openssl rsautl

RSA utility 

openssl command


SYNOPSIS

openssl rsautl [-help] [-in file] [-passin arg] [-rev] [-out file] [-inkey filename|uri] [-keyform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE] [-pubin] [-certin] [-sign] [-verify] [-encrypt] [-decrypt] [-pkcs] [-x931] [-oaep] [-raw] [-hexdump] [-asn1parse] [-engine id] [-rand files] [-writerand file] [-provider name] [-provider-path path] [-propquery propq]


DESCRIPTION

The rsautl command can be used to sign, verify, encrypt, and decrypt data using the RSA algorithm.

Options

-help 

Print out a usage message.

-in filename 

specifies the input file name to read data from or standard input if this option is not specified.

-passin arg 

The passphrase used in the output file. See openssl passphrase-options for details.

-rev 

Reverse the order of the input.

-out filename 

specifies the output file name to write to or standard output by default.

-inkey file 

specifies the input key, by default it should be an RSA private key.

-keyform PEM|DER|P12|ENGINE 

The key format; unspecified by default. See openssl format-options for details.

-pubin 

By default a private key is read from the key input. WIth this option a public key is read instead. if the input contains no public key but is a private key, its public part is used.

-certin 

indicates that the input is a certificate containing an RSA public key.

-sign 

signs the input data and output the signed result. This requires an RSA private key.

-verify 

verifies the input data and output the recovered data.

-encrypt 

encrypts the input data using an RSA public key.

-decrypt 

decrypts the input data using an RSA private key.

-pkcs 
-oaep 
-ssl 
-raw 

specifies the padding to use: PKCS#1 v1.5 (the default), PKCS#1 OAEP, special padding used in SSL v2 backwards compatible handshakes, or no padding, respectively. For signatures, only -pkcs and -raw can be used.

Note: because of protection against Bleichenbacher attacks, decryption using PKCS#1 v1.5 mode will not return errors in case padding check failed. Use -raw and inspect the returned value manually to check if the padding is correct.

-hexdump 

hex dumps the output data.

-asn1parse 

Parse the ASN.1 output data, this is useful when combined with the -verify option.

-engine id 

See Engine Options in openssl for details. This option is deprecated.

-rand files 
-writerand file 

See Random State Options in openssl for details.

-provider name 
-provider-path path 
-propquery propq 

See Provider Options in openssl for details.


NOTES

rsautl, because it uses the RSA algorithm directly, can only be used to sign or verify small pieces of data.


EXAMPLES

Sign some data using a private key:

openssl rsautl -sign -in file -inkey key.pem -out sig

Recover the signed data

openssl rsautl -verify -in sig -inkey key.pem

Examine the raw signed data:

openssl rsautl -verify -in sig -inkey key.pem -raw -hexdump

0000 - 00 01 ff ff ff ff ff ff-ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff   ................
0010 - ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff-ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff   ................
0020 - ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff-ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff   ................
0030 - ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff-ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff   ................
0040 - ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff-ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff   ................
0050 - ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff-ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff   ................
0060 - ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff-ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff   ................
0070 - ff ff ff ff 00 68 65 6c-6c 6f 20 77 6f 72 6c 64   .....hello world

The PKCS#1 block formatting is evident from this. If this was done using encrypt and decrypt the block would have been of type 2 (the second byte) and random padding data visible instead of the 0xff bytes.

It is possible to analyse the signature of certificates using this utility in conjunction with asn1parse. Consider the self signed example in certs/pca-cert.pem. Running asn1parse as follows yields:

openssl asn1parse -in pca-cert.pem

    0:d=0  hl=4 l= 742 cons: SEQUENCE          
    4:d=1  hl=4 l= 591 cons:  SEQUENCE          
    8:d=2  hl=2 l=   3 cons:   cont [ 0 ]        
   10:d=3  hl=2 l=   1 prim:    INTEGER           :02
   13:d=2  hl=2 l=   1 prim:   INTEGER           :00
   16:d=2  hl=2 l=  13 cons:   SEQUENCE          
   18:d=3  hl=2 l=   9 prim:    OBJECT            :md5WithRSAEncryption
   29:d=3  hl=2 l=   0 prim:    NULL              
   31:d=2  hl=2 l=  92 cons:   SEQUENCE          
   33:d=3  hl=2 l=  11 cons:    SET               
   35:d=4  hl=2 l=   9 cons:     SEQUENCE          
   37:d=5  hl=2 l=   3 prim:      OBJECT            :countryName
   42:d=5  hl=2 l=   2 prim:      PRINTABLESTRING   :AU
  ....
  599:d=1  hl=2 l=  13 cons:  SEQUENCE          
  601:d=2  hl=2 l=   9 prim:   OBJECT            :md5WithRSAEncryption
  612:d=2  hl=2 l=   0 prim:   NULL              
  614:d=1  hl=3 l= 129 prim:  BIT STRING        

The final BIT STRING contains the actual signature. It can be extracted with:

openssl asn1parse -in pca-cert.pem -out sig -noout -strparse 614

The certificate public key can be extracted with:

 
openssl x509 -in test/testx509.pem -pubkey -noout >pubkey.pem
The signature can be analysed with:

openssl rsautl -in sig -verify -asn1parse -inkey pubkey.pem -pubin

    0:d=0  hl=2 l=  32 cons: SEQUENCE          
    2:d=1  hl=2 l=  12 cons:  SEQUENCE          
    4:d=2  hl=2 l=   8 prim:   OBJECT            :md5
   14:d=2  hl=2 l=   0 prim:   NULL              
   16:d=1  hl=2 l=  16 prim:  OCTET STRING      
      0000 - f3 46 9e aa 1a 4a 73 c9-37 ea 93 00 48 25 08 b5   .F...Js.7...H%..

This is the parsed version of an ASN1 DigestInfo structure. It can be seen that the digest used was md5. The actual part of the certificate that was signed can be extracted with:

openssl asn1parse -in pca-cert.pem -out tbs -noout -strparse 4

and its digest computed with:

openssl md5 -c tbs
MD5(tbs)= f3:46:9e:aa:1a:4a:73:c9:37:ea:93:00:48:25:08:b5

which it can be seen agrees with the recovered value above.


COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2016-2023 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (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 here: OpenSSL.


AVAILABILITY

PTC MKS Toolkit for System Administrators
PTC MKS Toolkit for Developers
PTC MKS Toolkit for Interoperability
PTC MKS Toolkit for Professional Developers
PTC MKS Toolkit for Professional Developers 64-Bit Edition
PTC MKS Toolkit for Enterprise Developers
PTC MKS Toolkit for Enterprise Developers 64-Bit Edition


SEE ALSO

Commands:
openssl dgst, openssl genrsa, openssl rsa


PTC MKS Toolkit 10.5 Documentation Build 40.