SIGABA

Category: Bletchley

Status: Registered and callable in the CyberChef 11.3.0 compatibility inventory.

Input / output: string → string

Background: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/SIGABA

What it does

Encipher/decipher with the WW2 SIGABA machine. SIGABA, otherwise known as ECM Mark II, was used by the United States for message encryption during WW2 up to the 1950s. It was developed in the 1930s by the US Army and Navy, and has up to this day never been broken. Consisting of 15 rotors: 5 cipher rotors and 10 rotors (5 control rotors and 5 index rotors) controlling the stepping of the cipher rotors, the rotor stepping for SIGABA is much more complex than other rotor machines of its time, such as Enigma. All example rotor wirings are random example sets. To configure rotor wirings, for the cipher and control rotors enter a string of letters which map from A to Z, and for the index rotors enter a sequence of numbers which map from 0 to 9. Note that encryption is not the same as decryption, so first choose the desired mode. Note: Whilst this has been tested against other software emulators, it has not been tested against hardware.

Note

Status here means the operation name is implemented and callable. It does not by itself promise byte-for-byte parity for every upstream option. See Compatibility and current status for the verified scope and known boundaries.

Warning

Historical machine presets currently cover a documented compatibility subset.

Arguments and options

Arguments are positional. Keep their order when using bake() or Pipeline.then().

Index

Name

UI type

PyChef default

Accepted values / format

0

1st (left-hand) cipher rotor

editableOption

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT'

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', 'THQEFSAZVKJYULBODCPXNIMWRG', 'XDTUYLEVFNQZBPOGIRCSMHWKAJ', 'LOHDMCWUPSTNGVXYFJREQIKBZA', 'ERXWNZQIJYLVOFUMSGHTCKPBDA', 'FQECYHJIOUMDZVPSLKRTGWXBAN', 'TBYIUMKZDJSOPEWXVANHLCFQGR', 'QZUPDTFNYIAOMLEBWJXCGHKRSV', 'CZWNHEMPOVXLKRSIDGJFYBTQAU', 'ENPXJVKYQBFZTICAGMOHWRLDUS'

1

1st cipher rotor reversed

boolean

False

True or False

2

1st cipher rotor initial value

option

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

3

2nd cipher rotor

editableOption

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT'

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', 'THQEFSAZVKJYULBODCPXNIMWRG', 'XDTUYLEVFNQZBPOGIRCSMHWKAJ', 'LOHDMCWUPSTNGVXYFJREQIKBZA', 'ERXWNZQIJYLVOFUMSGHTCKPBDA', 'FQECYHJIOUMDZVPSLKRTGWXBAN', 'TBYIUMKZDJSOPEWXVANHLCFQGR', 'QZUPDTFNYIAOMLEBWJXCGHKRSV', 'CZWNHEMPOVXLKRSIDGJFYBTQAU', 'ENPXJVKYQBFZTICAGMOHWRLDUS'

4

2nd cipher rotor reversed

boolean

False

True or False

5

2nd cipher rotor initial value

option

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

6

3rd (middle) cipher rotor

editableOption

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT'

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', 'THQEFSAZVKJYULBODCPXNIMWRG', 'XDTUYLEVFNQZBPOGIRCSMHWKAJ', 'LOHDMCWUPSTNGVXYFJREQIKBZA', 'ERXWNZQIJYLVOFUMSGHTCKPBDA', 'FQECYHJIOUMDZVPSLKRTGWXBAN', 'TBYIUMKZDJSOPEWXVANHLCFQGR', 'QZUPDTFNYIAOMLEBWJXCGHKRSV', 'CZWNHEMPOVXLKRSIDGJFYBTQAU', 'ENPXJVKYQBFZTICAGMOHWRLDUS'

7

3rd cipher rotor reversed

boolean

False

True or False

8

3rd cipher rotor initial value

option

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

9

4th cipher rotor

editableOption

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT'

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', 'THQEFSAZVKJYULBODCPXNIMWRG', 'XDTUYLEVFNQZBPOGIRCSMHWKAJ', 'LOHDMCWUPSTNGVXYFJREQIKBZA', 'ERXWNZQIJYLVOFUMSGHTCKPBDA', 'FQECYHJIOUMDZVPSLKRTGWXBAN', 'TBYIUMKZDJSOPEWXVANHLCFQGR', 'QZUPDTFNYIAOMLEBWJXCGHKRSV', 'CZWNHEMPOVXLKRSIDGJFYBTQAU', 'ENPXJVKYQBFZTICAGMOHWRLDUS'

10

4th cipher rotor reversed

boolean

False

True or False

11

4th cipher rotor initial value

option

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

12

5th (right-hand) cipher rotor

editableOption

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT'

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', 'THQEFSAZVKJYULBODCPXNIMWRG', 'XDTUYLEVFNQZBPOGIRCSMHWKAJ', 'LOHDMCWUPSTNGVXYFJREQIKBZA', 'ERXWNZQIJYLVOFUMSGHTCKPBDA', 'FQECYHJIOUMDZVPSLKRTGWXBAN', 'TBYIUMKZDJSOPEWXVANHLCFQGR', 'QZUPDTFNYIAOMLEBWJXCGHKRSV', 'CZWNHEMPOVXLKRSIDGJFYBTQAU', 'ENPXJVKYQBFZTICAGMOHWRLDUS'

13

5th cipher rotor reversed

boolean

False

True or False

14

5th cipher rotor initial value

option

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

15

1st (left-hand) control rotor

editableOption

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT'

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', 'THQEFSAZVKJYULBODCPXNIMWRG', 'XDTUYLEVFNQZBPOGIRCSMHWKAJ', 'LOHDMCWUPSTNGVXYFJREQIKBZA', 'ERXWNZQIJYLVOFUMSGHTCKPBDA', 'FQECYHJIOUMDZVPSLKRTGWXBAN', 'TBYIUMKZDJSOPEWXVANHLCFQGR', 'QZUPDTFNYIAOMLEBWJXCGHKRSV', 'CZWNHEMPOVXLKRSIDGJFYBTQAU', 'ENPXJVKYQBFZTICAGMOHWRLDUS'

16

1st control rotor reversed

boolean

False

True or False

17

1st control rotor initial value

option

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

18

2nd control rotor

editableOption

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT'

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', 'THQEFSAZVKJYULBODCPXNIMWRG', 'XDTUYLEVFNQZBPOGIRCSMHWKAJ', 'LOHDMCWUPSTNGVXYFJREQIKBZA', 'ERXWNZQIJYLVOFUMSGHTCKPBDA', 'FQECYHJIOUMDZVPSLKRTGWXBAN', 'TBYIUMKZDJSOPEWXVANHLCFQGR', 'QZUPDTFNYIAOMLEBWJXCGHKRSV', 'CZWNHEMPOVXLKRSIDGJFYBTQAU', 'ENPXJVKYQBFZTICAGMOHWRLDUS'

19

2nd control rotor reversed

boolean

False

True or False

20

2nd control rotor initial value

option

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

21

3rd (middle) control rotor

editableOption

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT'

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', 'THQEFSAZVKJYULBODCPXNIMWRG', 'XDTUYLEVFNQZBPOGIRCSMHWKAJ', 'LOHDMCWUPSTNGVXYFJREQIKBZA', 'ERXWNZQIJYLVOFUMSGHTCKPBDA', 'FQECYHJIOUMDZVPSLKRTGWXBAN', 'TBYIUMKZDJSOPEWXVANHLCFQGR', 'QZUPDTFNYIAOMLEBWJXCGHKRSV', 'CZWNHEMPOVXLKRSIDGJFYBTQAU', 'ENPXJVKYQBFZTICAGMOHWRLDUS'

22

3rd control rotor reversed

boolean

False

True or False

23

3rd control rotor initial value

option

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

24

4th control rotor

editableOption

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT'

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', 'THQEFSAZVKJYULBODCPXNIMWRG', 'XDTUYLEVFNQZBPOGIRCSMHWKAJ', 'LOHDMCWUPSTNGVXYFJREQIKBZA', 'ERXWNZQIJYLVOFUMSGHTCKPBDA', 'FQECYHJIOUMDZVPSLKRTGWXBAN', 'TBYIUMKZDJSOPEWXVANHLCFQGR', 'QZUPDTFNYIAOMLEBWJXCGHKRSV', 'CZWNHEMPOVXLKRSIDGJFYBTQAU', 'ENPXJVKYQBFZTICAGMOHWRLDUS'

25

4th control rotor reversed

boolean

False

True or False

26

4th control rotor initial value

option

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

27

5th (right-hand) control rotor

editableOption

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT'

'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', 'THQEFSAZVKJYULBODCPXNIMWRG', 'XDTUYLEVFNQZBPOGIRCSMHWKAJ', 'LOHDMCWUPSTNGVXYFJREQIKBZA', 'ERXWNZQIJYLVOFUMSGHTCKPBDA', 'FQECYHJIOUMDZVPSLKRTGWXBAN', 'TBYIUMKZDJSOPEWXVANHLCFQGR', 'QZUPDTFNYIAOMLEBWJXCGHKRSV', 'CZWNHEMPOVXLKRSIDGJFYBTQAU', 'ENPXJVKYQBFZTICAGMOHWRLDUS'

28

5th control rotor reversed

boolean

False

True or False

29

5th control rotor initial value

option

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

30

1st (left-hand) index rotor

editableOption

'6201348957'

'6201348957', '6147253089', '8239647510', '7194835260', '4873205916'

31

1st index rotor initial value

option

'0123456789'

'0123456789'

32

2nd index rotor

editableOption

'6201348957'

'6201348957', '6147253089', '8239647510', '7194835260', '4873205916'

33

2nd index rotor initial value

option

'0123456789'

'0123456789'

34

3rd (middle) index rotor

editableOption

'6201348957'

'6201348957', '6147253089', '8239647510', '7194835260', '4873205916'

35

3rd index rotor initial value

option

'0123456789'

'0123456789'

36

4th index rotor

editableOption

'6201348957'

'6201348957', '6147253089', '8239647510', '7194835260', '4873205916'

37

4th index rotor initial value

option

'0123456789'

'0123456789'

38

5th (right-hand) index rotor

editableOption

'6201348957'

'6201348957', '6147253089', '8239647510', '7194835260', '4873205916'

39

5th index rotor initial value

option

'0123456789'

'0123456789'

40

SIGABA mode

option

'Encrypt'

'Encrypt', 'Decrypt'

Recipe template

Important

This is a call template built from the documented defaults. Replace placeholder values such as empty keys, paths, patterns, or lookup data before running it.

from pychef import bake

input_value = "example"
args = ['SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', 'Encrypt']
result = bake(input_value, [{"op": 'SIGABA', "args": args}])
print(result)

Pipeline example

from pychef import Pipeline

args = ['SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', 'Encrypt']
transform = Pipeline().then('SIGABA', *args)
result = transform("example")

Direct call

pychef.ops.run_operation runs any registered operation as a plain function, under the active ExecutionPolicy (safe defaults, no network):

from pychef.ops import run_operation

args = ['SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', 'Encrypt']
result = run_operation('SIGABA', "example", args=args)

Common operations also have typed helpers in Direct operations.

Low-level operation module

Warning

The module below is an internal implementation detail. It applies no execution policy, resource limits, or error sanitization; prefer bake(), Pipeline, or pychef.ops for application code.

The registered entry point lives in pychef.operations.by_operation.sigaba. Direct calls receive the input value and a positional argument tuple:

from pychef.operations.by_operation.sigaba import run

result = run("example", tuple(['SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', 'SRGWANHPJZFXVIDQCEUKBYOLMT', False, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', '6201348957', '0123456789', 'Encrypt']))
pychef.operations.by_operation.sigaba.run(value, args)

Run this operation using its shared internal implementation.

Parameters:

  • value (str | bytes)

  • args (Sequence[Any])

Return type:

str | bytes