Develop Reference

Java Bouncy Castle : Invalid point encoding 0x45

I am loading a public key in java using bouncy castle library but always getting error Invalid point encoding 0x45.
The public key is generated at client side using C# CNG APIs.
Java method 1:
public PublicKey loadPublicKey(String encodedPublicKey)
throws NoSuchProviderException, NoSuchAlgorithmException, InvalidKeySpecException {
byte[] keybytes = java.util.Base64.getDecoder().decode(encodedPublicKey);
Security.addProvider(new BouncyCastleProvider());
ECNamedCurveParameterSpec params = ECNamedCurveTable.getParameterSpec("P-256");
ECPublicKeySpec keySpec = new ECPublicKeySpec(params.getCurve().decodePoint(keybytes), params);
return new BCECPublicKey("ECDH", keySpec, BouncyCastleProvider.CONFIGURATION);
}
Method 2
public PublicKey loadPublicKey(String pKey) throws Exception {
byte[] keybytes = java.util.Base64.getDecoder().decode(pKey);
Security.addProvider(new BouncyCastleProvider());
ECParameterSpec params = ECNamedCurveTable.getParameterSpec("P-256");
ECPublicKeySpec pubKey = new ECPublicKeySpec(params.getCurve().decodePoint(keybytes), params);
KeyFactory kf = KeyFactory.getInstance("ECDH", "BC");
return kf.generatePublic(pubKey);
}
Exception
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid point encoding 0x45
at org.bouncycastle.math.ec.ECCurve.decodePoint(ECCurve.java:443)
Below method to create public key
public static (byte[] publicKey, byte[] privateKey) CreateKeyPair()
{
using (ECDiffieHellmanCng cng = new ECDiffieHellmanCng(
// need to do this to be able to export private key
CngKey.Create(
CngAlgorithm.ECDiffieHellmanP256,
null,
new CngKeyCreationParameters
{ ExportPolicy = CngExportPolicies.AllowPlaintextExport })))
{
cng.KeyDerivationFunction = ECDiffieHellmanKeyDerivationFunction.Hash;
cng.HashAlgorithm = CngAlgorithm.Sha256;
// export both private and public keys and return
var pr = cng.Key.Export(CngKeyBlobFormat.EccPrivateBlob);
var pub = cng.PublicKey.ToByteArray();
return (pub, pr);
}
}
Public Key generated RUNLMSAAAAHddHI6TOEDG/Ka7naBbLQH0u/DSFfbKJI2w0WSoxrmFkwKm1tktz4wD0rqnwkZp8FwdHJ+8OVrTcpDMmxrwvS6
The key which I am receiving at java is of 72 bytes. But I think bouncy castle java supports 64 bytes of key.
I was also looking into this but did not get any help

The C# code exports the public key as a Base64 encoded EccPublicBlob whose format is described in the link given in the question:
The first 4 bytes 0x45434B31 denote in little endian order a public ECDH key for curve P-256, the following 4 bytes are in little endian order the key length in bytes (0x20000000 = 32), the rest are the x and y coordinates of the EC point i.e. the public key, 32 bytes each.
It is striking that in the key you posted, the second 4 bytes are 0x20000001, but the x and y coordinates are 32 bytes each. Possibly there is a copy/paste error here. Anyway, with the posted C# code, I cannot reproduce a key that has a value other than 0x20000000 in the second 4 bytes.
Java/BC does not directly support importing an EccPublicBlob (which is MS proprietary), but it does support importing an uncompressed public key. This results when the x and y coordinates are concatenated and 0x04 is used as prefix. The import with Java/BC is then possible as follows:
import java.security.KeyFactory;
import java.security.PublicKey;
import java.security.interfaces.ECPublicKey;
import java.security.spec.ECPoint;
import java.security.spec.ECPublicKeySpec;
import org.bouncycastle.jce.ECNamedCurveTable;
import org.bouncycastle.jce.ECPointUtil;
import org.bouncycastle.jce.provider.BouncyCastleProvider;
import org.bouncycastle.jce.spec.ECNamedCurveParameterSpec;
import org.bouncycastle.jce.spec.ECNamedCurveSpec;
...
public static PublicKey getPubKeyFromCurve(byte[] uncompRawPubKey, String curveName) throws Exception {
ECNamedCurveParameterSpec spec = ECNamedCurveTable.getParameterSpec(curveName);
ECNamedCurveSpec params = new ECNamedCurveSpec(spec.getName(), spec.getCurve(), spec.getG(), spec.getN());
ECPoint point = ECPointUtil.decodePoint(params.getCurve(), uncompRawPubKey);
ECPublicKeySpec pubKeySpec = new ECPublicKeySpec(point, params);
KeyFactory kf = KeyFactory.getInstance("ECDH", new BouncyCastleProvider());
ECPublicKey pubKey = (ECPublicKey) kf.generatePublic(pubKeySpec);
return pubKey;
}
Test (assuming EccPublicBlob is Base64 encoded like the posted one):
import java.util.Base64;
...
String publicKeyBlob = "RUNLMSAAAAAFzw4IGY4N8PKVt0MGF38SAKU5ixJhptVUdrWzuPhFDOcj/2k4SlGRN1RpRMbar9Iu7Uvcx7Vtm8Wa0HSzWJdE";
byte[] rawPublic = new byte[65];
rawPublic[0] = 0x04;
System.arraycopy(Base64.getDecoder().decode(publicKeyBlob), 8, rawPublic, 1, 64);
PublicKey pub = getPubKeyFromCurve(rawPublic, "P-256");
System.out.println(Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(pub.getEncoded())); // MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAEBc8OCBmODfDylbdDBhd/EgClOYsSYabVVHa1s7j4RQznI/9pOEpRkTdUaUTG2q/SLu1L3Me1bZvFmtB0s1iXRA==
The test imports the EccPublicBlob and exports it as a Base64 encoded DER key in X.509/SPKI format. This can be read with an ASN.1 parser, e.g. https://lapo.it/asn1js/, and thus be verified.
Note that C# also supports the export of other formats. However, this depends on the version. E.g. as of .NET Core 3.0 there is the method ExportSubjectPublicKeyInfo() that exports the public key in X.509/SPKI format, DER encoded. This format and encoding can be imported directly into Java using X509EncodedKeySpec (even without BouncyCastle).
In other versions of C#, BouncyCastle for C# can be used for the export, which also supports the X.509/SPKI format.
Since you didn't post your .NET version, it's unclear what specific alternatives exist for you.
Keep in mind that an ECDH key for P-256 can also be created more simply with:
ECDiffieHellmanCng cng = new ECDiffieHellmanCng(ECCurve.NamedCurves.nistP256)
or cross-platform with
ECDiffieHellman ecdh = ECDiffieHellman.Create(ECCurve.NamedCurves.nistP256)

RSA Encryption string public key to RSA Public Key

The given public key to me is in this string format
string publicKey =
"MIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAlUCQZso6P43gKqw0CfTlwYb3N+m4v6IME 4nPA3WXe52wFpDM/JCFWSdXa7BewlwzDYjblgwL4u59CPxNTPTh7LTD4xXOaGDJHjX5+YgqK4fb9rs ImjMpIACrND/LAdrq5mctWWzw3UtW3F+o+sNwIZM8n65ysS+Vhq9IypFlfuQbWrKjAcWZ3u1iLtplz yf/pjhOEyyZiBUnh6D219+pMiE9nhCpc4xkH1gnlGszIDBqZMMULtGJvFXydA1vv5HxxCYJ2ydEzmA KYxVgA9BGXPEGE89dQbeJsieTj+FSsp9oTm+4vi345opRvH8DWhmZc4OPSwBEL8pwgS7cUnKPtwIDA QAB";
One line in the sample code in java that the public key needs to be converted to RSA Public key.
Does the lines below converts a string public key to RSAPublicKey? Is there a counterpart in C#?
byte[] decoedPublicKey = Base64.getDecoder().decode(publicKey);
RSAPublicKey rsaPublicKey = (RSAPublicKey) KeyFactory.getInstance("RSA").
generatePublic(new X509EncodedKeySpec(decoedPublicKey));
I am trying to send an RSA encrypted message to an external API and always the api returns an error that it could not decrypt the message. I am not doing this step in my c# app, is this required in correct RSA encryption of the public key. Below is a snippet of my RSA encryption. Is it correct?
Pkcs1Encoding pkcs1Encoding = new Pkcs1Encoding((IAsymmetricBlockCipher)new RsaEngine());
using (StringReader reader = new StringReader(publicKey))
{
AsymmetricKeyParameter parameters = (AsymmetricKeyParameter)new PemReader((TextReader)reader).ReadObject();
pkcs1Encoding.Init(true, (ICipherParameters)parameters);
}
return Convert.ToBase64String(pkcs1Encoding.ProcessBlock(bytes, 0, bytes.Length));

Creating RSA Public Key From String

I've generated this test public key using 1024 RSA and then encoded it to DER and Base64 in another coding platform. I copied the key into a string in Android/Eclipse and I am trying to turn it into a public key using KeyFactory. It just keeps giving me an InvalidKeySpecException no matter what I try. Any advice at all would be appreciated.
private void prepKeys() {
String AppKeyPub = "MIGHAoGBAOX+TFdFVIKYyCVxWlnbGYbmgkkmHmEv2qStZzAFt6NVqKPLK989Ow0RcqcDTZaZBfO5" +
"5JSVHNIKoqULELruACfqtGoATfgwBp4Owfww8M891gKNSlI/M0yzDQHns5CKwPE01jD6qGZ8/2IZ" +
"OjLJNH6qC9At8iMCbPe9GeXIPFWRAgER";
// create the key factory
try {
KeyFactory kFactory = KeyFactory.getInstance("RSA");
// decode base64 of your key
byte yourKey[] = Base64.decode(AppKeyPub,0);
// generate the public key
X509EncodedKeySpec spec = new X509EncodedKeySpec(yourKey);
PublicKey publicKey = (PublicKey) kFactory.generatePublic(spec);
System.out.println("Public Key: " + publicKey);
} catch (Exception e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

The key you have is in PKCS#1 format instead of SubjectPublicKeyInfo structure that Java accepts. PKCS#1 is the encoding of the RSA parameters only and lacks things such as an algorithm identifier. SubjectPublicKeyInfo uses PKCS#1 internally - for RSA public keys anyway.
As the PKCS#1 public key is at the end of the SubjectPublicKeyInfo structure it is possible to simply prefix the bytes so that they become an RSA SubjectPublicKeyInfo. That solution is easier to perform without additional libraries such as Bouncy Castle. So if you need to go without an external library then you may have a look at my answer here.
Alternatively a simple BER decoder could be written to decode the structure into the two BigInteger values. The structure itself is not that complicated but the BER/DER length encoding takes some getting used to.
However, you can also use Bouncy Castle (lightweight API) to solve your issues:
String publicKeyB64 = "MIGHAoGBAOX+TFdFVIKYyCVxWlnbGYbmgkkmHmEv2qStZzAFt6NVqKPLK989Ow0RcqcDTZaZBfO5"
+ "5JSVHNIKoqULELruACfqtGoATfgwBp4Owfww8M891gKNSlI/M0yzDQHns5CKwPE01jD6qGZ8/2IZ"
+ "OjLJNH6qC9At8iMCbPe9GeXIPFWRAgER";
// ok, you may need to use the Base64 decoder of bouncy or Android instead
byte[] decoded = Base64.getDecoder().decode(publicKeyB64);
org.bouncycastle.asn1.pkcs.RSAPublicKey pkcs1PublicKey = org.bouncycastle.asn1.pkcs.RSAPublicKey.getInstance(decoded);
BigInteger modulus = pkcs1PublicKey.getModulus();
BigInteger publicExponent = pkcs1PublicKey.getPublicExponent();
RSAPublicKeySpec keySpec = new RSAPublicKeySpec(modulus, publicExponent);
KeyFactory kf = KeyFactory.getInstance("RSA");
PublicKey generatedPublic = kf.generatePublic(keySpec);
System.out.printf("Modulus: %X%n", modulus);
System.out.printf("Public exponent: %d ... 17? Why?%n", publicExponent); // 17? OK.
System.out.printf("See, Java class result: %s, is RSAPublicKey: %b%n", generatedPublic.getClass().getName(), generatedPublic instanceof RSAPublicKey);
As you can see it actually only requires a single class as interface, although that is of course backed up with the entire ASN.1/BER decoder functionality within Bouncy Castle.
Note that it may be required to change the Base 64 decoder to the Android specific one (android.util.Base64). This code was tested on an equivalent Java runtime.

For those who dont want to use Bouncy Castle
public class RSAKeySeperation {
public static void main(String[] args) throws InvalidKeySpecException, NoSuchAlgorithmException {
String publicKeyB64 = "MIIBITANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ4AMIIBCQKCAQBV8xakN/wOsB6qHpyMigk/5PrSxxd6tKTJsyMIq5f9npzZue0mI4H2o8toYImtRk6VHhcldo0t7UwsQXmFMk7D"
+ "i3C53Xwfk7yEFSkXGpdtp/7fbqNnjVoJl/EPcgoDsTPrHYF/HgtmbhzuYvYeY1zpV0d2uYpFxAuqkE9FreuuH0iI8xODFe5NzRevXH116elwdCGINeAecHKgiWe"
+ "bGpRPml0lagrfi0qoQvNScmi/WIN2nFcI3sQFCq3HNYDBKDhO0AEKPB2FjvoEheJJwTs5URCYsJglYyxEUon3w6KuhVa+hzYJUAgNTCsrAhQCUlX4+5LOGlwI5gonm1DYvJJZAgMBAAEB";
byte[] decoded = Base64.getDecoder().decode(publicKeyB64);
X509EncodedKeySpec spec =
new X509EncodedKeySpec(decoded);
KeyFactory kf = KeyFactory.getInstance("RSA");
RSAPublicKey generatePublic = (RSAPublicKey) kf.generatePublic(spec);
BigInteger modulus = generatePublic.getModulus();
System.out.println(modulus);
BigInteger exponent = generatePublic.getPublicExponent();
System.out.println(exponent);
}
}

(1)Convert the ECDSA private & public key, (2)Verification by ECDSA

Following this discussion it's a simple tutorial how to sign a string by using ECDSA algorithm in java without using any third-party libraries. But the question is:
How can i convert the public and the private key into a string ? (Because i want to send them into a database).
Can somebody help me create a simple tutorial of how to verify the message by using ECDSA algorithm in java ? at this point i need to include the signature and public key as the verification method.
Here's my scenario in my java code, assume that there's a sender side and the recipient side:
Sender side
package sender;
import java.math.BigInteger;
import java.security.KeyPair;
import java.security.KeyPairGenerator;
import java.security.PrivateKey;
import java.security.PublicKey;
import java.security.SecureRandom;
import java.security.Signature;
public class Sign {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
/*
* Generate a key pair
*/
KeyPairGenerator keyGen = KeyPairGenerator.getInstance("EC");
SecureRandom random = SecureRandom.getInstance("SHA1PRNG");
keyGen.initialize(256, random);
KeyPair pair = keyGen.generateKeyPair();
/*
Generate the private and the public key
*/
PrivateKey priv = pair.getPrivate();
/*
*and then Convert the priv key into a String;
*HOW can i do that ? this what i'm asking
*/
PublicKey pub = pair.getPublic();
/*
Convert the pub key into a String;
HOW can i do that ? this what i'm asking
*/
/*
-------Encrypt the pub and the priv key, i do with my own code
-------Store the enrypted pub & priv key into the database
-------I'm doing this with my own code
*/
/*
* Create a Signature object and initialize it with the private key
*/
Signature dsa = Signature.getInstance("SHA1withECDSA");
dsa.initSign(priv);
String str = "This is string to sign";
byte[] strByte = str.getBytes("UTF-8");
dsa.update(strByte);
/*
* Now that all the data to be signed has been read in, generate a
* signature for it
*/
byte[] realSig = dsa.sign();
System.out.println("Signature: " +
new BigInteger(1, realSig).toString(16));
/*
and Then i'm storing this signature into my database.
i have done with this
*/
}
}
Recipient side
package recipient;
import java.math.BigInteger;
import java.security.KeyPair;
import java.security.KeyPairGenerator;
import java.security.PrivateKey;
import java.security.PublicKey;
import java.security.SecureRandom;
import java.security.Signature;
public class Verify {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
/*
Step one, taking public key from the database.
Step two, receive the message + signature.
Step three, split the message and signature into an "array[0]" for message,
and "array[1] for the signature"
Verify the signature <--- Here's what im asking to anybody,
how can i do, i mean the sample code ?
*/
}
}
Sorry for my bad English :D

You're asking a lot of different questions about dealing with ECDSA. I will address your first question about database storage here. I recommend you do some additional research on the mechanics of ECDSA if you want to learn about how to properly use it. Examples given here would be hard to follow out of context anyway.
To store keys as a string, you must first retrieve the byte array representing the key in its encoded format (note: encoded not encrypted). This can be done by using the getEncoded() method from class Key which is the superinterface of both PublicKey and PrivateKey.
Example:
PrivateKey key = // ...
byte[] enc_key = key.getEncoded();
// Byte array to string
StringBuilder key_builder = new StringBuilder();
for(byte b : enc_key){
key_builder.append(String.format("%02x", b));
}
String serialized_key = key_builder.toString();
To load the key again from a database you parse the string to a byte array, pass it into the appropriate key specification and then retrieve it by using a key factory.
Example:
String serialzed_key = // ...
byte[] encoded_key = // serialzed_key -> byte array conversion
// If key is private, use PKCS #8
PKCS8EncodedKeySpec formatted_private = new PKCS8EncodedKeySpec(encoded_key);
// or, if key is public, use X.509
X509EncodedKeySpec formatted_public = new X509EncodedKeySpec(encoded_key);
// Retrieve key using KeyFactory
KeyFactory kf = KeyFactory.getInstance("EC");
PublicKey pub = kf.generatePublic(formatted_public);
PrivateKey priv = kf.generatePrivate(formatted_private);
If all you mean to do is to use ECDSA as a signature algorithm, verification is identical to signing using using the verify methods instead of the sign methods, as follows:
byte[] message_hash = // ...
byte[] candidate_message = // ...
PublicKey pub = // ...
Signature dsa = Signature.getInstance("SHA1withECDSA");
dsa.initVerify(pub);
dsa.update(candidate_message);
boolean success = dsa.verify(message_hash);

Looking for Signing algorithm that creates 32 or 16 byte keys in Java

Cannot match up the size of key generated using public/private keys for licensing application. Ive written a self contained example that creates public/private key, create a license by signing user emailaddress with public key, and then check using public key, license and email address that the license indeed was encoded using private key (Obviously this wouldn't all be in one class usually).
This all works but the hex version of the license key is 96 characters (i.e representing 48 bytes/384 bits) which is a little longer than I wanted (In contrast the length of public/private keys is not a problem and the longer the better). What could I use to generate a 32 (64 hex chars) byte or maybe 16 byte (32 hex chars), and would the security of this be reasonable ?
Picking another algorithm is somewhat hard as I do not understand the the interaction between the algorithm picked for generating the keys
KeyPairGenerator.getInstance("DSA");
and the algorithm for signing
Signature.getInstance("SHA/DSA");
and I cant find a list for either.
One other point when I generate a public/private key pairs I specify key size of
keyGen.initialize(1024, new SecureRandom());
yet neither the public key (443 bytes) or the private key (335 bytes) or the sum of both (778 bytes) match this number.
import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Hex;
import java.security.*;
import java.security.spec.PKCS8EncodedKeySpec;
import java.security.spec.X509EncodedKeySpec;
/**
*
*/
public class CreateLicense
{
private String PUBLIC_KEY;
private String PRIVATE_KEY;
public static void main(final String[] args)
{
try
{
String email = args[0];
System.out.println("Creating license for:"+email);
CreateLicense cl = new CreateLicense();
cl.generatePublicPrivateKeyPair();
String license = cl.createLicense(email);
cl.checkLicense(email, license);
}
catch(Throwable t)
{
t.printStackTrace();
}
}
//Would only be done once on server
private void generatePublicPrivateKeyPair() throws Exception
{
final KeyPairGenerator keyGen = KeyPairGenerator.getInstance("DSA");
keyGen.initialize(1024, new SecureRandom());
final KeyPair pair = keyGen.generateKeyPair();
PrivateKey privateKey = pair.getPrivate();
PRIVATE_KEY=Hex.encodeHexString(privateKey.getEncoded());
PublicKey publicKey = pair.getPublic();
PUBLIC_KEY=Hex.encodeHexString(publicKey.getEncoded());
System.out.println("PrivateKeyHexLength:"+privateKey.getEncoded().length);
System.out.println("PublicKeyHexLength:"+publicKey.getEncoded().length);
}
private PrivateKey reinflatePrivateKey(String keyAsHexString) throws Exception
{
byte[] keyBytes = Hex.decodeHex(keyAsHexString.toCharArray());
final PKCS8EncodedKeySpec privKeySpec = new PKCS8EncodedKeySpec(keyBytes);
final KeyFactory keyFactory = KeyFactory.getInstance("DSA");
final PrivateKey privateKey = keyFactory.generatePrivate(privKeySpec);
return privateKey;
}
private PublicKey reinflatePublicKey(String keyAsHexString) throws Exception
{
byte[] keyBytes = Hex.decodeHex(keyAsHexString.toCharArray());
final X509EncodedKeySpec pubKeySpec = new X509EncodedKeySpec(keyBytes);
final KeyFactory keyFactory = KeyFactory.getInstance("DSA");
final PublicKey publicKey = keyFactory.generatePublic(pubKeySpec);
return publicKey;
}
//License Create on server based on email address
private String createLicense(String emailAddress) throws Exception
{
String message=emailAddress;
PrivateKey privateKey = reinflatePrivateKey(PRIVATE_KEY);
final Signature dsa = Signature.getInstance("SHA/DSA");
dsa.initSign(privateKey);
dsa.update(message.getBytes());
final byte[] m1 = dsa.sign();
String license = Hex.encodeHexString(m1);
System.out.println("CreateLicense:"+license+":Size:"+license.length());
return license;
}
//Client checks that given known emailaddress and public key that a if a license was derived from
//that and corresponding privatekey it would match license.
private boolean checkLicense(String emailAddress, String license) throws Exception
{
String message=emailAddress;
PublicKey publicKey = reinflatePublicKey(PUBLIC_KEY);
final Signature dsa = Signature.getInstance("SHA/DSA");
dsa.initVerify(publicKey);
dsa.update(message.getBytes());
boolean result = dsa.verify(Hex.decodeHex(license.toCharArray()));
System.out.println("Result"+result);
return result;
}
}
gives output like
Creating license for:testuser#nowhere.com
PrivateKeyHexLength:335
PublicKeyHexLength:443
CreateLicense:302c021425f7ad7289b073f82a1d808838f43e0134c5591402140d2a7a4e3967706d4659dc73ace6455040a5fc6b:Size:92
Resulttrue

#Paul - I think your solution here would be to use ECDSA.
Change your line of code
final KeyPairGenerator keyGen = KeyPairGenerator.getInstance("DSA");
to
final KeyPairGenerator keyGen = KeyPairGenerator.getInstance("ECDSA");
The keys are much shorter than DSA - and I'm sure hex version signature would be shorter. I suggest you use a prime ECC curve of say 256 or 128 bits.
Please let us know if this solves the problem.