Cryptography Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - v5.42, by Herong Yang
What Is PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) Encoding?
This section describes the PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) Encoding - An encoding schema defined in RFC 1421-1424, 1993, specification to encode an email with encryptions into a text message of printable characters.
What Is PEM? PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) is an encoding schema defined in RFC 1421-1424, 1993, specification to encode an email with encryptions into a text message of printable characters.
A PEM encoded email has 5 elements in this order:
Here is an example of PEM encoded email message:
-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED Content-Domain: RFC822 DEK-Info: DES-CBC,BFF968AA74691AC1 Originator-Certificate: MIIBlTCCAScCAWUwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQECBQAwUTELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxIDAeBgNV BAoTF1JTQSBEYXRhIFNlY3VyaXR5LCBJbmMuMQ8wDQYDVQQLEwZCZXRhIDExDzAN BgNVBAsTBk5PVEFSWTAeFw05MTA5MDQxODM4MTdaFw05MzA5MDMxODM4MTZaMEUx CzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMSAwHgYDVQQKExdSU0EgRGF0YSBTZWN1cml0eSwgSW5jLjEU MBIGA1UEAxMLVGVzdCBVc2VyIDEwWTAKBgRVCAEBAgICAANLADBIAkEAwHZHl7i+ yJcqDtjJCowzTdBJrdAiLAnSC+CnnjOJELyuQiBgkGrgIh3j8/x0fM+YrsyF1u3F LZPVtzlndhYFJQIDAQABMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAgUAA1kACKr0PqphJYw1j+YPtcIq iWlFPuN5jJ79Khfg7ASFxskYkEMjRNZV/HZDZQEhtVaU7Jxfzs2wfX5byMp2X3U/ 5XUXGx7qusDgHQGs7Jk9W8CW1fuSWUgN4w== Key-Info: RSA, I3rRIGXUGWAF8js5wCzRTkdhO34PTHdRZY9Tuvm03M+NM7fx6qc5udixps2Lng0+ wGrtiUm/ovtKdinz6ZQ/aQ== Issuer-Certificate: MIIB3DCCAUgCAQowDQYJKoZIhvcNAQECBQAwTzELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxIDAeBgNV BAoTF1JTQSBEYXRhIFNlY3VyaXR5LCBJbmMuMQ8wDQYDVQQLEwZCZXRhIDExDTAL BgNVBAsTBFRMQ0EwHhcNOTEwOTAxMDgwMDAwWhcNOTIwOTAxMDc1OTU5WjBRMQsw CQYDVQQGEwJVUzEgMB4GA1UEChMXUlNBIERhdGEgU2VjdXJpdHksIEluYy4xDzAN BgNVBAsTBkJldGEgMTEPMA0GA1UECxMGTk9UQVJZMHAwCgYEVQgBAQICArwDYgAw XwJYCsnp6lQCxYykNlODwutF/jMJ3kL+3PjYyHOwk+/9rLg6X65B/LD4bJHtO5XW cqAz/7R7XhjYCm0PcqbdzoACZtIlETrKrcJiDYoP+DkZ8k1gCk7hQHpbIwIDAQAB MA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAgUAA38AAICPv4f9Gx/tY4+p+4DB7MV+tKZnvBoy8zgoMGOx dD2jMZ/3HsyWKWgSF0eH/AJB3qr9zosG47pyMnTf3aSy2nBO7CMxpUWRBcXUpE+x EREZd9++32ofGBIXaialnOgVUn0OzSYgugiQ077nJLDUj0hQehCizEs5wUJ35a5h MIC-Info: RSA-MD5,RSA, UdFJR8u/TIGhfH65ieewe2lOW4tooa3vZCvVNGBZirf/7nrgzWDABz8w9NsXSexv AjRFbHoNPzBuxwmOAFeA0HJszL4yBvhG Recipient-ID-Asymmetric: MFExCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMSAwHgYDVQQKExdSU0EgRGF0YSBTZWN1cml0eSwgSW5j LjEPMA0GA1UECxMGQmV0YSAxMQ8wDQYDVQQLEwZOT1RBUlk=, 66 Key-Info: RSA, O6BS1ww9CTyHPtS3bMLD+L0hejdvX6Qv1HK2ds2sQPEaXhX8EhvVphHYTjwekdWv 7x0Z3Jx2vTAhOYHMcqqCjA== qeWlj/YJ2Uf5ng9yznPbtD0mYloSwIuV9FRYx+gzY+8iXd/NQrXHfi6/MhPfPF3d jIqCJAxvld2xgqQimUzoS1a4r7kQQ5c/Iua4LqKeq3ciFzEv/MbZhA== -----END PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE-----
As you can see those streams of printable characters, Base64 encoding is used wherever is needed to convert a byte stream into a text stream.
For more details of PEM encoding, read these RFCs:
Table of Contents
Introduction to AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)
DES Algorithm - Illustrated with Java Programs
DES Algorithm Java Implementation
DES Algorithm - Java Implementation in JDK JCE
DES Encryption Operation Modes
PHP Implementation of DES - mcrypt
Blowfish - 8-Byte Block Cipher
Secret Key Generation and Management
Cipher - Secret Key Encryption and Decryption
RSA Implementation using java.math.BigInteger Class
Introduction of DSA (Digital Signature Algorithm)
Java Default Implementation of DSA
Private key and Public Key Pair Generation
PKCS#8/X.509 Private/Public Encoding Standards
Cipher - Public Key Encryption and Decryption
OpenSSL Introduction and Installation
OpenSSL Generating and Managing RSA Keys
OpenSSL Generating and Signing CSR
OpenSSL Validating Certificate Path
"keytool" and "keystore" from JDK
"OpenSSL" Signing CSR Generated by "keytool"
Migrating Keys from "keystore" to "OpenSSL" Key Files
►Certificate X.509 Standard and DER/PEM Formats
What Is DER (Distinguished Encoding Rules) Encoding?
►What Is PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) Encoding?
"keytool" Exporting Certificates in DER and PEM
"OpenSSL" Viewing Certificates in DER and PEM
"OpenSSL" Generating Certificates in DER and PEM
"keytool" Viewing Certificates in DER and PEM
"keytool" Importing Certificates in DER and PEM
Migrating Keys from "OpenSSL" Key Files to "keystore"