Pypkcs11

Overview

Pypkcs11 is an open-source Python wrapper around PKCS#11 C library. Using python’s ctypes library, we can simplify memory management, and provide easy, pythonic access to a PKCS11 shared library.

The primary function of pypkcs11 is to simplify PKCS11 calls. Rather than needing to calculate data sizes, buffers, or other low-level memory manipulation, you simply need to pass in data.

It’s highly recommended that you have the PKCS11 documentation handy, as pypkcs11 uses that as the underlying C interface. Session management, object management, and other concepts are unchanged from PKCS11.

from pypkcs11.default_templates import *
from pypkcs11.defines import *
from pypkcs11.key_generator import *
from pypkcs11.session_management import *


c_initialize()
 # NOTE: Return value checks are omitted for brevity
ret, auth_session = c_open_session(0)   # slot # in this example is 0
login(auth_session, 0, 'userpin')  # 0 is still the slot number, ‘userpin’ should be replaced by your password (None if PED or no challenge)

# Get some default templates
# They are simple python dictionaries, and can be modified to suit needs.
ret, pub_template, priv_template = get_default_key_pair_template(CKM_RSA_PKCS_KEY_PAIR_GEN)

# Modifying template would look like:
pub_template[CKA_LABEL] = b"RSA PKCS Pub Key"
pub_template[CKA_MODULUS_BITS] = 2048   # 2048 key size

ret, pubkey, privkey = c_generate_key_pair(auth_session, CKM_RSA_PKCS_KEY_PAIR_GEN, pub_template, priv_template)
print("Generated Private key at %s and Public key at %s" % (privkey, pubkey))

c_logout(auth_session)
c_close_session(auth_session)
c_finalize()