OpenSSL PKCS#11 Integration

OpenSSL is a versatile open-source cryptography library that provides a set of tools and libraries for secure communications and digital signatures. Configure OpenSSL to use centralized keys in Signum through the PKCS#11 module.

Prerequisites

• Signum Linux Agent or macOS Agent installed.

• Homebrew installed (for macOS)

• OpenSSL

Configure OpenSSL for Linux

This configuration adds Signum as a PKCS#11 interface to OpenSSL, allowing for crypto operations with keys stored provided by Signum.

1. Install the OpenSSL PKCS#11 module:
   For Debian-based distributions:

   sudo apt-get install libengine-pkcs11-openssl
   

For RHEL-based distributions:

sudo dnf install openssl-pkcs11  

2. Make sure the keyfactor.module file is available at /usr/share/p11-kit/modules/keyfactor.module, with the following content:

   module:/usr/lib/libkeyfactorpkcs11.so
   

If the file is missing, use the following command to create the file:

echo "module:/usr/lib/libkeyfactorpkcs11.so" > /usr/share/p11-kit/modules/keyfactor.module

3. Open your OpenSSL config file by default in: /usr/lib/ssl/openssl.cnf

4. Edit the file by adding the following entries:

[openssl_init]
engines=engine_section

[engine_section]
pkcs11 = pkcs11_section

[pkcs11_section]
engine_id = pkcs11
MODULE_PATH = /usr/lib/libkeyfactorpkcs11.so
init = 0

Configure OpenSSL for macOS

1. Install OpenSSL and the necessary packages for using PKCS#11:

   brew install gnutls libp11 opensc openssl p11-kit
   

2. To ensure you are always using Homebrew OpenSS and not LibreSSL (default on mac), add the following path to your .zshrc or .bashrc file:

   export PATH="/opt/homebrew/bin:/opt/homebrew/sbin:$PATH"
   

3. Since the package libengine-pkcs11-openssl is not available on Brew, download and compile the package locally:

   git clone https://github.com/OpenSC/libp11.git 
   cd libp11
   ./bootstrap
   ./configure --with-openssl=$(brew --prefix openssl@3)
   make
   sudo make install
   

4. Copy the file keyfactor.module, found at /etc/keyfactor/keyfactor.module after installation, to the pkcs11/modules folder:

   ln /etc/keyfactor/keyfactor.module /opt/homebrew/etc/pkcs11/modules
   #Verify it's being loaded by running the following command after configurlng the signum agent. The module keyfactor should appear.
   p11-kit list-modules
   

Modify openssl.cnf to configure the PKCS#11 module.

5. Use the following command to find the OpenSSL config file (openssl.cnf), with an output similar to /opt/homebrew/etc/openssl@3:

   openssl version -d  
   OPENSSLDIR: "/opt/homebrew/etc/openssl@3"
   

6. Edit the file by adding the following entries:

   [openssl_init]
   engines=engine_section
   
   [engine_section]
   pkcs11 = pkcs11_section
   
   [pkcs11_section]
   engine_id = pkcs11
   MODULE_PATH = /Library/Keyfactor/Signum/lib/libsignumpkcs11.so
   init = 0
   

This configuration adds Signum as a PKCS#11 interface to OpenSSL, allowing for crypto operations with keys stored provided by Signum.

Signing Examples