Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2025) 140: 1125
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-07072-8

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A new controllable multi-scroll chaotic system and its application in image encryption

School of Electronics and Engineering, Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications, 710121, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China

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Received: 21 October 2025
Accepted: 13 November 2025
Published online: 22 November 2025

Abstract

A multi-scroll four-dimensional chaotic system based on generalized Sprott C system is proposed in this paper. The symmetry of the original system is broken by introducing a quadratic term and a dissipative term, and a chaotic attractor with controllable scroll quantity is generated by using piecewise linear function. Analyses including Lyapunov exponents, bifurcation diagrams, Poincaré cross sections, and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) test verify that the system possesses complex dynamic characteristics and good randomness. Based on this chaotic system, an image encryption algorithm is designed: Firstly, the secure hash algorithm 256-bit (SHA-256) hash is used to generate the key related to the plaintext image, and the chaotic system parameters are dynamically initialized; secondly, perform row and column scrambling, bit plane decomposition, and chain diffusion-based pixel value confusion on plaintext images using chaotic index matrices; ultimately, the experimental results indicate that the algorithm has high security and is suitable for secure transmission and storage of images.