SSL Public key/Private question


 
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# 1  
Old 06-03-2009
SSL Public key/Private question

Hi everyone,
I have a quick/newb question:

I know that a public key is used to encrypt data and a private key is used to decrypt data but who keeps the public/private keys??

Does the Web Server hold both?
Does the Web Server have the public key and does the client have the private key?
Does the Client have both?

When I create a key using the openssl command (e.g. openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 4096) is that the private or public key??

Please help, thanks.
# 2  
Old 06-03-2009
I assume you are referring to the general case as in HTTPS. It has been quite many years since I studied public key cryptography, let's hope I did not make anything wrong here.

The web server must have the private key. The key file itself must be physically stored on the server, or but you may set it up encrypted by a passphrase so that Apache asks you for the passphrase every time it starts, or else you do so without encrypting the key file (insecure).

I don't think the HTTPS client needs private key.

The openssl command you mentioned simply generates a key. Normally a private key, but that alone is not quite useful because keys normally go in pairs and cryptographically you should not be able to easily compute the other key in the pair with one key alone. Therefore, you will normally generate both at the same time rather than generate a single key (as with "openssl req").
# 3  
Old 06-04-2009
Thanks for the reply.

So your saying that the certificate is actually the public key?
# 4  
Old 06-04-2009
start by generating a private key
Code:
openssl genrsa -out x.key 1024

Then use that private key to generate your request to the CA.
Code:
openssl req -new -key x.key -out request.pem

then you send the request.pem to the CA.
they will return a signed certificate.

the x.key file is both the Public key and the Private key.
the signed cert is just the public key with a signed blob of crypto stuff.

Last edited by robsonde; 06-04-2009 at 02:01 AM..
 
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