How do I list / export private keys from a keystore?

Question

How do I list and export a private key from a keystore?

Answer 1

A portion of code originally from Example Depot for listing all of the aliases in a key store:

    // Load input stream into keystore
    keystore.load(is, password.toCharArray());

    // List the aliases
    Enumeration aliases = keystore.aliases();
    for (; aliases.hasMoreElements(); ) {
        String alias = (String)aliases.nextElement();

        // Does alias refer to a private key?
        boolean b = keystore.isKeyEntry(alias);

        // Does alias refer to a trusted certificate?
        b = keystore.isCertificateEntry(alias);
    }

The exporting of private keys came up on the Sun forums a couple of months ago, and u:turingcompleter came up with a DumpPrivateKey class to stitch into your app.

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.security.Key;
import java.security.KeyStore;
import sun.misc.BASE64Encoder;

public class DumpPrivateKey {
     /**
     * Provides the missing functionality of keytool
     * that Apache needs for SSLCertificateKeyFile.
     *
     * @param args  <ul>
     *              <li> [0] Keystore filename.
     *              <li> [1] Keystore password.
     *              <li> [2] alias
     *              </ul>
     */
    static public void main(String[] args)
    throws Exception {
        if(args.length < 3) {
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("expected args: Keystore filename, Keystore password, alias, <key password: default same tha
n keystore");
        }
        final String keystoreName = args[0];
        final String keystorePassword = args[1];
        final String alias = args[2];
        final String keyPassword = getKeyPassword(args,keystorePassword);
        KeyStore ks = KeyStore.getInstance("jks");
        ks.load(new FileInputStream(keystoreName), keystorePassword.toCharArray());
        Key key = ks.getKey(alias, keyPassword.toCharArray());
        String b64 = new BASE64Encoder().encode(key.getEncoded());
        System.out.println("-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----");
        System.out.println(b64);
        System.out.println("-----END PRIVATE KEY-----");
    }
    private static String getKeyPassword(final String[] args, final String keystorePassword)
    {
       String keyPassword = keystorePassword; // default case
       if(args.length == 4) {
         keyPassword = args[3];
       }
       return keyPassword;
    }
}

Note: this use Sun package, which is a "bad thing".
If you can download apache commons code, here is a version which will compile without warning:

javac -classpath .:commons-codec-1.4/commons-codec-1.4.jar DumpPrivateKey.java

and will give the same result:

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.security.Key;
import java.security.KeyStore;
//import sun.misc.BASE64Encoder;
import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;

public class DumpPrivateKey {
     /**
     * Provides the missing functionality of keytool
     * that Apache needs for SSLCertificateKeyFile.
     *
     * @param args  <ul>
     *              <li> [0] Keystore filename.
     *              <li> [1] Keystore password.
     *              <li> [2] alias
     *              </ul>
     */
    static public void main(String[] args)
    throws Exception {
        if(args.length < 3) {
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("expected args: Keystore filename, Keystore password, alias, <key password: default same tha
n keystore");
        }
        final String keystoreName = args[0];
        final String keystorePassword = args[1];
        final String alias = args[2];
        final String keyPassword = getKeyPassword(args,keystorePassword);
        KeyStore ks = KeyStore.getInstance("jks");
        ks.load(new FileInputStream(keystoreName), keystorePassword.toCharArray());
        Key key = ks.getKey(alias, keyPassword.toCharArray());
        //String b64 = new BASE64Encoder().encode(key.getEncoded());
        String b64 = new String(Base64.encodeBase64(key.getEncoded(),true));
        System.out.println("-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----");
        System.out.println(b64);
        System.out.println("-----END PRIVATE KEY-----");
    }
    private static String getKeyPassword(final String[] args, final String keystorePassword)
    {
       String keyPassword = keystorePassword; // default case
       if(args.length == 4) {
         keyPassword = args[3];
       }
       return keyPassword;
    }
}

You can use it like so:

java -classpath .:commons-codec-1.4/commons-codec-1.4.jar DumpPrivateKey $HOME/.keystore changeit tomcat