page.title=Android Keystore System
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<div id="tb-wrapper">
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<h2>In this document</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="#SecurityFeatures">Security Features</a></li>
<li><a href="#WhichShouldIUse">Choosing Between a Keychain or the Android Keystore Provider</a></li>
<li><a href="#UsingAndroidKeyStore">Using Android Keystore Provider</a>
<ol>
<li><a href="#GeneratingANewPrivateKey">Generating a New Private Key</a></li>
<li><a href="#WorkingWithKeyStoreEntries">Working with Keystore Entries</a></li>
<li><a href="#ListingEntries">Listing Entries</a></li>
<li><a href="#SigningAndVerifyingData">Signing and Verifying Data</a></li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><a href="#SupportedAlgorithms">Supported Algorithms</a></li>
</ol>
<h2>Blog articles</h2>
<ol>
<li><a
href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2012/03/unifying-key-store-access-in-ics.html">
<h4>Unifying Key Store Access in ICS</h4>
</a></li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
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<p>The Android Keystore system lets you store cryptographic keys in a container
to make it more difficult to extract from the device. Once keys are in the
keystore, they can be used for cryptographic operations with the key material
remaining non-exportable. Moreover, it offers facilities to restrict when and
how keys can be used, such as requiring user authentication for key use or
restricting keys to be used only in certain cryptographic modes. See
<a href="#SecurityFeatures">Security Features</a> section for more information.</p>
<p>The Keystore system is used by the {@link
android.security.KeyChain} API as well as the Android
Keystore provider feature that was introduced in Android 4.3
(API level 18). This document goes over when and how to use the
Android Keystore provider.</p>
<h2 id="SecurityFeatures">Security Features</h2>
Android Keystore system protects key material from unauthorized use. Firstly, Android Keystore
mitigates unauthorized use of key material outside of the Android device by preventing extraction of
the key material from application processes and from the Android device as a whole. Secondly,
Android KeyStore mitigates unauthorized use of key material on the Android device by making apps
specify authorized uses of their keys and then enforcing these restrictions outside of the apps'
processes.
<h3 id="ExtractionPrevention">Extraction Prevention</h3>
Key material of Android Keystore keys is protected from extraction using two security measures:
<ul>
<li>Key material never enters the application process. When an application performs cryptographic
operations using an Android Keystore key, behind the scenes plaintext, ciphertext, and messages to
be signed or verified are fed to a system process which carries out the cryptographic operations.
If the app's process is compromised, the attacker may be able to use the app's keys but will not
be able to extract their key material (for example, to be used outside of the Android device).
</li>
<li>Key material may be bound to the secure hardware (e.g., Trusted Execution Environment (TEE),
Secure Element (SE)) of the Android device. When this feature is enabled for a key, its key
material is never exposed outside of secure hardware. If the Android OS is compromised or an
attacker can read the device's internal storage, the attacker may be able to use any app's Android
Keystore keys on the Android device, but not extract them from the device. This feature is enabled
only if the device's secure hardware supports the particular combination of key algorithm, block
modes, padding schemes, and digests with which the key is authorized to be used. To check whether
the feature is enabled for a key, obtain a {@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo} for the key
and inspect the return value of
{@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo#isInsideSecureHardware() KeyInfo.isInsideSecurityHardware()}.
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="KeyUseAuthorizations">Key Use Authorizations</h3>
To mitigate unauthorized use of keys on the Android device, Android Keystore lets apps specify
authorized uses of their keys when generating or importing the keys. Once a key is generated or
imported, its authorizations can not be changed. Authorizations are then enforced by the Android
Keystore whenever the key is used. This is an advanced security feature which is generally useful
only if your requirements are that a compromise of your application process after key
generation/import (but not before or during) cannot lead to unauthorized uses of the key.
<p>Supported key use authorizations fall into the following categories:
<ul>
<li><em>cryptography</em>: authorized key algorithm, operations or purposes (encrypt, decrypt, sign,
verify), padding schemes, block modes, digests with which the key can be used;</li>
<li><em>temporal validity interval</em>: interval of time during which the key is authorized for
use;</li>
<li><em>user authentication</em>: the key can only be used if the user has been authenticated
recently enough. See <a href="#UserAuthentication">Requiring User Authentication For Key Use</a>.
</li>
</ul>
<p>As an additional security measure, for keys whose key material is inside secure hardware (see
{@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo#isInsideSecureHardware() KeyInfo.isInsideSecurityHardware()})
some key use authorizations may be enforced by secure hardware, depending on the Android device.
Cryptographic and user authentication authorizations are likely to be enforced by secure hardware.
Temporal validity interval authorizations are unlikely to be enforced by the secure hardware
because it normally does not have an independent secure real-time clock.
<p>Whether a key's user authentication authorization is enforced by the secure hardware can be
queried using
{@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo#isUserAuthenticationRequirementEnforcedBySecureHardware() KeyInfo.isUserAuthenticationRequirementEnforcedBySecureHardware()}.
<h2 id="WhichShouldIUse">Choosing Between a Keychain or the
Android Keystore Provider</h2>
<p>Use the {@link android.security.KeyChain} API when you want
system-wide credentials. When an app requests the use of any credential
through the {@link android.security.KeyChain} API, users get to
choose, through a system-provided UI, which of the installed credentials
an app can access. This allows several apps to use the
same set of credentials with user consent.</p>
<p>Use the Android Keystore provider to let an individual app store its own
credentials that only the app itself can access.
This provides a way for apps to manage credentials that are usable
only by itself while providing the same security benefits that the
{@link android.security.KeyChain} API provides for system-wide
credentials. This method requires no user interaction to select the credentials.</p>
<h2 id="UsingAndroidKeyStore">Using Android Keystore Provider</h2>
<p>
To use this feature, you use the standard {@link java.security.KeyStore}
and {@link java.security.KeyPairGenerator} or
{@link javax.crypto.KeyGenerator} classes along with the
{@code AndroidKeyStore} provider introduced in Android 4.3 (API level 18).</p>
<p>{@code AndroidKeyStore} is registered as a {@link
java.security.KeyStore} type for use with the {@link
java.security.KeyStore#getInstance(String) KeyStore.getInstance(type)}
method and as a provider for use with the {@link
java.security.KeyPairGenerator#getInstance(String, String)
KeyPairGenerator.getInstance(algorithm, provider)} and {@link
javax.crypto.KeyGenerator#getInstance(String, String)
KeyGenerator.getInstance(algorithm, provider)} methods.</p>
<h3 id="GeneratingANewPrivateKey">Generating a New Private Key</h3>
<p>Generating a new {@link java.security.PrivateKey} requires that
you also specify the initial X.509 attributes that the self-signed
certificate will have. You can use
{@link java.security.KeyStore#setKeyEntry(String, java.security.Key, char[], java.security.cert.Certificate[]) KeyStore.setKeyEntry}
to replace the certificate at a later time with a certificate signed
by a Certificate Authority (CA).</p>
<p>To generate the key, use a {@link java.security.KeyPairGenerator}
with {@link android.security.KeyPairGeneratorSpec}:</p>
{@sample development/samples/ApiDemos/src/com/example/android/apis/security/KeyStoreUsage.java generate}
<h3 id="GeneratingANewSecretKey">Generating a New Secret Key</h3>
<p>To generate the key, use a {@link javax.crypto.KeyGenerator} with
{@link android.security.keystore.KeyGenParameterSpec}.
<h3 id="WorkingWithKeyStoreEntries">Working with Keystore Entries</h3>
<p>Using the {@code AndroidKeyStore} provider takes place through
all the standard {@link java.security.KeyStore} APIs.</p>
<h4 id="ListingEntries">Listing Entries</h4>
<p>List entries in the keystore by calling the {@link
java.security.KeyStore#aliases()} method:</p>
{@sample development/samples/ApiDemos/src/com/example/android/apis/security/KeyStoreUsage.java list}
<h4 id="SigningAndVerifyingData">Signing and Verifying Data</h4>
<p>Sign data by fetching the {@link
java.security.KeyStore.Entry} from the keystore and using the
{@link java.security.Signature} APIs, such as {@link
java.security.Signature#sign()}:</p>
{@sample development/samples/ApiDemos/src/com/example/android/apis/security/KeyStoreUsage.java sign}
<p>Similarly, verify data with the {@link java.security.Signature#verify(byte[])} method:</p>
{@sample development/samples/ApiDemos/src/com/example/android/apis/security/KeyStoreUsage.java verify}
<h3 id="UserAuthentication">Requiring User Authentication For Key Use</h3>
<p>When generating or importing a key into the {@code AndroidKeyStore} you can specify that the key
is only authorized to be used if the user has been authenticated. The user is authenticated using a
subset of their secure lock screen credentials (pattern/PIN/password, fingerprint).
<p>This is an advanced security feature which is generally useful only if your requirements are that
a compromise of your application process after key generation/import (but not before or during)
cannot bypass the requirement for the user to be authenticated to use the key.
<p>When a key is authorized to be used only if the user has been authenticated, it is configured to
operate in one of the two modes:
<ul>
<li>User authentication authorizes the use of keys for a duration of time. All keys in this mode are
authorized for use as soon as the user unlocks the secure lock screen or confirms their secure
lock screen credential using the
{@link android.app.KeyguardManager#createConfirmDeviceCredentialIntent(CharSequence, CharSequence) KeyguardManager.createConfirmDeviceCredentialIntent}
flow. The duration for which the authorization remains valid is specific to each key, as specified
using {@code setUserAuthenticationValidityDurationSeconds} during key generation or import. Such
keys can only be generated or imported if the secure lock screen is enabled (see
{@link android.app.KeyguardManager#isDeviceSecure() KeyguardManager.isDeviceSecure()}). These keys
become permanently invalidated once the secure lock screen is disabled (reconfigured to None,
Swipe or other mode which does not authenticate the user) or forcibly reset (e.g. by a Device
Administrator).</li>
<li>User authentication authorizes a specific cryptographic operation associated with one key. In
this mode, each operation involving such a key must be individually authorized by the user.
Currently, the only means of such authorization is fingerprint authentication:
{@link android.hardware.fingerprint.FingerprintManager#authenticate(CryptoObject, CancellationSignal, int, AuthenticationCallback, Handler) FingerprintManager.authenticate}.
Such keys can only be generated or imported if at least one fingerprint is enrolled (see
{@link android.hardware.fingerprint.FingerprintManager#hasEnrolledFingerprints() FingerprintManager.hasEnrolledFingerprints}).
These keys become permanently invalidated once a new fingerprint is enrolled or all fingerprints
are unenrolled.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="SupportedAlgorithms">Supported Algorithms</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="#SupportedCiphers">{@code Cipher}</a></li>
<li><a href="#SupportedKeyGenerators">{@code KeyGenerator}</a></li>
<li><a href="#SupportedKeyFactories">{@code KeyFactory}</a></li>
<li><a href="#SupportedKeyPairGenerators">{@code KeyPairGenerator}</a></li>
<li><a href="#SupportedMacs">{@code Mac}</a></li>
<li><a href="#SupportedSignatures">{@code Signature}</a></li>
<li><a href="#SupportedSecretKeyFactories">{@code SecretKeyFactory}</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="SupportedCiphers">Cipher</h3>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Algorithm</th>
<th>Supported (API Levels)</th>
<th>Notes</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>AES/CBC/NoPadding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>AES/CBC/PKCS7Padding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>AES/CTR/NoPadding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>AES/ECB/NoPadding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>AES/ECB/PKCS7Padding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>AES/GCM/NoPadding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>Only 12-byte long IVs supported.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RSA/ECB/NoPadding</td>
<td>18+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RSA/ECB/PKCS1Padding</td>
<td>18+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RSA/ECB/OAEPWithSHA-1AndMGF1Padding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RSA/ECB/OAEPWithSHA-224AndMGF1Padding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RSA/ECB/OAEPWithSHA-256AndMGF1Padding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RSA/ECB/OAEPWithSHA-384AndMGF1Padding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RSA/ECB/OAEPWithSHA-512AndMGF1Padding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RSA/ECB/OAEPPadding</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 id="SupportedKeyGenerators">KeyGenerator</h3>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Algorithm</th>
<th>Supported (API Levels)</th>
<th>Notes</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>AES</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>Supported sizes: 128, 192, 256</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA1</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>
<ul>
<li>Supported sizes: 8--1024 (inclusive), must be multiple of 8</li>
<li>Default size: 160</li>
<ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA224</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>
<ul>
<li>Supported sizes: 8--1024 (inclusive), must be multiple of 8</li>
<li>Default size: 224</li>
<ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA256</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>
<ul>
<li>Supported sizes: 8--1024 (inclusive), must be multiple of 8</li>
<li>Default size: 256</li>
<ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA384</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>
<ul>
<li>Supported sizes: 8--1024 (inclusive), must be multiple of 8</li>
<li>Default size: 384</li>
<ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA512</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>
<ul>
<li>Supported sizes: 8--1024 (inclusive), must be multiple of 8</li>
<li>Default size: 512</li>
<ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 id="SupportedKeyFactories">KeyFactory</h3>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Algorithm</th>
<th>Supported (API Levels)</th>
<th>Notes</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>EC</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>Supported key specs: {@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo} (private key only),
{@link java.security.spec.ECPublicKeySpec} (public key only),
{@link java.security.spec.X509EncodedKeySpec} (public key only)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RSA</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>Supported key specs: {@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo} (private key only),
{@link java.security.spec.RSAPublicKeySpec} (public key only),
{@link java.security.spec.X509EncodedKeySpec} (public key only)
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 id="SupportedKeyStoreKeys">KeyStore</h3>
KeyStore supports the same key types as
<a href="#SupportedKeyPairGenerators">{@code KeyPairGenerator}</a> and
<a href="#SupportedKeyGenerators">{@code KeyGenerator}</a>.
<h3 id="SupportedKeyPairGenerators">KeyPairGenerator</h3>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Algorithm</th>
<th>Supported (API Levels)</th>
<th>Notes</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="deprecated">
<td>DSA</td>
<td>19–22</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EC</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>
<ul>
<li>Supported sizes: 224, 256, 384, 521</li>
<li>Supported named curves: P-224 (secp224r1), P-256 (aka secp256r1 and prime256v1), P-384
(aka secp384r1), P-521 (aka secp521r1)</li>
</ul>
<p>Prior to API Level 23, EC keys can be generated using KeyPairGenerator of algorithm "RSA"
initialized {@link android.security.KeyPairGeneratorSpec} whose key type is set to "EC"
using {@link android.security.KeyPairGeneratorSpec.Builder#setKeyType(String)}. EC curve
name cannot be specified using this method -- a NIST P-curve is automatically chosen based
on the requested key size.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RSA</td>
<td>18+</td>
<td>
<ul>
<li>Supported sizes: 512, 768, 1024, 2048, 3072, 4096</li>
<li>Supported public exponents: 3, 65537</li>
<li>Default public exponent: 65537</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 id="SupportedMacs">Mac</h3>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Algorithm</th>
<th>Supported (API Levels)</th>
<th>Notes</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA1</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA224</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA256</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA384</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA512</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 id="SupportedSignatures">Signature</h3>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Algorithm</th>
<th>Supported (API Levels)</th>
<th>Notes</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>MD5withRSA</td>
<td>18+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>NONEwithECDSA</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>NONEwithRSA</td>
<td>18+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="deprecated">
<td>SHA1withDSA</td>
<td>19–22</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA1withECDSA</td>
<td>19+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA1withRSA</td>
<td>18+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA1withRSA/PSS</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="deprecated">
<td>SHA224withDSA</td>
<td>20–22</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA224withECDSA</td>
<td>20+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA224withRSA</td>
<td>20+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA224withRSA/PSS</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="deprecated">
<td>SHA256withDSA</td>
<td>19–22</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA256withECDSA</td>
<td>19+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA256withRSA</td>
<td>18+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA256withRSA/PSS</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="deprecated">
<td>SHA384withDSA</td>
<td>19–22</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA384withECDSA</td>
<td>19+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA384withRSA</td>
<td>18+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA384withRSA/PSS</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="deprecated">
<td>SHA512withDSA</td>
<td>19–22</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA512withECDSA</td>
<td>19+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA512withRSA</td>
<td>18+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SHA512withRSA/PSS</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 id="SupportedSecretKeyFactories">SecretKeyFactory</h3>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Algorithm</th>
<th>Supported (API Levels)</th>
<th>Notes</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>AES</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>Supported key specs: {@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo}</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA1</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>Supported key specs: {@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo}</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA224</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>Supported key specs: {@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo}</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA256</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>Supported key specs: {@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo}</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA384</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>Supported key specs: {@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo}</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HmacSHA512</td>
<td>23+</td>
<td>Supported key specs: {@link android.security.keystore.KeyInfo}</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>