CkPython

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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import sys
import chilkat

success = False

#  Load a private key to export.
privKey = chilkat.CkPrivateKey()
success = privKey.LoadPemFile("qa_data/private.pem")
if (success == False):
    print(privKey.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

#  The key password is not hard-coded in a real application; obtain it from an interactive
#  prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
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.
encoded = privKey.getPkcs8EncryptedENC("base64",password)
if (privKey.get_LastMethodSuccess() == False):
    print(privKey.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

print(encoded)