module OpenSSL - Documentation for Ruby 4.1
Description: module OpenSSL: OpenSSL provides \SSL, TLS and general purpose cryptography. www.
Keywords: ruby,module,OpenSSL

🔍

No recent searches

# module OpenSSL

`OpenSSL` provides SSL, TLS and general purpose cryptography. It wraps the OpenSSL library.

# Examples

All examples assume you have loaded `OpenSSL` with:

    require 'openssl'

These examples build atop each other. For example the key created in the next is used in throughout these examples.

## Keys

### Creating a Key

This example creates a 2048 bit RSA keypair and writes it to the current directory.

    key = OpenSSL::PKey::RSA.new 2048

    File.write 'private_key.pem', key.private_to_pem
    File.write 'public_key.pem', key.public_to_pem

### Exporting a Key

Keys saved to disk without encryption are not secure as anyone who gets ahold of the key may use it unless it is encrypted. In order to securely export a key you may export it with a password.

    cipher = OpenSSL::Cipher.new 'aes-256-cbc'
    password = 'my secure password goes here'

    key_secure = key.private_to_pem cipher, password

    File.write 'private.secure.pem', key_secure

`OpenSSL::Cipher.ciphers` returns a list of available ciphers.

### Loading a Key

A key can also be loaded from a file.

    key2 = OpenSSL::PKey.read File.read 'private_key.pem'
    key2.public? # => true
    key2.private? # => true

or

    key3 = OpenSSL::PKey.read File.read 'public_key.pem'
    key3.public? # => true
    key3.private? # => false

### Loading an Encrypted Key

OpenSSL will prompt you for your password when loading an encrypted key. If you will not be able to type in the password you may provide it when loading the key:

    key4_pem = File.read 'private.secure.pem'
    password = 'my secure password goes here'
    key4 = OpenSSL::PKey.read key4_pem, password

## RSA Encryption

RSA provides encryption and decryption using the public and private keys. You can use a variety of padding methods depending upon the intended use of encrypted data.

### Encryption & Decryption

Asymmetric public/private key encryption is slow and victim to attack in cases where it is used without padding or directly to encrypt larger chunks of data. Typical use cases for RSA encryption involve “wrapping” a symmetric key with the public key of the recipient who would “unwrap” that symmetric key again using their private key. The following illustrates a simplified example of such a key transport scheme. It shouldn’t be used in practice, though, standardized protocols should always be preferred.

    wrapped_key = key.public_encrypt key

A symmetric key encrypted with the public key can only be decrypted with the corresponding private key of the recipient.

    original_key = key.private_decrypt wrapped_key

By default PKCS#1 padding will be used, but it is also possible to use other forms of padding, see `PKey::RSA` for further details.

### Signatures

Using “private_encrypt” to encrypt some data with the private key is equivalent to applying a digital signature to the data. A verifying party may validate the signature by comparing the result of decrypting the signature with “public_decrypt” to the original data. However, `OpenSSL::PKey` already has methods “sign” and “verify” that handle digital signatures in a standardized way - “private_encrypt” and “public_decrypt” shouldn’t be used in practice.

To sign a document, a cryptographically secure hash of the document is computed first, which is then signed using the private key.

    signature = key.sign 'SHA256', document

To validate the signature, again a hash of the document is computed and the signature is decrypted using the public key. The result is then compared to the hash just computed, if they are equal the signature was valid.

    if key.verify 'SHA256', signature, document
      puts 'Valid'
    else
      puts 'Invalid'
    end

## PBKDF2 Password-based Encryption

If supported by the underlying OpenSSL version used, Password-based Encryption should use the features of `PKCS5`. If not supported or if required by legacy applications, the older, less secure methods specified in RFC 2898 are also supported (see below).

`PKCS5` supports PBKDF2 as it was specified in PKCS#5 v2.0[www.rsa.com/rsalabs/node.asp?id=2127]. It still uses a password, a salt, and additionally a number of iterations that will slow the key derivation process down. The slower this is, the more work it requires being able to brute-force the resulting key.

### Encryption

The strategy is to first instantiate a `Cipher` for encryption, and then to generate a random IV plus a key derived from the password using PBKDF2. PKCS #5 v2.0 recommends at least 8 bytes for the salt, the number of iterations largely depends on the hardware being used.

    cipher = OpenSSL::Cipher.new 'aes-256-cbc'
    cipher.encrypt
    iv = cipher.random_iv

    pwd = 'some hopefully not to easily guessable password'
    salt = OpenSSL::Random.random_bytes 16
    iter = 20000
    key_len = cipher.key_len
    digest = OpenSSL::Digest.new('SHA256')

    key = OpenSSL::PKCS5.pbkdf2_hmac(pwd, salt, iter, key_len, digest)
    cipher.key = key

    Now encrypt the data:

    encrypted = cipher.update document
    encrypted << cipher.final

### Decryption

Use the same steps as before to derive the symmetric AES key, this time setting the `Cipher` up for decryption.

    cipher = OpenSSL::Cipher.new 'aes-256-cbc'
    cipher.decrypt
    cipher.iv = iv # the one generated with #random_iv

    pwd = 'some hopefully not to easily guessable password'
    salt = ... # the one generated above
    iter = 20000
    key_len = cipher.key_len
    digest = OpenSSL::Digest.new('SHA256')

    key = OpenSSL::PKCS5.pbkdf2_hmac(pwd, salt, iter, key_len, digest)
    cipher.key = key

    Now decrypt the data:

    decrypted = cipher.update encrypted
    decrypted << cipher.final

## X509 Certificates

### Creating a Certificate

This example creates a self-signed certificate using an RSA key and a SHA1 signature.

    key = OpenSSL::PKey::RSA.new 2048
    name = OpenSSL::X509::Name.parse '/CN=nobody/DC=example'

    cert = OpenSSL::X509::Certificate.new
    cert.version = 2
    cert.serial = 0
    cert.not_before = Time.now
    cert.not_after = Time.now + 3600

    cert.public_key = key.public_key
    cert.subject = name

### Certificate Extensions

You can add extensions to the certificate with OpenSSL::SSL::ExtensionFactory to indicate the purpose of the certificate.

    extension_factory = OpenSSL::X509::ExtensionFactory.new nil, cert

    cert.add_extension \
      extension_factory.create_extension('basicConstraints', 'CA:FALSE', true)

    cert.add_extension \
      extension_factory.create_extension(
        'keyUsage', 'keyEncipherment,dataEncipherment,digitalSignature')

    cert.add_extension \
      extension_factory.create_extension('subjectKeyIdentifier', 'hash')

The list of supported extensions (and in some cases their possible values) can be derived from the “objects.h” file in the OpenSSL source code.

### Signing a Certificate

To sign a certificate set the issuer and use `OpenSSL::X509::Certificate#sign` with a digest algorithm. This creates a self-signed cert because we’re using the same name and key to sign the certificate as was used to create the certificate.

    cert.issuer = name
    cert.sign key, OpenSSL::Digest.new('SHA1')

    open 'certificate.pem', 'w' do |io| io.write cert.to_pem end

### Loading a Certificate

Like a key, a cert can also be loaded from a file.

    cert2 = OpenSSL::X509::Certificate.new File.read 'certificate.pem'

### Verifying a Certificate

Certificate#verify will return true when a certificate was signed with the given public key.

    raise 'certificate can not be verified' unless cert2.verify key

## Certificate Authority

A certificate authority (CA) is a trusted third party that allows you to verify the ownership of unknown certificates. The CA issues key signatures that indicate it trusts the user of that key. A user encountering the key can verify the signature by using the CA’s public key.

### CA Key

CA keys are valuable, so we encrypt and save it to disk and make sure it is not readable by other users.

    ca_key = OpenSSL::PKey::RSA.new 2048
    password = 'my secure password goes here'

    cipher = 'aes-256-cbc'

    open 'ca_key.pem', 'w', 0400 do |io|
      io.write ca_key.private_to_pem(cipher, password)
    end

### CA Certificate

A CA certificate is created the same way we created a certificate above, but with different extensions.

    ca_name = OpenSSL::X509::Name.parse '/CN=ca/DC=example'

    ca_cert = OpenSSL::X509::Certificate.new
    ca_cert.serial = 0
    ca_cert.version = 2
    ca_cert.not_before = Time.now
    ca_cert.not_after = Time.now + 86400

    ca_cert.public_key = ca_key.public_key
    ca_cert.subject = ca_name
    ca_cert.issuer = ca_name

    extension_factory = OpenSSL::X509::ExtensionFactory.new
    extension_factory.subject_certificate = ca_cert
    extension_factory.issuer_certificate = ca_cert

    ca_cert.add_extension \
      extension_factory.create_extension('subjectKeyIdentifier', 'hash')

This extension indicates the CA’s key may be used as a CA.

    ca_cert.add_extension \
      extension_factory.create_extension('basicConstraints', 'CA:TRUE', true)

This extension indicates the CA’s key may be used to verify signatures on both certificates and certificate revocations.

    ca_cert.add_extension \
      extension_factory.create_extension(
        'keyUsage', 'cRLSign,keyCertSign', true)

Root CA certificates are self-signed.

    ca_cert.sign ca_key, OpenSSL::Digest.new('SHA1')

The CA certificate is saved to disk so it may be distributed to all the users of the keys this CA will sign.

    open 'ca_cert.pem', 'w' do |io|
      io.write ca_cert.to_pem
    end

### Certificate Signing Request

The CA signs keys through a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). The CSR contains the information necessary to identify the key.

    csr = OpenSSL::X509::Request.new
    csr.version = 0
    csr.subject = name
    csr.public_key = key.public_key
    csr.sign key, OpenSSL::Digest.new('SHA1')

A CSR is saved to disk and sent to the CA for signing.

    open 'csr.pem', 'w' do |io|
      io.write csr.to_pem
    end

### Creating a Certificate from a CSR

Upon receiving a CSR the CA will verify it before signing it. A minimal verification would be to check the CSR’s signature.

    csr = OpenSSL::X509::Request.new File.read 'csr.pem'

    raise 'CSR can not be verified' unless csr.verify csr.public_key

After verification a certificate is created, marked for various usages, signed with the CA key and returned to the requester.

    csr_cert = OpenSSL::X509::Certificate.new
    csr_cert.serial = 0
    csr_cert.version = 2
    csr_cert.not_before = Time.now
    csr_cert.not_after = Time.now + 600

    csr_cert.subject = csr.subject
    csr_cert.public_key = csr.public_key
    csr_cert.issuer = ca_cert.subject

    extension_factory = OpenSSL::X509::ExtensionFactory.new
    extension_factory.subject_certificate = csr_cert
    extension_factory.issuer_certificate = ca_cert

    csr_cert.add_extension \
      extension_factory.create_extension('basicConstraints', 'CA:FALSE')

    csr_cert.add_extension \
      extension_factory.create_extension(
        'keyUsage', 'keyEncipherment,dataEncipherment,digitalSignature')

    csr_cert.add_extension \
      extension_factory.create_extension('subjectKeyIdentifier', 'hash')

    csr_cert.sign ca_key, OpenSSL::Digest.new('SHA1')

    open 'csr_cert.pem', 'w' do |io|
      io.write csr_cert.to_pem
    end

## SSL and TLS Connections

Using our created key and certificate we can create an SSL or TLS connection. An `OpenSSL::SSL::SSLContext` is used to set up an SSL session.

    context = OpenSSL::SSL::SSLContext.new

### SSL Server

An SSL server requires the certificate and private key to communicate securely with its clients:

    context.cert = cert
    context.key = key

Then create an `OpenSSL::SSL::SSLServer` with a TCP server socket and the context. Use the SSLServer like an ordinary TCP server.

    require 'socket'

    tcp_server = TCPServer.new 5000
    ssl_server = OpenSSL::SSL::SSLServer.new tcp_server, context

    loop do
      ssl_connection = ssl_server.accept

      data = ssl_connection.gets

      response = "I got #{data.dump}"
      puts response

      ssl_connection.puts "I got #{data.dump}"
      ssl_connection.close
    end

### SSL client

An SSL client is created with a TCP socket and the context. `OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket#connect` must be called to initiate the SSL handshake and start encryption. A key and certificate are not required for the client socket.

Note that `OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket#close` doesn’t close the underlying socket by default. Set `OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket#sync_close` to true if you want.

    require 'socket'

    tcp_socket = TCPSocket.new 'localhost', 5000
    ssl_client = OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket.new tcp_socket, context
    ssl_client.sync_close = true
    ssl_client.connect

    ssl_client.puts "hello server!"
    puts ssl_client.gets

    ssl_client.close # shutdown the TLS connection and close tcp_socket

### Peer Verification

An unverified SSL connection does not provide much security. For enhanced security the client or server can verify the certificate of its peer.

The client can be modified to verify the server’s certificate against the certificate authority’s certificate:

    context.ca_file = 'ca_cert.pem'
    context.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_PEER

    require 'socket'

    tcp_socket = TCPSocket.new 'localhost', 5000
    ssl_client = OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket.new tcp_socket, context
    ssl_client.connect

    ssl_client.puts "hello server!"
    puts ssl_client.gets

If the server certificate is invalid or `context.ca_file` is not set when verifying peers an `OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError` will be raised.

### Constants

LIBRESSL_VERSION_NUMBER

  LibreSSL library version number used to compile the Ruby/OpenSSL extension. This may differ from the version used at runtime.

  This constant is only defined if the extension was compiled against LibreSSL. The number follows the format: `0xMNNFF00f` (major minor fix 00 status).

  See also the man page `LIBRESSL_VERSION_NUMBER`(3).

OPENSSL_FIPS

  Boolean indicating whether the OpenSSL library is FIPS-capable or not. Always `true` for OpenSSL 3.0 and later.

  This is obsolete and will be removed in the future. See also `OpenSSL.fips_mode`.

OPENSSL_LIBRARY_VERSION

  OpenSSL library version string currently used at runtime.

OPENSSL_VERSION

  OpenSSL library version string used to compile the Ruby/OpenSSL extension. This may differ from the version used at runtime.

OPENSSL_VERSION_NUMBER

  OpenSSL library version number used to compile the Ruby/OpenSSL extension. This may differ from the version used at runtime.

  The version number is encoded into a single integer value. The number follows the format:

  OpenSSL 3.0.0 or later

    `0xMNN00PP0` (major minor 00 patch 0)

  OpenSSL 1.1.1 or earlier

    `0xMNNFFPPS` (major minor fix patch status)

  LibreSSL

    `0x20000000` (a fixed value)

  See also the man page `OPENSSL_VERSION_NUMBER`(3).

VERSION

  The version string of Ruby/OpenSSL.

### Public Class Methods

Digest (name)
Source

    # File ext/openssl/lib/openssl/digest.rb, line 63
    def Digest(name)
      OpenSSL::Digest.const_get(name)
    end

Returns a `Digest` subclass by name

    require 'openssl'

    OpenSSL::Digest("MD5")
    # => OpenSSL::Digest::MD5

    OpenSSL::Digest("Foo")
    # => NameError: wrong constant name Foo

debug → true | false
Source

    static VALUE
    ossl_debug_get(VALUE self)
    {
        return dOSSL;
    }

Returns whether Ruby/OpenSSL’s debug mode is currently enabled.

debug = boolean
Source

    static VALUE
    ossl_debug_set(VALUE self, VALUE val)
    {
        dOSSL = RTEST(val) ? Qtrue : Qfalse;

        return val;
    }

Turns on or off debug mode. With debug mode, all errors added to the OpenSSL error queue will be printed to stderr.

errors → [String...]
Source

    static VALUE
    ossl_get_errors(VALUE _)
    {
        VALUE ary;
        long e;

        ary = rb_ary_new();
        while ((e = ERR_get_error()) != 0){
            rb_ary_push(ary, rb_str_new2(ERR_error_string(e, NULL)));
        }

        return ary;
    }

Returns any remaining errors held in the OpenSSL thread-local error queue and clears the queue. This should normally return an empty array.

This is intended for debugging Ruby/OpenSSL. If you see any errors here, it likely indicates a bug in the extension. Please file an issue at github.com/ruby/openssl.

For debugging your program, `OpenSSL.debug=` may be useful.

fips_mode → true | false
Source

    static VALUE
    ossl_fips_mode_get(VALUE self)
    {

    #if OSSL_OPENSSL_PREREQ(3, 0, 0)
        VALUE enabled;
        enabled = EVP_default_properties_is_fips_enabled(NULL) ? Qtrue : Qfalse;
        return enabled;
    #elif defined(OPENSSL_FIPS) || defined(OPENSSL_IS_AWSLC)
        VALUE enabled;
        enabled = FIPS_mode() ? Qtrue : Qfalse;
        return enabled;
    #else
        return Qfalse;
    #endif
    }

Returns whether the FIPS mode is currently enabled.

fips_mode = boolean
Source

    static VALUE
    ossl_fips_mode_set(VALUE self, VALUE enabled)
    {
    #if OSSL_OPENSSL_PREREQ(3, 0, 0)
        if (RTEST(enabled)) {
            if (!EVP_default_properties_enable_fips(NULL, 1)) {
                ossl_raise(eOSSLError, "Turning on FIPS mode failed");
            }
        } else {
            if (!EVP_default_properties_enable_fips(NULL, 0)) {
                ossl_raise(eOSSLError, "Turning off FIPS mode failed");
            }
        }
        return enabled;
    #elif defined(OPENSSL_FIPS) || defined(OPENSSL_IS_AWSLC)
        if (RTEST(enabled)) {
            int mode = FIPS_mode();
            if(!mode && !FIPS_mode_set(1)) /* turning on twice leads to an error */
                ossl_raise(eOSSLError, "Turning on FIPS mode failed");
        } else {
            if(!FIPS_mode_set(0)) /* turning off twice is OK */
                ossl_raise(eOSSLError, "Turning off FIPS mode failed");
        }
        return enabled;
    #else
        if (RTEST(enabled))
            ossl_raise(eOSSLError, "This version of OpenSSL does not support FIPS mode");
        return enabled;
    #endif
    }

Turns FIPS mode on or off. Turning on FIPS mode will obviously only have an effect for FIPS-capable installations of the OpenSSL library. Trying to do so otherwise will result in an error.

### Examples

    OpenSSL.fips_mode = true   # turn FIPS mode on
    OpenSSL.fips_mode = false  # and off again

fixed_length_secure_compare(string, string) → true or false
Source

    static VALUE
    ossl_crypto_fixed_length_secure_compare(VALUE dummy, VALUE str1, VALUE str2)
    {
        const unsigned char *p1;
        const unsigned char *p2;
        long len1;
        long len2;

        StringValue(str1);
        StringValue(str2);

        p1 = (const unsigned char *)RSTRING_PTR(str1);
        p2 = (const unsigned char *)RSTRING_PTR(str2);
        len1 = RSTRING_LEN(str1);
        len2 = RSTRING_LEN(str2);

        if (len1 != len2) {
            ossl_raise(rb_eArgError, "inputs must be of equal length");
        }

        switch (CRYPTO_memcmp(p1, p2, len1)) {
          case 0: return Qtrue;
          default: return Qfalse;
        }
    }

Constant time memory comparison for fixed length strings, such as results of HMAC calculations.

Returns `true` if the strings are identical, `false` if they are of the same length but not identical. If the length is different, `ArgumentError` is raised.

secure_compare(string, string) → true or false
Source

    # File ext/openssl/lib/openssl.rb, line 36
    def self.secure_compare(a, b)
      hashed_a = OpenSSL::Digest.digest('SHA256', a)
      hashed_b = OpenSSL::Digest.digest('SHA256', b)
      OpenSSL.fixed_length_secure_compare(hashed_a, hashed_b) && a == b
    end

Constant time memory comparison. Inputs are hashed using SHA-256 to mask the length of the secret. Returns `true` if the strings are identical, `false` otherwise.

This method is expensive due to the SHA-256 hashing. In most cases, where the input lengths are known to be equal or are not sensitive, `OpenSSL.fixed_length_secure_compare` should be used instead.

### Private Instance Methods

Digest (name)
Source

    # File ext/openssl/lib/openssl/digest.rb, line 63
    def Digest(name)
      OpenSSL::Digest.const_get(name)
    end

Returns a `Digest` subclass by name

    require 'openssl'

    OpenSSL::Digest("MD5")
    # => OpenSSL::Digest::MD5

    OpenSSL::Digest("Foo")
    # => NameError: wrong constant name Foo