PKCS#11 Explorer

By Sarah Dean and Oliver Taylor
Last updated: 12th April 2009

Description
Download
Notes
License
TODO List
Known Bugs
Appendix A: Version History

Description

PKCS#11 Explorer is a tool for examining the contents of PKCS#11 tokens (e.g. USB tokens and smartcards), and for carrying out various simple operations on them, including (but not limited to):

Set and change PINs
List all slots offered by PKCS#11 interface
Show all objects stored
Create test keys
Create data objects, view existing objects and all their properties
Copy objects, set labels
Seed and generate random data
Initialize tokens
Monitor token insertion/removal
Show all mechanisms supported (including their properties)

It is intended that this application will allow users to gain a better understanding of PKCS#11 tokens and how they operate, and to act as a straightforward testbed and demonstration of the Delphi PKCS#11 software included as part of the SDeanComponents package.

This is on ongoing project; if you would like to see functionality included which isn't already present - please get in touch!

Please email any bug reports, feature requests, comments, etc to me at sdean12@sdean12.org

The latest version can be found at: http://www.SDean12.org/

Download

Download latest stable PKCS#11 Explorer package, including full source code. (If you would like to build your own copy of this software from the source, please see also Delphi Components to download the library packages required.)

Hashes and PGP signatures of the software, as downloaded, are available here

Notes

Please, do read the documentation in this file before emailing me! I know it's not much, and only really covers the basics, but...
To use PKCS#11 Explorer:
1. Run PKCS11Explorer.exe
2. Type in the PKCS#11 library (.DLL file) to be used in the top left of the main window (e.g. etpkcs11.dll for Aladdin eTokens). A non-exhaustive list of PKCS#11 libraries used by most token suppliers can be found in the FreeOTFE documentation
3. Click "Load" to load the library.
At this point, the library specified will be loaded, and the tree view on the left will be populated. Navigating through the tree view will show all slots found, together with any tokens inserted and objects stored on them. The display to the right of the treeview shows the properties of the selected item.
To login to a token, select the token in the tree view, rightclick to display the context menu and select "Login...". After logging into a token, additional objects, etc which become accessable will be added beneath the token.
By selecting on different items shown in the tree view, the context menu shown on rightclicking the selected node will change depending on what's been selected - giving functionality to create data objects, keys, etc.
Note: The key generation functionality currently creates keys with hardcoded properties, and is currently only included for demonstration purposes.
Pretty much everything in PKCS#11 Explorer works as it seems, so I won't go into too much detail as to how everything works. Besides, who reads manuals anyway? ;) Anything you're not too sure of, just make an educated guess; you'll probably be right!

License

This software is released under the same licence as the SDeanComponents Delphi components.

TODO List

Any suggestions?

Known Bugs

None known of at present

Appendix A: Version History

v1.00 (12th April 2009)

Initial release

Email me at: sdean12@sdean12.org

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