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Introduction

CodeSign is a simple file signing and verification toolkit, based on cryptographic routines from the Libcrypto (OpenSSL) library.

At this time, CodeSign employs the RSA signature algorithm with 15360-Bit keys and the SHA-512 hash function.

This software was created by LoRd_MuldeR <MuldeR2@GMX.de>. Please see http://www.muldersoft.com for additional information.

Synopsis

The CodeSign suite is composed of the following tools:

Key Generator

The key generator tool is used to generate a new key-pair. It creates the public key and the private key file. The private key will be protected by the specified password.

Usage:
  codesign_keygen.exe <passwd> <signkey.pub> <signkey.key>

File Signer

The file signer tool is used to create a new signature. It creates the signature file for the specified input (original) file, using the existing private key protected by password.

Usage:
  codesign_sign.exe <passwd> <signkey.key> <filename.dat> <signature.sig>

File Verifier

The file verifier tool is used to check whether the specified signature file is valid and matches the given (possibly tampered) input file, using the specified public key.

Usage:
  codesign_verify.exe <signkey.pub> <filename.dat> <signature.sig>

There is an alternative variant of the file verifier tool that uses an "embedded" public key (from the file's resources) and therefore does not need a separate public key file.

Usage:
  codesign_verifz.exe <filename.dat> <signature.sig>

Embedding the Public Key

In order to use the file verifier tool with an embedded public key (codesign_verifz.exe), the public key must be added to the file's resource section first:

• It is recommended to use the Resource Hacker™ utility for adding resources to the executable file. Use command "Action" → "Add Image or Other Binary Resource".

• The public RSA key, in OpenSSL PEM format, shall be embedded as a resource of type RT_RCDATA with the name RSA_PUBLIC_KEY.

• The SHA-512 digest of the public RSA key, in "raw" (binary) format, shall be embedded as a resource of type RT_RCDATA with the name CHECKSUM_SHA512.

  OpenSSL command to generate the required SHA-512 digest:

  openssl.exe dgst -sha512 -binary -out signkey.pub.sha512 signkey.pub
  

Quick Start Guide

1. First of all, generate your RSA key-pair, if not already done:

   codesign_keygen.exe your-password-here signkey.pub signkey.key
   

   Note: This step is required only once. The same key-pair can be used to sign many files. Keep the private key (and the password) confidential!

2. Sign the file to be distributed, using the previously generated private key:

   codesign_sign.exe your-password-here signkey.key my-installer.exe my-installer.exe.sig
   

   Note: The generated signature file shall be distributed alongside with the signed file. The private key must not be distributed under any circumstances!

3. Verify the retrieved (e.g. downloaded) file:

   codesign_verify.exe signkey.pub my-installer.exe my-installer.exe.sig
   

   Note: This step is used to verify that the retrieved file was signed by the original author and that it was not tampered with since it was signed.

Passing the Password

Passing the password directly on the command-line is not recommended for security reasons!

The password can be passed to the CodeSign tools via pipe instead. Setting the password to - will cause the program to read the password from the standard input stream:

• For example, the password can be read from a password file:

  codesign_keygen.exe - signkey.pub signkey.key < password.txt
  

• Alternatively, the passentry.exe helper application can be used to display a simple passwort entry dialog to the user:

  passentry.exe | codesign_keygen.exe - signkey.pub signkey.key
  

License

This work has been released under the CC0 1.0 Universal license.

For details, please refer to:
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode