What is Pkcs11Admin?
Pkcs11Admin is an open source command line utility for managing PKCS#11 modules. PKCS#11 is a platform-independent API for communication with cryptographic tokens like hardware security modules, smart cards, and USB cryptographic tokens.
Pkcs11Admin allows administrators and developers to manage PKCS#11 tokens by viewing information about token slots, tokens, objects on tokens like keys and certificates, and more. Key features include:
- Listing details about available PKCS#11 modules and slots
- Viewing metadata like labels and IDs for tokens and objects on tokens
- Creating private keys on hardware tokens
- Importing X.509 v3 certificates to token slots
- Setting PINs and other attributes for tokens
- Deleting objects from tokens
Pkcs11Admin provides a simple interface for managing complex PKCS#11 devices. It simplifies tasks like importing existing SSL certificates to a new HSM device, resetting PINs on smart cards, and creating new keys directly on hardware tokens for enhanced security.
The utility is included with products like OpenSSL and runs on Linux and Windows. It's targeted at developers integrating hardware cryptography as well as system administrators that need to provision and manage cryptographic tokens.
xca - X Certificate and Key management, Cardpeek, Verisign, EJBCA, Smallstep Certificates, Dogtag Certificate System, CertHat - Tools for Microsoft PKI, OpenXPKI, AppViewX CERT+, PKI.js are some alternatives to Pkcs11Admin.