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ASN1PARSE(1) 20/Jan/2000 (0.9.7e) ASN1PARSE(1)
NAME
asn1parse - ASN.1 parsing tool
SYNOPSIS
openssl asn1parse [-inform PEM|DER] [-in filename] [-out
filename] [-noout] [-offset number] [-length number] [-i]
[-oid filename] [-strparse offset]
DESCRIPTION
The asn1parse command is a diagnostic utility that can parse
ASN.1 structures. It can also be used to extract data from
ASN.1 formatted data.
OPTIONS
-inform DER|PEM
the input format. DER is binary format and PEM (the
default) is base64 encoded.
-in filename
the input file, default is standard input
-out filename
output file to place the DER encoded data into. If this
option is not present then no data will be output. This
is most useful when combined with the -strparse option.
-noout
don't output the parsed version of the input file.
-offset number
starting offset to begin parsing, default is start of
file.
-length number
number of bytes to parse, default is until end of file.
-i indents the output according to the "depth" of the
structures.
-oid filename
a file containing additional OBJECT IDENTIFIERs (OIDs).
The format of this file is described in the NOTES
section below.
-strparse offset
parse the contents octets of the ASN.1 object starting
at offset. This option can be used multiple times to
"drill down" into a nested structure.
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OUTPUT
The output will typically contain lines like this:
0:d=0 hl=4 l= 681 cons: SEQUENCE
.....
229:d=3 hl=3 l= 141 prim: BIT STRING
373:d=2 hl=3 l= 162 cons: cont [ 3 ]
376:d=3 hl=3 l= 159 cons: SEQUENCE
379:d=4 hl=2 l= 29 cons: SEQUENCE
381:d=5 hl=2 l= 3 prim: OBJECT :X509v3 Subject Key Identifier
386:d=5 hl=2 l= 22 prim: OCTET STRING
410:d=4 hl=2 l= 112 cons: SEQUENCE
412:d=5 hl=2 l= 3 prim: OBJECT :X509v3 Authority Key Identifier
417:d=5 hl=2 l= 105 prim: OCTET STRING
524:d=4 hl=2 l= 12 cons: SEQUENCE
.....
This example is part of a self signed certificate. Each line
starts with the offset in decimal. d=XX specifies the
current depth. The depth is increased within the scope of
any SET or SEQUENCE. hl=XX gives the header length (tag and
length octets) of the current type. l=XX gives the length of
the contents octets.
The -i option can be used to make the output more readable.
Some knowledge of the ASN.1 structure is needed to interpret
the output.
In this example the BIT STRING at offset 229 is the
certificate public key. The contents octets of this will
contain the public key information. This can be examined
using the option -strparse 229 to yield:
0:d=0 hl=3 l= 137 cons: SEQUENCE
3:d=1 hl=3 l= 129 prim: INTEGER :E5D21E1F5C8D208EA7A2166C7FAF9F6BDF2059669C60876DDB70840F1A5AAFA59699FE471F379F1DD6A487E7D5409AB6A88D4A9746E24B91D8CF55DB3521015460C8EDE44EE8A4189F7A7BE77D6CD3A9AF2696F486855CF58BF0EDF2B4068058C7A947F52548DDF7E15E96B385F86422BEA9064A3EE9E1158A56E4A6F47E5897
135:d=1 hl=2 l= 3 prim: INTEGER :010001
NOTES
If an OID is not part of OpenSSL's internal table it will be
represented in numerical form (for example 1.2.3.4). The
file passed to the -oid option allows additional OIDs to be
included. Each line consists of three columns, the first
column is the OID in numerical format and should be followed
by white space. The second column is the "short name" which
is a single word followed by white space. The final column
is the rest of the line and is the "long name". asn1parse
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displays the long name. Example:
1.2.3.4 shortName A long name
BUGS
There should be options to change the format of input lines.
The output of some ASN.1 types is not well handled (if at
all).
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