Encrypt, the hard way

TL;DR

Some notes to do encryption the hard way.

When I need to encrypt a file, I usually reach for my GnuPG client and just use it. It’s simple and straightforward.

Some time ago I discovered that you can do the same with OpenSSL, using OpenSSH keys. This was at the same time a well, makes sense and a mindblowing experience.

It makes sense because OpenSSL has a lot of code and utilities to deal with encryption and symmetric and asymmetric stuff, so no big deal. Additionally, OpenSSH keys are… keys, so why not use them as such?

On the other hand it was mindblowing, because there is this amazing astral connection where pieces from separate projects can concur to create an amazing MacGyver-ish encryption solution, in lack of a GnuPG installation.

It is explained in this blog post: Encrypt and decrypt a file using SSH keys by Bjørn Johansen. In a nutshell:

# Encryption: asymmetric encryption works fine for small payloads, so
# we encrypt our real payload with a key derived from some random data
# using a symmetric algorithm, then encrypt the random data with the
# asymmetric algorithm. This is how it happens in the real world,
# usually

# Let's start from a payload we want to protect
$ printf >original-plaintext.txt 'Hello, secret world!\n'

# Generate 32 bytes of random data to use for key derivation
$ openssl rand -out random-key-stuff.bin 32

# Use the random data to encrypt the payload
$ openssl aes-256-cbc -pass file:random-key-stuff.bin \
    -in original-playtext.txt -out cyphertext.bin

# Now the 32-bytes random data file is our weak link, let's encrypt
# it too, with asymmetric encryption
$ openssl rsautl -encrypt -oaep -pubin \
    -inkey <(ssh-keygen -e -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub -m PKCS8) \
    -in random-key-stuff.bin -out random-key-stuff.enc

At this point, we’re left with two interesting files:

cyphertext.bin, our payload encrypted with a symmetric algorithm, and
random-key-stuff.enc, the key to decrypt the cyphertext.bin file, but protected with asymmetric encryption based on our RSA SSH key.

These two files can be transmitted safely, if your threat model makes you trust these algorithms! On the receiving side:

# Decryption: let's just go in reverse

# Get the symmetric encryption key back first, using the private
# SSH RSA key
$ openssl rsautl -decrypt -oaep -inkey ~/.ssh/id_rsa \
    -in random-key-stuff.enc -out random-key-stuff.dec

# Now we can use it to decrypt the cyphertext
$ openssl aes-256-cbc -d -pass file:randon-key-stuff.dec \
    -in cyphertext.bin -out reconstructed-plaintext.txt

# We should be there...
$ cat reconstructed-plaintext.txt
Hello, secret world!

So it can work!.

We’ll talk about one big BUT… in a future post, for this moment let’s rejoy and… stay safe!

ETOOBUSY 🚀 minimal blogging for the impatient