PKCS8(1) | OpenSSL | PKCS8(1) |
openssl-pkcs8, pkcs8 - PKCS#8 format private key conversion tool
openssl pkcs8 [-help] [-topk8] [-inform PEM|DER] [-outform PEM|DER] [-in filename] [-passin arg] [-out filename] [-passout arg] [-iter count] [-noiter] [-rand file...] [-writerand file] [-nocrypt] [-traditional] [-v2 alg] [-v2prf alg] [-v1 alg] [-engine id] [-scrypt] [-scrypt_N N] [-scrypt_r r] [-scrypt_p p]
The pkcs8 command processes private keys in PKCS#8 format. It can handle both unencrypted PKCS#8 PrivateKeyInfo format and EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo format with a variety of PKCS#5 (v1.5 and v2.0) and PKCS#12 algorithms.
The alg argument is the encryption algorithm to use, valid values include aes128, aes256 and des3. If this option isn't specified then aes256 is used.
Some implementations may not support custom PRF algorithms and may require the hmacWithSHA1 option to work.
Various different formats are used by the pkcs8 utility. These are detailed below.
If a key is being converted from PKCS#8 form (i.e. the -topk8 option is not used) then the input file must be in PKCS#8 format. An encrypted key is expected unless -nocrypt is included.
If -topk8 is not used and PEM mode is set the output file will be an unencrypted private key in PKCS#8 format. If the -traditional option is used then a traditional format private key is written instead.
If -topk8 is not used and DER mode is set the output file will be an unencrypted private key in traditional DER format.
If -topk8 is used then any supported private key can be used for the input file in a format specified by -inform. The output file will be encrypted PKCS#8 format using the specified encryption parameters unless -nocrypt is included.
By default, when converting a key to PKCS#8 format, PKCS#5 v2.0 using 256 bit AES with HMAC and SHA256 is used.
Some older implementations do not support PKCS#5 v2.0 format and require the older PKCS#5 v1.5 form instead, possibly also requiring insecure weak encryption algorithms such as 56 bit DES.
The encrypted form of a PEM encode PKCS#8 files uses the following headers and footers:
-----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY----- -----END ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----
The unencrypted form uses:
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- -----END PRIVATE KEY-----
Private keys encrypted using PKCS#5 v2.0 algorithms and high iteration counts are more secure that those encrypted using the traditional SSLeay compatible formats. So if additional security is considered important the keys should be converted.
It is possible to write out DER encoded encrypted private keys in PKCS#8 format because the encryption details are included at an ASN1 level whereas the traditional format includes them at a PEM level.
Various algorithms can be used with the -v1 command line option, including PKCS#5 v1.5 and PKCS#12. These are described in more detail below.
Convert a private key to PKCS#8 format using default parameters (AES with 256 bit key and hmacWithSHA256):
openssl pkcs8 -in key.pem -topk8 -out enckey.pem
Convert a private key to PKCS#8 unencrypted format:
openssl pkcs8 -in key.pem -topk8 -nocrypt -out enckey.pem
Convert a private key to PKCS#5 v2.0 format using triple DES:
openssl pkcs8 -in key.pem -topk8 -v2 des3 -out enckey.pem
Convert a private key to PKCS#5 v2.0 format using AES with 256 bits in CBC mode and hmacWithSHA512 PRF:
openssl pkcs8 -in key.pem -topk8 -v2 aes-256-cbc -v2prf hmacWithSHA512 -out enckey.pem
Convert a private key to PKCS#8 using a PKCS#5 1.5 compatible algorithm (DES):
openssl pkcs8 -in key.pem -topk8 -v1 PBE-MD5-DES -out enckey.pem
Convert a private key to PKCS#8 using a PKCS#12 compatible algorithm (3DES):
openssl pkcs8 -in key.pem -topk8 -out enckey.pem -v1 PBE-SHA1-3DES
Read a DER unencrypted PKCS#8 format private key:
openssl pkcs8 -inform DER -nocrypt -in key.der -out key.pem
Convert a private key from any PKCS#8 encrypted format to traditional format:
openssl pkcs8 -in pk8.pem -traditional -out key.pem
Convert a private key to PKCS#8 format, encrypting with AES-256 and with one million iterations of the password:
openssl pkcs8 -in key.pem -topk8 -v2 aes-256-cbc -iter 1000000 -out pk8.pem
Test vectors from this PKCS#5 v2.0 implementation were posted to the pkcs-tng mailing list using triple DES, DES and RC2 with high iteration counts, several people confirmed that they could decrypt the private keys produced and therefore, it can be assumed that the PKCS#5 v2.0 implementation is reasonably accurate at least as far as these algorithms are concerned.
The format of PKCS#8 DSA (and other) private keys is not well documented: it is hidden away in PKCS#11 v2.01, section 11.9. OpenSSL's default DSA PKCS#8 private key format complies with this standard.
There should be an option that prints out the encryption algorithm in use and other details such as the iteration count.
The -iter option was added in OpenSSL 1.1.0.
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Licensed under the OpenSSL license (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at <https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
2023-09-11 | 1.1.1w |