NIST's Final IR 8547 of 27 October 2026 Deprecates P-256, RSA-3072 and Ed25519 After 2030, Where the 2024 Draft Left 128-Bit Keys Untouched Until 2035

What NIST changed in the final IR 8547 on 27 October 2026

NIST published the final version of NIST IR 8547, Transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards, on 27 October 2026, replacing the initial public draft of 12 November 2024. The central change sits in the transition tables. The draft deprecated only quantum-vulnerable algorithms at 112 bits of security after 2030 and let stronger keys run until they were disallowed after 2035. The final deprecates every quantum-vulnerable public-key algorithm at 112 bits or more after 2030, so ECDSA on P-256, RSA-3072 and Ed25519 now enter the deprecated category at the same point as RSA-2048. Disallowance after 2035 stays where it was.

How the final ties NIST standards to EO 14412 and OMB M-26-15

The report now cites Executive Order 14412 of 22 June 2026 and OMB Memorandum M-26-15 of 24 June 2026. Under them, federal high value assets and high impact systems must use post-quantum key establishment by 31 December 2030 and post-quantum signatures by 31 December 2031, and agencies must support TLS 1.3 by 2 January 2030. NIST says the 2030 to 2035 window exists for lower-risk and legacy systems and does not relax those deadlines. The final also names ML-KEM-768 as the default parameter set, confirms HQC as the second key-establishment scheme and states that an approved composite, or hybrid, key-establishment technique can be FIPS 140 validated when at least one of its inputs comes from an approved scheme.