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Signum Signum

Maven Central (indispensable) Maven Central (Supreme)

Signum – Kotlin Multiplatform Crypto/PKI Library and ASN1 Parser + Encoder

This Kotlin Multiplatform library provides platform-independent data types and functionality related to crypto and PKI applications:

  • Multiplatform ECDSA and RSA Signer and Verifier → Check out the included CMP demo App to see it in action
    • Supports Attestation on iOS and Android
    • Biometric Authentication on Android and iOS without Callbacks or Activity Passing (✨Magic!✨)
  • Public Keys (RSA and EC)
  • Algorithm Identifiers (Signatures, Hashing)
  • X509 Certificate Class (create, encode, decode)
  • Certification Request (CSR)
  • ObjectIdentifier Class with human-readable notation (e.g. 1.2.9.6245.3.72.13.4.7.6)
  • Generic ASN.1 abstractions to operate on and create arbitrary ASN.1 Data
  • JOSE-related data structures (JSON Web Keys, JWT, etc…)
  • COSE-related data structures (COSE Keys, CWT, etc…)
  • Serializability of all ASN.1 classes for debugging and only for debugging!!! Seriously, do not try to deserialize ASN.1 classes through kotlinx.serialization! Use decodeFromDer() and its companions!
  • 100% pure Kotlin BitSet
  • Exposes Multibase Encoder/Decoder as an API dependency including Matthew Nelson's smashing Base16, Base32, and Base64 encoders
  • ASN.1 Parser and Encoder including a DSL to generate ASN.1 structures

This last bit means that you can work with X509 Certificates, public keys, CSRs and arbitrary ASN.1 structures on iOS.
The very first bit means that you can create and verify signatures on the JVM, Android and on iOS.

We also provide comprehensive API docs here!

Using it in your Projects

This library was built for Kotlin Multiplatform. Currently, it targets the JVM, Android and iOS.

This library consists of four modules, each of which is published on maven central:

Name Info
indispensable-asn1 indispensable-asn1 Indispensable ASN.1 module containing the most sophisticated KMP ASN.1 engine in the known universe. kotlinx-* dependencies aside, it only depends only on KmmResult for extra-smooth iOS interop.
indispensable indispensable Indispensable base module containing the cryptographic data structures, algorithm identifiers, X.509 certificate, …. Depends on the ASN.1 engine.
indispensable-josef indispensable-josef Indispensable Josef JOSE add-on module containing JWS/E/T-specific data structures and extensions to convert from/to types contained in the base module. Includes all required kotlinx-serialization magic to allow for spec-compliant de-/serialization.
indispensable-cosef indispensable-cosef Indispensable Cosef COSE add-on module containing all COSE/CWT-specific data structures and extensions to convert from/to types contained in the base module. Includes all required kotlinx-serialization magic to allow for spec-compliant de-/serialization.
Supreme Supreme Supreme KMP crypto provider implementing hardware-backed signature creation and verification across mobile platforms (Android KeyStore / iOS Secure Enclave) and JCA compatibility (on the JVM).

This separation keeps dependencies to a minimum, i.e. it enables including only JOSE-related functionality, if COSE is irrelevant. More importantly, in a JVM, iOS, or Android-only project, it allows for processing cryptographic material without imposing the inclusion of a crypto provider.

Simply declare the desired dependency to get going:

implementation("at.asitplus.signum:indispensable:$version")

implementation("at.asitplus.signum:indispensable-josef:$version")

implementation("at.asitplus.signum:indispensable-cosef:$version")

implementation("at.asitplus.signum:supreme:$supreme_version")

Demo Reel

This section provides a quick overview to show how this library works. Since this is only a peek. more detailed information can be found in the corresponding sections dedicated to individual features.

Signature Creation (Supreme)

To create a signature, obtain a Signer instance. You can do this using Signer.Ephemeral to create a signer for a throwaway keypair:

val signer = Signer.Ephemeral {}.getOrThrow()
val plaintext = "You have this.".encodeToByteArray()
val signature = signer.sign(plaintext).signature
println("Signed using ${signer.signatureAlgorithm}: $signature")

If you want to create multiple signatures using the same ephemeral key, you can obtain an EphemeralKey instance, then create signers from it:

val key = EphemeralKey { rsa {} }.getOrThrow()
val sha256Signer = key.getSigner { rsa { digest = Digests.SHA256 } }.getOrThrow()
val sha384Signer = key.getSigner { rsa { digest = Digests.SHA384 } }.getOrThrow()

The instances can be configured using the configuration DSL. Any unspecified parameters use sensible, secure defaults.

Signature Verification (Supreme)

To verify a signature, obtain a Verifier instance using verifierFor(k: PublicKey), either directly on a SignatureAlgorithm, or on one of the specialized algorithms (X509SignatureAlgorithm, CoseAlgorithm, ...). A variety of constants, resembling the well-known JCA names, are also available in SignatureAlgorithm's companion.

As an example, here's how to verify a basic signature using a public key:

val publicKey: CryptoPublicKey.EC = TODO("You have this and trust it.")
val plaintext = "You want to trust this.".encodeToByteArray()
val signature: CryptoSignature = TODO("This was sent alongside the plaintext.")
val verifier = SignatureAlgorithm.ECDSAwithSHA256.verifierFor(publicKey).getOrThrow()
val isValid = verifier.verify(plaintext, signature).isSuccess
println("Looks good? $isValid")

ASN.1 Parsing and Encoding

Relevant classes like CryptoPublicKey, X509Certificate, Pkcs10CertificationRequest, etc. all implement Asn1Encodable and their respective companions implement Asn1Decodable. Which means that you can do things like parsing and examining certificates, creating CSRs, or transferring key material. Parsing and re-encoding an X.509 certificate works as follows:

val cert = X509Certificate.decodeFromDer(certBytes)

when (val pk = cert.publicKey) {
    is CryptoPublicKey.EC -> println(
        "Certificate with serial no. ${
            cert.tbsCertificate.serialNumber
        } contains an EC public key using curve ${pk.curve}"
    )

    is CryptoPublicKey.RSA -> println(
        "Certificate with serial no. ${
            cert.tbsCertificate.serialNumber
        } contains a ${pk.bits.number} bit RSA public key"
    )
}

println("Re-encoding it produces the same bytes? ${cert.encodeToDer() contentEquals certBytes}")

Which produces the following output:

 Certificate with serial no. 19821EDCA68C59CF contains an EC public key using curve SECP_256_R_1
 Re-encoding it produces the same bytes? true

ASN.1 Builder DSL

While predefined structures are essential for working with cryptographic material in a PKI context, full control is sometimes required. Signum directly support this with an ASN.1 builder DSL, including explicit and implicit tagging:

Asn1.Sequence {
    +ExplicitlyTagged(1uL) {
        +Asn1Primitive(Asn1Element.Tag.BOOL, byteArrayOf(0x00)) //or +Asn1.Bool(false)
    }
    +Asn1.Set {
        +Asn1.Sequence {
            +Asn1.SetOf {
                +PrintableString("World")
                +PrintableString("Hello")
            }
            +Asn1.Set {
                +PrintableString("World")
                +PrintableString("Hello")
                +Utf8String("!!!")
            }

        }
    }
    +Asn1.Null()

    +ObjectIdentifier("1.2.603.624.97")

    +(Utf8String("Foo") withImplicitTag (0xCAFEuL withClass TagClass.PRIVATE))
    +PrintableString("Bar")

                                                            // ↓ faux primitive ↓
    +(Asn1.Sequence { +Asn1.Int(42) } withImplicitTag (0x5EUL without CONSTRUCTED))

    +Asn1.Set {
        +Asn1.Int(3)
        +Asn1.Int(-65789876543L)
        +Asn1.Bool(false)
        +Asn1.Bool(true)
    }
    +Asn1.Sequence {
        +Asn1.Null()
        +Asn1String.Numeric("12345")
        +UtcTime(Clock.System.now())
    }
} withImplicitTag (1337uL withClass TagClass.APPLICATION)

This produces the following ASN.1 structure:

Application 1337 (9 elem)

    [1] (1 elem)
        BOOLEAN false
    SET (1 elem)
        SEQUENCE (2 elem)
            SET (2 elem)
                PrintableString World
                PrintableString Hello
            SET (3 elem)
                UTF8String !!!
                PrintableString World
                PrintableString Hello
    NULL
    OBJECT IDENTIFIER 1.2.603.624.97
    Private 51966 (3 byte) Foo
    PrintableString Bar
    [94] (3 byte) 02012A
    SET (4 elem)
        BOOLEAN false
        BOOLEAN true
        INTEGER 3
        INTEGER (36 bit) -65789876543
    SEQUENCE (3 elem)
        NULL
        NumericString 12345
        UTCTime 2024-09-16 11:53:51 UTC

COSE and JOSE

The modules Indispensable Josef and Indispensable Cosef provide data structures to work within JOSE and COSE domains, respectively. Since these are essentially data classes, there's really not much magic to using them. The main reason those modules exist, is to keep the core Indispensable module small, so it can be used without pulling in unnecessary functionality. COSE and JOSE data types come with mapping functionality to core (Indispensable) data types, such as CryptoPublicKey and are guaranteed to parse and serialize correctly.

COSE Parsing (Indidpensable Cosef)

As a quick self-contained example, deserializing the following CoseSigned structure works as expected: 

val input = "d28443a10126a10442313154546869732069732074686520636f6e74656e" +
                "742e58408eb33e4ca31d1c465ab05aac34cc6b23d58fef5c083106c4d25a" +
                "91aef0b0117e2af9a291aa32e14ab834dc56ed2a223444547e01f11d3b09" +
                "16e5a4c345cacb36"
val cose = CoseSigned.deserialize(input.uppercase().decodeToByteArray(Base16Strict))
    .also { println(it.getOrNull()) }

The output confirms that parsing was successful:

CoseSigned(protectedHeader=CoseHeader(algorithm=ES256, criticalHeaders=null, contentType=null, kid=null, iv=null, partialIv=null, coseKey=null, certificateChain=null), unprotectedHeader=CoseHeader(algorithm=null, criticalHeaders=null, contentType=null, kid=3131, iv=null, partialIv=null, coseKey=null, certificateChain=null), payload=546869732069732074686520636F6E74656E742E, signature=8EB33E4CA31D1C465AB05AAC34CC6B23D58FEF5C083106C4D25A91AEF0B0117E2AF9A291AA32E14AB834DC56ED2A223444547E01F11D3B0916E5A4C345CACB36)

JWK creation (Indispensable Josef)

JsonWebKeys can be manually created (just as COSE keys) and converted to CryptoPublicKey, so we can pass it to a Supreme verifier:

val parsedN = ("0vx7agoebGcQSuuPiLJXZptN9nndrQmbXEps2" +
        "aiAFbWhM78LhWx4cbbfAAtVT86zwu1RK7aPFFxuhDR1L6tSoc_BJECPebWKRXjBZCi" +
        "FV4n3oknjhMstn64tZ_2W-5JsGY4Hc5n9yBXArwl93lqt7_RN5w6Cf0h4QyQ5v-65Y" +
        "GjQR0_FDW2QvzqY368QQMicAtaSqzs8KJZgnYb9c7d0zgdAZHzu6qMQvRL5hajrn1n" +
        "91CbOpbISD08qNLyrdkt-bFTWhAI4vMQFh6WeZu0fM4lFd2NcRwr3XPksINHaQ-G_x" +
        "BniIqbw0Ls1jF44-csFCur-kEgU8awapJzKnqDKgw").decodeToByteArray(Base64UrlStrict)
val parsedE = "AQAB".decodeToByteArray(Base64UrlStrict)
val key = JsonWebKey(type = JwkType.RSA, n = parsedN, e = parsedE)

key.jwkThumbprint //this is "urn:ietf:params:oauth:jwk-thumbprint:sha256:NzbLsXh8uDCcd-6MNwXF4W_7noWXFZAfHkxZsRGC9Xs"
key.toCryptoPublicKey().getOrThrow() //<- this we can pass to a Supreme verifier

Further Reading

Every module has dedicated documentation pages, and we provide full API docs. Also checkout the feature matrix to get an overview of what is and isn't supported.