No (non-deprecated) way to inspect a free-floating SecKeyRef

Originator:wiml
Number:rdar://11840882 Date Originated:10-Jul-2012 10:34 AM
Status:Open Resolved:
Product:OS X Product Version:10.7
Classification: Reproducible:Always
 
10-Jul-2012 10:34 AM W Lewis:
Summary:

The crypto APIs which replaced the deprecated CSSM APIs do not seem to provide a way to get information about a SecKeyRef if that key is not in a keychain.

Steps to Reproduce:

The recommended API which can return information about a key is SecItemCopyMatching(). However, SecItemCopyMatching() does not work for keys which are not in keychains, as for example public keys found in certificates, received over the wire and imported, or ephemeral keypairs generated for the duration of a session.

Expected Results:

It's not clear to me whether SecItemCopyMatching() is even *supposed* to work here or not--- the documentation is too vague, and the implementation is too buggy (see RADAR 10155924 etc) to tell what its intended behavior is.

Notes:

I'd really strongly suggest replacing SecItemCopyMatching() with a better-designed API.

Comments


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