Difference between RSA and pkcs8 - ssl

openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform PEM -outform DER -in server.key -out server.der -nocrypt
openssl rsa -inform PEM -in server.key -outform DER -out server2.der
I'm trying to find out why server.der and server2.der are two different files? Isn't RSA always pkcs8?

Command:
openssl rsa -inform PEM -in server.key -outform DER -out server2.der
produces the key in PKCS#1 format which is always RSA by definition. PKCS#1 standard defines the syntax for RSA keys specifically.
Command:
openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform PEM -outform DER -in server.key -out server.der -nocrypt
produces the key in PKCS#8 format. PKCS#8 standard defines syntax for storing private keys generally. PKCS#8 is not bound to a particular algorithm. PKCS#8 may contain private keys of different algorithms.
PKCS#8 is an abstraction of a higher level in comparison to PKCS#1. When the private key is based on RSA and PKCS#8 is used for storing it, then PKCS#8 contains the PKCS#1 RSA key as well as metadata about it such as the AlgorithmIdentifier:
https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5208#appendix-A
PrivateKeyInfo ::= SEQUENCE {
version Version,
privateKeyAlgorithm AlgorithmIdentifier {{PrivateKeyAlgorithms}},
privateKey PrivateKey,
attributes [0] Attributes OPTIONAL }
If you output the key in both formats (PKCS#1 & PKCS#8) in PEM format instead of DER, and if they are not secret you can compare them on your own using:
http://lapo.it/asn1js/
You will see there that PKCS#8 simply wraps the PKCS#1 key.

Related

How to get the certificate part only and the private key part only respectively from PEM file in the command way?

Convert a PKCS#12 file (.pfx .p12) containing a private key and certificates to PEM, by, for instance:
openssl pkcs12 -in cert_and_pvt_key.pfx -out cert_and_pvt_key.pem
then I have a PEM file with both certificate and private key, now, I want to get certificate file and private key file respectively, yes, I know cert_and_pvt_key.pem is in text format, we can copy the key part and cert part as we like, but, this is not elegant, I want something sophisticated, like openssl pkcs12, is there anything available?
You can use the -nocerts and -nokeys option to openssl pkcs12 to only output the part you need. Run openssl pkcs12 with each in turn:
openssl pkcs12 -in cert_and_pvt_key.pfx -nokeys -out cert.pem
then:
openssl pkcs12 -in cert_and_pvt_key.pfx -nocerts -out pvt_key.pem
If you haven't got access to the original PKCS#12 file, then it becomes a little more difficult. The following should work:
openssl pkcs12 -export -in cert_and_pvt_key.pem | openssl pkcs12 -nokeys -out cert.pem
and:
openssl pkcs12 -export -in cert_and_pvt_key.pem | openssl pkcs12 -nocerts -out pvt_key.pem
However, this asks for a pass-phrase when the the PKCS#12 is created and again when it attempts to split the file to certificate and keys. OpenSSL provides the -nodes verb to disable this pass-phrase, but it doesn't seem to work with -export. Therefore, it would fail in a script.
Otherwise, you're left with splitting the file with awk or similar. There are plenty of examples on this site.

How to get public key in .cer or .crt formats

I have created self-signed SSL certificate using OpenSSL as follow:
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 365
This gave me certificate and private key in .pem file. I need to provide my public key to my clients in .cer or .crt format. Is there any way to get public key in .cer/.crt formats?
What I have already tried:
1. Generating public key in .pem format and trying to convert it to .cer or .crt [Didn't work]
To extract public key in .pem file [worked fine]:
`openssl x509 -pubkey -noout -in signer-cert.pem > signer-public-key-test.pem`
To convert it from .pem for .cer format
openssl x509 -inform PEM -in signer-public-key-test.pem -outform DER -out signer-public-key-test.cer
I get this error:
unable to load certificate
140067363030680:error:0906D06C:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line:pem_lib.c:701:Expecting: TRUSTED CERTIFICATE
2. Converting my certificate to .cer (which I did fine) and trying to export public key using windows certificate export wizard as instructions given here
It didn't work either. I couldn't enable the option to export keys and the final output, when opened in notepad++ was garbage.
So my question is, is there any way to generate the certificate from scratch and have the public key in .cer or .crt file. OR generating the certificate in .pem format and later extracting public keys to .crt or .cer
Any help is deeply appreciated.
Since .cer and .crt usually mean "DER or PEM-DER X.509 certificate" I don't know what you mean by having the public key in that format.
If you mean you want a DER encoded SubjectPublicKeyInfo representing the public key, the second stage of your pipeline would be
openssl asn1parse -noout -out some.file
You can remove the intermediate with
openssl x509 -in signer-cert.pem -noout -pubkey |
openssl asn1parse -noout -out signer-public-key-test.der
(Newline added to remove scrollbar)
Or, skip the certificate middleman altogether:
openssl rsa -in key.pem -pubout -outform der -out signer-public-key-test.der
Seems pretty weird that you want that particular format, though.

How to create .pfx file containing only one of private/public key

As far as I know .pfx files are not required to contain both public and private key. However, I could not find a way how to create a file that contains only one of them.
I need this because I am writing a validator for .pfx files and I would like to check if the file contains both private and public key. For testing purposes I would like to create some invalid certificates.
There may be a shorter way to do this without going through PEM, but I don't know it.
Extract the private key to PEM:
openssl.exe pkcs12 -in <pfx_file_name>.pfx -nocerts -out private_key.pem
Optional, if you don't want passwords in the PEM or PFX files:
openssl.exe rsa -in private_key.pem -out private_key.pem
Extract the public and private key to PEM:
openssl.exe pkcs12 -in <pfx_file_name>.pfx -out public_and_private_key.pem
Export the public key only to PFX:
openssl.exe pkcs12 -in public_and_private_key.pem -inkey private_key.pem -export -out public_key.pfx -nokeys
Export only the private key to PFX:
openssl.exe pkcs12 -in public_and_private_key.pem -inkey private_key.pem -export -out private_key.pfx -nocerts
To extract the private key:
Openssl.exe pkcs12 -in <pfx_file_name>.pfx -nocerts -out priv.pem
The generated private key file (priv.pem) will be password protected, to remove the pass phrase from the private key.
Openssl.exe rsa -in priv.pem -out priv.pem
Next step is extracting the public key certificate from the pfx file, there is a direct command in OPENSSL to extract the public key certificate from the pfx file but the generated file will contain public key certificate and some other information. To extract only public key certificate first we need to convert the pfx file to pem which contains both private and public key, and then extract the public key certificate from this pem file:
openssl.exe pkcs12 -in ClientCert1.pfx -out privpub.pem
The generated pem contains both private and public keys, use the following command to extract only the public key certificate:
openssl x509 -inform pem -in privpub.pem -pubkey -out pub.pem -outform pem
If you're trying to create a single pfx file from a public/private key pair, then I think this question becomes a duplicate of this post.
openssl pkcs12 -inkey priv.pem -in pub.cert -export -out pfx_file.pfx
As it turns out, I don't have enough reputation to comment, otherwise I would have commented on your post, vice "answering."

How to convert a private key to an RSA private key?

Let me explain my question first. I bought a certificate from a CA and used the following format to generate the csr and the private key:
openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout server.key -out server.csr
When I open the server.key file, I see that it begins with "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----"
I use the SSL cert on my server and everything looks fine.
Now I want to upload the same cert to AWS IAM so that I can use it for by beanstalk load balancer. I use the following command from this aws doc http://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/InstallCert.html#SubmitCSRCertAuth
iam-servercertupload -b public_key_certificate_file -k privatekey.pem -s certificate_object_name
I change the cert file names as required but keep getting this error: "400 MalformedCertificate Invalid Private Key."
The interesting thing is, on the aws doc page, the sample private key that they show starts with "-------Begin RSA Private Key--------"
Is there a way to convert my private key to an RSA private key using openssl?
Newer versions of OpenSSL say BEGIN PRIVATE KEY because they contain the private key + an OID that identifies the key type (this is known as PKCS8 format). To get the old style key (known as either PKCS1 or traditional OpenSSL format) you can do this:
openssl rsa -in server.key -out server_new.key
Alternately, if you have a PKCS1 key and want PKCS8:
openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -nocrypt -in privkey.pem
This may be of some help (do not literally write out the backslashes '\' in the commands, they are meant to indicate that "everything has to be on one line"):
It seems that all the commands (in grey) take any type of key file (in green) as "in" argument. Which is nice.
Here are the commands again for easier copy-pasting:
openssl rsa -in $FF -out $TF
openssl rsa -aes256 -in $FF -out $TF
openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -nocrypt -in $FF -out $TF
openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -v2 aes-256-cbc -v2prf hmacWithSHA256 -in $FF -out $TF
and
openssl rsa -check -in $FF
openssl rsa -text -in $FF
To Convert BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY to BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY:
ssh-keygen -p -m PEM -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Convert .pem to .crt and .key

Can anyone tell me the correct way/command to extract/convert the certificate .crt and private key .key files from a .pem file? I just read they are interchangable, but not how.
I was able to convert pem to crt using this:
openssl x509 -outform der -in your-cert.pem -out your-cert.crt
Converting Using OpenSSL
These commands allow you to convert certificates and keys to different formats to make them compatible with specific types of servers or software.
Convert a DER file (.crt .cer .der) to PEM
openssl x509 -inform der -in certificate.cer -out certificate.pem
Convert a PEM file to DER
openssl x509 -outform der -in certificate.pem -out certificate.der
Convert a PKCS#12 file (.pfx .p12) containing a private key and certificates to PEM
openssl pkcs12 -in keyStore.pfx -out keyStore.pem -nodes
You can add -nocerts to only output the private key or add -nokeys to only output the certificates.
Convert a PEM certificate file and a private key to PKCS#12 (.pfx .p12)
openssl pkcs12 -export -out certificate.pfx -inkey privateKey.key -in certificate.crt -certfile CACert.crt
Convert PEM to CRT (.CRT file)
openssl x509 -outform der -in certificate.pem -out certificate.crt
OpenSSL Convert PEM
Convert PEM to DER
openssl x509 -outform der -in certificate.pem -out certificate.der
Convert PEM to P7B
openssl crl2pkcs7 -nocrl -certfile certificate.cer -out certificate.p7b -certfile CACert.cer
Convert PEM to PFX
openssl pkcs12 -export -out certificate.pfx -inkey privateKey.key -in certificate.crt -certfile CACert.crt
OpenSSL Convert DER
Convert DER to PEM
openssl x509 -inform der -in certificate.cer -out certificate.pem
OpenSSL Convert P7B
Convert P7B to PEM
openssl pkcs7 -print_certs -in certificate.p7b -out certificate.cer
Convert P7B to PFX
openssl pkcs7 -print_certs -in certificate.p7b -out certificate.cer
openssl pkcs12 -export -in certificate.cer -inkey privateKey.key -out certificate.pfx -certfile CACert.cer
OpenSSL Convert PFX
Convert PFX to PEM
openssl pkcs12 -in certificate.pfx -out certificate.cer -nodes
Generate rsa keys by OpenSSL
Using OpenSSL on the command line you’d first need to generate a public and private key, you should password protect this file using the -passout argument, there are many different forms that this argument can take so consult the OpenSSL documentation about that.
openssl genrsa -out private.pem 1024
This creates a key file called private.pem that uses 1024 bits. This file actually have both the private and public keys, so you should extract the public one from this file:
openssl rsa -in private.pem -out public.pem -outform PEM -pubout
or
openssl rsa -in private.pem -pubout > public.pem
or
openssl rsa -in private.pem -pubout -out public.pem
You’ll now have public.pem containing just your public key, you can freely share this with 3rd parties.
You can test it all by just encrypting something yourself using your public key and then decrypting using your private key, first we need a bit of data to encrypt:
Example file :
echo 'too many secrets' > file.txt
You now have some data in file.txt, lets encrypt it using OpenSSL and
the public key:
openssl rsautl -encrypt -inkey public.pem -pubin -in file.txt -out file.ssl
This creates an encrypted version of file.txt calling it file.ssl, if
you look at this file it’s just binary junk, nothing very useful to
anyone. Now you can unencrypt it using the private key:
openssl rsautl -decrypt -inkey private.pem -in file.ssl -out decrypted.txt
You will now have an unencrypted file in decrypted.txt:
cat decrypted.txt
|output -> too many secrets
RSA TOOLS Options in OpenSSL
NAME
rsa - RSA key processing tool
SYNOPSIS
openssl rsa [-help] [-inform PEM|NET|DER] [-outform PEM|NET|DER] [-in filename] [-passin arg] [-out filename] [-passout arg] [-aes128] [-aes192] [-aes256] [-camellia128] [-camellia192] [-camellia256] [-des] [-des3] [-idea] [-text] [-noout] [-modulus] [-check] [-pubin] [-pubout] [-RSAPublicKey_in] [-RSAPublicKey_out] [-engine id]
DESCRIPTION
The rsa command processes RSA keys. They can be converted between various forms and their components printed out. Note this command uses the traditional SSLeay compatible format for private key encryption: newer applications should use the more secure PKCS#8 format using the pkcs8 utility.
COMMAND OPTIONS
-help
Print out a usage message.
-inform DER|NET|PEM
This specifies the input format. The DER option uses an ASN1 DER encoded form compatible with the PKCS#1 RSAPrivateKey or SubjectPublicKeyInfo format. The PEM form is the default format: it consists of the DER format base64 encoded with additional header and footer lines. On input PKCS#8 format private keys are also accepted. The NET form is a format is described in the NOTES section.
-outform DER|NET|PEM
This specifies the output format, the options have the same meaning as the -inform option.
-in filename
This specifies the input filename to read a key from or standard input if this option is not specified. If the key is encrypted a pass phrase will be prompted for.
-passin arg
the input file password source. For more information about the format of arg see the PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS section in openssl.
-out filename
This specifies the output filename to write a key to or standard output if this option is not specified. If any encryption options are set then a pass phrase will be prompted for. The output filename should not be the same as the input filename.
-passout password
the output file password source. For more information about the format of arg see the PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS section in openssl.
-aes128|-aes192|-aes256|-camellia128|-camellia192|-camellia256|-des|-des3|-idea
These options encrypt the private key with the specified cipher before outputting it. A pass phrase is prompted for. If none of these options is specified the key is written in plain text. This means that using the rsa utility to read in an encrypted key with no encryption option can be used to remove the pass phrase from a key, or by setting the encryption options it can be use to add or change the pass phrase. These options can only be used with PEM format output files.
-text
prints out the various public or private key components in plain text in addition to the encoded version.
-noout
this option prevents output of the encoded version of the key.
-modulus
this option prints out the value of the modulus of the key.
-check
this option checks the consistency of an RSA private key.
-pubin
by default a private key is read from the input file: with this option a public key is read instead.
-pubout
by default a private key is output: with this option a public key will be output instead. This option is automatically set if the input is a public key.
-RSAPublicKey_in, -RSAPublicKey_out
like -pubin and -pubout except RSAPublicKey format is used instead.
-engine id
specifying an engine (by its unique id string) will cause rsa to attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified engine, thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set as the default for all available algorithms.
NOTES
The PEM private key format uses the header and footer lines:
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
The PEM public key format uses the header and footer lines:
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
The PEM RSAPublicKey format uses the header and footer lines:
-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
The NET form is a format compatible with older Netscape servers and Microsoft IIS .key files, this uses unsalted RC4 for its encryption. It is not very secure and so should only be used when necessary.
Some newer version of IIS have additional data in the exported .key files. To use these with the utility, view the file with a binary editor and look for the string "private-key", then trace back to the byte sequence 0x30, 0x82 (this is an ASN1 SEQUENCE). Copy all the data from this point onwards to another file and use that as the input to the rsa utility with the -inform NET option.
EXAMPLES
To remove the pass phrase on an RSA private key:
openssl rsa -in key.pem -out keyout.pem
To encrypt a private key using triple DES:
openssl rsa -in key.pem -des3 -out keyout.pem
To convert a private key from PEM to DER format:
openssl rsa -in key.pem -outform DER -out keyout.der
To print out the components of a private key to standard output:
openssl rsa -in key.pem -text -noout
To just output the public part of a private key:
openssl rsa -in key.pem -pubout -out pubkey.pem
Output the public part of a private key in RSAPublicKey format:
openssl rsa -in key.pem -RSAPublicKey_out -out pubkey.pem
To extract the key and cert from a pem file:
Extract key
openssl pkey -in foo.pem -out foo.key
Another method of extracting the key...
openssl rsa -in foo.pem -out foo.key
Extract all the certs, including the CA Chain
openssl crl2pkcs7 -nocrl -certfile foo.pem | openssl pkcs7 -print_certs -out foo.cert
Extract the textually first cert as DER
openssl x509 -in foo.pem -outform DER -out first-cert.der
Pre-requisite
openssl should be installed.
On Windows, if Git Bash is installed, try that! Alternate binaries can be found here.
Step 1: Extract .key from .pem
openssl pkey -in cert.pem -out cert.key
Step 2: Extract .crt from .pem
openssl crl2pkcs7 -nocrl -certfile cert.pem | openssl pkcs7 -print_certs -out cert.crt
This is what I did on windows.
Download a zip file that contains the open ssl exe from Google
Unpack the zip file and go into the bin folder.
Go to the address bar in the bin folder and type cmd. This will open a command prompt at this folder.
move/Put the .pem file into this bin folder.
Run two commands. One creates the cert and the second the key file
openssl x509 -outform der -in yourPemFilename.pem -out certfileOutName.crt
openssl rsa -in yourPemFilename.pem -out keyfileOutName.key
If you asked this question because you're using mkcert then the trick is that the .pem file is the cert and the -key.pem file is the key.
(You don't need to convert, just run mkcert yourdomain.dev otherdomain.dev )
A .crt stores the certificate.. in pem format. So a .pem, while it can also have other things like a csr (Certificate signing request), a private key, a public key, or other certs, when it is storing just a cert, is the same thing as a .crt.
A pem is a base 64 encoded file with a header and a footer between each section.
To extract a particular section, a perl script such as the following is totally valid, but feel free to use some of the openssl commands.
perl -ne "\$n++ if /BEGIN/; print if \$n == 1 && /BEGIN/.../END/;" mydomain.pem
where ==1 can be changed to which ever section you need. Obviously if you know exactly the header and footer you require and there is only one of those in the file (usually the case if you keep just the cert and the key in there), you can simplify it:
perl -ne "print if /^-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\$/.../END/;" mydomain.pem