Using openssl to encrypt and decrypt a message with public/private key.

main.cpp

using namespace std;

#include <openssl/evp.h>
#include <openssl/pem.h>

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main()
{

    // create private/public key pair
    // init RSA context, so we can generate a key pair
    EVP_PKEY_CTX *keyCtx = EVP_PKEY_CTX_new_id(EVP_PKEY_RSA, NULL);
    EVP_PKEY_keygen_init(keyCtx);
    EVP_PKEY_CTX_set_rsa_keygen_bits(keyCtx, 4096); // RSA 4096
    // variable that will hold both private and public keys
    EVP_PKEY *key = NULL;
    // generate key
    EVP_PKEY_keygen(keyCtx, &key);
    // free up key context
    EVP_PKEY_CTX_free(keyCtx);
 
    
    // extract private key as string
    // create a place to dump the IO, in this case in memory
    BIO *privateBIO = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem());
    // dump key to IO
    PEM_write_bio_PrivateKey(privateBIO, key, NULL, NULL, 0, 0, NULL);
    // get buffer length
    int privateKeyLen = BIO_pending(privateBIO);
    // create char reference of private key length
    unsigned char *privateKeyChar = (unsigned char *) malloc(privateKeyLen);
    // read the key from the buffer and put it in the char reference
    BIO_read(privateBIO, privateKeyChar, privateKeyLen);
    // at this point we can save the private key somewhere
    
    
    // extract public key as string
    // create a place to dump the IO, in this case in memory
    BIO *publicBIO = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem());
    // dump key to IO
    PEM_write_bio_PUBKEY(publicBIO, key);
    // get buffer length
    int publicKeyLen = BIO_pending(publicBIO);
    // create char reference of public key length
    unsigned char *publicKeyChar = (unsigned char *) malloc(publicKeyLen);
    // read the key from the buffer and put it in the char reference
    BIO_read(publicBIO, publicKeyChar, publicKeyLen);
    // at this point we can save the public somewhere

    
    // pretend we are pulling the public key from some source and using it
    // to encrypt a message
    unsigned char *rsaPublicKeyChar = publicKeyChar;
    // write char array to BIO
    BIO *rsaPublicBIO = BIO_new_mem_buf(rsaPublicKeyChar, -1);
    // create a RSA object from public key char array
    RSA *rsaPublicKey = NULL;
    PEM_read_bio_RSA_PUBKEY(rsaPublicBIO, &rsaPublicKey, NULL, NULL);
    // create public key
    EVP_PKEY *publicKey = EVP_PKEY_new();
    EVP_PKEY_assign_RSA(publicKey, rsaPublicKey);
    // initialize encrypt context
    EVP_CIPHER_CTX *rsaEncryptCtx = (EVP_CIPHER_CTX *) malloc(sizeof(EVP_CIPHER_CTX));
    EVP_CIPHER_CTX_init(rsaEncryptCtx);
    // variables for where the encrypted secret, length, and IV reside
    unsigned char *ek = (unsigned char *) malloc(EVP_PKEY_size(publicKey));
    int ekLen = 0;
    unsigned char *iv = (unsigned char *) malloc(EVP_MAX_IV_LENGTH);
    // generate AES secret, and encrypt it with public key
    EVP_SealInit(rsaEncryptCtx, EVP_aes_256_cbc(), &ek, &ekLen, iv, &publicKey, 1);
    // encrypt a message with AES secret
    string message = "You can include the standard headers in any order, a standard header more than once, or two or more standard headers that define the same macro or the same type. Do not include a standard header within a declaration. Do not define macros that have the same names as keywords before you include a standard header.";
    const unsigned char* messageChar = (const unsigned char*) message.c_str();
    // length of message
    int messageLen = message.size() + 1;
    // create char reference for where the encrypted message will reside
    unsigned char *encryptedMessage = (unsigned char *) malloc(messageLen + EVP_MAX_IV_LENGTH);
    // the length of the encrypted message
    int encryptedMessageLen = 0;
    int encryptedBlockLen = 0;
    // encrypt message with AES secret
    EVP_SealUpdate(rsaEncryptCtx, encryptedMessage, &encryptedBlockLen, messageChar, messageLen);
    encryptedMessageLen = encryptedBlockLen;
    // finalize by encrypting the padding
    EVP_SealFinal(rsaEncryptCtx, encryptedMessage + encryptedBlockLen, &encryptedBlockLen);
    encryptedMessageLen += encryptedBlockLen;
    
    
    // pretend we are decrypting a message we have received using a the private key we have
    unsigned char *rsaPrivateKeyChar = privateKeyChar;
    // write char array to BIO
    BIO *rsaPrivateBIO = BIO_new_mem_buf(rsaPrivateKeyChar, -1);
    // create a RSA object from private key char array
    RSA *rsaPrivateKey = NULL;
    PEM_read_bio_RSAPrivateKey(rsaPrivateBIO, &rsaPrivateKey, NULL, NULL);
    // create private key
    EVP_PKEY *privateKey = EVP_PKEY_new();
    EVP_PKEY_assign_RSA(privateKey, rsaPrivateKey);
    // initialize decrypt context
    EVP_CIPHER_CTX *rsaDecryptCtx = (EVP_CIPHER_CTX *) malloc(sizeof(EVP_CIPHER_CTX));
    EVP_CIPHER_CTX_init(rsaDecryptCtx);
    // decrypt EK with private key, and get AES secretp
    EVP_OpenInit(rsaDecryptCtx, EVP_aes_256_cbc(), ek, ekLen, iv, privateKey);
    // variable for where the decrypted message with be outputed to
    unsigned char *decryptedMessage = (unsigned char *) malloc(encryptedMessageLen + EVP_MAX_IV_LENGTH);
    // the length of the encrypted message
    int decryptedMessageLen = 0;
    int decryptedBlockLen = 0;
    // decrypt message with AES secret
    EVP_OpenUpdate(rsaDecryptCtx, decryptedMessage, &decryptedBlockLen, encryptedMessage, encryptedMessageLen);
    decryptedMessageLen = decryptedBlockLen;
    // finalize by decrypting padding
    EVP_OpenFinal(rsaDecryptCtx, decryptedMessage + decryptedBlockLen, &decryptedBlockLen);
    decryptedMessageLen += decryptedBlockLen;
    
printf("%s\n", encryptedMessage);
printf("\"%s\"\n", decryptedMessage);
    
}

To compile:

g++ -o main main.cpp -lssl -lcrypto

Thanks ,I am searching for this then I got here and learnt from ya...thanks so much ...cheers.

Thank you grejdi.
This is so helpful.
With so many different and mostly wrong instructions around the web, I almost lost hope to learn openssl.
Thank you once again.

Generates this compile error with GCC 12.1:

error: invalid application of 'sizeof' to incomplete type 'EVP_CIPHER_CTX'

on this line:
EVP_CIPHER_CTX *rsaEncryptCtx = (EVP_CIPHER_CTX *) malloc(sizeof(EVP_CIPHER_CTX));

Regards.

On line 65 and 102 you should now use EVP_CIPHER_CTX_new()

For example, EVP_CIPHER_CTX *rsaEncryptCtx = (EVP_CIPHER_CTX *) malloc(sizeof(EVP_CIPHER_CTX)); becomes EVP_CIPHER_CTX* rsaEncryptCtx = EVP_CIPHER_CTX_new();

Visual Studio was also crying with errors 4996 (deprecated stuff), so I also added #pragma warning(disable : 4996). Probably not the best or safest way, but I just wanted to try out the code for learning purposes.