Using SecKeyRawSign on the iPhone

Question

I'm trying to sign some data using SecKeyRawSign but I keep getting a -4 errSecUnimplemented. That seems strange since the documentation states that it is available in iPhone OS2.0 and later.

Has anyone been able to use this function? If so, are there any tricks involved?

~Nate

Answer 1

If you're having this problem, most likely it is because the private key you generated isn't actually being saved into the keychain. I figured this out when stopping and restarting the application and signing the message wasn't working.

So here are my methods to make this work.

This one generates the key pair

- (void)generateKeyPair:(NSUInteger)keySize {
    OSStatus sanityCheck = noErr;
    publicKeyRef = NULL;
    privateKeyRef = NULL;

    LOGGING_FACILITY1( keySize == 512 || keySize == 1024 || keySize == 2048, @"%d is an invalid and unsupported key size.", keySize );

    // First delete current keys.
    [self deleteAsymmetricKeys];

    // Container dictionaries.

    // See SecKey.h for other values
    NSDictionary *privateKeyDict = @{
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrIsPermanent : [NSNumber numberWithBool:YES],
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrApplicationTag : privateTag
    };

    // See SecKey.h for other values
    NSDictionary *publicKeyDict = @{
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrIsPermanent : [NSNumber numberWithBool:YES],
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrApplicationTag : publicTag
    };

    NSDictionary *keyPairDict = @{
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyType : (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyTypeRSA,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeySizeInBits : [NSNumber numberWithUnsignedInteger:keySize],
                    (__bridge id) kSecPrivateKeyAttrs : privateKeyDict,
                    (__bridge id) kSecPublicKeyAttrs : publicKeyDict
    };

    // SecKeyGeneratePair returns the SecKeyRefs
    sanityCheck = SecKeyGeneratePair((__bridge CFDictionaryRef) keyPairDict, &publicKeyRef, &privateKeyRef);
    LOGGING_FACILITY( sanityCheck == noErr && publicKeyRef != NULL && privateKeyRef != NULL, @"Something really bad went wrong with generating the key pair." );

    // retrieve the actual bits for the keys, not just the references
    NSData *publicKeyBits = [self getKeyBitsFromKey:publicKeyRef];
    NSData *privateKeyBits = [self getKeyBitsFromKey:privateKeyRef];

    // save the keys to the keychain
    [self saveKeyToKeychain:publicKeyBits keySize:keySize private:NO];
    [self saveKeyToKeychain:privateKeyBits keySize:keySize private:YES];
}

** EDIT **

iOS 9 introduced a new feature called the Secure Enclave. If you want to generate a key that will be stored there and only there, you will be required to use a 256-bit EC key, as that is the only type supported by the enclave. The keyPairDict will look like this instead:

NSDictionary *keyPairDict = @{
                (__bridge id)kSecAttrTokenID: (__bridge id)kSecAttrTokenIDSecureEnclave,
                (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyType : (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyTypeEC,
                // we can use keySize here if we want
                // but since 256 is the only available size
                // we can just hardcode it for now
                (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeySizeInBits : @256],
                (__bridge id) kSecPrivateKeyAttrs : privateKeyDict,
                (__bridge id) kSecPublicKeyAttrs : publicKeyDict
};

I know the parameters are correct, but I haven't myself tested the Secure Enclave yet, so let me know if this doesn't work for some reason.

Also, for reference: a 256-bit EC key is equivalent to a 3072-bit RSA key.

The query used to retrieve the key below would also be different:

NSDictionary *queryKey = @{
                (__bridge id) kSecClass : (__bridge id) kSecClassKey,
                (__bridge id) kSecAttrApplicationTag : tempTag,
                (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyType : (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyTypeEC
};

Because the Secure Enclave is, well, secure, you most likely won't be able to retrieve the private key bits. Most likely, you'll only be able to generate a reference. But you shouldn't need to handle the private key data anyway.

** END EDIT **

This method retrieves the actual bits from the keychain and not just the reference

- (NSData *)getKeyBitsFromKey:(SecKeyRef)givenKey {
    static const uint8_t publicKeyIdentifier[] = "com.sample.temp";
    NSData *tempTag = [[NSData alloc] initWithBytes:publicKeyIdentifier length:sizeof(publicKeyIdentifier)];

    NSDictionary *queryKey = @{
                    (__bridge id) kSecClass : (__bridge id) kSecClassKey,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrApplicationTag : tempTag,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyType : (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyTypeRSA
    };

    // Temporarily add key to the Keychain, return as data:
    NSMutableDictionary *attributes = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithDictionary:queryKey copyItems:YES];
    [attributes setObject:(__bridge id) givenKey forKey:(__bridge id) kSecValueRef];
    [attributes setObject:@YES forKey:(__bridge id) kSecReturnData];

    // result codes: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Security/Reference/certifkeytrustservices/Reference/reference.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000157-CH4g-339030
    OSStatus sanityCheck = noErr;
    NSData *keyBits = nil;

    CFTypeRef result;
    sanityCheck = SecItemAdd((__bridge CFDictionaryRef) attributes, &result);
    if (sanityCheck == errSecSuccess) {
            keyBits = CFBridgingRelease(result);

            // Remove from Keychain again:
            (void) SecItemDelete((__bridge CFDictionaryRef) queryKey);
            return keyBits;
    }
    else if (sanityCheck == errSecDuplicateItem) {
            // Remove from Keychain again:
            (void) SecItemDelete((__bridge CFDictionaryRef) queryKey);
            return [self getKeyBitsFromKey:givenKey];
    }

    return nil;
}

This method saves the bits to the keychain

- (void)saveKeyToKeychain:(NSData *)key keySize:(NSUInteger)keySize private:(BOOL)isPrivate {
    OSStatus sanityCheck = noErr;
    NSData *tag;
    id keyClass;
    if (isPrivate) {
            tag = privateTag;
            keyClass = (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyClassPrivate;
    }
    else {
            tag = publicTag;
            keyClass = (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyClassPublic;
    }

    NSDictionary *saveDict = @{
                    (__bridge id) kSecClass : (__bridge id) kSecClassKey,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyType : (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyTypeRSA,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrApplicationTag : tag,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeyClass : keyClass,
                    (__bridge id) kSecValueData : key,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrKeySizeInBits : [NSNumber numberWithUnsignedInteger:keySize],
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrEffectiveKeySize : [NSNumber numberWithUnsignedInteger:keySize],
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrCanDerive : (__bridge id) kCFBooleanFalse,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrCanEncrypt : (__bridge id) kCFBooleanTrue,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrCanDecrypt : (__bridge id) kCFBooleanFalse,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrCanVerify : (__bridge id) kCFBooleanTrue,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrCanSign : (__bridge id) kCFBooleanFalse,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrCanWrap : (__bridge id) kCFBooleanTrue,
                    (__bridge id) kSecAttrCanUnwrap : (__bridge id) kCFBooleanFalse
    };

    SecKeyRef savedKey = NULL;
    sanityCheck = SecItemAdd((__bridge CFDictionaryRef) saveDict, (CFTypeRef *)&savedKey);
    if (sanityCheck != errSecSuccess) {
            LOGGING_FACILITY1(sanityCheck != noErr, @"Problem saving the key to keychain, OSStatus == %d.", sanityCheck);
    }
}

And then you sign like so:

- (NSData *)getSignatureBytes:(NSData *)plainText {
    OSStatus sanityCheck = noErr;
    NSData *signedHash = nil;

    uint8_t *signedHashBytes = NULL;
    size_t signedHashBytesSize = 0;

    SecKeyRef privateKey = NULL;

    privateKey = [self getKeyRef:YES];
    signedHashBytesSize = SecKeyGetBlockSize(privateKey);

    // Malloc a buffer to hold signature.
    signedHashBytes = malloc(signedHashBytesSize * sizeof(uint8_t));
    memset((void *) signedHashBytes, 0x0, signedHashBytesSize);

    // Sign the SHA1 hash.
    sanityCheck = SecKeyRawSign(privateKey,
            kTypeOfSigPadding,
            (const uint8_t *) [[self getHashBytes:plainText] bytes],
            kChosenDigestLength,
            signedHashBytes,
            &signedHashBytesSize
    );

    LOGGING_FACILITY1( sanityCheck == noErr, @"Problem signing the SHA1 hash, OSStatus == %d.", sanityCheck );

    // Build up signed SHA1 blob.
    signedHash = [NSData dataWithBytes:(const void *) signedHashBytes length:(NSUInteger) signedHashBytesSize];

    if (signedHashBytes) {
        free(signedHashBytes);
    }

    return signedHash;
}