A Google DeepMind kutatói kifejlesztették az AlphaProof Code nevű ágensalapú rendszert, amellyel sikeresen elvégezték a Signal protokoll kódjának formális verifikációját. Ez a folyamat nemcsak a tervezést, hanem a ténylegesen futó programkódot ellenőrzi, ami matematikailag garantálja a szoftver biztonságát. A feladathoz több mint 6 millió sornyi bizonyítást generáltak Lean programozási nyelven.
A folyamat során a Gemini Carbon modellek által hajtott ágensek önállóan írták meg a matematikai bizonyításokat, a szakértőknek mindössze a kód 1 százalékát kellett kézzel átnézniük. Az eljárás mindössze 4 hetet vett igénybe, míg a hagyományos kézi ellenőrzés évekig tartott volna a szakértői csapatoknak. A tesztek során a rendszer a korábban már javított valódi biztonsági hibákat is hibátlanul azonosította.
A kutatók a formális verifikációs eredményeket és az eszközöket nyílt forráskódúvá tették a közösség számára. A technológiát a jövőben más kritikus rendszerek, például orvosi eszközök és energiahálózatok szoftvereinek védelmére is alkalmazni kívánják.
Az eredeti szöveg (Google DeepMind)
How Google DeepMind researchers built a new agentic framework that formally verified the code of Signal’s cryptographic protocol — long considered to be a grand security challenge
Today, we’re sharing a milestone in software security long considered to be a grand security challenge: Google DeepMind researchers guided AI agents to mathematically prove key security properties of the actual code underlying the Signal protocol, the technology that protects billions of private conversations in apps like Signal and Google Messages.
This breakthrough discovery was made using AlphaProof Code, a novel agentic framework for formal verification at unprecedented depth that combines human expertise with AI agents. Formal verification—mathematically proving code runs correctly without flaws—is the highest standard of security assurance; however, it is difficult and often labor-intensive.
Our work marks the first time AI has been used to formally verify a widely deployed cryptographic protocol at this depth. It's also the first time the implementation of a widely deployed protocol like this has been formally verified by any method, with or without AI.
AlphaProof Code is a multi-LLM agentic framework that splits the work of formal verification the way a research team would: human experts work with AI to decide what to prove, and a group of AI agents does it.
First, our researchers collaborated with a mix of models to translate Signal’s security goals into formal mathematical specifications, with human experts reviewing every one. From there, agents powered by Gemini Carbon did the proofs, generating over six million lines of Lean, a computer language that mathematically proves the accuracy of code.
Next, the agents audited the proof and highlighted areas that needed a second look by a human – just one percent of the codebase, a massive time saving. Because Lean automatically checks the rest, our experts could focus their review where human judgment matters most.
Cryptographic protocols underpin nearly all digital communication, from online banking to web browsing, and a single flaw can expose millions of people at once. That's why experts have spent decades formally analyzing them.
But most protocol verification stops at the design level. Our agents went further, proving that the compiled code fulfills the key security properties – such as keeping messages protected before and after a device is temporarily compromised – down to the exact code running on devices. Because real-world vulnerabilities often hide in the gap between design and implementation, bridging this gap makes these proofs vastly more complex.
Even at this complexity, our verification process took just four weeks – a task that historically takes expert teams years – proving that Signal's core cryptographic code delivers the security protections our experts specified.
To confirm that AlphaProof Code can tell correct code from buggy code, we reintroduced two real, previously fixed bugs into an isolated version of Signal's code. In both cases, the system produced a machine-checked proof that the buggy version was insecure.
In AlphaProof Code, AI agents help users write a specification, then autonomously prove that the implementation meets it. Every proof is checked by Lean to verify the agents' work.
While prior formal verification focused on smaller portions of the code, Google DeepMind's approach enables significant expansion,” said Ehren Kret, Chief Technology Officer of Signal. “Using AI agents to translate live code into valid Lean theorems is a major breakthrough. As AI-driven security threats grow, rigorously verifying the Signal protocol implementation gives us even greater confidence in our code's privacy guarantees.
While prior formal verification work has necessarily focused on smaller scopes, this new approach enables a significant expansion. Traditionally, verifying that production code strictly matches its cryptographic design required extensive manual