=pod =head1 NAME ec - EC key processing =head1 SYNOPSIS B<openssl> B<ec> [B<-inform PEM|DER>] [B<-outform PEM|DER>] [B<-in filename>] [B<-passin arg>] [B<-out filename>] [B<-passout arg>] [B<-des>] [B<-des3>] [B<-idea>] [B<-text>] [B<-noout>] [B<-param_out>] [B<-pubin>] [B<-pubout>] [B<-conv_form arg>] [B<-param_enc arg>] [B<-engine id>] =head1 DESCRIPTION The B<ec> command processes EC keys. They can be converted between various forms and their components printed out. B<Note> OpenSSL uses the private key format specified in 'SEC 1: Elliptic Curve Cryptography' (http://www.secg.org/). To convert a OpenSSL EC private key into the PKCS#8 private key format use the B<pkcs8> command. =head1 COMMAND OPTIONS =over 4 =item B<-inform DER|PEM> This specifies the input format. The B<DER> option with a private key uses an ASN.1 DER encoded SEC1 private key. When used with a public key it uses the SubjectPublicKeyInfo structur as specified in RFC 3280. The B<PEM> form is the default format: it consists of the B<DER> format base64 encoded with additional header and footer lines. In the case of a private key PKCS#8 format is also accepted. =item B<-outform DER|PEM> This specifies the output format, the options have the same meaning as the B<-inform> option. =item B<-in filename> This specifies the input filename to read a key from or standard input if this option is not specified. If the key is encrypted a pass phrase will be prompted for. =item B<-passin arg> the input file password source. For more information about the format of B<arg> see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>. =item B<-out filename> This specifies the output filename to write a key to or standard output by is not specified. If any encryption options are set then a pass phrase will be prompted for. The output filename should B<not> be the same as the input filename. =item B<-passout arg> the output file password source. For more information about the format of B<arg> see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>. =item B<-des|-des3|-idea> These options encrypt the private key with the DES, triple DES, IDEA or any other cipher supported by OpenSSL before outputting it. A pass phrase is prompted for. If none of these options is specified the key is written in plain text. This means that using the B<ec> utility to read in an encrypted key with no encryption option can be used to remove the pass phrase from a key, or by setting the encryption options it can be use to add or change the pass phrase. These options can only be used with PEM format output files. =item B<-text> prints out the public, private key components and parameters. =item B<-noout> this option prevents output of the encoded version of the key. =item B<-modulus> this option prints out the value of the public key component of the key. =item B<-pubin> by default a private key is read from the input file: with this option a public key is read instead. =item B<-pubout> by default a private key is output. With this option a public key will be output instead. This option is automatically set if the input is a public key. =item B<-conv_form> This specifies how the points on the elliptic curve are converted into octet strings. Possible values are: B<compressed> (the default value), B<uncompressed> and B<hybrid>. For more information regarding the point conversion forms please read the X9.62 standard. B<Note> Due to patent issues the B<compressed> option is disabled by default for binary curves and can be enabled by defining the preprocessor macro B<OPENSSL_EC_BIN_PT_COMP> at compile time. =item B<-param_enc arg> This specifies how the elliptic curve parameters are encoded. Possible value are: B<named_curve>, i.e. the ec parameters are specified by a OID, or B<explicit> where the ec parameters are explicitly given (see RFC 3279 for the definition of the EC parameters structures). The default value is B<named_curve>. B<Note> the B<implicitlyCA> alternative ,as specified in RFC 3279, is currently not implemented in OpenSSL. =item B<-engine id> specifying an engine (by it's unique B<id> string) will cause B<req> to attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified engine, thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set as the default for all available algorithms. =back =head1 NOTES The PEM private key format uses the header and footer lines: -----BEGIN EC PRIVATE KEY----- -----END EC PRIVATE KEY----- The PEM public key format uses the header and footer lines: -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY----- -----END PUBLIC KEY----- =head1 EXAMPLES To encrypt a private key using triple DES: openssl ec -in key.pem -des3 -out keyout.pem To convert a private key from PEM to DER format: openssl ec -in key.pem -outform DER -out keyout.der To print out the components of a private key to standard output: openssl ec -in key.pem -text -noout To just output the public part of a private key: openssl ec -in key.pem -pubout -out pubkey.pem To change the parameters encoding to B<explicit>: openssl ec -in key.pem -param_enc explicit -out keyout.pem To change the point conversion form to B<compressed>: openssl ec -in key.pem -conv_form compressed -out keyout.pem =head1 SEE ALSO L<ecparam(1)|ecparam(1)>, L<dsa(1)|dsa(1)>, L<rsa(1)|rsa(1)> =head1 HISTORY The ec command was first introduced in OpenSSL 0.9.8. =head1 AUTHOR Nils Larsch for the OpenSSL project (http://www.openssl.org). =cut