- NAME
- SYNOPSIS
- DESCRIPTION
- OPTIONS
  - Output
- NOTES
- EXAMPLES
- BUGS
- SEE ALSO
- COPYRIGHT

# NAME

asn1parse - ASN.1 parsing tool

# SYNOPSIS

gmssl asn1parse [-help] [-inform PEM|DER] [-in filename] [-out filename] [-noout] [-offset number] [-length number] [-i] [-oid filename] [-dump] [-dlimit num] [-strparse offset] [-genstr string] [-genconf file] [-strictpem]

# DESCRIPTION

The asn1parse command is a diagnostic utility that can parse ASN.1 structures. It can also be used to extract data from ASN.1 formatted data.

# OPTIONS

-help

  Print out a usage message.

-inform DER|PEM

  the input format. DER is binary format and PEM (the default) is base64 encoded.

-in filename

  the input file, default is standard input

-out filename

  output file to place the DER encoded data into. If this option is not present then no data will be output. This is most useful when combined with the -strparse option.

-noout

  don't output the parsed version of the input file.

-offset number

  starting offset to begin parsing, default is start of file.

-length number

  number of bytes to parse, default is until end of file.

-i

  indents the output according to the "depth" of the structures.

-oid filename

  a file containing additional OBJECT IDENTIFIERs (OIDs). The format of this file is described in the NOTES section below.

-dump

  dump unknown data in hex format.

-dlimit num

  like -dump, but only the first num bytes are output.

-strparse offset

  parse the contents octets of the ASN.1 object starting at offset. This option can be used multiple times to "drill down" into a nested structure.

-genstr string, -genconf file

  generate encoded data based on string, file or both using -strictpem

  If this option is used then -inform will be ignored. Without this option any data in a PEM format input file will be treated as being base64 encoded and processed whether it has the normal PEM BEGIN and END markers or not. This option will ignore any data prior to the start of the BEGIN marker, or after an END marker in a PEM file.

## Output

The output will typically contain lines like this:

      0:d=0  hl=4 l= 681 cons: SEQUENCE

.....

      229:d=3  hl=3 l= 141 prim: BIT STRING
      373:d=2  hl=3 l= 162 cons: cont [ 3 ]
      376:d=3  hl=3 l= 159 cons: SEQUENCE
      379:d=4  hl=2 l=  29 cons: SEQUENCE
      381:d=5  hl=2 l=   3 prim: OBJECT            :X509v3 Subject Key Identifier
      386:d=5  hl=2 l=  22 prim: OCTET STRING
      410:d=4  hl=2 l= 112 cons: SEQUENCE
      412:d=5  hl=2 l=   3 prim: OBJECT            :X509v3 Authority Key Identifier
      417:d=5  hl=2 l= 105 prim: OCTET STRING
      524:d=4  hl=2 l=  12 cons: SEQUENCE

.....

This example is part of a self-signed certificate. Each line starts with the offset in decimal. d=XX specifies the current depth. The depth is increased within the scope of any SET or SEQUENCE. hl=XX gives the header length (tag and length octets) of the current type. l=XX gives the length of the contents octets.

The -i option can be used to make the output more readable.

Some knowledge of the ASN.1 structure is needed to interpret the output.

In this example the BIT STRING at offset 229 is the certificate public key. The contents octets of this will contain the public key information. This can be examined using the option -strparse 229 to yield:

        0:d=0  hl=3 l= 137 cons: SEQUENCE
        3:d=1  hl=3 l= 129 prim: INTEGER           :E5D21E1F5C8D208EA7A2166C7FAF9F6BDF2059669C60876DDB70840F1A5AAFA59699FE471F379F1DD6A487E7D5409AB6A88D4A9746E24B91D8CF55DB3521015460C8EDE44EE8A4189F7A7BE77D6CD3A9AF2696F486855CF58BF0EDF2B4068058C7A947F52548DDF7E15E96B385F86422BEA9064A3EE9E1158A56E4A6F47E5897
      135:d=1  hl=2 l=   3 prim: INTEGER           :010001

# NOTES

If an OID is not part of GmSSL's internal table it will be represented in numerical form (for example 1.2.3.4). The file passed to the -oid option allows additional OIDs to be included. Each line consists of three columns, the first column is the OID in numerical format and should be followed by white space. The second column is the "short name" which is a single word followed by white space. The final column is the rest of the line and is the "long name". asn1parse displays the long name. Example:

`1.2.3.4 shortName A long name`

# EXAMPLES

Parse a file:

     gmssl asn1parse -in file.pem

Parse a DER file:

     gmssl asn1parse -inform DER -in file.der

Generate a simple UTF8String:

     gmssl asn1parse -genstr 'UTF8:Hello World'

Generate and write out a UTF8String, don't print parsed output:

     gmssl asn1parse -genstr 'UTF8:Hello World' -noout -out utf8.der

Generate using a config file:

     gmssl asn1parse -genconf asn1.cnf -noout -out asn1.der

Example config file:

     asn1=SEQUENCE:seq_sect

     [seq_sect]

     field1=BOOL:TRUE
     field2=EXP:0, UTF8:some random string

# BUGS

There should be options to change the format of output lines. The output of some ASN.1 types is not well handled (if at all).

# SEE ALSO

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2000-2016 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the GmSSL license (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html.