Thursday, July 05, 2012

Using openssl to generate HMAC using a binary key

If you want to do a quick command-line generation of a HMAC, then the openssl command is useful.
For example:
# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -sha1 -hmac 'key'
(stdin)= 57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -md5 -hmac 'key'
(stdin)= 01433efd5f16327ea4b31144572c67f6

...or alternatively...
# echo -n 'value' | openssl sha1 -hmac 'key'
(stdin)= 57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

# echo -n 'value' | openssl md5 -hmac 'key'
(stdin)= 01433efd5f16327ea4b31144572c67f6

Reference:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7285059/hmac-sha1-in-bash

BUT, note in the above commands, the 'value' and 'key' are ascii strings. The above syntax is problematic if you want to specify a Binary value for the key, which does not correspond to printable characters.

This had been a problem reported in the past:
http://www.mail-archive.com/openssl-users@openssl.org/msg49098.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/openssl-users@openssl.org/msg49100.html

But I can report here, that certainly with openssl v1.0.0, the following method allows you to specify a binary key, by passing it as a string of hex values.

To demonstate the point, let's get the hex string equivalent of the three character acsii string 'key', so that we can use the same hashes as in the examples above. To do this, I use utility 'xxd' which does a hexdump. (For further information on 'xdd' see my previous blog posts.)

# echo -n 'key' | xxd -p
6b6579

Ok, so the hex-string "6b6579" corresponds to ascii string "key".

So after reading up the man page for 'openssl dgst', we try a further alternate form of the command, like this:

# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -sha1 -mac HMAC -macopt key:key
(stdin)= 57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -sha1 -mac HMAC -macopt hexkey:6b6579
(stdin)= 57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -md5 -mac HMAC -macopt key:key
(stdin)= 01433efd5f16327ea4b31144572c67f6

# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -md5 -mac HMAC -macopt hexkey:6B6579
(stdin)= 01433efd5f16327ea4b31144572c67f6

Note the use of the '-macopt hexkey:string' option which allows you to specify the key in hexadecimal (two hex digits per byte).

Nice! So now we can do something like this:

# echo -n '55f80d132e8b68eb' | xxd -r -p | openssl dgst -sha1 -mac HMAC -macopt key:645a487340f4c7f0
(stdin)= 2f0928b4bb365b4a590d84960a7cd04fd2d80221

I hope to show a practical use of the above in a future blog post!

Finally, I will just confirm some details of the system that gave the above output:

# rpm -qa | grep openssl
openssl-1.0.0-20.el6_2.5.x86_64

# cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS release 6.2 (Final)

By the way, if your wondering about the '(stdin)= ' that openssl is outputing, then see my previous blog post on this subject.

Convert a Hex dump to Binary data with xxd

In my last blog post, I demonstarted how to dump a binary file, using either 'hexdump' or 'xxd'.
In summary, we can do this:
# ls -l hash-file.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20 Jul 4 10:05 hash-file.bin
# xxd -p hash-file.bin
57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

Ok, what if we want to do the reverse of this.
That is to take a string of hex characters and create a binary file!
The utility 'xxd' can also do this.

To demonstrate, lets first save the hex representation into a separate file:

# xxd -p hash-file.bin > hash-file.hex
# ls -l hash-file.hex
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 41 Jul 4 12:04 hash-file.hex
# cat hash-file.hex
57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

Ok, here's the clever part. Note we now pass the '-r' option to xdd to 'reverse' it's operation.
# xxd -p -r hash-file.hex > new-file.bin
# ls -l new-file.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20 Jul 4 12:19 new-file.bin
# xxd -p new-file.bin
57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319
# cmp hash-file.bin new-file.bin
#

So we recreated the binary file, as 'new-file.bin' from the hex dump and we proved it is identical to the file we started with.

You can also feed into xdd from the pipeline, like this:

# cat hash-file.hex | xxd -p -r > new-file.bin
# xxd -p new-file.bin
57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

..and here are some more examples:
# echo -n 'password' | xxd -p | xxd -p -r | hexdump -C
00000000  70 61 73 73 77 6f 72 64                           |password|
00000008

# echo -n 'c0a06003' | xxd -p -r | hexdump -C
00000000  c0 a0 60 03                                       |..`.|
00000004

hexdump and xxd output compared

Here I'm working with a Centos Linux system, and I've found two seperate utility programs that can produced a hex dump. One is called hexdump and the other is xxd, and they are provided as part of two seperate packages.
# which hexdump
/usr/bin/hexdump
# rpm -qf /usr/bin/hexdump
util-linux-2.13-0.59.el5

# which xxd
/usr/bin/xxd
# rpm -qf /usr/bin/xxd
vim-common-7.0.109-7.el5

Ok, so lets compare the output format of the hex dump with these utilities. But first we need some test data, which I'm going to generate with 'openssl'. Conveniently, openssl can output the data in either hex (the default) or binary.

# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -sha1 -hmac "key"
57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319
# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -sha1 -hmac "key" -binary > hash-file.bin
# ls -l hash-file.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20 Jul 4 10:05 hash-file.bin

So we have our test data in a file called 'hash-file.bin'. It's 20 bytes long as it contains a 160 bit sha1 hash. Ok, let's try dumping that file and see what we get:
# hexdump hash-file.bin
0000000 4457 4c3a 2305 a450 3846 5d83 fd64 8266
0000010 812f 1933
0000014

# xxd hash-file.bin
0000000: 5744 3a4c 0523 50a4 4638 835d 64fd 6682  WD:L.#P.F8.]d.f.
0000010: 2f81 3319                                /.3.

Um, interesting!
Note the default output is grouping the bytes into 16-bit values and there is a difference in how to interpret the endianness.

Let's try customizing the output with some options:

# hexdump -C hash-file.bin
00000000  57 44 3a 4c 05 23 50 a4  46 38 83 5d 64 fd 66 82  |WD:L.#P.F8.]d.f.|
00000010  2f 81 33 19                                       |/.3.|
00000014

# xxd -g 1 hash-file.bin
0000000: 57 44 3a 4c 05 23 50 a4 46 38 83 5d 64 fd 66 82  WD:L.#P.F8.]d.f.
0000010: 2f 81 33 19                                      /.3.

# xxd -p hash-file.bin
57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

So this is 'better' for seeing the byte sequence.

Openssl and the "(stndin)= " prefix

Recently, I've been playing around with the openssl utility. Doing things like this:
# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -sha1 -hmac 'key'
57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

# rpm -qa | grep openssl
openssl-0.9.8e-22.el5_8.3

# cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS release 5.8 (Final)

Note that I show the version and operating system I'm using. Here's why. Look at the following:
# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -sha1 -hmac 'key'
(stdin)= 57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

# rpm -qa | grep openssl
openssl-1.0.0-20.el6_2.5.x86_64

# cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS release 6.2 (Final)

So on a more recent system, openssl has prefixed it's output with "(stndin)= ".
I'm not finding this particularly helpful for my application.
One workaround, suggested here, is to use sed to remove it, like this:
# echo -n 'value' | openssl dgst -sha1 -hmac 'key' | sed 's/^.*= //'
57443a4c052350a44638835d64fd66822f813319

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Comparing RPM packages installed on two hosts, without using temporary files

When setting up a new Linux server, it's often interesting to compare the list of packages that are installed on the new server, with the list of packages installed on an existing server. You can use the following command line, which makes use of Bash supports for process substitution, to show the difference between packages installed on the local host and on the remote host.
 # ssh root@remotehost 'rpm -qa | sort' | diff -u <(rpm -qa | sort) -


If the above command gives no output, it means that the two hosts have identical packages installed.

If you want to disregard the package version differences in the comparison, then you will need to use something like this:

 # ssh root@remotehost 'rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}\n" | sort' | diff -u <(rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}\n" | sort) -

Update(2013-07-02):
Following Paul Waterman's comment, I did try out his rpmscomp Perl script, and I did find it useful. So I would recommend you also give it a try:

https://github.com/pdwaterman/rpmscomp

Also, to help in removing packages, I have found the rpmreader package useful:

https://fedorahosted.org/rpmreaper/

Friday, May 11, 2012

Moving old Nokia ringtones to the Apple iPhone

For the last seven years, I have used the 'bach' ringtone on my old Nokia 6230i. Now I have an iPhone 4s, I wanted the option of using the same ring tone. What follows is the procedure I used. I did this all on a Windows PC, but I believe you can also use 'faac' on Linux. Note that this procedure is 'free'.

I download the Nokia 6230i ringtone "Bach.aac" from here:

http://meramob.com/filedownload/2011/41824/Bach.html

I used this online service...

http://media.io/

... to convert the "Bach.aac" to "Bach.wav".

I then downloaded "FAACv1.28 Binary for Win32" as file "faac-1.28-mod.zip" from this site:

http://www.rarewares.org/aac-encoders.php

..and unziped the archive to extract binary executable "faac.exe".

Here is the 'help' for faac:

C:\Temp>faac.exe --help
Freeware Advanced Audio Coder
FAAC 1.28

Usage: faac.exe [options] infiles ...
Options:
-q Set quantizer quality.
-b Set average bitrate to x kbps. (ABR, lower quality mode)
-c Set the bandwidth in Hz. (default=automatic)
-o X Set output file to X (only for one input file)
-r Use RAW AAC output file.
-P Raw PCM input mode (default 44100Hz 16bit stereo).
-R Raw PCM input rate.
-B Raw PCM input sample size (8, 16 (default), 24 or 32bits).
-C Raw PCM input channels.
-X Raw PCM swap input bytes
-I Input channel config, default is 3,4 (Center third, LF fourth)

MP4 specific options:
-w Wrap AAC data in MP4 container. (default for *.mp4 and *.m4a)
-s Optimize MP4 container layout after encoding
--artist X Set artist to X
--writer X Set writer to X
--title X Set title to X
--genre X Set genre to X
--album X Set album to X
--compilation Set compilation
--track X Set track to X (number/total)
--disc X Set disc to X (number/total)
--year X Set year to X
--cover-art X Read cover art from file X
--comment X Set comment to X

Documentation:
--license Show the FAAC license.
--help Show this abbreviated help.
--long-help Show complete help.

More tips can be found in the audiocoding.com Knowledge Base at
http://www.audiocoding.com/wiki/

I then used this command line to convert the WAV file to a M4A file:

C:\Temp>faac.exe -b 128 -c 44100 -w Bach.wav
Freeware Advanced Audio Coder
FAAC 1.28

Average bitrate: 128 kbps
Quantization quality: 100
Bandwidth: 16000 Hz
Object type: Low Complexity(MPEG-4) + M/S
Container format: MPEG-4 File Format (MP4)
Encoding Bach.wav to Bach.m4a
frame | bitrate | elapsed/estim | play/CPU | ETA
403/403 (100%)| 74.8 | 0.4/0.4 | 29.51x | 0.0

Note that I used the "-w" option so that the AAC data stream was 'wrapped' in a MP4 container.

I then renamed "Bach.m4a" to "Bach.m4r".
(Note the M4R extension is used to identify the file as a ringtone.)

And I then dragged and dropped the "Bach.m4r" file into the iTunes library.
(If iTunes fails to accept the dropped file, it means that file is not in the correct format.)

Then I synced the ringtone to the iPhone.

The following pages provided inspiration for the above:

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Query your Switch using SNMP and Linux

So you want to query a switch using snmp to see which MACs are being seen on which ports. In that case you will need the BRIDGE-MIB. On Centos-5 it is supplied, but as part of the 'libsmi' package.

# rpm -qa | egrep 'libsmi|net-snmp' | sort
libsmi-0.4.5-2.el5
net-snmp-5.3.2.2-14.el5_7.1
net-snmp-libs-5.3.2.2-14.el5_7.1
net-snmp-utils-5.3.2.2-14.el5_7.1

So you need to create file '/etc/snmp/snmp.conf' and configure as follows:

# cat /etc/snmp/snmp.conf
mibdirs +/usr/share/mibs/ietf

Then you should have success with the following command.
Remember to use the correct community string - by default its usually 'public'.
And the mib object name IS case sensitive.

# snmptable -v1 -c public -Cbw 80 192.168.24.1 -IR BRIDGE-MIB::dot1dTpFdbTable
SNMP table: BRIDGE-MIB::dot1dTpFdbTable

Address Port Status
0:c:29:45:21:9e 24 learned
0:c:29:79:6c:73 24 learned
0:12:3f:c3:9d:7b 19 learned
0:14:38:a2:70:7e 15 learned
0:14:5e:68:74:ed 17 learned
0:1b:78:22:bc:30 21 learned
0:26:55:e7:5b:f4 27 learned
0:50:56:a7:61:32 22 learned
64:31:50:cd:c7:0 0 self
9c:8e:99:19:99:a6 23 learned
9c:8e:99:c4:46:56 13 learned
c8:4c:75:90:f:e0 28 learned

Status 'self' or 'mgmt' is the MAC of the switch itself - used for the management connection.


If you have a modular switch, you may want to check the logical to physical port name mapping, as show next. If you just have a simple switch, the port names are usually boring!


# snmpwalk -v1 -c public 192.168.24.1 -IR IF-MIB::ifName | head -n 5
IF-MIB::ifName.1 = STRING: 1
IF-MIB::ifName.2 = STRING: 2
IF-MIB::ifName.3 = STRING: 3
IF-MIB::ifName.4 = STRING: 4
IF-MIB::ifName.5 = STRING: 5

Before you run the above commands, it may be useful to ping every host on your subnet, just so that the switch has seen everything. You can use 'nmap' for that:

# nmap -n -sP 192.168.24.0/24

Good luck with the above. I've often found these command very useful!