Openssl Pkcs8 Default Format Gives Rsa Private Key
I'm Running This Command on My Pc (Openssl Version: 1.0.1): Openssl Pkcs8 -Inform Der -in File. Key -Passin Pass:12345678A -Outform Pem -out Key. Pem and I Got...
I'm running this command on my pc (Openssl version: 1.0.1) :
openssl pkcs8 -inform DER -in file.key -passin pass:12345678a -outform PEM -out key.pem
and i got this key.pem:
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
MIICdwIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCAmEwggJdAgEAAoGBANCFPVXwO+6qQdOs
...
wVauPfh0cGEf1Kc=
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----
But when i run the same command it from my server (Openssl version: 0.9.8e-fips-rhel5) i get this output:
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
MIICXQIBAAKBgQDQhT1V8DvuqkHTrMPFUUAXUl0ihDGoiD86SqK8Z3n19yp1VrJf
...
zHY0343VXnpM2opKwG2E1zgfHfbcLMFWrj34dHBhH9Sn
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
The Base64 inside is differente and also the headers:
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
The first one works for me, how could i get the -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- output on the 0.9.8 version?
I found this on OpenSsl patch notes:
Change default private key format to PKCS#8.
so, that could be the main issue, i hope someone could help me with this, i dont find the way to get the private key but not the BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY one.
Thanks
1 Answer
Do openssl pkcs8 -topk8 to convert a private key from traditional format to pkcs#8 format.
This format
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
is referred to as "SSLeay format" or "traditional format" for private key.
I'm not sure which format your key is, so I'll demonstrate the idea with a private key generated by genrsa.
When you do genrsa in OpenSSL 0.9.8x, the generated key is in traditional format. That is, after
openssl genrsa -out file.key 1024
you'll get a rsa key in traditional format
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
MIICWwIBAAKBgQC3TyaSzsJO92/Ahq5rxRI1T0JSC0iF...
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
Then do pkcs8 with -topk8 to convert this key from traditional format to pkcs#8 format.
openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform pem -in file.key -outform pem -nocrypt -out file.pem
Here's what you'll get:
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
MIICdQIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BA...
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----
All of the above are done with OpenSSL 0.9.8x. It tells you how to generate PKCS#8 format key from the traditional format key. On the other hand, you can always run this on OpenSSL 1.0.1 to make the key compatible with the older version:
openssl rsa -in file.pem -text > key.pem
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