Exporting a Private Key from a KeyStore File

PKI Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - Version 2.10, by Dr. Herong Yang

PKI Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟PKI CA Administration - Issuing Certificates

∟Exporting a Private Key from a KeyStore File

This section provides a tutorial example on how to export a private key from a JDK KeyStore file by converting the KeyStore file to a PKCS12 file, then exporting the private key using the OpenSSL 'pkcs12' command.

I am ready to perform the last step now.

Step 4 - Herong, as the CA administrator, issues or sign the personal certificate to Amy.

To sign a personal certificate, I need to use the OpenSSL "x509" command, which requires my private key stored in a PEM key file.

Remember that my private-public key was created by JDK "keytool" command and stored in the KeyStore file, herong.jks. The simplest way to export my private key from herong.jks is to use a two-step process:

1. Transfering my private-public key pair from a KeyStore file to a PKCS12 file:

C:\herong>\local\jdk\bin\keytool -importkeystore 
   -srckeystore herong.jks -srcstoretype jks -srcstorepass HerongJKS
   -srcalias herongyang.com -srckeypass HerongJKS
   -destkeystore herong.p12 -deststoretype pkcs12 
   -deststorepass HerongP12
   -destalias 1 -destkeypass HerongP12

C:\herong>\local\jdk\bin\keytool -list -keystore herong.p12 
   -storetype pkcs12 -storepass HerongP12

Keystore type: PKCS12
Keystore provider: SunJSSE

Your keystore contains 1 entry

1, Mar, 2011, PrivateKeyEntry,
Certificate fingerprint (MD5): 1F:BA:FC:DE:25:4A:E6:27:A4:92:9D:82...

2. Export my private key from the PKCS12 file to PEM key file:

C:\herong>\local\gnuwin32\bin\openssl pkcs12 -in herong.p12 
   -passin pass:HerongP12 -nocerts -out herong_key.pem -des 
   -passout pass:HerongKey

MAC verified OK

C:\herong>type herong_key.pem

Bag Attributes
    friendlyName: 1
    localKeyID: 54 69 6D 65 20 31 32 39 39 33 33 36 32 30 34 34 30 36 
Key Attributes: <No Attributes>
-----BEGIN DSA PRIVATE KEY-----
Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED
DEK-Info: DES-CBC,70621722F97A4922

JVM1ukkEmKz+gRGHfEcyEYJYwHDdoym2PXRKNzHhr3N0U1JrDxtBJ4It/CfhW01q
...
W5A/CET6RSRRclkloObItSpdmlwm31i0
-----END DSA PRIVATE KEY-----

See the next section on how to sign Amy's certificate.

Last update: 2011.

Table of Contents

About This Book

Introduction of PKI (Public Key Infrastructure)

Introduction of HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)

Using HTTPS with Google Chrome

Using HTTPS with Mozilla Firefox

HTTPS with IE (Internet Explorer)

Perl Scripts Communicating with HTTPS Servers

PHP Scripts Communicating with HTTPS Servers

Java Programs Communicating with HTTPS Servers