SSL

Decrypting an encrypted private key

Sometimes you have a private key that is encrypted using a pass phrase:

-----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIBvTBXBgkqhkiG9w0BBQ0wSjApBgkqhkiG9w0BBQwwHAQIpZHwLtkYRb4CAggA
MAwGCCqGSIb3DQIJBQAwHQYJYIZIAWUDBAECBBCCGsoP7F4bd8O5I1poTn8PBIIB
...
QwinX0cR9Hx84rSMrFndxZi52o9EOLJ7cithncoW1KOAf7lIJIUzP0oIKkskAndQ
o2UiZsxgoMYuq02T07DOknc=
-----END ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----

To decrypt it, using the passphrase, you can use the openssl CLI, and its rsa module.

• encrypted.key is where the encrypted private key is
• decrypted.key is where to write the decrypted private key
• You will get an interactive prompt to provide the pass phrase.

openssl rsa -in encrypted.key -out decrypted.key
:::
Enter pass phrase for encrypted.key: ****
writing RSA key