| RSA(1) | RSA(1)
| NAME
| dsagen, rsagen, rsafill, asn12dsa, asn12rsa, dsa2pub, rsa2csr, rsa2pub, dsa2ssh, rsa2ssh, rsa2x509 – generate and format dsa and rsa keys
SYNOPSIS
| `dsagen` [ `−t` tag ]
`rsagen` [ `−b` nbits ] [ `−t` tag ]
`rsafill` [ file ]
`asn12dsa` [ `−t` tag ] [ file ]
`asn12rsa` [ `−t` tag ] [ file ]
`dsa2pub` [ file ]
`rsa2pub` [ file ]
`dsa2ssh` [ file ]
`rsa2ssh` [ `−2` ] [ file ]
`rsa2x509` [ `−e` expiretime ] certinfo [ file ]
`rsa2csr` certinfo [ file ]
DESCRIPTION
| Plan 9 represents DSA and RSA keys as attribute-value pair lists prefixed with the string `key`; this is the generic key format used by factotum(4). A full DSA private key has the following attributes: `proto`must be `dsa p` prime public modulus `q` prime group order; divides `p`-1 `alpha`group generator `key alpha`^`!secret` mod `p !secret`
| the secret exponent
A full RSA private key has the following attributes: `proto`must be `rsa size` the number of significant bits in `n ek` the encryption exponent `n` the product of `!p` and `!q !dk` the decryption exponent `!p` a large prime `!q` another large prime `!kp`, `!kq`, `!c2`
| parameters derived from the other attributes, cached to speed decryption
All the numbers in both keys are in hexadecimal except RSA’s size , which is decimal. A public key omits the attributes beginning with `! .` A key may have other attributes as well (for example, a `service` attribute identifying how this key is typically used), but to these utilities such attributes are merely comments.
For example, a very small (and thus insecure) private key and corresponding public key might be:
| `key proto=rsa size=8 ek=7 n=8F !dk=67 !p=B !q=D !kp=3 !kq=7 !c2=6 key proto=rsa size=8 ek=7 n=8F
`
Note that the order of the attributes does not matter.
Dsagen prints a randomly generated DSA private key using the NIST-recommended algorithm. If tag is specified, it is printed between `key` and `proto=dsa`; typically, tag is a sequence of attribute-value comments describing the key.
Rsagen prints a randomly generated RSA private key whose `n` has exactly nbits (default 1024) significant bits.
Rsafill reads a private key, recomputes the `!kp`, `!kq`, and `!c2` attributes if they are missing, and prints a full key.
Asn12dsa reads an DSA private key stored as ASN.1 encoded in the binary Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER) and prints a Plan 9 DSA key, inserting tag exactly as dsagen does. ASN.1/DER is a popular key format on Unix and Windows; it is often encoded in text form using the Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) format in a section labeled as an “`DSA PRIVATE KEY`.” The command:
| `pemdecode 'DSA PRIVATE KEY' | asn12dsa
`
extracts the key section from a textual ASN.1/DER/PEM key into binary ASN.1/DER format and then converts it to a Plan 9 DSA key.
Asn12rsa is similar but operates on RSA keys.
Dsa2pub reads a Plan 9 DSA public or private key, removes the private attributes, and prints the resulting public key. Comment attribtes are preserved.
Rsa2pub is similar but operates on RSA keys.
Dsa2ssh reads a Plan 9 DSA public or private key and prints the public portion in the format used by SSH version 2 (version 1 did not support DSA). If the key has a `comment` attribute, that comment is appended to the key.
Rsa2ssh is similar but operates on RSA keys. It decides whether to print in version 1 or version 2 format by inspecting the `service` attribute.
Dsa2ssh and rsa2ssh are useful for generating SSH’s `authorized_keys` file.
Rsa2x509 reads a Plan 9 RSA private key and writes a self-signed X.509 certificate encoded in ASN.1/DER format to standard output. (Note that ASN.1/DER X.509 certificates are different from ASN.1/DER private keys). The certificate uses the current time as its start time and expires expiretime seconds (default 3 years) later. It contains the public half of the key and includes certinfo as the issuer/subject string (also known as a “Distinguished Name”). This info is typically in the form:
| `C=US ST=NJ L=07974 O=Lucent OU='Bell Labs' CN=G.R.Emlin
`
The X.509 ASN.1/DER format is often encoded in text using a PEM section labeled as a “`CERTIFICATE`.” The command:
| `rsa2x509 'C=US OU=''Bell Labs''' file | pemencode CERTIFICATE
`
generates such a textual certificate. Applications that serve TLS-encrypted sessions typically expect certificates in ASN.1/DER/PEM format.
Rsa2csr is like rsa2x509 but writes an X.509 certificate request.
EXAMPLES
| Generate a fresh key and use it to start the Plan 9 TLS-enabled web server:
| `rsagen −t 'service=tls owner=*' >key rsa2x509 'C=US CN=*.cs.bell−labs.com' key |
| pemencode CERTIFICATE >cert
cat key >/mnt/factotum/ctl ip/httpd/httpd −c cert
`
Generate a fresh set of SSH keys (only one is necessary), load them into factotum, and configure a remote Unix system to allow those keys for logins:
| `rsagen −t 'service=ssh role=decrypt' >rsa1 rsagen −t 'service=ssh−rsa role=sign' >rsa2 dsagen −t 'service=ssh−dss role=sign' >dsa2
`
Convert existing Unix SSH version 2 keys instead of generating new ones:
| `cd $HOME/.ssh pemdecode 'DSA PRIVATE KEY' id_dsa | asn12dsa >dsa2 pemdecode 'RSA PRIVATE KEY' id_rsa | asn12rsa >rsa2
`
Load those keys into factotum:
| `cat rsa1 rsa2 dsa2 | 9p write −l factotum/ctl` Allow use of those keys for logins on other systems: `rsa2ssh rsa1 >auth.keys rsa2ssh rsa2 >>auth.keys dsa2ssh dsa2 >>auth.keys scp auth.keys unix:.ssh/authorized_keys`
SOURCE
| `/usr/local/plan9/src/cmd/auth`
SEE ALSO
| factotum(4), pem(1), ssh(1)
BUGS
| There are too many key formats.
There is no program to convert SSH version 1 RSA private keys.