Example C Program: Sending and Receiving a Signed and Encrypted Message
The following example signs a message using a sender's private key and encrypts the signed message using a receiver's public key. The example then decrypts the message using the receiver's private key and verifies the signature using the sender's public key. The sender's certificate containing the needed public key is included in the encrypted message. This example also writes the signed and encrypted message to a file. For more information, see Example C Program: Receiving a Signed and Encrypted Message.
To sign the message, the signer's private key and the signer's certificate must be available. To encrypt the signed message, a receiver's certificate including the receiver's public key must be available.
To decrypt the message, the receiver's private key must be available. After the message is decrypted, the signature is verified using the public key from the certificate included in the encrypted message.
Note
Not all of the certificates in a certificate store provide access to the private key associated with that certificate. When the message is signed and encrypted, a certificate belonging to the signer with access to the private key of that signer must be used. In addition, the receiver of the message must have access to the private key associated with the public key used to encrypt the message.
This example illustrates the following tasks:
- Opening and closing system certificate stores.
- Finding certificates for a message sender and message receiver in the open certificate stores.
- Finding and printing the subject name from certificates.
- Initializing data structures needed to sign, encrypt, decrypt, and verify a message.
- Calling a CryptoAPI function to find the required size of a buffer, allocating the buffer of the required size, and calling the CryptoAPI function again to fill the buffer. For more information, see Retrieving Data of Unknown Length.
- Displaying some of the encrypted contents of a buffer. The included local function, ShowBytes, displays characters in the buffer with values between '0' and 'z'. All other characters are displayed as the '-' character.
This example uses the following CryptoAPI functions:
- CertOpenStore
- CertFindCertificateInStore
- CertGetNameString
- CryptAcquireCertificatePrivateKey
- CryptSignAndEncryptMessage
- CryptDecryptAndVerifyMessageSignature
- CertFreeCertificateContext
- CertCloseStore
This example uses separate functions to show the signing/encryption process and the decryption/signature-verification process. It also uses MyHandleError to exit the program gracefully in case of any failure. The code MyHandleError is included with the example and can also be found along with other auxiliary functions under General Purpose Functions.
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
// Example C Program:
// Signs a message by using a sender's private key and encrypts the
// signed message by using a receiver's public key.
#pragma comment(lib, "crypt32.lib")
#include <stdio.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <Wincrypt.h>
#define MY_ENCODING_TYPE (PKCS_7_ASN_ENCODING | X509_ASN_ENCODING)
#define MAX_NAME 128
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
// Copyright (C) Microsoft. All rights reserved.
// SIGNER_NAME is used with the CertFindCertificateInStore
// function to retrieve the certificate of the message signer.
// Replace the Unicode string below with the certificate subject
// name of the message signer.
#define SIGNER_NAME L"DUMMY_SIGNER_NAME"
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
// This example uses the function MyHandleError, a simple error
// handling function, to print an error message to the standard
// error (stderr) file and exit the program.
// For most applications, replace this function with one
// that does more extensive error reporting.
void MyHandleError(LPTSTR psz)
{
_ftprintf(stderr, TEXT("An error occurred in the program. \n"));
_ftprintf(stderr, TEXT("%s\n"), psz);
_ftprintf(stderr, TEXT("Error number %x.\n"), GetLastError());
_ftprintf(stderr, TEXT("Program terminating. \n"));
exit(1);
} // End of MyHandleError.
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
// The local function ShowBytes is declared here and defined after
// main.
void ShowBytes(BYTE *s, DWORD len);
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
// Declare local functions SignAndEncrypt, DecryptAndVerify, and
// WriteSignedAndEncryptedBlob.
// These functions are defined after main.
BYTE* SignAndEncrypt(
const BYTE *pbToBeSignedAndEncrypted,
DWORD cbToBeSignedAndEncrypted,
DWORD *pcbSignedAndEncryptedBlob);
BYTE* DecryptAndVerify(
BYTE *pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob,
DWORD cbSignedAndEncryptedBlob);
void WriteSignedAndEncryptedBlob(
DWORD cbBlob,
BYTE *pbBlob);
void main (void)
{
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Declare and initialize local variables.
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// pbToBeSignedAndEncrypted is the message to be
// encrypted and signed.
const BYTE *pbToBeSignedAndEncrypted =
(const unsigned char *)"Insert the message to be signed "
"here";
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// This is the length of the message to be
// encrypted and signed. Note that it is one
// more that the length returned by strlen()
// to include the terminating null character.
DWORD cbToBeSignedAndEncrypted =
lstrlenA((const char *)pbToBeSignedAndEncrypted) + 1;
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Pointer to a buffer that will hold the
// encrypted and signed message.
BYTE *pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob;
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// A DWORD to hold the length of the signed
// and encrypted message.
DWORD cbSignedAndEncryptedBlob;
BYTE *pReturnMessage;
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Call the local function SignAndEncrypt.
// This function returns a pointer to the
// signed and encrypted BLOB and also returns
// the length of that BLOB.
pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob = SignAndEncrypt(
pbToBeSignedAndEncrypted,
cbToBeSignedAndEncrypted,
&cbSignedAndEncryptedBlob);
_tprintf(TEXT("The following is the signed and encrypted ")
TEXT("message.\n"));
ShowBytes(pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob,cbSignedAndEncryptedBlob/4);
// Open a file and write the signed and
// encrypted message to the file.
WriteSignedAndEncryptedBlob(
cbSignedAndEncryptedBlob,
pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob);
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Call the local function DecryptAndVerify.
// This function decrypts and displays the
// encrypted message and also verifies the
// message's signature.
if(pReturnMessage = DecryptAndVerify(
pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob,
cbSignedAndEncryptedBlob))
{
_tprintf(TEXT(" The returned, verified message is ->\n%s\n"),
pReturnMessage);
_tprintf(TEXT(" The program executed without error.\n"));
}
else
{
_tprintf(TEXT("Verification failed.\n"));
}
} // End Main.
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
// Begin definition of the SignAndEncrypt function.
BYTE* SignAndEncrypt(
const BYTE *pbToBeSignedAndEncrypted,
DWORD cbToBeSignedAndEncrypted,
DWORD *pcbSignedAndEncryptedBlob)
{
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Declare and initialize local variables.
FILE *hToSave;
HCERTSTORE hCertStore;
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// pSignerCertContext will be the certificate of
// the message signer.
PCCERT_CONTEXT pSignerCertContext ;
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// pReceiverCertContext will be the certificate of the
// message receiver.
PCCERT_CONTEXT pReceiverCertContext;
TCHAR pszNameString[256];
CRYPT_SIGN_MESSAGE_PARA SignPara;
CRYPT_ENCRYPT_MESSAGE_PARA EncryptPara;
DWORD cRecipientCert;
PCCERT_CONTEXT rgpRecipientCert[5];
BYTE *pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob = NULL;
CERT_NAME_BLOB Subject_Blob;
BYTE *pbDataIn;
DWORD dwKeySpec;
HCRYPTPROV hCryptProv;
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Open the MY certificate store.
// For more information, see the CertOpenStore function
// PSDK reference page.
// Note: Case is not significant in certificate store names.
if ( !( hCertStore = CertOpenStore(
CERT_STORE_PROV_SYSTEM,
0,
NULL,
CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_CURRENT_USER,
L"my")))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("The MY store could not be opened."));
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Get the certificate for the signer.
if(!(pSignerCertContext = CertFindCertificateInStore(
hCertStore,
MY_ENCODING_TYPE,
0,
CERT_FIND_SUBJECT_STR,
SIGNER_NAME,
NULL)))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("Cert not found.\n"));
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Get and print the name of the message signer.
// The following two calls to CertGetNameString with different
// values for the second parameter get two different forms of
// the certificate subject's name.
if(CertGetNameString(
pSignerCertContext ,
CERT_NAME_SIMPLE_DISPLAY_TYPE,
0,
NULL,
pszNameString,
MAX_NAME) > 1)
{
_tprintf(
TEXT("The SIMPLE_DISPLAY_TYPE message signer's name is ")
TEXT("%s \n"),
pszNameString);
}
else
{
MyHandleError(
TEXT("Getting the name of the signer failed.\n"));
}
if(CertGetNameString(
pSignerCertContext,
CERT_NAME_RDN_TYPE,
0,
NULL,
pszNameString,
MAX_NAME) > 1)
{
_tprintf(
TEXT("The RDM_TYPE message signer's name is %s \n"),
pszNameString);
}
else
{
MyHandleError(
TEXT("Getting the name of the signer failed.\n"));
}
if(!( CryptAcquireCertificatePrivateKey(
pSignerCertContext,
0,
NULL,
&hCryptProv,
&dwKeySpec,
NULL)))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("CryptAcquireCertificatePrivateKey.\n"));
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Get the certificate for the receiver. In this case,
// a BLOB with the name of the receiver is saved in a file.
// Note: To decrypt the message signed and encrypted here,
// this program must use the certificate of the intended
// receiver. The signed and encrypted message can only be
// decrypted and verified by the owner of the recipient
// certificate. That user must have access to the private key
// associated with the public key of the recipient's certificate.
// To run this sample, the file contains information that allows
// the program to find one of the current user's certificates.
// The current user should have access to the private key of the
// certificate and thus can test the verification and decryption.
// In normal use, the file would contain information used to find
// the certificate of an intended receiver of the message.
// The signed and encrypted message would be written
// to a file or otherwise sent to the intended receiver.
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Open a file and read in the receiver name
// BLOB.
if( !(hToSave= fopen("s.txt","rb")))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("Source file was not opened.\n"));
}
fread(
&(Subject_Blob.cbData),
sizeof(DWORD),
1,
hToSave);
if(ferror(hToSave))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("The size of the BLOB was not read.\n"));
}
if(!(pbDataIn = (BYTE *) malloc(Subject_Blob.cbData)))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("Memory allocation error."));
}
fread(
pbDataIn,
Subject_Blob.cbData,
1,
hToSave);
if(ferror(hToSave))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("BLOB not read."));
}
fclose(hToSave);
Subject_Blob.pbData = pbDataIn;
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Use the BLOB just read in from the file to find its associated
// certificate in the MY store.
// This call to CertFindCertificateInStore uses the
// CERT_FIND_SUBJECT_NAME dwFindType.
if(!(pReceiverCertContext = CertFindCertificateInStore(
hCertStore,
MY_ENCODING_TYPE,
0,
CERT_FIND_SUBJECT_NAME,
&Subject_Blob,
NULL)))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("Receiver certificate not found."));
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Get and print the subject name from the receiver's
// certificate.
if(CertGetNameString(
pReceiverCertContext ,
CERT_NAME_SIMPLE_DISPLAY_TYPE,
0,
NULL,
pszNameString,
MAX_NAME) > 1)
{
_tprintf(TEXT("The message receiver is %s \n"),
pszNameString);
}
else
{
MyHandleError(
TEXT("Getting the name of the receiver failed.\n"));
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Initialize variables and data structures
// for the call to CryptSignAndEncryptMessage.
SignPara.cbSize = sizeof(CRYPT_SIGN_MESSAGE_PARA);
SignPara.dwMsgEncodingType = MY_ENCODING_TYPE;
SignPara.pSigningCert = pSignerCertContext ;
SignPara.HashAlgorithm.pszObjId = szOID_RSA_MD2;
SignPara.HashAlgorithm.Parameters.cbData = 0;
SignPara.pvHashAuxInfo = NULL;
SignPara.cMsgCert = 1;
SignPara.rgpMsgCert = &pSignerCertContext ;
SignPara.cMsgCrl = 0;
SignPara.rgpMsgCrl = NULL;
SignPara.cAuthAttr = 0;
SignPara.rgAuthAttr = NULL;
SignPara.cUnauthAttr = 0;
SignPara.rgUnauthAttr = NULL;
SignPara.dwFlags = 0;
SignPara.dwInnerContentType = 0;
EncryptPara.cbSize = sizeof(CRYPT_ENCRYPT_MESSAGE_PARA);
EncryptPara.dwMsgEncodingType = MY_ENCODING_TYPE;
EncryptPara.hCryptProv = 0;
EncryptPara.ContentEncryptionAlgorithm.pszObjId = szOID_RSA_RC4;
EncryptPara.ContentEncryptionAlgorithm.Parameters.cbData = 0;
EncryptPara.pvEncryptionAuxInfo = NULL;
EncryptPara.dwFlags = 0;
EncryptPara.dwInnerContentType = 0;
cRecipientCert = 1;
rgpRecipientCert[0] = pReceiverCertContext;
*pcbSignedAndEncryptedBlob = 0;
pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob = NULL;
if( CryptSignAndEncryptMessage(
&SignPara,
&EncryptPara,
cRecipientCert,
rgpRecipientCert,
pbToBeSignedAndEncrypted,
cbToBeSignedAndEncrypted,
NULL, // the pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob
pcbSignedAndEncryptedBlob))
{
_tprintf(TEXT("%d bytes for the buffer .\n"),
*pcbSignedAndEncryptedBlob);
}
else
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("Getting the buffer length failed."));
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Allocate memory for the buffer.
if(!(pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob =
(unsigned char *)malloc(*pcbSignedAndEncryptedBlob)))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("Memory allocation failed."));
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Call the function a second time to copy the signed and
// encrypted message into the buffer.
if( CryptSignAndEncryptMessage(
&SignPara,
&EncryptPara,
cRecipientCert,
rgpRecipientCert,
pbToBeSignedAndEncrypted,
cbToBeSignedAndEncrypted,
pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob,
pcbSignedAndEncryptedBlob))
{
_tprintf(TEXT("The message is signed and encrypted.\n"));
}
else
{
MyHandleError(
TEXT("The message failed to sign and encrypt."));
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Clean up.
if(pSignerCertContext )
{
CertFreeCertificateContext(pSignerCertContext);
}
if(pReceiverCertContext )
{
CertFreeCertificateContext(pReceiverCertContext);
}
CertCloseStore(hCertStore, 0);
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Return the signed and encrypted message.
return pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob;
} // End SignAndEncrypt.
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
// Define the DecryptAndVerify function.
BYTE* DecryptAndVerify(
BYTE *pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob,
DWORD cbSignedAndEncryptedBlob)
{
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Declare and initialize local variables.
HCERTSTORE hCertStore;
CRYPT_DECRYPT_MESSAGE_PARA DecryptPara;
CRYPT_VERIFY_MESSAGE_PARA VerifyPara;
DWORD dwSignerIndex = 0;
BYTE *pbDecrypted;
DWORD cbDecrypted;
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Open the certificate store.
if ( !( hCertStore = CertOpenStore(
CERT_STORE_PROV_SYSTEM,
0,
NULL,
CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_CURRENT_USER,
L"my")))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("The MY store could not be opened."));
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Initialize the needed data structures.
DecryptPara.cbSize = sizeof(CRYPT_DECRYPT_MESSAGE_PARA);
DecryptPara.dwMsgAndCertEncodingType = MY_ENCODING_TYPE;
DecryptPara.cCertStore = 1;
DecryptPara.rghCertStore = &hCertStore;
VerifyPara.cbSize = sizeof(CRYPT_VERIFY_MESSAGE_PARA);
VerifyPara.dwMsgAndCertEncodingType = MY_ENCODING_TYPE;
VerifyPara.hCryptProv = 0;
VerifyPara.pfnGetSignerCertificate = NULL;
VerifyPara.pvGetArg = NULL;
pbDecrypted = NULL;
cbDecrypted = 0;
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Call CryptDecryptAndVerifyMessageSignature a first time
// to determine the needed size of the buffer to hold the
// decrypted message.
if(!(CryptDecryptAndVerifyMessageSignature(
&DecryptPara,
&VerifyPara,
dwSignerIndex,
pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob,
cbSignedAndEncryptedBlob,
NULL, // pbDecrypted
&cbDecrypted,
NULL,
NULL)))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("Failed getting size."));
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Allocate memory for the buffer to hold the decrypted
// message.
if(!(pbDecrypted = (BYTE *)malloc(cbDecrypted)))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("Memory allocation failed."));
}
if(!(CryptDecryptAndVerifyMessageSignature(
&DecryptPara,
&VerifyPara,
dwSignerIndex,
pbSignedAndEncryptedBlob,
cbSignedAndEncryptedBlob,
pbDecrypted,
&cbDecrypted,
NULL,
NULL)))
{
pbDecrypted = NULL;
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Close the certificate store.
CertCloseStore(
hCertStore,
0);
//---------------------------------------------------------------
// Return the decrypted string or NULL.
return pbDecrypted;
} // End of DecryptandVerify.
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
// Define the MyHandleError function.
void WriteSignedAndEncryptedBlob(
DWORD cbBlob,
BYTE *pbBlob)
{
// Open an output file, write the file, and close the file.
// This function would be used to save the signed and encrypted
// message to a file that would be sent to the intended receiver.
// Note: The only receiver able to decrypt and verify this
// message will have access to the private key associated
// with the public key from the certificate used when
// the message was encrypted.
FILE *hOutputFile;
if( !(hOutputFile = _tfopen(TEXT("sandvout.txt"), TEXT("wb"))))
{
MyHandleError(TEXT("Output file was not opened.\n"));
}
fwrite(
&cbBlob,
sizeof(DWORD),
1,
hOutputFile);
if(ferror(hOutputFile))
{
MyHandleError(
TEXT("The size of the BLOB was not written.\n"));
}
fwrite(
pbBlob,
cbBlob,
1,
hOutputFile);
if(ferror(hOutputFile))
{
MyHandleError(
TEXT("The bytes of the BLOB were not written.\n"));
}
else
{
_tprintf(TEXT("The BLOB has been written to the file.\n"));
}
fclose(hOutputFile);
} // End of WriteSignedAndEcryptedBlob.
//-------------------------------------------------------------------
// Define the ShowBytes function.
// This function displays the contents of a BYTE buffer. Characters
// less than '0' or greater than 'z' are all displayed as '-'.
void ShowBytes(BYTE *s, DWORD len)
{
DWORD TotalChars = 0;
DWORD ThisLine = 0;
while(TotalChars < len)
{
if(ThisLine > 70)
{
ThisLine = 0;
_tprintf(TEXT("\n"));
}
if( s[TotalChars] < '0' || s[TotalChars] > 'z')
{
_tprintf(TEXT("-"));
}
else
{
_tprintf(TEXT("%c"), s[TotalChars]);
}
TotalChars++;
ThisLine++;
}
_tprintf(TEXT("\n"));
} // End of ShowBytes.