Open Access

ARTICLE

Toward Secure and Auditable Data Sharing: A Cross-Chain CP-ABE Framework

Ye Tian^1,*, Zhuokun Fan¹, Yifeng Zhang²

1 College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan Normal University, Jinzhong, 030619, China
2 State Grid Shanxi Electric Power Research Institute, Taiyuan, 030001, China

* Corresponding Author: Ye Tian. Email:

Computers, Materials & Continua 2026, 87(1), 62 https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2025.073935

Received 28 September 2025; Accepted 26 November 2025; Issue published 10 February 2026

Abstract

Amid the increasing demand for data sharing, the need for flexible, secure, and auditable access control mechanisms has garnered significant attention in the academic community. However, blockchain-based ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) schemes still face cumbersome ciphertext re-encryption and insufficient oversight when handling dynamic attribute changes and cross-chain collaboration. To address these issues, we propose a dynamic permission attribute-encryption scheme for multi-chain collaboration. This scheme incorporates a multi-authority architecture for distributed attribute management and integrates an attribute revocation and granting mechanism that eliminates the need for ciphertext re-encryption, effectively reducing both computational and communication overhead. It leverages the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) for off-chain data storage and constructs a cross-chain regulatory framework—comprising a Hyperledger Fabric business chain and a FISCO BCOS regulatory chain—to record changes in decryption privileges and access behaviors in an auditable manner. Security analysis shows selective indistinguishability under chosen-plaintext attack (sIND-CPA) security under the decisional q-Parallel Bilinear Diffie-Hellman Exponent Assumption (q-PBDHE). In the performance and experimental evaluations, we compared the proposed scheme with several advanced schemes. The results show that, while preserving security, the proposed scheme achieves higher encryption/decryption efficiency and lower storage overhead for ciphertexts and keys.

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Keywords

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