VB.NET

Working with PEM Encrypted Private Keys

See more PEM Examples

Demonstrates how to load and save PEM encrypted private keys. VB.NET

Dim success As Boolean = False

' This example assumes the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
' See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

success = False

Dim pem As New Chilkat.Pem

Dim pemPassword As String = "secret"

' To load a PEM file containing encrypted private keys, simply
' provide the password.
success = pem.LoadPemFile("/Users/chilkat/testData/pem/pemContainingEncryptedPrivateKeys.pem",pemPassword)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pem.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


Dim fac As New Chilkat.FileAccess
Dim pemText As String = fac.ReadEntireTextFile("/Users/chilkat/testData/pem/pemContainingEncryptedPrivateKeys.pem",pemPassword)

' To load a PEM from a string, call LoadPem instead of LoadPemFile:
success = pem.LoadPem(pemText)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pem.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


' A few notes:
' The PEM may contain both private keys and certificates (or anything else).
' The password is utilized for whatever content in the PEM is encrypted.  
' It is OK to have both encrypted and non-encrypted content within a given PEM.

' PEM private keys can be encrypted in different formats.  The LoadPem and LoadPemFile
' methods automatically handle the different formats.
' One format is PKCS8 and is indicated by this delimiter within the PEM:

' -----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----
' MIICoTAbBgkqhkiG9w0BBQMwDgQIfdD0zv24lgkCAggABIICgE0PdHJmRbNs6cBX
' ...

' Another format, we'll call "passphrase" looks like this in the PEM:
' -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
' Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED
' DEK-Info: DES-EDE3-CBC,A4215544D11C5D0C
' 
' paqy9XRexcSjurHfG0xhCaUD0HrvIdhuC0CbRxxxeMlkLaV6+uT80rBxt2AaibWG
' ...

' Show the bit length of each private key:
Dim i As Integer
Dim numPrivateKeys As Integer = pem.NumPrivateKeys
If (numPrivateKeys = 0) Then
    Debug.WriteLine((("Error: Expected the PEM to contain private keys.")))
    Exit Sub
End If

Dim privKey As New Chilkat.PrivateKey
For i = 1 To numPrivateKeys
    pem.PrivateKeyAt(i - 1,privKey)
    Debug.WriteLine(i & ": " & privKey.BitLength & " bits")
Next