Databases
StackOverflow2013
Postsdbo
POWhy are these Botan public keys so similar?
 

Note that there are some explanatory texts on larger screens.

plurals
  1. POWhy are these Botan public keys so similar?
    primarykey
    data
    text
    <p>I am using Botan to create public/private ECDSA keypairs. The public keys that are generated (even on different machines using this code) are very similar... too similar to consider safe I would think. Here is an example of two runs:</p> <pre><code>-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY----- MIIBEzCB7AYHKoZIzj0CATCB4AIBATAsBgcqhkjOPQEBAiEA//////////////// /////////////////////v///C8wRAQgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAEIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHBEEEeb5m fvncu6xVoGKVzocLBwKb/NstzijZWfKBWxb4F5hIOtp3JqPEZV2k+/wOEQio/Re0 SKaFVBmcR9CP+xDUuAIhAP////////////////////66rtzmr0igO7/SXozQNkFB AgEBAyIAAneDBKm4ubKbv0hxgzhkh0oAI8WKFTs1Hz/Qqyl6qxzD -----END PUBLIC KEY----- -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY----- MIIBEzCB7AYHKoZIzj0CATCB4AIBATAsBgcqhkjOPQEBAiEA//////////////// /////////////////////v///C8wRAQgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAEIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHBEEEeb5m fvncu6xVoGKVzocLBwKb/NstzijZWfKBWxb4F5hIOtp3JqPEZV2k+/wOEQio/Re0 SKaFVBmcR9CP+xDUuAIhAP////////////////////66rtzmr0igO7/SXozQNkFB AgEBAyIAAtQr5BPT04pk/Ror6uIGRqEKeB8dwIteR8p/r+Nl7hql -----END PUBLIC KEY----- </code></pre> <p>I am using X509 encoding to encode the public key. Here's the code to generate the ECDSA keys:</p> <pre><code>LibraryInitializer init; AutoSeeded_RNG rng; EC_Group ecGroup("secp256k1"); ECDSA_PrivateKey key(rng, ecGroup); </code></pre> <p>Why am I generating such similar public keys? And am I right in assuming that isn't "safe" if multiple users were to use this code to generate their own keys?</p> <hr> <p>UPDATE: The answer below seems correct. I emailed the creator of XCA, Christian Hohnstaedt, to probe a little further into how XCA generates this public key and what it is. He replied that it is the EC_POINT and is obtained by using the command </p> <pre><code>openssl ec -pubin -noout -text </code></pre> <p>Plugging in the X509 PEM encoded public keys indeed reveals different public EC Points. It should be noted (for other newbs like me) that the public EC Points in the answer do no good for another party on their own - the other party needs to know which EC Group is being used, and that's why the X509 PEM encoding is much more helpful than just an EC Point.</p>
    singulars
    1. PO
      singulars
      1. PTAnswer
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. PTQuestion
    1. USMichael
    1. USsorrell
    plurals
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. PO
      singulars
      1. PTAnswer
    1. VO
      singulars
      1. POWhy are these Botan public keys so similar?
      1. This table or related slice is empty.
      1. VTUpMod
    2. VO
      singulars
      1. POWhy are these Botan public keys so similar?
      1. This table or related slice is empty.
      1. VTUpMod
    3. VO
      singulars
      1. POWhy are these Botan public keys so similar?
      1. This table or related slice is empty.
      1. VTUpMod
    1. COI removed the C++ tag since this isn't a C++ question.
      singulars
      1. POWhy are these Botan public keys so similar?
      1. USMark B
    2. COI suspect most of the key consists of the group description. They differ in 44 characters, which matches a Base64 encoded 256 bit private key.
      singulars
      1. POWhy are these Botan public keys so similar?
      1. USCodesInChaos
    3. COIf most of the key is the group description, does this make it more likely to end up with two users with identical keys? Does this make the public key space of EC keys smaller than an RSA key space since EC needs a group and RSA just needs factors?
      singulars
      1. POWhy are these Botan public keys so similar?
      1. USsorrell
 

Querying!

 
Guidance
A row detail

Detail views are divided into sections. All the information in the data section comes from columns in the selected row. The other sections display data from other, related rows.

Related data can be related in a to-one or a to-many fashion. Captions of data related in a to-many fashion link to a list view showing a filtered view of the table.

Try moving around until you find a non-empty to-many entry and click on the label to get to one. You can move back to the root by clicking on the database name in the header.

SQuiL has stopped working due to an internal error.

If you are curious you may find further information in the browser console, which is accessible through the devtools (F12).

Reload