Home Contents | # ssl:loadKeyData | Cipher/SSL | Core4 Lua Commands

## SYNOPSIS

1. ok, err, errcode = ssl:loadKeyData(data)
2. ok, err, errcode = ssl:loadKeyFile(filename)

## DESCRIPTION

The private key pair is used together with a local certificate for proper authentication.

The key must be kept secure and must never become public, as this compromises security.

The system can load a RSA key in X509 PEM or BER format. DSA keys are not supported.

For web applications, typically only servers use a local certificate and private key.

The function ssl:loadKeyData() loads the certificate from the data passed in a string variable.

The second function, ssl:loadKeyFile() instead loads the certificate directly from a file.

It is recommended to always load the key directly from a file. If it is passed through a lua string, the private key may linger in memory until Lua does a garbage collection and reuses the memory. This makes the key prone to hacking attempts.

Note that for security reasons, there is no function to read back the key.

## RETURN VALUE

The loading functions return true on success.

In case of an error they return three values: nil, a string describing the error and a negative error code from the underlying PolarSSL implementation.

## SEE ALSO

cipher.ssl(), ssl:loadCertData(), ssl:loadCertFile(), ssl:getCertInfo(), ssl:loadCAData(), ssl:loadCAFile(), ssl:loadCADir(), ssl:getCAInfo()