aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/lib/crypto/doc/src/engine_keys.xml
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'lib/crypto/doc/src/engine_keys.xml')
-rw-r--r--lib/crypto/doc/src/engine_keys.xml129
1 files changed, 129 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/lib/crypto/doc/src/engine_keys.xml b/lib/crypto/doc/src/engine_keys.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..38714fed8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/crypto/doc/src/engine_keys.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
+<!DOCTYPE chapter SYSTEM "chapter.dtd">
+
+<chapter>
+ <header>
+ <copyright>
+ <year>2017</year><year>2017</year>
+ <holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
+ </copyright>
+ <legalnotice>
+ The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
+ Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
+ compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
+ Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
+ retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.
+
+ Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
+ basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
+ the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
+ under the License.
+ </legalnotice>
+ <title>Engine Stored Keys</title>
+ <prepared>Hans Nilsson</prepared>
+ <date>2017-11-10</date>
+ <file>engine_keys.xml</file>
+ </header>
+ <p>
+ <marker id="engine_key"></marker>
+ This chapter describes the support in the crypto application for using public and private keys stored in encryption engines.
+ </p>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Background</title>
+ <p>
+ <url href="https://www.openssl.org/">OpenSSL</url> exposes an Engine API, which makes
+ it possible to plug in alternative implementations for some of the cryptographic
+ operations implemented by OpenSSL.
+ See the chapter <seealso marker="crypto:engine_load#engine_load">Engine Load</seealso>
+ for details and how to load an Engine.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ An engine could among other tasks provide a storage for
+ private or public keys. Such a storage could be made safer than the normal file system. Thoose techniques are not
+ described in this User's Guide. Here we concentrate on how to use private or public keys stored in
+ such an engine.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The storage engine must call <c>ENGINE_set_load_privkey_function</c> and <c>ENGINE_set_load_pubkey_function</c>.
+ See the OpenSSL cryptolib's <url href="https://www.openssl.org/docs/manpages.html">manpages</url>.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ OTP/Crypto requires that the user provides two or three items of information about the key. The application used
+ by the user is usually on a higher level, for example in
+ <seealso marker="ssl:ssl#key_option_def">SSL</seealso>. If using
+ the crypto application directly, it is required that:
+ </p>
+ <list>
+ <item>an Engine is loaded, see the chapter on <seealso marker="crypto:engine_load#engine_load">Engine Load</seealso>
+ or the <seealso marker="crypto:crypto#engine_load-3">Reference Manual</seealso>
+ </item>
+ <item>a reference to a key in the Engine is available. This should be an Erlang string or binary and depends
+ on the Engine loaded
+ </item>
+ <item>an Erlang map is constructed with the Engine reference, the key reference and possibly a key passphrase if
+ needed by the Engine. See the <seealso marker="crypto:crypto#engine_key_ref_type">Reference Manual</seealso> for
+ details of the map.
+ </item>
+ </list>
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Use Cases</title>
+ <section>
+ <title>Sign with an engine stored private key</title>
+ <p>
+ This example shows how to construct a key reference that is used in a sign operation.
+ The actual key is stored in the engine that is loaded at prompt 1.
+ </p>
+ <code>
+1> {ok, EngineRef} = crypto:engine_load(....).
+...
+{ok,#Ref&lt;0.2399045421.3028942852.173962>}
+2> PrivKey = #{engine => EngineRef,
+ key_id => "id of the private key in Engine"}.
+...
+3> Signature = crypto:sign(rsa, sha, &lt;&lt;"The message">>, PrivKey).
+&lt;&lt;65,6,125,254,54,233,84,77,83,63,168,28,169,214,121,76,
+ 207,177,124,183,156,185,160,243,36,79,125,230,231,...>>
+ </code>
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Verify with an engine stored public key</title>
+ <p>
+ Here the signature and message in the last example is verifyed using the public key.
+ The public key is stored in an engine, only to exemplify that it is possible. The public
+ key could of course be handled openly as usual.
+ </p>
+ <code>
+4> PublicKey = #{engine => EngineRef,
+ key_id => "id of the public key in Engine"}.
+...
+5> crypto:verify(rsa, sha, &lt;&lt;"The message">>, Signature, PublicKey).
+true
+6>
+ </code>
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Using a password protected private key</title>
+ <p>
+ The same example as the first sign example, except that a password protects the key down in the Engine.
+ </p>
+ <code>
+6> PrivKeyPwd = #{engine => EngineRef,
+ key_id => "id of the pwd protected private key in Engine",
+ password => "password"}.
+...
+7> crypto:sign(rsa, sha, &lt;&lt;"The message">>, PrivKeyPwd).
+&lt;&lt;140,80,168,101,234,211,146,183,231,190,160,82,85,163,
+ 175,106,77,241,141,120,72,149,181,181,194,154,175,76,
+ 223,...>>
+8>
+ </code>
+
+ </section>
+
+ </section>
+</chapter>