Private Key Password

Private Key Password
unit and acceptance testing, automation, productivity
Today, I was working on an app with a UI that asks for an SSH key password.
When I put my password in, it didn't work.
There were no useful logs so I wondered if I used the wrong password.
I had the password for that key in 1Password (after years of creating SSH keys with fancy passwords only to forget about them), so I was positive the it was correct, but there was a chance I was using the wrong key file.
To verify my password, I used this command:
The -y option "will read a private OpenSSH format file and print an OpenSSH public key to stdout".
The -f option specifies the path to the private key.
If the private key is password protected, ssh-keygen will ask for the password.
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How can I find my certificate’s Private Key?

July 9, 2019

CSR and certificate installation related questions

You’ve received your SSL Certificate , and now you need to install it.
Firstly, let’s go through some basics. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) security is about using two unique keys: the Public Key is encrypted within your SSL Certificate, while the Private Key is generated on your server and kept secret.
All the information sent from a browser to a website server is encrypted with the Public Key and gets decrypted on the server-side with the Private Key. Together the key pair keeps communication secured, and one key will not work without the other.
The Private Key is generated with your Certificate Signing Request (CSR). The CSR is submitted to the Certificate Authority right after you activate your Certificate. The Private Key must be kept safe and secret on your server or device because later you’ll need it for Certificate installation.
Yes. You can generate a new Private Key and CSR , or use the automatic CSR and key generation during Certificate reissue (this option is available for all Certificates except for the Multi-Domains).
It looks like a block of encoded data, starting and ending with headers, such as —–BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY—– and —–END RSA PRIVATE KEY—–.
You may not get to see this code when generating your CSR . Usually, it gets generated in the background with the CSR and is automatically saved on your server. The system also fills the corresponding field automatically during the installation of your Certificate in some control panels, such as cPanel.
The way this works varies depending on your web server, control panel, or any other tools used for CSR generation. Select the one that applies to you in the following section for specific guidance.
Generating the Private Key in your browser is an option for all SSL certificates except for multi-domain certificates . If you have a multi-domain SSL, you should have generated the CSR on your server, so skip to the section on finding your Private Key on different servers and control panels.
If you chose to create your CSR in-browser during SSL activation, the Private Key is generally downloaded as a zip file to your computer’s “Downloads” folder by default. Alternatively, if you changed your browser settings to save downloaded files to a different folder, it should be saved there.
The file name will consist of your domain name, the word “key”, and the file extension “.zip”. For instance, for a website called example.com, the file name would be “ example_com_key.zip ”.
If you can’t find the Private Key in the previously mentioned folders, use your computer’s search function and enter the file name (i.e., example_com_key.zip). If you still can’t find the Private Key, you will need to get your SSL reissued . Because the in-browser CSR generation method creates the Private Key directly on your device, there’s no way of restoring it if it’s lost. This is why it’s essential to save your Private Key and back it up if you choose this method.
Normally, the CSR/RSA Private Key pairs on Linux-based operating systems are generated using the OpenSSL cryptographic engine and saved as files with “.key” or “.pem” extensions on the server.
But no specific extensions are mandatory for text files in Linux, so the key file may have any name and extension, or no extension at all.
If you remember the whole name of the key file or at least part of it, you can use the following command in your console to find the file and its directory:
The slash symbol in this command implies that the search begins from the root directory of the server. This way you have more file options to view. The name of the file in between the single quotation marks should be the part of the name that you remember. To search for the file by extension, enter “*.key” to view all the files with the “.key” extension on your server.
Tip: often the name of the file corresponds to the domain name it was generated for e.g. “domain_tld.key” or “domain.tld.pem”.
Here’s another useful command that lets you search files by their content:
This command will return the absolute path to the Private Key file if it’s located on your server.
Windows servers don’t let you view the Private Key in plain text format. When you import your Certificate via MMC or IIS, the Private Key is bound to it automatically if the CSR/Key pair has been generated on the same server.
If you need to obtain the Private Key to install your Certificate on a different server, you can export the key in a password-protected PFX (PKCS#12) file. To do that, open the MMC Certificates snap-in tools following these steps:
Win+R > mmc.exe > OK > File > Add/Remove Snap-in > Certificates > Add > Computer account > Next > Local computer > Finish > OK
Next, go to Certificate Enrollment Requests >> Certificates (if you haven’t completed the Certificate request yet). If you’ve done that, you’d select Personal >> Certificates , then right-click the Certificate >> select All Tasks >> Export . The Export wizard will open, and give you instructions. You can find more detailed instructions here .
Once that’s done, you will see the .pfx file containing your Certificate, CA-Bundle, and Private Key. To extract the key, use this tool . Choose the PKCS12 to PEM option, then upload the file and enter your chosen password.
The Keychain tool in the Server application of Mac OS X won’t allow you to access the Private Key via the graphic user interface. Instead use the Terminal, by opening /etc/certificates/ directory and clicking the file.
Its name should be something like “*.key.pem”. And the terminal commands to open the file are: cd /etc/certificates/ , then ls , and sudo nano test.key.pem .
Note : to check if the Private Key matches your Certificate, go here . Then paste the Certificate and the Private Key text codes into the required fields and click Match .
If your Tomcat SSL connector is configured in JSSE style, the Private Key must be in a password-protected keystore file with a .jks or .keystore extension. This file, unlike most other cases, is created before the CSR. To extract the Private Key, you’ll need to convert the keystore into a PFX file with the following command:
After the PKCS12 file is generated, you can convert it to a PEM file with separated CRT, CA-Bundle and KEY files using this tool . Alternatively, use the following command in the terminal:
“Private.key” can be replaced with any key file title you like.
The simplest way to get the appropriate key used during SSL installation is reflected in the below picture:
Alternatively, you can find the Private Key in the Private keys section of the SSL/TLS Manager , which can be located in the cPanel main menu. You will see all the Private Keys ever generated in your cPanel. To view the code of the key, click View & Edit . If there are several keys in that menu, you can copy each of them to find a match with your Certificate code by using this tool .
The matching Private key can also be found in the Certificate Signing Request (CSR) section of the SSL/TLS Manager. For this, open the “Certificate Signing Request (CSR)” menu, locate the CSR code for your certificate, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the link under “This CSR uses the following key”:
Just copy the Private key code from the following window and use it for further installation.
On the homepage of your cPanel, click File manager . Find the folder named “ssl” in the folder tree to the left (see screenshot). That folder will contain another folder named “keys”. This key folder also contains all the keys ever generated in your cPanel.
WHM stores your Private Keys and CSR codes in the SSL Storage Manager menu. On the homepage, click SSL/TLS >> SSL Storage Manager . To view the Private Key, click the magnifier icon next to the relevant key in the Key column.
Click Domains > your domain > SSL/TLS Certificates . You’ll see a page like the one shown below. The key icon with the message “Private key part supplied” means there is a matching key on your server.
To get it in plain text format, click the name and scroll down the page until you see the key code. Alternatively, click the green arrow icon on the right. This will download a PEM file, containing your Private Key, Certificate, and CA-Bundle files (if they were previously imported to the server). The files can be opened in any text editor, such as Notepad.
When generating a CSR in Synology DSM , the Private Key is provided to you in a zip file on the last step. The key code is contained within a server.key file, that can be opened with a text editor, such as Notepad.
Webmin works as a graphic user interface (GUI) on top of the command-line interface. There is also a file manager called Filemin, that you can use to browse the server file system and find your Private Key file. Alternatively, go to Others > Command Shell and run the find or grep command, which you can find in the Linux Operating Systems section above.
Your Private Key needs to be saved during CSR generation, as it will not be available via the graphic user interface.
That said, you may be able to retrieve your Private Key via SSH. It is saved as a temporary file in the “/tmp” folder. The path to the file will look something like this: “/tmp/tmp.npAnkmWFcu/domain.com.key”.
Note: the files in the /tmp directory are deleted every time your server is rebooted, so this is not a safe place to store your Private Key.
To get the path to your key file, use this Linux command:
Where you see “domain.com”, replace this with the actual domain name you generated the CSR for.
The path to your key file can also be found using the grep command:
In the up-to-date version of DirectAdmin, your Private Key is saved on the server. Access it in the “Paste a pre-generated Certificate and key” field during installation.
If that section is empty, it may mean the CSR and key were generated elsewhere, or the key was not saved in DirectAdmin due to a glitch. If a glitch happened, try retrieving the key via SSH. Usually, it is saved in this directory:
Note: and are your DirectAdmin details.
On the homepage, find the SSL management section by clicking the Private Keys button. This will display a list of all the Private Keys generated in Webuzo. To see the key code, click the pencil icon to the right under the Option column, as shown in the screenshot below:
To sum up, ways to find your Private Key fully depend on the interface of the webserver where you generate the CSR. If the methods described above did not help you find the Private Key for your certificate, the only solution would be to generate a new CSR/Private Key pair and reissue your certificate, and to make sure that the key is saved on your server/local computer this time.

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Data Security & Privacy
Security
private key

By

Peter Loshin,
Senior Technology Editor

Michael Cobb

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A private key, also known as a secret key , is a variable in cryptography that is used with an algorithm to encrypt and decrypt data. Secret keys should only be shared with the key's generator or parties authorized to decrypt the data. Private keys play an important role in symmetric cryptography, asymmetric cryptography and cryptocurrencies .
A private key is typically a long, randomly or pseudo-randomly generated sequence of bits that cannot be easily guessed. The complexity and length of the private key determine how easily an attacker can execute a brute-force attack , where they try out different keys until the right one is found.
Private key encryption is also referred to as symmetric encryption , where the same private key is used for both encryption and decryption. In this case, a private key works as follows:
A private key is also used in asymmetric cryptography , which is also known as public key cryptography . In this case, the private key refers to the secret key of a public key pair. In public key cryptography, the private key is used for encryption and digital signatures. It works as follows for asymmetric cryptography:
Private key encryption provides several useful features. They include the following four benefits:
The security of encryption keys depends on choosing a strong encryption algorithm and maintaining high levels of operational security. Encryption key management is necessary for any organization using encryption to protect its data. That goes for symmetric, as well as asymmetric, encryption.
While private key encryption can ensure a high level of security, the following key management challenges must be considered:
Asymmetric cryptography, also known as public key cryptography , uses pairs of public and private keys. These two different but mathematically linked keys are used to transform plaintext into encrypted ciphertext or encrypted text back to plaintext.
When the public key is used to encrypt ciphertext, that text can only be decrypted using the private key. This approach enables anyone with access to the public key to encrypt a message, and only the private key holder will be able to decrypt it.
When the private key is used to encrypt ciphertext, that text can be decrypted using the public key. That ciphertext can be a component of a digital signature and used to authenticate the signature. Only the holder of the private key could have encrypted ciphertext, so if the related public key successfully decrypts it, the digital signature is verified.
The public key is made available to everyone that needs it in a publicly accessible repository. The private key is confidential and should only be accessible to the public key pair owner. In this method, whatever is encrypted with the public key requires the related private key for decryption and vice versa. Public key encryption is typically used for securing communication channels, such as email.
Private keys share the following characteristics with passwords:
While passwords are usually limited to characters accessible from a computer keyboard, cryptographic keys can consist of any string of bits. Such strings may be rendered in human-accessible character sets, if necessary. Length and randomness are two important factors in securing private keys.
The length of a cryptographic key necessary to secure it against brute-force attacks depends on the encryption algorithm being used. As computers have become more powerful, cryptographic keys have grown longer to withstand brute-force attacks.
For example, early web browsers protected data with 40-bit keys; in 2015, the National Institute of Standards and Technology recommended a minimum key length of 2,048 bits for use with RSA , or Rivest-Shamir-Adleman, encryption.
Just as important to the strength of a private key is its randomness.
Commercial software often relies on a pseudo-random number generator ( PRNG ) to generate private keys. However, PRNG output is not truly random and can be defeated by an attacker.
True random number generators require a source of physical entropy, such as a physical coin toss, roll of dice or unusual generators , like lava lamps. For example, the Pretty Good Privacy public key encryption program prompts users to generate entropy for a new public key pair by randomly moving their mouse.
Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin depend on cryptographic algorithms to generate, store and exchange digital value. Cryptocurrencies use public key cryptography for creating digital signatures that authenticate value transfers, as well as symmetric encryption to protect data exchanges.
While secret keys are used for symmetric encryption in cryptocurrency protocols, there is usually a public-private key pair assigned to the cryptocurrency owner to protect their ownership interests.
Cryptocurrency owners should store private keys securely because losing control or access to a private key means losing access to the cryptocurrency asset. Secure options for storing private keys include storing them on an isolated computer with no network connections, in hard copies that are physically secured or committed to memory.
As use of the public internet continues to expand for commercial, government and personal communication, so too does the need for securely using encryption to protect those exchanges.
Securing the private keys used to protect that data is the foundation of maintaining security in all types of communication.
Learn more about how end-to-end encryption works to keep data secure.
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