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IPSEC_ECDSASIGKEY(8)	      Executable programs	  IPSEC_ECDSASIGKEY(8)

NAME
       ipsec_ecdsasigkey - generate ECDSA signature key

SYNOPSIS

       ipsec ecdsasigkey [--verbose] [--seeddev	device]	[--seed	numbits]
	     [--nssdir nssdir] [--password nsspassword]	[--hostname hostname]
	     [curvename]

DESCRIPTION
       ecdsasigkey generates an	ECDSA public/private key pair, suitable	for
       digital signatures, on a	named curve specified with curvename.
       Currently it only accepts secp256r1, secp384r1, and secp521r1.

       The public exponent is forced to	the value 3, which has important speed
       advantages for signature	checking. Beware that the resulting keys have
       known weaknesses	as encryption keys and should not be used for that
       purpose.

       The --verbose option makes ecdsasigkey give a running commentary	on
       standard	error. By default, it works in silence until it	is ready to
       generate	output.

       The --seeddev option specifies a	source for random bits used to seed
       the crypto library's RNG. The default is	/dev/random (see random(4)).
       FreeS/WAN and Openswan without NSS support used this option to specify
       the random source used to directly create keys. Libreswan only uses it
       to seed the NSS crypto libraries	RNG. Under Linux with hardware random
       support,	special	devices	might show up as /dev/*rng* devices. However,
       these should never be accessed directly using this option, as hardware
       failures	could lead to extremely	non-random values (streams of zeroes
       have been observed in the wild)

       The --seedbits option specifies how many	seed bits are pulled from the
       random device to	seed the NSS PRNG. The default of 480bit comes from
       FIPS requirements. Seed bits are	rounded	up to a	multiple of 8.

       The use of a different random device or a reduction of seedbits from
       the default value is prevented when the system is running in FIPS mode.

       The --nssdir option specifies the directory to use for the nss
       database. This is the directory where the NSS certificate, key and
       security	modules	databases reside. The default value is
       /usr/local/etc/ipsec.d.

       The --password option specifies the nss cryptographic module
       authentication password if the NSS module has been configured to
       require it. A password is required by hardware tokens and also by the
       internal	software token module when configured to run in	FIPS mode. If
       the argument is /usr/local/etc/ipsec.d/nsspassword, the password	comes
       from that file; otherwise argument is the password.

EXAMPLES
       ipsec ecdsasigkey --verbose 4096
	   generates a 4096-bit	signature key and stores this key in the NSS
	   database. The public	key can	then be	extracted and edited into the
	   ipsec.conf (see ipsec_showhostkey(8)).

FILES
       /dev/random, /dev/urandom

SEE ALSO
       random(4), rngd(8), ipsec_showhostkey(8), Applied Cryptography, 2nd.
       ed., by Bruce Schneier, Wiley 1996, RFCs	2537, 2313, GNU	MP, the	GNU
       multiple	precision arithmetic library, edition 2.0.2, by	Torbj Granlund

HISTORY
       Originally written for the Linux	FreeS/WAN project
       <https://www.freeswan.org> by Henry Spencer. Updated for	the Libreswan
       Project by Paul Wouters.

       The --round and --noopt options were obsoleted as these were only used
       with the	old non-library	crypto code

       The --random device is only used	for seeding the	crypto library,	not
       for direct random to generate keys

BUGS
       ecdsasigkey's run time is difficult to predict, since /dev/random
       output can be arbitrarily delayed if the	system's entropy pool is low
       on randomness, and the time taken by the	search for primes is also
       somewhat	unpredictable. Specifically, embedded systems and most virtual
       machines	are low	on entropy. In such a situation, consider generating
       the ECDSA key on	another	machine, and copying ipsec.secrets and the
       /usr/local/etc/ipsec.d directory	tree to	the embedded platform. Note
       that NSS	embeds the full	path in	the DB files, so the path on proxy
       machine must be identical to the	path on	the destination	machine.

AUTHOR
       Paul Wouters
	   placeholder to suppress warning

libreswan			  05/13/2025		  IPSEC_ECDSASIGKEY(8)

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