`crypto.createPrivateKey` no longer throws `TypeError` for missing passphrase

[westrik]

Version

v17.9.1

Platform

Darwin mattw-2.local 21.6.0 Darwin Kernel Version 21.6.0: Thu Jun 8 23:56:13 PDT 2023; root:xnu-8020.240.18.701.6~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000 arm64

Subsystem

crypto

What steps will reproduce the bug?

const key = `-----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----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-----END ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----`

require('crypto').createPrivateKey({ key })

Private key generated with:

• openssl genrsa -aes256 -out key.pem -passout pass:password 2048

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

This issue seems to happen for any encrypted key with a missing passphrase.

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

Expected createPrivateKey to throw TypeError: Passphrase required for encrypted key (ERR_MISSING_PASSPHRASE).

This is the error thrown by Node 16.14.2 when running that code:

node:internal/crypto/keys:620
    handle.init(kKeyTypePrivate, data, format, type, passphrase);
           ^

TypeError: Passphrase required for encrypted key
    at Object.createPrivateKey (node:internal/crypto/keys:620:12)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/matt/repro.js:38:19)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1191:14)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1245:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1069:32)
    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:904:12)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:81:12)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:22:47 {
  code: 'ERR_MISSING_PASSPHRASE'
}

What do you see instead?

createPrivateKey throws ERR_OSSL_CRYPTO_INTERRUPTED_OR_CANCELLED instead of ERR_MISSING_PASSPHRASE .

node:internal/crypto/keys:618
    handle.init(kKeyTypePrivate, data, format, type, passphrase);
           ^

Error: error:07880109:common libcrypto routines::interrupted or cancelled
    at Object.createPrivateKey (node:internal/crypto/keys:618:12)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/matt/repro.js:38:19)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1099:14)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1153:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:975:32)
    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:822:12)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:77:12)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:17:47 {
  opensslErrorStack: [
    'error:04800068:PEM routines::bad password read',
    'error:07880109:common libcrypto routines::interrupted or cancelled',
    'error:1C80009F:Provider routines::unable to get passphrase',
    'error:07880109:common libcrypto routines::interrupted or cancelled'
  ],
  library: 'common libcrypto routines',
  reason: 'interrupted or cancelled',
  code: 'ERR_OSSL_CRYPTO_INTERRUPTED_OR_CANCELLED'
}

Node.js v17.9.1

Same thing happens with Node.js v18.17.0.

Additional information

The code path that should be throwing the TypeError still exists: https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/v18.17.0/src/crypto/crypto_keys.cc#L828C26-L828C49, so it seems like maybe the OpenSSL upgrade changed which ParseKeyResult gets returned.

[bnoordhuis]

Can reproduce with v19.x and v20.x. Seems like a backwards incompatible change in openssl 3.0.

Node's PasswordCallback returns -1 when no passphrase is provided and that's the right return value according to openssl's documentation, but openssl then turns it into that "interrupted or cancelled" error.

Returning 0 makes it return a "ui lib" error, although I'd hardly call that an improvement.

Probably needs to be reported upstream because I don't think this is something that node controls.

One minor weird thing is that our password callback is called twice for your test case:

* thread #1, queue = 'com.apple.main-thread', stop reason = breakpoint 1.1
  * frame #0: 0x000000010022ce90 node`node::crypto::PasswordCallback(char*, int, int, void*)
    frame #1: 0x0000000100f6ff2d node`ui_read + 141                                                                                                                                   frame #2: 0x0000000100f6eb62 node`UI_process + 290
    frame #3: 0x0000000100f11e65 node`ossl_pw_get_passphrase + 1221
    frame #4: 0x0000000100f12040 node`ossl_pw_pem_password + 112
    frame #5: 0x0000000100f6ff2d node`ui_read + 141
    frame #6: 0x0000000100f6eb62 node`UI_process + 290
    frame #7: 0x0000000100f11e65 node`ossl_pw_get_passphrase + 1221
    frame #8: 0x0000000100fbd43c node`epki2pki_decode + 284
    frame #9: 0x0000000100eb142c node`decoder_process + 924
    frame #10: 0x0000000100fbe2ec node`pem2der_decode + 1164
    frame #11: 0x0000000100eb142c node`decoder_process + 924
    frame #12: 0x0000000100eb0f68 node`OSSL_DECODER_from_bio + 296
    frame #13: 0x0000000100f2d19c node`pem_read_bio_key + 332
    frame #14: 0x0000000100f2d97a node`PEM_read_bio_PrivateKey + 26
    frame #15: 0x000000010023a945 node`node::crypto::(anonymous namespace)::ParsePrivateKey(std::__1::unique_ptr<evp_pkey_st, node::FunctionDeleter<evp_pkey_st, &(EVP_PKEY_free)>
 >*, node::crypto::PrivateKeyEncodingConfig const&, char const*, unsigned long) + 101                                                                                                 frame #16: 0x000000010023a720 node`node::crypto::ManagedEVPPKey::GetPrivateKeyFromJs(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&, unsigned int*, bool) + 464
    frame #17: 0x000000010023bf2d node`node::crypto::KeyObjectHandle::Init(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&) + 461
    frame #18: 0x00000001002ff958 node`v8::internal::MaybeHandle<v8::internal::Object> v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::HandleApiCallHelper<false>(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8:
:internal::Handle<v8::internal::HeapObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::FunctionTemplateInfo>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, unsigned long*, int) + 856
    frame #19: 0x00000001002fef1a node`v8::internal::Builtin_HandleApiCall(int, unsigned long*, v8::internal::Isolate*) + 186

Vs.

* thread #1, queue = 'com.apple.main-thread', stop reason = breakpoint 1.1
  * frame #0: 0x000000010022ce90 node`node::crypto::PasswordCallback(char*, int, int, void*)
    frame #1: 0x0000000100f6ff2d node`ui_read + 141
    frame #2: 0x0000000100f6eb62 node`UI_process + 290
    frame #3: 0x0000000100f11e65 node`ossl_pw_get_passphrase + 1221                                                                                                                   frame #4: 0x0000000100f12040 node`ossl_pw_pem_password + 112
    frame #5: 0x0000000100f2d53b node`pem_read_bio_key + 1259
    frame #6: 0x0000000100f2d97a node`PEM_read_bio_PrivateKey + 26
    frame #7: 0x000000010023a945 node`node::crypto::(anonymous namespace)::ParsePrivateKey(std::__1::unique_ptr<evp_pkey_st, node::FunctionDeleter<evp_pkey_st, &(EVP_PKEY_free)>
>*, node::crypto::PrivateKeyEncodingConfig const&, char const*, unsigned long) + 101
    frame #8: 0x000000010023a720 node`node::crypto::ManagedEVPPKey::GetPrivateKeyFromJs(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&, unsigned int*, bool) + 464
    frame #9: 0x000000010023bf2d node`node::crypto::KeyObjectHandle::Init(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&) + 461
    frame #10: 0x00000001002ff958 node`v8::internal::MaybeHandle<v8::internal::Object> v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::HandleApiCallHelper<false>(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8:
:internal::Handle<v8::internal::HeapObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::FunctionTemplateInfo>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, unsigned long*, int) + 856
    frame #11: 0x00000001002fef1a node`v8::internal::Builtin_HandleApiCall(int, unsigned long*, v8::internal::Isolate*) + 186

Note how the call stack diverges starting from pem_read_bio_key.

[RaisinTen]

I remember trying to fix this in #42400 but i discontinued it

[jasnell]

Given that 17.x is no longer supported and this behavior has been around for a while now, closing this in inactionable.