how to get private key from PEM file?

Question

i have a .PEM file that includes public key and a private key for SSL data transfer like this:

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
      private key data
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
      public key data
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

when i want to load the .PEM file by the following code:

X509Certificate2 xx = new X509Certificate2("c:\\myKey.pem");

i get an exception that says: "Cannot find the requested object." , with full stack:

System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException was unhandled
  Message=Cannot find the requested object.

  Source=mscorlib
  StackTrace:
       at System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException.ThrowCryptographicException(Int32 hr)
       at System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Utils._QueryCertFileType(String fileName)
       at System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate.LoadCertificateFromFile(String fileName, Object password, X509KeyStorageFlags keyStorageFlags)
       at System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate..ctor(String fileName)
       at System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2..ctor(String fileName)
       at DLLTest.SSL_Test.test() in E:\Projects\DLLTest\DLLTest\SSL_Test.cs:line 165
       at DLLTest.SSL_Test.Run() in E:\Projects\DLLTest\DLLTest\SSL_Test.cs:line 21
       at DLLTest.Program.Main(String[] args) in E:\Projects\DLLTest\DLLTest\Program.cs:line 21
       at System.AppDomain._nExecuteAssembly(RuntimeAssembly assembly, String[] args)
       at System.AppDomain.ExecuteAssembly(String assemblyFile, Evidence assemblySecurity, String[] args)
       at Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.HostProc.RunUsersAssembly()
       at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
       at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean ignoreSyncCtx)
       at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
       at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
  InnerException: 

if i swap place of private key section and public key section, the code works and load data, and i can get just public key info from the object, eg. IssuerName, and its HasPrivateKey is false. why? am i misunderstood and doing wrong something?

Sandusky

Answer 1

There's an article on the Code Project that has all the code you need to do this. It's just a couple of classes so it's a light-weight solution.

To get the bytes for either a certificate or a key from the PEM file the following method will work, regardless of the order of the key and certificate in the file.

 byte[] GetBytesFromPEM( string pemString, string section )
 {
     var header = String.Format("-----BEGIN {0}-----", section);
     var footer = String.Format("-----END {0}-----", section);

     var start= pemString.IndexOf(header, StringComparison.Ordinal);
     if( start < 0 )
        return null;

     start += header.Length;
     var end = pemString.IndexOf(footer, start, StringComparison.Ordinal) - start;

     if( end < 0 )
        return null;

     return Convert.FromBase64String( pemString.Substring( start, end ) );
 }

Load the PEM file into a string and call the method above to get the bytes that represent the certificate. Next you pass the obtained bytes to the constructor of an X509Certificate2 :

 var pem = System.IO.File.ReadAllText( "c:\\myKey.pem" );
 byte[] certBuffer = GetBytesFromPEM( pem, "CERTIFICATE" );
 var certificate = new X509Certificate2( certBuffer );

Loading the (RSA) private key from the PEM file is a bit more complicated but you'll find support for that in the above mentioned article as well using the Crypto.DecodeRsaPrivateKey method.

Garneau

The part of the comparison start < 0 will always be false! end < 0 is ok. Reason: When IndexOf returns -1 and you add the header.Length it will be positive in any case. You should retrieve the index first and compare the index against 0. Later add the header.Length. – Brotherson

Answer 2

AFAIK the .NET framework does not support PEM anywhere.

You can hack around this easily for the X509Certificate part since you can extract the base64 string between the -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- and -----END CERTIFICATE----- lines, convert it into a byte[] and create the X509Certificate from it.

An easy solution is to copy-paste code from Mono.Security's X509Certificate.cs to do this.

Getting the private key is a bit tricky since getting the byte[] won't be of much help to reconstruct the RSA instance (which we can assume since the PEM header states it's RSA).

This time you better copy-paste from Mono.Security's PKCS8.cs file and sioply call the decode method.

Disclaimer: I'm the main author of the Mono code discussed above and it is all available under the MIT.X11 license

Myxomatosis

I ended up using this once I pulled out all the mono classes. var PrivateKeyInfo = new PKCS8.PrivateKeyInfo(PrivateKey); rsa.ImportCspBlob(PrivateKeyInfo.PrivateKey); – Fairweather

Answer 3

I had the same problem and - for the record - I post here a complete, working code sample (the key is cut for known reasons). It's mostly a compilation of stuff found on the Internet and my home project requirements.

Following code's features

• Loads a PEM certificate ("-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----") from openssl that may contain "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
• returns X509Certificate2
• private key for x509 is stored in the machine store (windows feature), with access rule for everyone
• private key cannot be exported from the store

The code:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;
using System.Security.Principal;
using System.Security.AccessControl;

namespace Test1
{
    public static class Test
    {
        public static int Main()
        {
            string pemCertWithPrivateKeyText = @"-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
...
bjEdMBsGA1UEChQUVGV4YXMgQSZNIFV5jZTESMBAGA1UEAxMJVXNlciBOYW1lMSA
...
YXMgQSZNIFV5jZTESMBAGA1e2yX28ERsgBD6xx7mJDrPxkqWyV/a9tCF8W6jGSs=
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIEow..................
jZMxBWg+imTpbGb+TpR2kxBWctnzFOWRuVYdSQIDAQABAoIBAFSKz/RLtkmZKE1d
....
BWctnzFOWRuVYdSdsf+WDqNxEzrL08SU1w5WuSxIsbxchUvG4
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
"; // just an example

            X509Certificate2 cert = PEMToX509.Convert(pemCertWithPrivateKeyText);

            return (cert.HasPrivateKey ? 1 : -1);
        }
    }

    internal static class PEMToX509
    {
        const string KEY_HEADER = "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----";
        const string KEY_FOOTER = "-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----";

        internal static X509Certificate2 Convert(string pem)
        {
            try
            {
                byte[] pemCertWithPrivateKey = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(pem);

                RSACryptoServiceProvider rsaPK = GetRSA(pem);

                X509Certificate2 cert = new X509Certificate2();
                cert.Import(pemCertWithPrivateKey, "", X509KeyStorageFlags.MachineKeySet | X509KeyStorageFlags.PersistKeySet);

                if (rsaPK != null)
                {
                    cert.PrivateKey = rsaPK;
                }

                return cert;
            }
            catch
            {
                return null;
            }
        }

        private static RSACryptoServiceProvider GetRSA(string pem)
        {
            RSACryptoServiceProvider rsa = null;

            if (IsPrivateKeyAvailable(pem))
            {
                RSAParameters privateKey = DecodeRSAPrivateKey(pem);

                SecurityIdentifier everyoneSI = new SecurityIdentifier(WellKnownSidType.WorldSid, null);
                CryptoKeyAccessRule rule = new CryptoKeyAccessRule(everyoneSI, CryptoKeyRights.FullControl, AccessControlType.Allow);

                CspParameters cspParameters = new CspParameters();
                cspParameters.KeyContainerName = "MY_C_NAME";
                cspParameters.ProviderName = "Microsoft Strong Cryptographic Provider";
                cspParameters.ProviderType = 1;
                cspParameters.Flags = CspProviderFlags.UseNonExportableKey | CspProviderFlags.UseMachineKeyStore;

                cspParameters.CryptoKeySecurity = new CryptoKeySecurity();
                cspParameters.CryptoKeySecurity.SetAccessRule(rule);

                rsa = new RSACryptoServiceProvider(cspParameters);
                rsa.PersistKeyInCsp = true;
                rsa.ImportParameters(privateKey);
            }

            return rsa;
        }

        private static bool IsPrivateKeyAvailable(string privateKeyInPEM)
        {
            return (privateKeyInPEM != null && privateKeyInPEM.Contains(KEY_HEADER)
                && privateKeyInPEM.Contains(KEY_FOOTER));
        }

        private static RSAParameters DecodeRSAPrivateKey(string privateKeyInPEM)
        {
            if (IsPrivateKeyAvailable(privateKeyInPEM) == false)
                throw new ArgumentException("bad format");

            string keyFormatted = privateKeyInPEM;

            int cutIndex = keyFormatted.IndexOf(KEY_HEADER);
            keyFormatted = keyFormatted.Substring(cutIndex, keyFormatted.Length - cutIndex);
            cutIndex = keyFormatted.IndexOf(KEY_FOOTER);
            keyFormatted = keyFormatted.Substring(0, cutIndex + KEY_FOOTER.Length);
            keyFormatted = keyFormatted.Replace(KEY_HEADER, "");
            keyFormatted = keyFormatted.Replace(KEY_FOOTER, "");
            keyFormatted = keyFormatted.Replace("\r", "");
            keyFormatted = keyFormatted.Replace("\n", "");
            keyFormatted = keyFormatted.Trim();

            byte[] privateKeyInDER = System.Convert.FromBase64String(keyFormatted);

            byte[] paramModulus;
            byte[] paramDP;
            byte[] paramDQ;
            byte[] paramIQ;
            byte[] paramE;
            byte[] paramD;
            byte[] paramP;
            byte[] paramQ;

            MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream(privateKeyInDER);
            BinaryReader binaryReader = new BinaryReader(memoryStream);

            ushort twobytes = 0;
            int elements = 0;
            byte bt = 0;

            try
            {
                twobytes = binaryReader.ReadUInt16();
                if (twobytes == 0x8130) 
                    binaryReader.ReadByte();
                else if (twobytes == 0x8230) 
                    binaryReader.ReadInt16();
                else 
                    throw new CryptographicException("Wrong data");

                twobytes = binaryReader.ReadUInt16();
                if (twobytes != 0x0102) 
                    throw new CryptographicException("Wrong data");

                bt = binaryReader.ReadByte();
                if (bt != 0x00) 
                    throw new CryptographicException("Wrong data");

                elements = GetIntegerSize(binaryReader);
                paramModulus = binaryReader.ReadBytes(elements);

                elements = GetIntegerSize(binaryReader);
                paramE = binaryReader.ReadBytes(elements);

                elements = GetIntegerSize(binaryReader);
                paramD = binaryReader.ReadBytes(elements);

                elements = GetIntegerSize(binaryReader);
                paramP = binaryReader.ReadBytes(elements);

                elements = GetIntegerSize(binaryReader);
                paramQ = binaryReader.ReadBytes(elements);

                elements = GetIntegerSize(binaryReader);
                paramDP = binaryReader.ReadBytes(elements);

                elements = GetIntegerSize(binaryReader);
                paramDQ = binaryReader.ReadBytes(elements);

                elements = GetIntegerSize(binaryReader);
                paramIQ = binaryReader.ReadBytes(elements);

                EnsureLength(ref paramD, 256);
                EnsureLength(ref paramDP, 128);
                EnsureLength(ref paramDQ, 128);
                EnsureLength(ref paramE, 3);
                EnsureLength(ref paramIQ, 128);
                EnsureLength(ref paramModulus, 256);
                EnsureLength(ref paramP, 128);
                EnsureLength(ref paramQ, 128);

                RSAParameters rsaParameters = new RSAParameters();
                rsaParameters.Modulus = paramModulus;
                rsaParameters.Exponent = paramE;
                rsaParameters.D = paramD;
                rsaParameters.P = paramP;
                rsaParameters.Q = paramQ;
                rsaParameters.DP = paramDP;
                rsaParameters.DQ = paramDQ;
                rsaParameters.InverseQ = paramIQ;

                return rsaParameters;
            }
            finally
            {
                binaryReader.Close();
            }
        }

        private static int GetIntegerSize(BinaryReader binary)
        {
            byte bt = 0;
            byte lowbyte = 0x00;
            byte highbyte = 0x00;
            int count = 0;

            bt = binary.ReadByte();

            if (bt != 0x02) 
                return 0;

            bt = binary.ReadByte();

            if (bt == 0x81) 
                count = binary.ReadByte();
            else if (bt == 0x82)
            {
                highbyte = binary.ReadByte();
                lowbyte = binary.ReadByte();
                byte[] modint = { lowbyte, highbyte, 0x00, 0x00 };
                count = BitConverter.ToInt32(modint, 0);
            }
            else 
                count = bt;

            while (binary.ReadByte() == 0x00)
                count -= 1;

            binary.BaseStream.Seek(-1, SeekOrigin.Current);

            return count;
        }

        private static void EnsureLength(ref byte[] data, int desiredLength)
        {
            if (data == null || data.Length >= desiredLength)
                return;

            int zeros = desiredLength - data.Length;

            byte[] newData = new byte[desiredLength];
            Array.Copy(data, 0, newData, zeros, data.Length);

            data = newData;
        }
    }
}

Vibrato

Which version of .net did you use? – Sesquialtera

This code (particularly the skipping of leading zeroes in GetIntegerSize) can cause a CryptographicException in ImportParameters due to values being too short. It only happens sporadically. Not skipping leading zeroes can cause the same exception due to values being too long. It is unclear if values can end up too short without skipping leading zeroes in GetIntegerSize, as this depends on the input. See https://mcmap.net/q/372448/-cryptographicexception-in-rsa-importparameters-bad-data-in-special-1024-keys for details. – Lissa

@andrew.fox: That is all correct, except that for RSA, no parameters appart from modulus and e need to be specified... Also, PEM could encode an ECDSA key ... This will only work for the most simplest of cases. – Kitchenmaid

Answer 4

A different approach is to convert the client PEM certificate to the PFX format supported by Windows. This can be done using, for example, openssl, by running:

openssl pkcs12 -export -out cert.pfx -inkey cert.key -in cert.pem -certfile ca.pem

(where "cert.pfx" is the output file, "cert.key" contains the private key, "cert.pem" contains the input certificate, and "ca.pem" contains the certificate of the signer).

Chicanery

Answer 5

You don't.
.NET doesn't support it.
You see, the PEM-encoding does support multiple keys types (e.g. ECDSA).
So if somebody provides you with a way to read a .NET RSA key from a PEM-file, you maybe able to read that RSA-key (if the PEM also has D, P, Q, DP DQ, InverseQ), but that's a long way from reading PEM.
Also the .NET version of RSA only implements RSA based on (Modulus,Exponent and D, P, Q, DP, DQ, InverseQ). A real PEM-encoded RSA key does not need to support parameters D, P, Q, DP, DQ, InverseQ. It can, but it doesn't have to. All RSA really needs is Modulus and Exponent. And a PEM-encoded RSA key containing only modulus and Exponent is a perferctly valid PEM-key, especially when you need interop with Python, which does such things.

However, you can read a PEM-encoded private and public key with BouncyCastle.
See below.

To get these cryptographic keys (of any kind) generically to .NET without adding a dependency on BouncyCastle, your best bet is to read the PEM-files in BouncyCastle, create a PFX-file (which contains private and public key), then read that PFX-file with System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2. From that certificate, you can then get the private and public key already decoded, assuming they use a cryptographic algorithm of a kind that .NET does support.

namespace SslCertificateGenerator
{
    
    
    // https://gist.github.com/therightstuff/aa65356e95f8d0aae888e9f61aa29414
    public class KeyImportExport
    {
        
        
        // KeyImportExport.GetPemKeyPair
        public static PrivatePublicPemKeyPair GetPemKeyPair(Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair keyPair)
        {
            PrivatePublicPemKeyPair result = new PrivatePublicPemKeyPair();
            
            // id_rsa
            using (System.IO.TextWriter textWriter = new System.IO.StringWriter())
            {
                Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemWriter pemWriter = new Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemWriter(textWriter);
                pemWriter.WriteObject(keyPair.Private);
                pemWriter.Writer.Flush();

                result.PrivateKey = textWriter.ToString();
            } // End Using textWriter 
            
            
            // id_rsa.pub
            using (System.IO.TextWriter textWriter = new System.IO.StringWriter())
            {
                Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemWriter pemWriter = new Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemWriter(textWriter);
                pemWriter.WriteObject(keyPair.Public);
                pemWriter.Writer.Flush();

                result.PublicKey = textWriter.ToString();
            } // End Using textWriter 
            
            
            // // This writes the same as private key, not both
            //using (System.IO.TextWriter textWriter = new System.IO.StringWriter())
            //{
            //    Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemWriter pemWriter = new Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemWriter(textWriter);
            //    pemWriter.WriteObject(keyPair);
            //    pemWriter.Writer.Flush();
            
            //    bothKeys = textWriter.ToString();
            //} // End Using textWriter 
            
            return result;
        } // End Sub GetPemKeyPair
        
        
        // KeyImportExport.ReadPublicKey
        public static Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter ReadPublicKey(string publicKey)
        {
            Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter keyParameter = null;

            using (System.IO.TextReader reader = new System.IO.StringReader(publicKey))
            {
                Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader pemReader =
                    new Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader(reader);

                object obj = pemReader.ReadObject();

                if ((obj is Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair))
                    throw new System.ArgumentException("The given publicKey is actually a private key.", "publicKey");

                if (!(obj is Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter))
                    throw new System.ArgumentException("The given publicKey is not a valid assymetric key.", "publicKey");

                keyParameter = (Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter)obj;
            }
            
            return keyParameter;
        } // End Function ReadPublicKey 
        
        
        public static Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter ReadPrivateKey(string privateKey)
        {
            Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair keyPair = null;
            
            using (System.IO.TextReader reader = new System.IO.StringReader(privateKey))
            {
                Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader pemReader =
                    new Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader(reader);

                object obj = pemReader.ReadObject();

                if (obj is Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter)
                    throw new System.ArgumentException("The given privateKey is a public key, not a privateKey...", "privateKey");

                if (!(obj is Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair))
                    throw new System.ArgumentException("The given privateKey is not a valid assymetric key.", "privateKey");

                keyPair = (Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair)obj;
            } // End using reader 
            
            // Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter priv = keyPair.Private;
            // Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter pub = keyPair.Public;
            
            // Note: 
            // cipher.Init(false, key);
            // !!!
            
            return keyPair.Private;
        } // End Function ReadPrivateKey
        
        
        public static Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair ReadKeyPair(string privateKey)
        {
            Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair keyPair = null;

            using (System.IO.TextReader reader = new System.IO.StringReader(privateKey))
            {
                Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader pemReader =
                    new Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader(reader);
                
                object obj = pemReader.ReadObject();
                
                if (obj is Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter)
                    throw new System.ArgumentException("The given privateKey is a public key, not a privateKey...", "privateKey");
                
                if (!(obj is Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair))
                    throw new System.ArgumentException("The given privateKey is not a valid assymetric key.", "privateKey");
                
                keyPair = (Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair)obj;
            }
            
            // Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter priv = keyPair.Private;
            // Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter pub = keyPair.Public;
            
            // Note: 
            // cipher.Init(false, key);
            // !!!
            
            return keyPair;
        } // End Function ReadPrivateKey
        
        
        public static Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair ReadKeyPairFromFile(string fileName)
        {
            Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair KeyPair = null;

            //  Stream fileStream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
            using (System.IO.FileStream fs = System.IO.File.OpenRead(fileName))
            {

                using (System.IO.StreamReader sr = new System.IO.StreamReader(fs))
                {
                    Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader pemReader = new Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader(sr);
                    KeyPair = (Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair)pemReader.ReadObject();
                    // System.Security.Cryptography.RSAParameters rsa = Org.BouncyCastle.Security.
                    //     DotNetUtilities.ToRSAParameters((Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.Parameters.RsaPrivateCrtKeyParameters)KeyPair.Private);
                } // End Using sr 

            } // End Using fs 

            return KeyPair;
        } // End Function ImportKeyPair 
        
        
        //public static void ReadPrivateKeyFile(string privateKeyFileName)
        //{
        //    Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.Parameters.RsaPrivateCrtKeyParameters key = null;

        //    using (System.IO.StreamReader streamReader = System.IO.File.OpenText(privateKeyFileName))
        //    {
        //        Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader pemReader = 
        //            new Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader(streamReader);
        //        key = (Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.Parameters.RsaPrivateCrtKeyParameters) pemReader.ReadObject();
        //    } // End Using streamReader 

        //    // Note: 
        //    // cipher.Init(false, key);
        //    // !!!
        //} // End Function ReadPrivateKey
        
        
        public Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter ReadPublicKeyFile(string pemFilename)
        {
            Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter keyParameter = null;

            using (System.IO.StreamReader streamReader = System.IO.File.OpenText(pemFilename))
            {
                Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader pemReader = new Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemReader(streamReader);
                keyParameter = (Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter)pemReader.ReadObject();
            } // End Using fileStream 

            return keyParameter;
        } // End Function ReadPublicKey 
        
        
        public static void ExportKeyPair(Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair keyPair)
        {
            string privateKey = null;

            using (System.IO.TextWriter textWriter = new System.IO.StringWriter())
            {
                Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemWriter pemWriter = new Org.BouncyCastle.OpenSsl.PemWriter(textWriter);
                pemWriter.WriteObject(keyPair.Private);
                pemWriter.Writer.Flush();

                privateKey = textWriter.ToString();
            } // End Using textWriter 

            System.Console.WriteLine(privateKey);
        } // End Sub ExportKeyPair 
        
        
        // https://mcmap.net/q/409471/-generating-keypair-using-bouncy-castle
        // https://mcmap.net/q/146042/-converting-a-public-key-in-subjectpublickeyinfo-format-to-rsapublickey-format-java
        // https://mcmap.net/q/409472/-get-der-encoded-public-key
        // http://www.programcreek.com/java-api-examples/index.php?api=org.bouncycastle.crypto.util.SubjectPublicKeyInfoFactory
        public static void CerKeyInfo(Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricCipherKeyPair keyPair)
        {
            Org.BouncyCastle.Asn1.Pkcs.PrivateKeyInfo pkInfo = Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.PrivateKeyInfoFactory.CreatePrivateKeyInfo(keyPair.Private);
            string privateKey = System.Convert.ToBase64String(pkInfo.GetDerEncoded());

            // and following for public:
            Org.BouncyCastle.Asn1.X509.SubjectPublicKeyInfo info = Org.BouncyCastle.X509.SubjectPublicKeyInfoFactory.CreateSubjectPublicKeyInfo(keyPair.Public);
            string publicKey = System.Convert.ToBase64String(info.GetDerEncoded());

            System.Console.WriteLine(privateKey);
            System.Console.WriteLine(publicKey);
        } // End Sub CerKeyInfo 
        
        
    } // End Class KeyImportExport 
    
    
} // End Namespace RedmineMailService.CertSSL 

Oh, and here's how to do the things with PFX:

namespace SelfSignedCertificateGenerator
{


    public class PfxData
    {
        public Org.BouncyCastle.X509.X509Certificate Certificate;
        public Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter PrivateKey;
    }


    public class PfxFile
    {


        // System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2.Import (string fileName);

        // https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.security.cryptography.x509certificates.x509certificate2.import?view=netframework-4.7.2
        // https://gist.github.com/yutopio/a217a4af63cf6bcf0a530c14c074cf8f
        // https://gist.githubusercontent.com/yutopio/a217a4af63cf6bcf0a530c14c074cf8f/raw/42b2f8cb27f6d22b7e22d65da5bbd0f1ce9b2fff/cert.cs
        // https://mcmap.net/q/409473/-store-pkcs-12-container-pfx-with-bouncycastle
        // https://github.com/Worlaf/RSADemo/blob/328692e28e48db92340d55563480c8724d916384/RSADemo_WinForms/frmRsaDemo.cs
        public static void Create(
              string fileName
            , Org.BouncyCastle.X509.X509Certificate certificate
            , Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter privateKey
              , string password = "")
        {
            // create certificate entry
            Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.X509CertificateEntry certEntry =
                new Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.X509CertificateEntry(certificate);
            string friendlyName = certificate.SubjectDN.ToString();

            if (!friendlyName.Contains("obelix", System.StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))
                friendlyName = "Skynet Certification Authority";
            else
                friendlyName = "Coopérative Ménhir Obelix Gmbh & Co. KGaA";


            // get bytes of private key.
            Org.BouncyCastle.Asn1.Pkcs.PrivateKeyInfo keyInfo = Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.PrivateKeyInfoFactory.CreatePrivateKeyInfo(privateKey);
            //byte[] keyBytes = keyInfo.ToAsn1Object().GetEncoded();

            Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.Pkcs12StoreBuilder builder = new Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.Pkcs12StoreBuilder();
            builder.SetUseDerEncoding(true);



            Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.Pkcs12Store store = builder.Build();

            store.SetCertificateEntry(friendlyName, certEntry);

            // create store entry
            store.SetKeyEntry(
                  //keyFriendlyName
                  friendlyName
                , new Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.AsymmetricKeyEntry(privateKey)
                , new Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.X509CertificateEntry[] { certEntry }
            );


            byte[] pfxBytes = null;

            using (System.IO.MemoryStream stream = new System.IO.MemoryStream())
            {
                // Cert is contained in store
                // null: no password, "": an empty passwords
                // note: Linux needs empty password on null...
                store.Save(stream, password == null ? "".ToCharArray() : password.ToCharArray(), new Org.BouncyCastle.Security.SecureRandom());
                // stream.Position = 0;
                pfxBytes = stream.ToArray();
            } // End Using stream 


#if WITH_MS_PFX
            WithMsPfx(pfxBytes, fileName, password);
#else
            byte[] result = Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.Pkcs12Utilities.ConvertToDefiniteLength(pfxBytes);
            // this.StoreCertificate(System.Convert.ToBase64String(result));

            using (System.IO.BinaryWriter writer = new System.IO.BinaryWriter(System.IO.File.Open(fileName, System.IO.FileMode.Create)))
            {
                writer.Write(result);
            } // End Using writer 
#endif

        } // End Sub Create


        private static void WithMsPfx(byte[] pfxBytes, string fileName, string password)
        {
            System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2 convertedCertificate =
                new System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2(pfxBytes,
                    "", // PW
                    System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509KeyStorageFlags.PersistKeySet | System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509KeyStorageFlags.Exportable);

            byte[] bytes = convertedCertificate.Export(System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509ContentType.Pfx, password);
            System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(fileName, bytes);
        } // End Sub WithMsPfx 



        public static PfxData Read(string pfxFilePath, string password = "")
        {
            Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.Pkcs12Store store = null;

            using (System.IO.Stream pfxStream = System.IO.File.OpenRead(pfxFilePath))
            {
                store = new Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.Pkcs12Store(pfxStream, password.ToCharArray());
            }

            // System.Console.WriteLine(store);


            foreach (string alias in store.Aliases)
            {
                Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.X509CertificateEntry certEntry = store.GetCertificate(alias);
                Org.BouncyCastle.X509.X509Certificate cert = certEntry.Certificate;

                // Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter publicKey = cert.GetPublicKey();
                // System.Console.WriteLine(publicKey);

                // https://7thzero.com/blog/bouncy-castle-convert-a-bouncycastle-asymmetrickeyentry-to-a-.ne
                if (store.IsKeyEntry(alias))
                {
                    Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs.AsymmetricKeyEntry keyEntry = store.GetKey(alias);
                    Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.AsymmetricKeyParameter privateKey = keyEntry.Key;

                    if (privateKey.IsPrivate)
                        return new PfxData() 
                               { 
                                   Certificate = cert, 
                                   PrivateKey = privateKey 
                               };
                } // End if (store.IsKeyEntry((string)alias))

            } // Next alias 

            return null;
        } // End Sub Read


        public static System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2 
            MicrosoftCertificateFromPfx(string pfxFilePath, string password = "")
        {
            System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2 cert =
                  new System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2(
                  pfxFilePath
                , password
            );

            return cert;
        }


    }


}

Kitchenmaid

Answer 6

I don't know .NET (but Java) but the answer should be the same.
Your pem file contains both the certificate and private key.
This is a usual export in OpenSSL.
To instantiate an object of X509Certificate in Java you would use only the part of the file that says:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
certificate data
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

It should be the same in .NET.
Just load the file and load that part of PEM.

Do the same for private key.
In java you would use the corresponding object i.e. PrivateKey to load it.
Use the appropriate for .NET

Cameron

Answer 7

I encountered the same issue and found a solution as below:

First convert prkey.pem into prkey.xml with this tool //https://superdry.apphb.com/tools/online-rsa-key-converter

         var dataString = "test";

        byte[] dataToEncrypt = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(dataString);

        RSACryptoServiceProvider provider = new RSACryptoServiceProvider();
        provider.FromXmlString(File.ReadAllText("C:\prkey.xml"));
        byte[] signedBytes = provider.SignData(dataToEncrypt, new SHA256CryptoServiceProvider());

        textBox3.Text = BitConverter.ToString(signedBytes);

Anarthrous