i)3 = d + H(i-1)3
H(i)4 = e + H(i-1)4
H(i)5 = f + H(i-1)5
H(i)6 = g + H(i-1)6
H(i)7 = h + H(i-1)7

After the above computations have been sequentially performed for all of the blocks in the message, the final output is calculated. For SHA-256, this is the concatenation of all of H(N)0, H(N)1, through H(N)7. For SHA-224, this is the concatenation of H(N)0, H(N)1, through H(N)6.

6.3. SHA-384 and SHA-512 Initialization​

For SHA-384, the initial hash value, H(0), consists of the following eight 64-bit words, in hex. These words were obtained by taking the first 64 bits of the fractional parts of the square roots of the ninth through sixteenth prime numbers.

H(0)0 = cbbb9d5dc1059ed8
H(0)1 = 629a292a367cd507
H(0)2 = 9159015a3070dd17
H(0)3 = 152fecd8f70e5939
H(0)4 = 67332667ffc00b31
H(0)5 = 8eb44a8768581511
H(0)6 = db0c2e0d64f98fa7
H(0)7 = 47b5481dbefa4fa4

For SHA-512, the initial hash value, H(0), consists of the following eight 64-bit words, in hex. These words were obtained by taking the first 64 bits of the fractional parts of the square roots of the first eight prime numbers.

H(0)0 = 6a09e667f3bcc908
H(0)1 = bb67ae8584caa73b
H(0)2 = 3c6ef372fe94f82b
H(0)3 = a54ff53a5f1d36f1
H(0)4 = 510e527fade682d1
H(0)5 = 9b05688c2b3e6c1f
H(0)6 = 1f83d9abfb41bd6b
H(0)7 = 5be0cd19137e2179

6.4. SHA-384 and SHA-512 Processing​

SHA-384 and SHA-512 perform identical processing on message blocks and differ only in how H(0) is initialized and how they produce their final output. They may be used to hash a message, M, having a length of L bits, where 0 <= L < 2^128. The algorithm uses (1) a message schedule of eighty 64-bit words, (2) eight working variables of 64 bits each, and (3) a hash value of eight 64-bit words.

The words of the message schedule are labeled W0, W1, ..., W79. The eight working variables are labeled a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h. The words of the hash value are labeled H(i)0, H(i)1, ..., H(i)7, which will hold the initial hash value, H(0), replaced by each successive intermediate hash value (after each message block is processed), H(i), and ending with the final hash value, H(N) after all N blocks are processed.

The input message is padded as described in Section 4.2 above, then parsed into 1024-bit blocks that are considered to be composed of sixteen 64-bit words M(i)0, M(i)1, ..., M(i)15. The following computations are then performed for each of the N message blocks. All addition is performed modulo 2^64.

For i = 1 to N

  1. Prepare the message schedule W:
For t = 0 to 15
   Wt = M(i)t
For t = 16 to 79
   Wt = SSIG1(W(t-2)) + W(t-7) + SSIG0(W(t-15)) + W(t-16)
  1. Initialize the working variables:
a = H(i-1)0
b = H(i-1)1
c = H(i-1)2
d = H(i-1)3
e = H(i-1)4
f = H(i-1)5
g = H(i-1)6
h = H(i-1)7
  1. Perform the main hash computation:
For t = 0 to 79
   T1 = h + BSIG1(e) + CH(e,f,g) + Kt + Wt
   T2 = BSIG0(a) + MAJ(a,b,c)
   h = g
   g = f
   f = e
   e = d + T1
   d = c
   c = b
   b = a
   a = T1 + T2
  1. Compute the intermediate hash value H(i):
H(i)0 = a + H(i-1)0
H(i)1 = b + H(i-1)1
H(i)2 = c + H(i-1)2
H(i)3 = d + H(i-1)3
H(i)4 = e + H(i-1)4
H(i)5 = f + H(i-1)5
H(i)6 = g + H(i-1)6
H(i)7 = h + H(i-1)7

After the above computations have been sequentially performed for all of the blocks in the message, the final output is calculated. For SHA-512, this is the concatenation of all of H(N)0, H(N)1, through H(N)7. For SHA-384, this is the concatenation of H(N)0, H(N)1, through H(N)5.

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