This document discusses message authentication with MD5. It provides an overview of how MD5 works as a hash function and describes how it can be used to generate a message authentication code (MAC). It notes that MD5 was an attempt to reduce overhead compared to DES-based MACs. However, it also describes an extension attack that allows modifying messages while reusing the original MAC. The document considers replacing MD5 with AES to address this issue and provides thoughts on using MD5 for per-message authentication despite its age.
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