Signing and verifying data using pycrypto (RSA)

Question

I am trying to familiarize myself with the pycrypto module, but the lack of clear documentation makes things difficult.

To start with, I would like to understand sig

Answer 1

This is a fleshed-out version of the example in the documentation:

import Crypto.Hash.MD5 as MD5
import Crypto.PublicKey.RSA as RSA
import Crypto.PublicKey.DSA as DSA
import Crypto.PublicKey.ElGamal as ElGamal
import Crypto.Util.number as CUN
import os

plaintext = 'The rain in Spain falls mainly on the Plain'

# Here is a hash of the message
hash = MD5.new(plaintext).digest()
print(repr(hash))
# '\xb1./J\xa883\x974\xa4\xac\x1e\x1b!\xc8\x11'

for alg in (RSA, DSA, ElGamal):
    # Generates a fresh public/private key pair
    key = alg.generate(384, os.urandom)

    if alg == DSA:
        K = CUN.getRandomNumber(128, os.urandom)
    elif alg == ElGamal:
        K = CUN.getPrime(128, os.urandom)
        while CUN.GCD(K, key.p - 1) != 1:
            print('K not relatively prime with {n}'.format(n=key.p - 1))
            K = CUN.getPrime(128, os.urandom)
        # print('GCD({K},{n})=1'.format(K=K,n=key.p-1))
    else:
        K = ''

    # You sign the hash
    signature = key.sign(hash, K)
    print(len(signature), alg.__name__)
    # (1, 'Crypto.PublicKey.RSA')
    # (2, 'Crypto.PublicKey.DSA')
    # (2, 'Crypto.PublicKey.ElGamal')

    # You share pubkey with Friend
    pubkey = key.publickey()

    # You send message (plaintext) and signature to Friend.
    # Friend knows how to compute hash.
    # Friend verifies the message came from you this way:
    assert pubkey.verify(hash, signature)

    # A different hash should not pass the test.
    assert not pubkey.verify(hash[:-1], signature)