CryptoAPI problem -> decrypt possible with wrong key?

From:
"Meier Rudolf" <meiru@gmx.net>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.language
Date:
Wed, 19 Jul 2006 23:59:47 +0200
Message-ID:
<#PE3n63qGHA.2448@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl>
Hi

I wrote a little program that shows my problem. What I want to do is 0)
generate a pair of RSA keys (private, public). 1) encrypt some text with the
public key and 2) decrypt it with the private key... now, that works fine.
But then I tryed something else... I tryed to use the public key for
decrypting the data (which shouldn't work, as far as I know... but currently
I'm a bit confused... anyway). So I expected an error when decrypting with
the public key... but... it worked... can someone explain me this?

thanks
MR - Rudolf Meier

Here's my code:

CWinApp theApp;

using namespace std;

#include <wincrypt.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "Crypt32.lib")

#include <conio.h>

int _tmain(int argc, TCHAR* argv[], TCHAR* envp[])

{

int nRetCode = 0;

// MFC initialisieren und drucken. Bei Fehlschlag Fehlermeldung aufrufen.

if (!AfxWinInit(::GetModuleHandle(NULL), NULL, ::GetCommandLine(), 0))

{

// TODO: Den Fehlercode an Ihre Anforderungen anpassen.

_tprintf(_T("Schwerwiegender Fehler bei der MFC-Initialisierung\n"));

nRetCode = 1;

}

else

{

printf("[0] generate keys - [1] encrypt - [2] decrypt\n");

BOOL bResult; DWORD dwError;

BYTE* pbBuffer = new BYTE[1024];

DWORD cbBuffer = 1024;

HANDLE hFile = NULL;

HCRYPTPROV hCryptProv;

bResult = CryptAcquireContext(&hCryptProv, NULL, MS_ENHANCED_PROV,
PROV_RSA_FULL, 0); dwError = GetLastError();

if (!bResult) printf("error\n");

switch(getch())

{

case '0':

{

HCRYPTKEY hKey;

bResult = CryptGenKey(hCryptProv, CALG_RSA_KEYX, CRYPT_EXPORTABLE |
AT_KEYEXCHANGE, &hKey); dwError = GetLastError();

cbBuffer = 1024;

bResult = CryptExportKey(hKey, NULL, PRIVATEKEYBLOB, 0, pbBuffer,
&cbBuffer); dwError = GetLastError();

hFile = CreateFile("C:\\private_key.dat", GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL,
CREATE_ALWAYS, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);

WriteFile(hFile, pbBuffer, cbBuffer, &cbBuffer, NULL);

CloseHandle(hFile);

cbBuffer = 1024;

bResult = CryptExportKey(hKey, NULL, PUBLICKEYBLOB, 0, pbBuffer, &cbBuffer);
dwError = GetLastError();

hFile = CreateFile("C:\\public_key.dat", GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL,
CREATE_ALWAYS, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);

WriteFile(hFile, pbBuffer, cbBuffer, &cbBuffer, NULL);

CloseHandle(hFile);

bResult = CryptDestroyKey(hKey); dwError = GetLastError();

}

break;

case '1':

{

hFile = CreateFile("C:\\public_key.dat", GENERIC_READ, 0, NULL,
OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);

ReadFile(hFile, pbBuffer, 1024, &cbBuffer, NULL);

CloseHandle(hFile);

HCRYPTKEY hKey;

bResult = CryptImportKey(hCryptProv, pbBuffer, cbBuffer, NULL,
CRYPT_EXPORTABLE | AT_KEYEXCHANGE, &hKey); dwError = GetLastError();

strcpy((char *)pbBuffer, "testtext");

cbBuffer = strlen((char *)pbBuffer) + 1;

bResult = CryptEncrypt(hKey, NULL, TRUE, 0, pbBuffer, &cbBuffer, 1024);

hFile = CreateFile("C:\\encrypted_data.dat", GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL,
CREATE_ALWAYS, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);

WriteFile(hFile, pbBuffer, cbBuffer, &cbBuffer, NULL);

CloseHandle(hFile);

bResult = CryptDestroyKey(hKey); dwError = GetLastError();

}

break;

case '2':

{

hFile = CreateFile("C:\\public_key.dat", GENERIC_READ, 0, NULL,
OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);

// should generate an error, because I'm loading the public_key to decrypt!!
should not work!!

ReadFile(hFile, pbBuffer, 1024, &cbBuffer, NULL);

CloseHandle(hFile);

HCRYPTKEY hKey;

bResult = CryptImportKey(hCryptProv, pbBuffer, cbBuffer, NULL,
CRYPT_EXPORTABLE | AT_KEYEXCHANGE, &hKey); dwError = GetLastError();

hFile = CreateFile("C:\\encrypted_data.dat", GENERIC_READ, 0, NULL,
OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);

ReadFile(hFile, pbBuffer, 1024, &cbBuffer, NULL);

CloseHandle(hFile);

bResult = CryptDecrypt(hKey, NULL, TRUE, 0, pbBuffer, &cbBuffer);

bResult = (strcmp((char *)pbBuffer, "testtext") == 0);

printf("%s", (bResult ? "ok" : "error"));

bResult = CryptDestroyKey(hKey); dwError = GetLastError();

}

break;

default:

printf("wrong selection\n"); break;

}

bResult = CryptReleaseContext(hCryptProv, 0); dwError = GetLastError();

delete[] pbBuffer;

printf("\nfinished\n");

getch();

}

return nRetCode;

}

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