How can I decode a SSL certificate using python?

Question

How can I decode a pem-encoded (base64) certificate with Python? For example this here from github.com:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIHKjCCBhKgAwIBAgIQDnd2il0H8OV5WcoqnVCCtTANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQUFADBp MQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzEVMBMGA1UEChMMRGlnaUNlcnQgSW5jMRkwFwYDVQQLExB3 d3cuZGlnaWNlcnQuY29tMSgwJgYDVQQDEx9EaWdpQ2VydCBIaWdoIEFzc3VyYW5j ZSBFViBDQS0xMB4XDTExMDUyNzAwMDAwMFoXDTEzMDcyOTEyMDAwMFowgcoxHTAb BgNVBA8MFFByaXZhdGUgT3JnYW5pemF0aW9uMRMwEQYLKwYBBAGCNzwCAQMTAlVT MRswGQYLKwYBBAGCNzwCAQITCkNhbGlmb3JuaWExETAPBgNVBAUTCEMzMjY4MTAy MQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzETMBEGA1UECBMKQ2FsaWZvcm5pYTEWMBQGA1UEBxMNU2Fu IEZyYW5jaXNjbzEVMBMGA1UEChMMR2l0SHViLCBJbmMuMRMwEQYDVQQDEwpnaXRo dWIuY29tMIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEA7dOJw11wcgnz M08acnTZtlqVULtoYZ/3+x8Z4doEMa8VfBp/+XOvHeVDK1YJAEVpSujEW9/Cd1JR GVvRK9k5ZTagMhkcQXP7MrI9n5jsglsLN2Q5LLcQg3LN8OokS/rZlC7DhRU5qTr2 iNr0J4mmlU+EojdOfCV4OsmDbQIXlXh9R6hVg+4TyBkaszzxX/47AuGF+xFmqwld n0xD8MckXilyKM7UdWhPJHIprjko/N+NT02Dc3QMbxGbp91i3v/i6xfm/wy/wC0x O9ZZovLdh0pIe20zERRNNJ8yOPbIGZ3xtj3FRu9RC4rGM+1IYcQdFxu9fLZn6TnP pVKACvTqzQIDAQABo4IDajCCA2YwHwYDVR0jBBgwFoAUTFjLJfBBT1L0KMiBQ5um qKDmkuUwHQYDVR0OBBYEFIfRjxlu5IdvU4x3kQdQ36O/VUcgMCUGA1UdEQQeMByC CmdpdGh1Yi5jb22CDnd3dy5naXRodWIuY29tMIGBBggrBgEFBQcBAQR1MHMwJAYI KwYBBQUHMAGGGGh0dHA6Ly9vY3NwLmRpZ2ljZXJ0LmNvbTBLBggrBgEFBQcwAoY/ aHR0cDovL3d3dy5kaWdpY2VydC5jb20vQ0FDZXJ0cy9EaWdpQ2VydEhpZ2hBc3N1 cmFuY2VFVkNBLTEuY3J0MAwGA1UdEwEB/wQCMAAwYQYDVR0fBFowWDAqoCigJoYk aHR0cDovL2NybDMuZGlnaWNlcnQuY29tL2V2MjAwOWEuY3JsMCqgKKAmhiRodHRw Oi8vY3JsNC5kaWdpY2VydC5jb20vZXYyMDA5YS5jcmwwggHEBgNVHSAEggG7MIIB tzCCAbMGCWCGSAGG/WwCATCCAaQwOgYIKwYBBQUHAgEWLmh0dHA6Ly93d3cuZGln aWNlcnQuY29tL3NzbC1jcHMtcmVwb3NpdG9yeS5odG0wggFkBggrBgEFBQcCAjCC AVYeggFSAEEAbgB5ACAAdQBzAGUAIABvAGYAIAB0AGgAaQBzACAAQwBlAHIAdABp AGYAaQBjAGEAdABlACAAYwBvAG4AcwB0AGkAdAB1AHQAZQBzACAAYQBjAGMAZQBw AHQAYQBuAGMAZQAgAG8AZgAgAHQAaABlACAARABpAGcAaQBDAGUAcgB0ACAAQwBQ AC8AQwBQAFMAIABhAG4AZAAgAHQAaABlACAAUgBlAGwAeQBpAG4AZwAgAFAAYQBy AHQAeQAgAEEAZwByAGUAZQBtAGUAbgB0ACAAdwBoAGkAYwBoACAAbABpAG0AaQB0 ACAAbABpAGEAYgBpAGwAaQB0AHkAIABhAG4AZAAgAGEAcgBlACAAaQBuAGMAbwBy AHAAbwByAGEAdABlAGQAIABoAGUAcgBlAGkAbgAgAGIAeQAgAHIAZQBmAGUAcgBl AG4AYwBlAC4wHQYDVR0lBBYwFAYIKwYBBQUHAwEGCCsGAQUFBwMCMBEGCWCGSAGG +EIBAQQEAwIGwDAOBgNVHQ8BAf8EBAMCBaAwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEFBQADggEBABRS cR+GnW01Poa7ZhqLhZi5AEzLQrVG/AbnRDnI6FLYERQjs3KW6RSUni8AKPfVBEVA AMb0V0JC3gmJlxENFFxrvQv3GKNfZwLzCThjv8ESnTC6jqVUdFlTZ6EbUFsm2v0T flkXv0nvlH5FpP06STLwav+JjalhqaqblkbIHOAYHOb7gvQKq1KmyuhUItnbKj1a InuA6gcF1PnH8FNZX7t3ft6TcEFOI8t4eXnELurXZioY99HFfOISeIKNHeyCngGi 5QK+eKG5WVjFTG9PpTG0SVtemB4uOPYZxDmiSvt5BbjyWeUmEnCtwOh1Ix8Y0Qvg n2Xkw9dJh1tybLEvrG8= -----END CERTIFICATE----- 

According to ssl-shopper it should be something like this:

Common Name: github.com Subject Alternative Names: github.com, www.github.com Organization: GitHub, Inc. Locality: San Francisco State: California Country: US Valid From: May 26, 2011 Valid To: July 29, 2013 

How can I get this plaintext using python?

Answer 1

Python's standard library, even in the latest version, does not include anything that can decode X.509 certificates. However, the add-on cryptography package does support this. Quoting an example from the documentation:

>>> from cryptography import x509 >>> from cryptography.hazmat.backends import default_backend >>> cert = x509.load_pem_x509_certificate(pem_data, default_backend()) >>> cert.serial_number 2 

Another add-on package that might be an option is pyopenssl. This is a thin wrapper around the OpenSSL C API, which means it will be possible to do what you want, but expect to spend a couple days tearing your hair out at the documentation.

If you can't install Python add-on packages, but you do have the openssl command-line utility,

import subprocess cert_txt = subprocess.check_output(["openssl", "x509", "-text", "-noout",                                      "-in", certificate]) 

should produce roughly the same stuff you got from your web utility in cert_txt.

Incidentally, the reason doing a straight-up base64 decode gives you binary gobbledygook is that there are two layers of encoding here. X.509 certificates are ASN.1 data structures, serialized to X.690 DER format and then, since DER is a binary format, base64-armored for ease of file transfer. (A lot of the standards in this area were written way back in the nineties when you couldn’t reliably ship anything but seven-bit ASCII around.)

Answer 2

You can use pyasn1 and pyasn1-modules packages to parse this kind of data. For instance:

from pyasn1_modules import pem, rfc2459 from pyasn1.codec.der import decoder  substrate = pem.readPemFromFile(open('cert.pem')) cert = decoder.decode(substrate, asn1Spec=rfc2459.Certificate())[0] print(cert.prettyPrint()) 

Read the docs for pyasn1 for the rest.