Sponsored Content
Full Discussion: OpenSSL
Special Forums Cybersecurity OpenSSL Post 302955621 by Ultrix on Saturday 19th of September 2015 03:10:15 PM
Old 09-19-2015
OpenSSL

I just started playing around with Unix's OpenSSL utility. I can't seem to get the hang of it, and the man page isn't helping much. I wanted to experiment with file encryption, so I created a dummy text file with one line of text and tried to encrypt it using DES. I used the following command:

Code:
openssl des -in Encrypt.txt -out Encrypted.txt

As expected, this produced an encrypted file whose contents were illegible. Then I tried to decrypt the file. I figured since most of these encryption algorithms are based on XORing the key with the message, I would be able to apply the same command to get the original plaintext. So I used a variation of the same command.

Code:
openssl des -in Encrypted.txt -out Decrypted.txt

I opened the file Decrypted.txt and found that it was still illegible. I hadn't gotten the original plaintext back. "Okay," I thought, "I guess I don't know much about how to use DES, since it's a block cypher. Maybe I'll try a stream cypher, since I'm more familiar with how they work, and I know for a fact that for a stream cypher, encryption and decryption use the same algorithm."

I used the following commands:

Code:
openssl rc4 -in Encrypt.txt -out Encrypted.txt
openssl rc4 -in Encrypted.txt -out Decrypted.txt

Still doesn't work.

Then I noticed something strange when looking at the files. The encryption algorithm had added a human-readable prefix to the encrypted file, reading "Salted__". So it looks like what happened was the encryption algorithm added that prefix, when meant that when the same algorithm was applied again, it had a different starting point, so when it started decrypting the original message, after XORing the first eight bytes of the key with the prefix, it would be XORing a completely different part of the key with the same characters, resulting in a gibberish result.

So my question is, what is the proper way to encrypt and decrypt files using OpenSSL? Can anyone point me to any good tutorials? Because, as I said, the man page isn't providing much help.
 

8 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

openssl help

I ungraded my openssl on sun solaris 8 from openssl 0.9.6c to openssl 0.9.6g the ungrade went fine but when I tried to ssh in to server, I received the following error message "ld.so.1: ./sshd: fatal: relocation error: file /usr/local/ssl/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.6: symbol main: referenced symbol... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: hassan2
2 Replies

2. Solaris

ERROR OpenSSL

ERROR OpenSSL version mismatch. Built against 908070, you have 9080bf^M 2009.11.20 15:23:25 ERROR Connection closed^M i am new in solaris,i not have great know in this operative system Help me how i can fixed this, in the machine has installed Solaris Machine hardware: ... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: saurio
1 Replies

3. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Using openssl

All, I am new to openssl and I have not been able to figure out exactly how to use it. What I need to do is to create a shell script which FTPS's (SFTP is not allowed on my project) a file to a mainframe. The mainframe will not initiate a session with my server. Question. Are the packages... (7 Replies)
Discussion started by: MichaelInDC
7 Replies

4. Solaris

Openssl 0.9.8r

Hi Peeps, Having trouble compiling openssl 0.9.8r on Solaris 10 x86. The make test fails when running the shatests (segmentation faults). There is a PROBLEM file that references a file called values.c. Anyone know whereabouts in the source tree you put this file as the file doesn't tell you... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: callmebob
2 Replies

5. AIX

openssl issue

Gurus, As per audit recommendation i have installed openssl.base 0.9.8.803 and upgraded openssl from 9.7l to 9.8 as prerequisits. But post these installation ssh fails with below error message. exec(): 0509-036 Cannot load program ssh because of the following errors: 0509-150 ... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: newaix
3 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

openSSL command help

I am running a openssl command like this: openssl s_client -showcerts -connect $fqdn:$portand the result is some ridiculous amount of stuff but i only want to cut out part of the certificate chain. How do i do that? (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: shade917
2 Replies

7. Solaris

Version of OpenSSL being used

Hello I'm relatively new to technologies like Apache & ssl but have some years experience with Unix. My question concerns the version of OpenSSL which is genuinely being used on our server & how is that set. The server is running Solaris 10. I'll show output from various commands: ... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: CHoggarth
1 Replies

8. Shell Programming and Scripting

Openssl issue

Hi, I am using openssl as below for encryption of a string ( foo) and I have to pass the password twice for the same. echo 'foo' | openssl aes-256-cbc -a -salt enter aes-256-cbc encryption password: Verifying - enter aes-256-cbc encryption password:... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: 46019
2 Replies
ENC(1)								      OpenSSL								    ENC(1)

NAME
enc - symmetric cipher routines SYNOPSIS
openssl enc -ciphername [-in filename] [-out filename] [-pass arg] [-e] [-d] [-a] [-A] [-k password] [-kfile filename] [-K key] [-iv IV] [-p] [-P] [-bufsize number] [-nopad] [-debug] DESCRIPTION
The symmetric cipher commands allow data to be encrypted or decrypted using various block and stream ciphers using keys based on passwords or explicitly provided. Base64 encoding or decoding can also be performed either by itself or in addition to the encryption or decryption. OPTIONS
-in filename the input filename, standard input by default. -out filename the output filename, standard output by default. -pass arg the password source. For more information about the format of arg see the PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS section in openssl(1). -salt use a salt in the key derivation routines. This is the default. -nosalt don't use a salt in the key derivation routines. This option SHOULD NOT be used except for test purposes or compatibility with ancient versions of OpenSSL and SSLeay. -e encrypt the input data: this is the default. -d decrypt the input data. -a base64 process the data. This means that if encryption is taking place the data is base64 encoded after encryption. If decryption is set then the input data is base64 decoded before being decrypted. -A if the -a option is set then base64 process the data on one line. -k password the password to derive the key from. This is for compatibility with previous versions of OpenSSL. Superseded by the -pass argument. -kfile filename read the password to derive the key from the first line of filename. This is for compatibility with previous versions of OpenSSL. Superseded by the -pass argument. -S salt the actual salt to use: this must be represented as a string comprised only of hex digits. -K key the actual key to use: this must be represented as a string comprised only of hex digits. If only the key is specified, the IV must additionally specified using the -iv option. When both a key and a password are specified, the key given with the -K option will be used and the IV generated from the password will be taken. It probably does not make much sense to specify both key and password. -iv IV the actual IV to use: this must be represented as a string comprised only of hex digits. When only the key is specified using the -K option, the IV must explicitly be defined. When a password is being specified using one of the other options, the IV is generated from this password. -p print out the key and IV used. -P print out the key and IV used then immediately exit: don't do any encryption or decryption. -bufsize number set the buffer size for I/O -nopad disable standard block padding -debug debug the BIOs used for I/O. NOTES
The program can be called either as openssl ciphername or openssl enc -ciphername. A password will be prompted for to derive the key and IV if necessary. The -salt option should ALWAYS be used if the key is being derived from a password unless you want compatibility with previous versions of OpenSSL and SSLeay. Without the -salt option it is possible to perform efficient dictionary attacks on the password and to attack stream cipher encrypted data. The reason for this is that without the salt the same password always generates the same encryption key. When the salt is being used the first eight bytes of the encrypted data are reserved for the salt: it is generated at random when encrypting a file and read from the encrypted file when it is decrypted. Some of the ciphers do not have large keys and others have security implications if not used correctly. A beginner is advised to just use a strong block cipher in CBC mode such as bf or des3. All the block ciphers normally use PKCS#5 padding also known as standard block padding: this allows a rudimentary integrity or password check to be performed. However since the chance of random data passing the test is better than 1 in 256 it isn't a very good test. If padding is disabled then the input data must be a multiple of the cipher block length. All RC2 ciphers have the same key and effective key length. Blowfish and RC5 algorithms use a 128 bit key. SUPPORTED CIPHERS
base64 Base 64 bf-cbc Blowfish in CBC mode bf Alias for bf-cbc bf-cfb Blowfish in CFB mode bf-ecb Blowfish in ECB mode bf-ofb Blowfish in OFB mode cast-cbc CAST in CBC mode cast Alias for cast-cbc cast5-cbc CAST5 in CBC mode cast5-cfb CAST5 in CFB mode cast5-ecb CAST5 in ECB mode cast5-ofb CAST5 in OFB mode des-cbc DES in CBC mode des Alias for des-cbc des-cfb DES in CBC mode des-ofb DES in OFB mode des-ecb DES in ECB mode des-ede-cbc Two key triple DES EDE in CBC mode des-ede Two key triple DES EDE in ECB mode des-ede-cfb Two key triple DES EDE in CFB mode des-ede-ofb Two key triple DES EDE in OFB mode des-ede3-cbc Three key triple DES EDE in CBC mode des-ede3 Three key triple DES EDE in ECB mode des3 Alias for des-ede3-cbc des-ede3-cfb Three key triple DES EDE CFB mode des-ede3-ofb Three key triple DES EDE in OFB mode desx DESX algorithm. idea-cbc IDEA algorithm in CBC mode idea same as idea-cbc idea-cfb IDEA in CFB mode idea-ecb IDEA in ECB mode idea-ofb IDEA in OFB mode rc2-cbc 128 bit RC2 in CBC mode rc2 Alias for rc2-cbc rc2-cfb 128 bit RC2 in CFB mode rc2-ecb 128 bit RC2 in ECB mode rc2-ofb 128 bit RC2 in OFB mode rc2-64-cbc 64 bit RC2 in CBC mode rc2-40-cbc 40 bit RC2 in CBC mode rc4 128 bit RC4 rc4-64 64 bit RC4 rc4-40 40 bit RC4 rc5-cbc RC5 cipher in CBC mode rc5 Alias for rc5-cbc rc5-cfb RC5 cipher in CFB mode rc5-ecb RC5 cipher in ECB mode rc5-ofb RC5 cipher in OFB mode aes-[128|192|256]-cbc 128/192/256 bit AES in CBC mode aes-[128|192|256] Alias for aes-[128|192|256]-cbc aes-[128|192|256]-cfb 128/192/256 bit AES in 128 bit CFB mode aes-[128|192|256]-cfb1 128/192/256 bit AES in 1 bit CFB mode aes-[128|192|256]-cfb8 128/192/256 bit AES in 8 bit CFB mode aes-[128|192|256]-ecb 128/192/256 bit AES in ECB mode aes-[128|192|256]-ofb 128/192/256 bit AES in OFB mode EXAMPLES
Just base64 encode a binary file: openssl base64 -in file.bin -out file.b64 Decode the same file openssl base64 -d -in file.b64 -out file.bin Encrypt a file using triple DES in CBC mode using a prompted password: openssl des3 -salt -in file.txt -out file.des3 Decrypt a file using a supplied password: openssl des3 -d -salt -in file.des3 -out file.txt -k mypassword Encrypt a file then base64 encode it (so it can be sent via mail for example) using Blowfish in CBC mode: openssl bf -a -salt -in file.txt -out file.bf Base64 decode a file then decrypt it: openssl bf -d -salt -a -in file.bf -out file.txt Decrypt some data using a supplied 40 bit RC4 key: openssl rc4-40 -in file.rc4 -out file.txt -K 0102030405 BUGS
The -A option when used with large files doesn't work properly. There should be an option to allow an iteration count to be included. The enc program only supports a fixed number of algorithms with certain parameters. So if, for example, you want to use RC2 with a 76 bit key or RC4 with an 84 bit key you can't use this program. 50 2013-03-05 ENC(1)
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:04 PM.
Unix & Linux Forums Content Copyright 1993-2022. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy