C++

Export an Encrypted PKCS #8 Private Key as Encoded Text

Demonstrates the Chilkat PrivateKey.GetPkcs8EncryptedENC method, which exports the key as password-protected PKCS #8 DER and encodes the encrypted DER as text. The first argument names the binary encoding and the second is the password. The cipher is selected by Pkcs8EncryptAlg.

Note: The file paths are relative to the application's current working directory. Absolute paths may also be used. Supply the paths appropriate to your own environment.

Background: This combines encryption with text encoding: the key is protected by a passphrase and returned as a string, ideal for storing an encrypted key in a text-only medium such as JSON or an environment variable. It is the encrypted counterpart to GetPkcs8ENC. Source the password securely.

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C++

#include <CkPrivateKey.h>

void ChilkatSample(void)
    {
    bool success = false;

    //  Load a private key to export.
    CkPrivateKey privKey;
    success = privKey.LoadPemFile("qa_data/private.pem");
    if (success == false) {
        std::cout << privKey.lastErrorText() << "\r\n";
        return;
    }

    //  The key password is not hard-coded in a real application; obtain it from an interactive
    //  prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
    const char *password = "myKeyPassword";

    //  Export as password-protected PKCS #8 DER, then encode the encrypted DER as text.  The 1st
    //  argument names the binary encoding and the 2nd is the password.  The cipher is selected by the
    //  Pkcs8EncryptAlg property.
    const char *encoded = privKey.getPkcs8EncryptedENC("base64",password);
    if (privKey.get_LastMethodSuccess() == false) {
        std::cout << privKey.lastErrorText() << "\r\n";
        return;
    }

    std::cout << encoded << "\r\n";
    }