I am trying to remove password from a private key file using openssl with node js.
The node js code is:
cmd = exec('/usr/bin/openssl', [ 'rsa', '-in', `${process.cwd()}/privkey.pem`, '-out', `/home/pratik/newPrivateKey.pem` ]); cmd.stdin.write("password", 'utf8'); I referred to this SO question. But in my case, on console I just see true as output. No file is created. What I am missing?
You need to use child_process.spawn, and then forward its stdin and stdout through your Node script using { stdio: "inherit" }.
const child_process = require('child_process'); const openssl = child_process.spawn('openssl', [ 'rsa', '-in', "/Users/my_user/.ssh/my_key", '-out', "/Users/my_user/.ssh/unlocked_key" ], { stdio: "inherit" }); Or, for a non-interactive version, where you don't want it to prompt for the password:
const child_process = require('child_process'); const password = "somepassword"; const openssl = child_process.exec('openssl', [ 'rsa', '-in', "/Users/my_user/.ssh/my_key", '-out', "/Users/my_user/.ssh/output_key", '-passin', `pass:${password}` ]); 
cmd = spawn('/usr/bin/openssl', ['rsa', '-in', `${process.cwd()}/privkey.pem`, '-out', `/home/pratik/newPrivateKey.pem`]); cmd.stdout.on('data', (data) => { cmd.stdin.write("password".toString(), 'utf8'); cmd.stdin.end(); }); parent node process freezes. Any suggestions?
-i is not option with openssl so interactive can not be interpreted. Second I am getting cmd.stdout as null. Any thoughts?{ stdio: "inherit" } which forwards stdin/stdout without doing the usual stream API song and dance; edited my answer to include the code, which hopefully will shed some light on your solution.my_key password protected? If the privatekey isn't password protected, then it works fine. With password protected, you need to use stdin. If it worked for you with password protected private key, can you please provide the entire code?