I have a keypair. How do I determine the key length?

Question

Using OpenSSL from the command line in Linux, is there some way to examine a key (either public or private) to determine the key size?

There are many different ways depending on the format of the keypair. Were you looking at a specific format?

MikeyB · Answer 1 · 2011-10-27 20:22:53Z

up vote 7 down vote accepted

openssl rsa -in private.key -text -noout

The top line of the output will display the key size.

For example:

Private-Key: (2048 bit)

To view the key size from a certificate:

$ openssl x509 -in public.pem -text -noout | grep "RSA Public Key"
RSA Public Key: (2048 bit)

MikeyB
16.1k22463

answered Oct 27 '11 at 19:45

	And if he is using DSA, or something else. How about determining the key size from the public key(cert). – Zoredache Oct 27 '11 at 19:51
	@Zoredache Yeah - I could have sworn the question said "private key" specifically; either I'm losing it or an edit beat the 5 minute timer. – Shane Madden Oct 27 '11 at 20:13

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Adrien P. · Answer 2 · 2011-10-27 19:50:14Z

up vote 2 down vote

The first (2048) is the bit length of the key:

 $ ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/rsa_key.pub 
 2048 91:1c:ae:17:16:...

answered Oct 27 '11 at 19:50

He said 'openssl', not 'openssh'. – MikeyB Oct 27 '11 at 20:46

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2 Answers