openssl-ssh-key-validator

Validate SSL/TLS private keys (RSA, EC, DSA) in PEM format with detailed error reporting.

Features

• Supports multiple private key formats:
  • PKCS#8 (-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----)
  • PKCS#1 RSA (-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----)
  • EC (-----BEGIN EC PRIVATE KEY-----)
  • DSA (-----BEGIN DSA PRIVATE KEY-----)
• Validates headers and footers
• Checks base64 integrity of the key body
• Detects corrupted or invalid keys
• Returns detailed error types and positions for easier debugging

Installation

npm add openssl-ssh-key-validator
# or
yarn add openssl-ssh-key-validator

Usage

import { validatePrivateKey } from "openssl-ssh-key-validator";

const pem = `-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIBOgIBAAJBALe3UMkTqyLZCNLoiOdVX0k+/9VFpLcdlHk...
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----`;

const result = validatePrivateKey(pem);

if (result.isValid) {
  console.log("Valid private key.");
} else {
  console.error("Validation error:", result.errorType);
  console.error(result.message);
  if (result.errorPosition) {
    console.error(
      `At line ${result.errorPosition.line}, char ${result.errorPosition.character}`,
    );
  }
}

Development

yarn install
yarn test

Notes

• Encrypted private keys are currently not supported.
• Key validation uses node-forge internally for ASN.1 and PEM decoding.