evp (7)

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NAME

evp - high-level cryptographic functions

SYNOPSIS

 #include <openssl/evp.h>

DESCRIPTION

The library provides a high-level interface to cryptographic functions.

EVP_Seal... and EVP_Open... provide public key encryption and decryption to implement digital ``envelopes''.

The EVP_DigestSign... and EVP_DigestVerify... functions implement digital signatures and Message Authentication Codes (MACs). Also see the older EVP_Sign... and EVP_Verify... functions.

Symmetric encryption is available with the EVP_Encrypt... functions. The EVP_Digest... functions provide message digests.

The

... functions provide a high level interface to asymmetric algorithms. To create a new see EVP_PKEY_new(3). EVP_PKEYs can be associated with a private key of a particular algorithm by using the functions described on the EVP_PKEY_set1_RSA(3) page, or new keys can be generated using EVP_PKEY_keygen(3). EVP_PKEYs can be compared using EVP_PKEY_cmp(3), or printed using EVP_PKEY_print_private(3).

The

functions support the full range of asymmetric algorithm operations:

For key agreement see EVP_PKEY_derive(3)

For signing and verifying see EVP_PKEY_sign(3), EVP_PKEY_verify(3) and EVP_PKEY_verify_recover(3). However, note that these functions do not perform a digest of the data to be signed. Therefore normally you would use the EVP_DigestSignInit(3) functions for this purpose.

For encryption and decryption see EVP_PKEY_encrypt(3) and EVP_PKEY_decrypt(3) respectively. However, note that these functions perform encryption and decryption only. As public key encryption is an expensive operation, normally you would wrap an encrypted message in a digital envelope using the EVP_SealInit(3) and EVP_OpenInit(3) functions.

The EVP_BytesToKey(3) function provides some limited support for password based encryption. Careful selection of the parameters will provide a PKCS#5

compatible implementation. However, new applications should not typically use this (preferring, for example, from PCKS#5).

The EVP_Encode... and EVP_Decode... functions implement base 64 encoding and decoding.

All the symmetric algorithms (ciphers), digests and asymmetric algorithms (public key algorithms) can be replaced by engine(3) modules providing alternative implementations. If

implementations of ciphers or digests are registered as defaults, then the various functions will automatically use those implementations automatically in preference to built in software implementations. For more information, consult the engine(3) man page.

Although low level algorithm specific functions exist for many algorithms their use is discouraged. They cannot be used with an

and versions of new algorithms cannot be accessed using the low level functions. Also makes code harder to adapt to new algorithms and some options are not cleanly supported at the low level and some operations are more efficient using the high level interface.

SEE ALSO

EVP_DigestInit(3), EVP_EncryptInit(3), EVP_OpenInit(3), EVP_SealInit(3), EVP_DigestSignInit(3), EVP_SignInit(3), EVP_VerifyInit(3), EVP_EncodeInit(3), EVP_PKEY_new(3), EVP_PKEY_set1_RSA(3), EVP_PKEY_keygen(3), EVP_PKEY_print_private(3), EVP_PKEY_decrypt(3), EVP_PKEY_encrypt(3), EVP_PKEY_sign(3), EVP_PKEY_verify(3), EVP_PKEY_verify_recover(3), EVP_PKEY_derive(3), EVP_BytesToKey(3), engine(3)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2000-2016 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the OpenSSL license (the ``License''). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file

in the source distribution or at <www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.