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How to use trusted keys to wrap data keys in AWS CloudHSM

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How to use trusted keys to wrap data keys in AWS CloudHSM - AWS CloudHSM
Step 1: Set the data key's CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED to trueStep 2: Set the trusted key's CKA_TRUSTED to trueStep 3. Use the trusted key to wrap the data key

To use a trusted key to wrap a data key in AWS CloudHSM, you must complete three basic steps:

  1. For the data key you plan to wrap with a trusted key, set its CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED attribute to true.

  2. For the trusted key you plan to wrap the data key with, set its CKA_TRUSTED attribute to true.

  3. Use the trusted key to wrap the data key.

Step 1: Set the data key's CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED to true

For the data key you want to wrap, choose one of the following options to set the key’s CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED attribute to true. Doing this restricts the data key so applications can only use trusted keys to wrap it.

Option 1: If generating a new key, set CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED to true

Generate a key using PKCS #11, JCE, or CloudHSM CLI. See the following examples for more details.

PKCS #11

To generate a key with PKCS #11, you need to set the key's CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED attribute to true. As shown in the following example, do this by including this attribute in the key’s CK_ATTRIBUTE template and then setting the attribute to true:

CK_BYTE_PTR label = "test_key";
CK_ATTRIBUTE template[] = {
        {CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED, &true_val,         sizeof(CK_BBOOL)},
        {CKA_LABEL,             label,             strlen(label)},
        ...
};

For more information, see our public samples demonstrating key generation with PKCS #11.

JCE

To generate a key with JCE, you need to set the key's WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED attribute to true. As shown in the following example, do this by including this attribute in the key’s KeyAttributesMap and then setting the attribute to true:

final String label = "test_key";
final KeyAttributesMap keySpec = new KeyAttributesMap();
keySpec.put(KeyAttribute.WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED, true);
keySpec.put(KeyAttribute.LABEL, label);
...

For more information, see our public samples demonstrating key generation with JCE.

CloudHSM CLI

To generate a key with CloudHSM CLI, you need to set the key's wrap-with-trusted attribute to true. Do this by including wrap-with-trusted=true in the appropriate argument for the key generation command:

  • For symmetric keys, add wrap-with-trusted to the attributes argument.

  • For public keys, add wrap-with-trusted to the public-attributes argument.

  • For private keys, add wrap-with-trusted to the private-attributes argument.

For more information on key pair generation, see The generate-asymmetric-pair category in CloudHSM CLI.

For more information on symmetric key generation, see The generate-symmetric category in CloudHSM CLI.

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To generate a key with PKCS #11, you need to set the key's CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED attribute to true. As shown in the following example, do this by including this attribute in the key’s CK_ATTRIBUTE template and then setting the attribute to true:

CK_BYTE_PTR label = "test_key";
CK_ATTRIBUTE template[] = {
        {CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED, &true_val,         sizeof(CK_BBOOL)},
        {CKA_LABEL,             label,             strlen(label)},
        ...
};

For more information, see our public samples demonstrating key generation with PKCS #11.

Option 2: If using an existing key, use CloudHSM CLI to set its CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED to true

To set an existing key's CKA_WRAP_WITH_TRUSTED attribute to true, follow these steps:

  1. Use the Log in to an HSM using CloudHSM CLI command to log in as a crypto user (CU).

  2. Use the Set the attributes of keys with CloudHSM CLI command to set the key's wrap-with-trusted attribute to true.

    aws-cloudhsm > key set-attribute --filter attr.label=test_key --name wrap-with-trusted --value true
{
  "error_code": 0,
  "data": {
    "message": "Attribute set successfully"
  }
}

Step 2: Set the trusted key's CKA_TRUSTED to true

To make a key a trusted key, its CKA_TRUSTED attribute must be set to true. You can either use CloudHSM CLI or the CloudHSM Management Utility (CMU) to do this.

Step 3. Use the trusted key to wrap the data key

To wrap the data key referenced in Step 1 with the trusted key you set in Step 2, refer to the following links for code samples. Each demonstrates how to wrap keys.

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