ObfusQate: Unveiling the First Quantum Program Obfuscation Framework
This work addresses the threat of program reverse engineering by proposing, for the first time, a quantum-primitive-based program obfuscation framework that simultaneously enhances security for both classical and quantum programs. Methodologically, it integrates circuit-level obfuscation—such as quantum gate hiding and identity matrix embedding—with code-level techniques—including quantum opaque predicates and quantum-classical hybrid control flow—enabling automated obfuscation under polynomial time/space overhead constraints. Key contributions are: (1) the first general-purpose quantum obfuscation framework; (2) a novel co-design paradigm unifying quantum gate-level and logical obfuscation; and (3) empirical validation demonstrating that malicious code (e.g., keyloggers) can be stealthily embedded within Shor’s algorithm while remaining undetected by state-of-the-art large language models (GPT-4o, GPT-4o mini, Grok-3). Functional equivalence is rigorously preserved, establishing a new pathway for quantum-safe software engineering.