[Opendnssec-user] Creating keys on SoftHSM with Java

[Adam Knight]

I don't honestly know why the key isn't created as a token key in the first place.  When I put CKA_TOKEN = true into the SoftHSM configuration file, I get an "Object class not supported" error from C_CreateObject.  That is the default case in a switch statement that checks the key type - meaning that the object Java tries to create is not detected as a CKO_PUBLIC_KEY or CKO_PRIVATE_KEY.  When I print out oClass, it is set to 1 (CKO_CERTIFICATE).  

The error in C_CreateObject does happen at the right place in the Java code though - when I try and set the private key into the key store.  

X509Certificate[] chain = makeCertificateChain(keyPair);
ks.setKeyEntry("ALIAS-GOES-HERE", pk, "1111".toCharArray(), chain);  // THIS LINE

I suspect the CKO_CERTIFICATE oClass is caused by me calling setKeyEntry and passing in the certificate chain - Java associates Private Keys with Certificates - which of course have the Public Key.  I can try saving my key as a SecretKey rather than a PrivateKey, and see if that helps - then I won't have to store the certificate chain.  I think this will also fail though as a CKO_SECRET_KEY won't pass the switch statement in C_CreateObject.

It sort of feels like we're working around the way Java just wants to do things -  http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/index.html?java/security/KeyStore.html.  I mean having a common interface to a keystore is nice, but one that does what you want is much better :)

Thanks for your help!
	Adam


On 15/04/2011, at 2:49 AM, Rickard Bellgrim wrote:

> 
> On 14 apr 2011, at 01.15, Adam Knight wrote:
> 
>> So my questions are, has anyone successfully created an RSA key on SoftHSM using Java?  Am I missing anything?  Is there a reason C_CopyObject isn't implemented (I suspect it's just not a core function and OpenDNSSEC works fine without it)?
> 
> Yes, that function is not needed by OpenDNSSEC. But could be implemented by SoftHSM.
> 
> How come they do not create a token object from the beginning?
> 
> // Rickard
> 



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