While Encrypting a File with a Password from the Command Line using OpenSSLis very useful in its own right, the real power of the OpenSSL library is itsability to support the use of public key cryptograph for encrypting orvalidating data in an unattended manner (where the password is not required toencrypt) is done with public keys.

1. Openssl Random Password
2. Openssl Generate Ecc Key With Password Codes
3. Openssl Generate Key File
4. Openssl Password Command
5. Openssl Generate Ecc Key With Password Download

Jan 11, 2019  Be sure to remember the password you enter or you will have to generate a new key. Now to generate the root certificate: openssl req -x509 -new -nodes -key rootCA.key -sha256 -days 1024 -out rootCA.pem. I won’t pretend to know exactly what all the parameters do, but in short I figure it does the following:-new: create a new request. The openssl req command from the answer by @Tom H is correct to create a self-signed certificate in server.cert incl. A password-less RSA private key in server.key: openssl req -nodes -new -x509 -keyout server.key -out server.cert Here is how it works.

The Commands to Run

Generate a 2048 bit RSA Key

You can generate a public and private RSA key pair like this:

openssl genrsa -des3 -out private.pem 2048

That generates a 2048-bit RSA key pair, encrypts them with a password you provideand writes them to a file. You need to next extract the public key file. You willuse this, for instance, on your web server to encrypt content so that it canonly be read with the private key.

Export the RSA Public Key to a File

This is a command that is

openssl rsa -in private.pem -outform PEM -pubout -out public.pem

The -pubout flag is really important. Be sure to include it.

Next open the public.pem and ensure that it starts with-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----. This is how you know that this file is thepublic key of the pair and not a private key.

To check the file from the command line you can use the less command, like this:

less public.pem

Do Not Run This, it Exports the Private Key

A previous version of the post gave this example in error.

openssl rsa -in private.pem -out private_unencrypted.pem -outform PEM

The error is that the -pubout was dropped from the end of the command.That changes the meaning of the command from that of exporting the public keyto exporting the private key outside of its encrypted wrapper. Inspecting theoutput file, in this case private_unencrypted.pem clearly shows that the keyis a RSA private key as it starts with -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----.

Visually Inspect Your Key Files

It is important to visually inspect you private and public key files to makesure that they are what you expect. OpenSSL will clearly explain the nature ofthe key block with a -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- or -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----.

You can use less to inspect each of your two files in turn:

• less private.pem to verify that it starts with a -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
• less public.pem to verify that it starts with a -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----

The next section shows a full example of what each key file should look like.

The Generated Key Files

Openssl Random Password

The generated files are base64-encoded encryption keys in plain text format.If you select a password for your private key, its file will be encrypted withyour password. Be sure to remember this password or the key pair becomes useless.

The private.pem file looks something like this:

The public key, public.pem, file looks like:

Protecting Your Keys

Depending on the nature of the information you will protect, it’s important tokeep the private key backed up and secret. The public key can be distributedanywhere or embedded in your web application scripts, such as in your PHP,Ruby, or other scripts. Again, backup your keys!

Remember, if the key goes away the data encrypted to it is gone. Keeping aprinted copy of the key material in a sealed envelope in a bank safety depositbox is a good way to protect important keys against loss due to fire or harddrive failure.

Openssl Generate Ecc Key With Password Codes

Oh, and one last thing.

If you, dear reader, were planning any funny business with the private key that I have just published here. Know that they were made especially for this series of blog posts. I do not use them for anything else.

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If you find yourself needing to change the password on your private key without affecting the data that's already stored in your database, here's how to do it. The OpenSSL documentation is a little dense on this topic, but these step-by-step instructions should work.

First, move the old private key to a different location:

Openssl Generate Key File

mv config/private.pem config/private_old.pem

Next, delete the old public key and key pair. Strictly speaking, you don't need to delete the public key, but if you want to regenerate it for some reason, you can do that:

Openssl Password Command

rm config/keys/data/public.pem rm config/keys/data/keypair.pem

Now, change the password on the private key:

openssl rsa -in config/private_old.pem -out config/private.pem -des3

You'll be prompted for the old password first, followed by two prompts for a new password.

Now extract the public key and regenerate the key pair. Again, extracting the public key is optional, as it will be identical.

openssl rsa -in config/private.pem -out config/public.pem -outform PEM -pubout cat config/private.pem config/public.pem >> config/keypair.pem

Openssl Generate Ecc Key With Password Download

That's it. Don't forget to change the password on your call to decrypt!