What does "priv" in a encrypted ECC key mean?

Siyuan Ren

1/8/24, 8:52 AM

I generated a password protected key by command openssl genpkey -algorithm ec -pkeyopt ec_paramgen_curve:P-256 --out ca.key -text -aes-256-cbc. The passphrase is "rrrr" (this example is a throwaway), and the output is:

What does the "priv" mean here? Is it the private key in plaintext? That would be shocking. Is it some hash?

1 + 0

ssl

openssl

ssl-certificate

Score:3

Server

Esa Jokinen

1/8/24, 9:56 AM

Yes, it is the private key.

This is because you have included the -text in your openssl genpkey(1) command.

-text

Print an (unencrypted) text representation of private and public keys and parameters along with the PEM or DER structure.

Please remove it:

$ openssl genpkey -algorithm ec \
    -pkeyopt ec_paramgen_curve:P-256 \
    --out ca.key -aes-256-cbc
Enter PEM pass phrase:
Verifying - Enter PEM pass phrase:

Now, the ca.key does not have the text output at the end:

$ cat ca.key 
-----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----
MIHsMFcGCSqGSIb3DQEFDTBKMCkGCSqGSIb3DQEFDDAcBAi+VEL8/UzdpQICCAAw
DAYIKoZIhvcNAgkFADAdBglghkgBZQMEASoEEHpyCWa1fjYAkJj3lrmvSHQEgZDK
VPcbj7CDX0tqL+ZmorVz9xpUzdQvYZOSD+G292+QCDBytOy30ZRGjyDWFlwESSVq
R1S8kmyAQn1PIfqF9ZcubnNxCv3i9Qd7Md7GXet+1NkuoZ9EbtLnXBYW6Wb7v4Uv
q6UR+SxrydElw2zwG4QZrgOe3pWLRBaR5bvihc+aGMALPxq44hHJKuxWxqRMSuM=
-----END ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----

You can still get it with the passphrase, though:

$ openssl pkey --in ca.key --text
Enter pass phrase for ca.key:
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
MIGHAgEAMBMGByqGSM49AgEGCCqGSM49AwEHBG0wawIBAQQgOuaAgftBxjNMs+Ut
USvT53+rMcbxqt6zwZziCB2lWXChRANCAASp4IaQt+Py1TTyTTf+u1/7hanw2oi1
XBIFJvEpFhsJAR+iqlSCAh4++PjfMD9aLFCbkzX84GPEcbit1l8Rms4N
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----
Private-Key: (256 bit)
priv:
    3a:e6:80:81:fb:41:c6:33:4c:b3:e5:2d:51:2b:d3:
    e7:7f:ab:31:c6:f1:aa:de:b3:c1:9c:e2:08:1d:a5:
    59:70
pub:
    04:a9:e0:86:90:b7:e3:f2:d5:34:f2:4d:37:fe:bb:
    5f:fb:85:a9:f0:da:88:b5:5c:12:05:26:f1:29:16:
    1b:09:01:1f:a2:aa:54:82:02:1e:3e:f8:f8:df:30:
    3f:5a:2c:50:9b:93:35:fc:e0:63:c4:71:b8:ad:d6:
    5f:11:9a:ce:0d
ASN1 OID: prime256v1
NIST CURVE: P-256

+ 0

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: What does "priv" in a encrypted ECC key mean?

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.