Important Notice: Our web hosting provider recently started charging us for additional visits, which was unexpected. In response, we're seeking donations. Depending on the situation, we may explore different monetization options for our Community and Expert Contributors. It's crucial to provide more returns for their expertise and offer more Expert Validated Answers or AI Validated Answers. Learn more about our hosting issue here.

How is private key handled when an external PKCS #11 module is loaded? Is it picked up from the token when securing, or does NSS expect it to be added in its private key database to use it?

April 26, 2017external handled key loaded module PKCS private token

0

Posted

How is private key handled when an external PKCS #11 module is loaded? Is it picked up from the token when securing, or does NSS expect it to be added in its private key database to use it?

1 Answer

0

Posted

While certificates may be read into the temporary database, private keys are never extracted from the PKCS #11 module unless the user is trying to back up the key. NSS represents each private key and a pointer to its PKCS #11 slot as a CK_OBJECT_HANDLE. When NSS needs to do anything with a private key, it calls the PCKS #11 module that holds the key.