Provided by: botan_2.4.0-5ubuntu1_amd64 
NAME
botan - Botan command line util
OUTLINE
The botan program is a command line tool for using a broad variety of functions of the
Botan library in the shell.
All commands follow the syntax botan <command> <command-options>.
If botan is run with an unknown command, or without any command, or with the --help
option, all available commands with their options will be printed.
HASH FUNCTION
hash --algo=SHA-256 --buf-size=4096 files
Compute the algo digest over the data in any number of files. If no files are
listed on the command line, the input source defaults to standard input.
PASSWORD HASH
gen_bcrypt --work-factor=12 password
Calculate the bcrypt password digest of password. work-factor is an integer between
4 and 18. A higher work-factor value results in a more expensive hash calculation.
check_bcrypt password hash
Checks if the bcrypt hash of the passed password equals the passed hash value.
HMAC
hmac --hash=SHA-256 --buf-size=4096 key files
Compute the HMAC tag with the cryptographic hash function hash using the key in
file key over the data in files. files defaults to STDIN.
PUBLIC KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY
keygen --algo=RSA --params= --passphrase= --pbe= --pbe-millis=300 --der-out
Generate a PKCS #8 algo private key. If der-out is passed, the pair is BER encoded.
Otherwise, PEM encoding is used. To protect the PKCS #8 formatted key, it is
recommended to encrypt it with a provided passphrase. pbe is the name of the
desired encryption algorithm, which uses pbe-millis milliseconds to derive the
encryption key from the passed passphrase. Algorithm specific parameters, as the
desired bitlength of an RSA key, can be passed with params.
• For RSA params specifies the bit length of the RSA modulus. It defaults to
3072.
• For DH params specifies the DH parameters. It defaults to modp/ietf/2048.
• For DSA params specifies the DSA parameters. It defaults to dsa/botan/2048.
• For EC algorithms params specifies the elliptic curve. It defaults to
secp256r1.
pkcs8 --pass-in= --pub-out --der-out --pass-out= --pbe= --pbe-millis=300 key
Open a PKCS #8 formatted key at key. If key is encrypted, the passphrase must be
passed as pass-in. It is possible to (re)encrypt the read key with the passphrase
passed as pass-out. The parameters pbe-millis and pbe work similarly to keygen.
sign --passphrase= --hash=SHA-256 --emsa= key file
Sign the data in file using the PKCS #8 private key key. If key is encrypted, the
used passphrase must be passed as pass-in. emsa specifies the signature scheme and
hash the cryptographic hash function used in the scheme.
• For RSA signatures EMSA4 (RSA-PSS) is the default scheme.
• For ECDSA and DSA emsa defaults to EMSA1 (signing the hash directly)
verify --hash=SHA-256 --emsa= pubkey file signature
Verify the authenticity of the data in file with the provided signature signature
and the public key pubkey. Similarly to the signing process, emsa specifies the
signature scheme and hash the cryptographic hash function used in the scheme.
gen_dl_group --pbits=1024 --qbits=0 --type=subgroup
Generate ANSI X9.42 encoded Diffie-Hellman group parameters.
• If type=subgroup is passed, the size of the prime subgroup q is sampled as a
prime of qbits length and p is pbits long. If qbits is not passed, its length
is estimated from pbits as described in RFC 3766.
• If type=strong is passed, p is sampled as a safe prime with length pbits and
the prime subgroup has size q with pbits-1 length.
dl_group_info --pem name
Print raw Diffie-Hellman parameters (p,g) of the standarized DH group name. If pem
is set, the X9.42 encoded group is printed.
ec_group_info --pem name
Print raw elliptic curve domain parameters of the standarized curve name. If pem is
set, the encoded domain is printed.
X.509
gen_pkcs10 key CN --country= --organization= --email= --key-pass= --hash=SHA-256 --emsa=
Generate a PKCS #10 certificate signing request (CSR) using the passed PKCS #8
private key key. If the private key is encrypted, the decryption passphrase
key-pass has to be passed.*emsa* specifies the padding scheme to be used when
calculating the signature.
• For RSA keys EMSA4 (RSA-PSS) is the default scheme.
• For ECDSA, DSA, ECGDSA, ECKCDSA and GOST-34.10 keys emsa defaults to EMSA1.
gen_self_signed key CN --country= --dns= --organization= --email= --key-pass= --ca
--hash=SHA-256 --emsa=
Generate a self signed X.509 certificate using the PKCS #8 private key key. If the
private key is encrypted, the decryption passphrase key-pass has to be passed. If
ca is passed, the certificate is marked for certificate authority (CA) usage. emsa
specifies the padding scheme to be used when calculating the signature.
• For RSA keys EMSA4 (RSA-PSS) is the default scheme.
• For ECDSA, DSA, ECGDSA, ECKCDSA and GOST-34.10 keys emsa defaults to EMSA1.
sign_cert --ca-key-pass= --hash=SHA-256 --duration=365 --emsa= ca_cert ca_key pkcs10_req
Create a CA signed X.509 certificate from the information contained in the PKCS #10
CSR pkcs10_req. The CA certificate is passed as ca_cert and the respective PKCS #8
private key as ca_key. If the private key is encrypted, the decryption passphrase
ca-key-pass has to be passed. The created certificate has a validity period of
duration days. emsa specifies the padding scheme to be used when calculating the
signature. emsa defaults to the padding scheme used in the CA certificate.
ocsp_check subject issuer
Verify an X.509 certificate against the issuers OCSP responder. Pass the
certificate to validate as subject and the CA certificate as issuer.
cert_info --fingerprint --ber file
Parse X.509 PEM certificate and display data fields. If --fingerprint is used, the
certificate's fingerprint is also printed.
cert_verify subject *ca_certs
Verify if the provided X.509 certificate subject can be sucessfully validated. The
list of trusted CA certificates is passed with ca_certs, which is a list of one or
more certificates.
TLS SERVER/CLIENT
tls_ciphers --policy=default --version=tls1.2
Prints the list of ciphersuites that will be offered under a particular
policy/version. The policy can be any of the the strings "default", "suiteb",
"strict", or "all" to denote built-in policies, or it can name a file from which a
policy description will be read.
tls_client host --port=443 --print-certs --policy= --tls1.0 --tls1.1 --tls1.2
--session-db= --session-db-pass= --next-protocols= --type=tcp
Implements a testing TLS client, which connects to host via TCP or UDP on port
port. The TLS version can be set with the flags tls1.0, tls1.1 and tls1.2 of which
the lowest specified version is automatically chosen. If none of the TLS version
flags is set, the latest supported version is chosen. The client honors the TLS
policy defined in the policy file and prints all certificates in the chain, if
print-certs is passed. next-protocols is a comma seperated list and specifies the
protocols to advertise with Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation (ALPN).
tls_server cert key --port=443 --type=tcp --policy=
Implements a testing TLS server, which allows TLS clients to connect. Binds to
either TCP or UDP on port port. The server uses the certificate cert and the
respective PKCS #8 private key key. The server honors the TLS policy defined in the
policy file.
tls_http_server cert key --port=443 --policy= --session-db --session-db-pass=
Only available if asio support was enabled. Provides a simple HTTP server which
replies to all requests with an informational text output. The server honors the
TLS policy defined in the policy file.
tls_proxy listen_port target_host target_port server_cert server_key
Only available if asio support was enabled. Listens on a port and forwards all
connects to a target server specified at target_host and target_port.
NUMBER THEORY
is_prime --prob=56 n
Test if the integer n is composite or prime with a Miller-Rabin primality test with
(prob+2)/2 iterations.
factor n
Factor the integer n using a combination of trial division by small primes, and
Pollard's Rho algorithm.
gen_prime --count=1 bits
Samples count primes with a length of bits bits.
PSK DATABASE
Only available if sqlite3 support was compiled in.
psk_set db db_key name psk
Using the PSK database named db and encrypting under the (hex) key db_key, save the
provided psk (also hex) under name:
$ botan psk_set psk.db deadba55 bunny f00fee
psk_get db db_key name
Get back a value saved with psk_set:
$ botan psk_get psk.db deadba55 bunny
f00fee
psk_list db db_key
List all values saved to the database under the given key:
$ botan psk_list psk.db deadba55
bunny
DATA ENCODING/DECODING
base64_dec file
Encode file to Base64.
base64_enc file
Decode Base64 encoded file.
hex_dec file
Encode file to Hex.
hex_enc file
Decode Hex encoded file.
MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS
version --full
Print the version number. If option -full is provided additional details are
printed.
config info_type
Prints build information, useful for applications which want to build against the
library. The info_type argument can be any of prefix, cflags, ldflags, or libs.
cpuid List available processor flags (aes_ni, SIMD extensions, ...).
asn1print file
Decode and print file with ASN.1 Basic Encoding Rules (BER).
http_get url
Retrieve ressource from the passed http/https url.
speed --msec=100 --provider= --buf-size=4096 algos
Measures the speed of the passed algos. If no algos are passed all available speed
tests are executed. msec (in milliseconds) sets the period of measurement for each
algorithm.
rng --system --rdrand bytes
Sample bytes random bytes from the specified random number generator. If system is
set, the Botan System_RNG is used. If system is unset and rdrand is set, the
hardware rng RDRAND_RNG is used. If both are unset, the Botan AutoSeeded_RNG is
used.
cc_encrypt CC passphrase --tweak=
Encrypt the passed valid credit card number CC using FPE encryption and the
passphrase passphrase. The key is derived from the passphrase using PBKDF2 with
SHA256. Due to the nature of FPE, the ciphertext is also a credit card number with
a valid checksum. tweak is public and parameterizes the encryption function.
cc_decrypt CC passphrase --tweak=
Decrypt the passed valid ciphertext CC using FPE decryption with the passphrase
passphrase and the tweak tweak.
BOTAN(1)