876352 - certutil: (a) Warn if importing PEM file with private key (b) fail if user attempts to import cert with requested "u" trust

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(NSS :: Tools, defect)

Description

[Kai Engert [:KaiE:]]

certutil currently cannot import private keys from a PEM file, it silently skips over private keys.

We could improve usability by using two minor changes, which shouldn't cause any side effects:

(a) If a user attempts to import a certificate in the ASCII format,
    search if the file contains the phrase "PRIVATE KEY".
    If it does, print a warning message
      "certutil cannot import private keys in this format, please use pk12util"
    but proceed as usual (import cert, skip key).

(b) If a user explicitly requests to set the certificate to include "u" for
    any usage, then FAIL with an error like:
      "Usage u requires a private key, use pk12util to import a certificate with a private key."

Comment 1

[Kai Engert [:KaiE:]]

I'm adjusting my (b) suggestion.

Even in that scenario, I want to print a warning only, to change the existing behaviour as little as possible.

Comment 2

[Kai Engert [:KaiE:]]

Attachment: Patch v1

This patch is slightly larger than expected, because we're operating on a file handle, which could be standard input, so we cannot read the file twice. This means, we must adjust the function that processes the input stream.

Luckily that function is in the tool code, so the function can easily be changed, without breaking any API/ABI promises of the core NSS library.

Comment 3

[Kai Engert [:KaiE:]]

Output with this change:

$ certutil -A -d /tmp/bla/ -n test -a -i test.cert -t u,u,u
Warning: ignoring private key. Consider to use pk12util.
Notice: Trust flag u is set automatically if the private key is present.

Comment 4

[Kai Engert [:KaiE:]]

Attachment: Patch v2

Comment 5

[Robert Relyea]

Comment on attachment 754376 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch v2

r+ Of the changes, the warning on trying to set the 'u' bits are probably the most useful.

bob

Comment 6

[Kai Engert [:KaiE:]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/projects/nss/rev/edcb5af30559