Error on loading certificate with boost::asio

Question

I'm using boost::asio to establish encrypted connection between client and server applications. I generated a private key file and self signed certificate in the following way:

openssl genrsa -out private_key.pem 2048
openssl req -new -key private_key.pem -out public_key.pem

The generated certificate is:

In my program code, I have the following initialization of SSL context structure:

...
, m_sslContext(ssl::context::sslv23)
...
m_sslContext.set_verify_mode(ssl::verify_peer | ssl::verify_fail_if_no_peer_cert);
m_sslContext.use_rsa_private_key_file("private_key.pem", ssl::context::pem);
m_sslContext.use_certificate_file("public_key.pem", ssl::context::pem);
...

But use_ceritificate_file method throws exception with message:

use_certificate_file: no start line

Why does the function fail and what is the correct way to establish a secure connection with boost::asio wrapper around OpenSSL?

According to [this](http://superuser.com/questions/620121/what-is-the-difference-between-a-certificate-and-a-key-with-respect-to-ssl) a certificate contains a public key, so I used it interchangeably. — bobeff, Jun 23 '16 at 15:23
A certificate contains a public-key, yes. But a public-key does not contain a certificate. — tkausl, Jun 23 '16 at 15:34
Oh well, your `public_key.pem` is neither a certificate nor a public-key. It's a certificate request. You have to process (sign) this certificate-request. — tkausl, Jun 23 '16 at 15:35
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10175812/how-to-create-a-self-signed-certificate-with-openssl — tkausl, Jun 23 '16 at 15:40
Yes I solved the problem when I generated the certificate in the way described in pointed by you post. I will accept this answer if you post it as answer. — bobeff, Jun 23 '16 at 15:52

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

2

As discussed in the comments, a public-key isn't a certificate. Your public_key.pem however isn't a public-key either. It's a certificate-request which you'd normally send to a certificate-authority to sign it for you. Since you want to sign it yourself, you can check out How to create a self-signed certificate with openssl? to see how to sign your request.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

Community

1
1

answered Jun 23 '16 at 15:58

tkausl

13,686
2
33
50

Error on loading certificate with boost::asio

1 Answers1