Unable to Generate RSA Public key in ruby

Question

I am unable to create a object of OpenSSL::PKey::RSA class for a public key in string format. The following is my code:

public_key = '-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----MIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAttI6ImgD74PhHWVqnrqSOmStboplyL02DB3/nc2iyDdYLzXoBIQN+NPMBPlsZlEKuKjsg5Ycfp6VjcmncM3CH9MGIr+Lmbj1HZmO/jJGJ84RPhzYOiZuElzs3seIcOtOa3BpFeqRsXJlrf1IVBKVU3erka5ACLVyrsjmp/VXMx5QjPD0qXARMGb6rDewTkyg3pGz07Y7rZgXkTl54ase+XaPegOankxdEQhVjPdrk7eSlIQS5Ni7FAcSyTOtYoPgiP7W0PolOMHvpFg96CHjc8V8xDsFdh0wbHd49WcKxiJMIfL65VUIW5aob9fw05a5FczyASa0iNtRiICy/QnCqQIDAQAB-----END PUBLIC KEY-----'
OpenSSL::PKey::RSA.new public_key

I am getting the following error:

OpenSSL::PKey::RSAError: Neither PUB key nor PRIV key: nested asn1 error

I am using ruby version ruby 2.3.7. Any body can tell me what is wrong with string or function.?

I have try adding \n solution suggested here

public_key = "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----MIIB\nIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAttI6ImgD74PhHWVqnrqSOmStboplyL02DB3/nc2iyDdYLzXoBIQN+NPMBPlsZlEKuKjsg5Ycfp6VjcmncM3CH9MGIr+Lmbj1HZmO/jJGJ84RPhzYOiZuElzs3seIcOtOa3BpFeqRsXJlrf1IVBKVU3erka5ACLVyrsjmp/VXMx5QjPD0qXARMGb6rDewTkyg3pGz07Y7rZgXkTl54ase+XaPegOankxdEQhVjPdrk7eSlIQS5Ni7FAcSyTOtYoPgiP7W0PolOMHvpFg96CHjc8V8xDsFdh0wbHd49WcKxiJMIfL65VUIW5aob9fw05a5FczyASa0iNtRiICy/QnCqQIDA\nQAB-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"

but I am getting same error

OpenSSL::PKey::RSAError: Neither PUB key nor PRIV key: nested asn1 error

Add \n on different places

public_key = "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nMIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAttI6ImgD74PhHWVqnrqSOmStboplyL02DB3/nc2iyDdYLzXoBIQN+NPMBPlsZlEKuKjsg5Ycfp6VjcmncM3CH9MGIr+Lmbj1HZmO/jJGJ84RPhzYOiZuElzs3seIcOtOa3BpFeqRsXJlrf1IVBKVU3erka5ACLVyrsjmp/VXMx5QjPD0qXARMGb6rDewTkyg3pGz07Y7rZgXkTl54ase+XaPegOankxdEQhVjPdrk7eSlIQS5Ni7FAcSyTOtYoPgiP7W0PolOMHvpFg96CHjc8V8xDsFdh0wbHd49WcKxiJMIfL65VUIW5aob9fw05a5FczyASa0iNtRiICy/QnCqQIDAQAB\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"

public_key = "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nMIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAttI6ImgD74PhHWVqnrqSOmStboplyL02DB3/nc2iyDdYLzXoBIQN+NPMBPlsZlEKuKjsg5Ycfp6VjcmncM3CH9MGIr+Lmbj1HZmO/jJGJ84RPhzYOiZuElzs3seIcOtOa3BpFeqRsXJlrf1IVBKVU3erka5ACLVyrsjmp/VXMx5QjPD0qXARMGb6rDewTkyg3pGz07Y7rZgXkTl54ase+XaPegOankxdEQhVjPdrk7eSlIQS5Ni7FAcSyTOtYoPgiP7W0PolOMHvpFg96CHjc8V8xDsFdh0wbHd49WcKxiJMIfL65VUIW5aob9fw05a5FczyASa0iNtRiICy/QnCqQIDA\nQAB-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"

Is generating same error message.

Thanks

Possible duplicate of [What causes "Neither PUB key nor PRIV key:: nested asn1 error" when building a public key in ruby?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2293608/what-causes-neither-pub-key-nor-priv-key-nested-asn1-error-when-building-a-p) — anothermh, Dec 09 '18 at 22:09
Probably the 3rd answer on the page that anothermh linked. Wrapping your string in double quotes and adding a `\n` (literally) after the `MII` and before the `QAB` (at beginning and end of your string) worked in a console. — Jay Dorsey, Dec 09 '18 at 22:59
@JayDorsey please share your string because I am getting same error even after adding \n in the string. For further investigation I have added the string in my question thanks. — user1969191, Dec 10 '18 at 07:34
You placed them wrongly. Like this: `"-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nMII...QAB\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"` — Amadan, Dec 10 '18 at 07:39

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 10 '18 at 13:02

The OpenSSL::PKey::RSA.new class was unable to created the new object because their is some issue with the public string key.

I find out the key is invalid in the following way:

In ruby console/irb

puts public_key.to_s.gsub('\n', "\n")

Save the output in a file with name public_key.txt and run the following command on ubuntu terminal

openssl pkey -inform PEM -pubin -in public_key.txt -noout &> /dev/null
if [ $? != 0 ] ; then
    echo "this was definitely not a public key in PEM format"
    exit 1
fi

If key is invalid the above script will print

this was definitely not a public key in PEM format

And will print nothing if key is valid.

Thanks

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 10 '18 at 14:10

This doesn't generate any errors for me (your original string yielded the same error you noted).

require 'openssl'
public_key = "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nMIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAttI6ImgD74PhHWVqnrqSOmStboplyL02DB3/nc2iyDdYLzXoBIQN+NPMBPlsZlEKuKjsg5Ycfp6VjcmncM3CH9MGIr+Lmbj1HZmO/jJGJ84RPhzYOiZuElzs3seIcOtOa3BpFeqRsXJlrf1IVBKVU3erka5ACLVyrsjmp/VXMx5QjPD0qXARMGb6rDewTkyg3pGz07Y7rZgXkTl54ase+XaPegOankxdEQhVjPdrk7eSlIQS5Ni7FAcSyTOtYoPgiP7W0PolOMHvpFg96CHjc8V8xDsFdh0wbHd49WcKxiJMIfL65VUIW5aob9fw05a5FczyASa0iNtRiICy/QnCqQIDAQAB\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"8xDsFdh0wbHd49WcKxiJMIfL65VUIW5aob9fw05a5FczyASa0iNtRiICy/QnCqQIDAQAB\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"
OpenSSL::PKey::RSA.new public_key

That returns #<OpenSSL::PKey::RSA:0x00007fa78b9b6ee8> rather than an error. If I remove the \n I can reproduce the error you noted.

Ruby 2.5.3, macOS, using openssl installed via homebrew.

Unable to Generate RSA Public key in ruby

2 Answers2