Retrieve a public key

This page shows you how to retrieve the public key portion of an enabled asymmetric key version.

The public key is in the Privacy-enhanced Electronic Mail (PEM) format. For more information, see the RFC 7468 sections for General Considerations and Textual Encoding of Subject Public Key Info.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to retrieve a public key, ask your administrator to grant you the Cloud KMS CryptoKey Public Key Viewer (roles/cloudkms.publicKeyViewer) IAM role on your key or a parent resource. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

This predefined role contains the permissions required to retrieve a public key. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand the Required permissions section:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to retrieve a public key:

• cloudkms.cryptoKeyVersions.viewPublicKey
• cloudkms.locations.get
• cloudkms.locations.list
• resourcemanager.projects.get

You might also be able to get these permissions with custom roles or other predefined roles.

Retrieve a public key

To download the public key for an enabled asymmetric key version:

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Key Management page.

   Go to Key Management

2. Click the name of the key ring that contains the asymmetric key for which you want to retrieve the public key.

3. Click the name of the key for which you want to retrieve the public key.

4. On the row corresponding to the key version for which you want to retrieve the public key, click View More .

5. Click Get public key.

6. The public key is displayed in the prompt. You can copy the public key to your clipboard. To download the public key, click Download.

If you do not see the Get public key option, verify the following:

• The key is an asymmetric key.
• The key version is enabled.
• You have the cloudkms.cryptoKeyVersions.viewPublicKey permission.

The filename of a public key downloaded from the Google Cloud console is of the form:

KEY_RING-KEY_NAME-KEY_VERSION.pub

Each portion of the filename is separated by a hyphen, for example ringname-keyname-version.pub

gcloud

To use Cloud KMS on the command line, first Install or upgrade to the latest version of Google Cloud CLI.

Note: The gcloud kms keys versions get-public-key command must be run from a local shell. Do not attempt to run this command using the Cloud Shell.

gcloud kms keys versions get-public-key KEY_VERSION \
    --key KEY_NAME \
    --keyring KEY_RING \
    --location LOCATION \
    --output-file OUTPUT_FILE_PATH

Replace the following:

• KEY_VERSION: the key version number.
• KEY_NAME: the name of the key.
• KEY_RING: the name of the key ring that contains the key.
• LOCATION: the Cloud KMS location of the key ring.
• OUTPUT_FILE_PATH: the path where you want to save the public key file—for example, public-key.pub.

For information on all flags and possible values, run the command with the --help flag.

C#

To run this code, first set up a C# development environment and install the Cloud KMS C# SDK.

using Google.Cloud.Kms.V1;

public class GetPublicKeySample
{
    public PublicKey GetPublicKey(string projectId = "my-project", string locationId = "us-east1", string keyRingId = "my-key-ring", string keyId = "my-key", string keyVersionId = "123")
    {
        // Create the client.
        KeyManagementServiceClient client = KeyManagementServiceClient.Create();

        // Build the key version name.
        CryptoKeyVersionName keyVersionName = new CryptoKeyVersionName(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId, keyVersionId);

        // Call the API.
        PublicKey result = client.GetPublicKey(keyVersionName);

        // Return the ciphertext.
        return result;
    }
}

Go

To run this code, first set up a Go development environment and install the Cloud KMS Go SDK.

import (
	"context"
	"crypto/x509"
	"encoding/pem"
	"fmt"
	"hash/crc32"
	"io"

	kms "cloud.google.com/go/kms/apiv1"
	"cloud.google.com/go/kms/apiv1/kmspb"
)

// getPublicKey retrieves the public key from an asymmetric key pair on
// Cloud KMS.
func getPublicKey(w io.Writer, name string) error {
	// name := "projects/my-project/locations/us-east1/keyRings/my-key-ring/cryptoKeys/my-key/cryptoKeyVersions/123"

	// Create the client.
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := kms.NewKeyManagementClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create kms client: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	// Build the request.
	req := &kmspb.GetPublicKeyRequest{
		Name: name,
	}

	// Call the API.
	result, err := client.GetPublicKey(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to get public key: %w", err)
	}

	// The 'Pem' field is the raw string representation of the public key.
	// Convert 'Pem' into bytes for further processing.
	key := []byte(result.Pem)

	// Optional, but recommended: perform integrity verification on result.
	// For more details on ensuring E2E in-transit integrity to and from Cloud KMS visit:
	// https://cloud.google.com/kms/docs/data-integrity-guidelines
	crc32c := func(data []byte) uint32 {
		t := crc32.MakeTable(crc32.Castagnoli)
		return crc32.Checksum(data, t)
	}
	if int64(crc32c(key)) != result.PemCrc32C.Value {
		return fmt.Errorf("getPublicKey: response corrupted in-transit")
	}

	// Optional - parse the public key. This transforms the string key into a Go
	// PublicKey.
	block, _ := pem.Decode(key)
	publicKey, err := x509.ParsePKIXPublicKey(block.Bytes)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse public key: %w", err)
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Retrieved public key: %v\n", publicKey)
	return nil
}

Java

To run this code, first set up a Java development environment and install the Cloud KMS Java SDK.

import com.google.cloud.kms.v1.CryptoKeyVersionName;
import com.google.cloud.kms.v1.KeyManagementServiceClient;
import com.google.cloud.kms.v1.PublicKey;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.security.GeneralSecurityException;

public class GetPublicKey {

  public void getPublicKey() throws IOException, GeneralSecurityException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    String locationId = "us-east1";
    String keyRingId = "my-key-ring";
    String keyId = "my-key";
    String keyVersionId = "123";
    getPublicKey(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId, keyVersionId);
  }

  // Get the public key associated with an asymmetric key.
  public void getPublicKey(
      String projectId, String locationId, String keyRingId, String keyId, String keyVersionId)
      throws IOException, GeneralSecurityException {
    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only
    // needs to be created once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After
    // completing all of your requests, call the "close" method on the client to
    // safely clean up any remaining background resources.
    try (KeyManagementServiceClient client = KeyManagementServiceClient.create()) {
      // Build the key version name from the project, location, key ring, key,
      // and key version.
      CryptoKeyVersionName keyVersionName =
          CryptoKeyVersionName.of(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId, keyVersionId);

      // Get the public key.
      PublicKey publicKey = client.getPublicKey(keyVersionName);
      System.out.printf("Public key: %s%n", publicKey.getPem());
    }
  }
}

Node.js

To run this code, first set up a Node.js development environment and install the Cloud KMS Node.js SDK.

//
// TODO(developer): Uncomment these variables before running the sample.
//
// const projectId = 'my-project';
// const locationId = 'us-east1';
// const keyRingId = 'my-key-ring';
// const keyId = 'my-key';

// Imports the Cloud KMS library
const {KeyManagementServiceClient} = require('@google-cloud/kms');

// Instantiates a client
const client = new KeyManagementServiceClient();

// Build the key version name
const versionName = client.cryptoKeyVersionPath(
  projectId,
  locationId,
  keyRingId,
  keyId,
  versionId
);

async function getPublicKey() {
  const [publicKey] = await client.getPublicKey({
    name: versionName,
  });

  // Optional, but recommended: perform integrity verification on publicKey.
  // For more details on ensuring E2E in-transit integrity to and from Cloud KMS visit:
  // https://cloud.google.com/kms/docs/data-integrity-guidelines
  const crc32c = require('fast-crc32c');
  if (publicKey.name !== versionName) {
    throw new Error('GetPublicKey: request corrupted in-transit');
  }
  if (crc32c.calculate(publicKey.pem) !== Number(publicKey.pemCrc32c.value)) {
    throw new Error('GetPublicKey: response corrupted in-transit');
  }

  console.log(`Public key pem: ${publicKey.pem}`);

  return publicKey;
}

return getPublicKey();

PHP

To run this code, first learn about using PHP on Google Cloud and install the Cloud KMS PHP SDK.

use Google\Cloud\Kms\V1\Client\KeyManagementServiceClient;
use Google\Cloud\Kms\V1\GetPublicKeyRequest;

function get_public_key(
    string $projectId = 'my-project',
    string $locationId = 'us-east1',
    string $keyRingId = 'my-key-ring',
    string $keyId = 'my-key',
    string $versionId = '123'
) {
    // Create the Cloud KMS client.
    $client = new KeyManagementServiceClient();

    // Build the key version name.
    $keyVersionName = $client->cryptoKeyVersionName($projectId, $locationId, $keyRingId, $keyId, $versionId);

    // Call the API.
    $getPublicKeyRequest = (new GetPublicKeyRequest())
        ->setName($keyVersionName);
    $publicKey = $client->getPublicKey($getPublicKeyRequest);
    printf('Public key: %s' . PHP_EOL, $publicKey->getPem());

    return $publicKey;
}

Python

To run this code, first set up a Python development environment and install the Cloud KMS Python SDK.

from google.cloud import kms


def get_public_key(
    project_id: str, location_id: str, key_ring_id: str, key_id: str, version_id: str
) -> kms.PublicKey:
    """
    Get the public key for an asymmetric key.

    Args:
        project_id (string): Google Cloud project ID (e.g. 'my-project').
        location_id (string): Cloud KMS location (e.g. 'us-east1').
        key_ring_id (string): ID of the Cloud KMS key ring (e.g. 'my-key-ring').
        key_id (string): ID of the key to use (e.g. 'my-key').
        version_id (string): ID of the key to use (e.g. '1').

    Returns:
        PublicKey: Cloud KMS public key response.

    """

    # Create the client.
    client = kms.KeyManagementServiceClient()

    # Build the key version name.
    key_version_name = client.crypto_key_version_path(
        project_id, location_id, key_ring_id, key_id, version_id
    )

    # Call the API.
    public_key = client.get_public_key(request={"name": key_version_name})

    # Optional, but recommended: perform integrity verification on public_key.
    # For more details on ensuring E2E in-transit integrity to and from Cloud KMS visit:
    # https://cloud.google.com/kms/docs/data-integrity-guidelines
    if not public_key.name == key_version_name:
        raise Exception("The request sent to the server was corrupted in-transit.")
    # See crc32c() function defined below.
    if not public_key.pem_crc32c == crc32c(public_key.pem.encode("utf-8")):
        raise Exception(
            "The response received from the server was corrupted in-transit."
        )
    # End integrity verification

    print(f"Public key: {public_key.pem}")
    return public_key


def crc32c(data: bytes) -> int:
    """
    Calculates the CRC32C checksum of the provided data.
    Args:
        data: the bytes over which the checksum should be calculated.
    Returns:
        An int representing the CRC32C checksum of the provided bytes.
    """
    import crcmod  # type: ignore

    crc32c_fun = crcmod.predefined.mkPredefinedCrcFun("crc-32c")
    return crc32c_fun(data)

Ruby

To run this code, first set up a Ruby development environment and install the Cloud KMS Ruby SDK.

# TODO(developer): uncomment these values before running the sample.
# project_id  = "my-project"
# location_id = "us-east1"
# key_ring_id = "my-key-ring"
# key_id      = "my-key"
# version_id  = "123"

# Require the library.
require "google/cloud/kms"

# Create the client.
client = Google::Cloud::Kms.key_management_service

# Build the key version name.
key_version_name = client.crypto_key_version_path project:            project_id,
                                                  location:           location_id,
                                                  key_ring:           key_ring_id,
                                                  crypto_key:         key_id,
                                                  crypto_key_version: version_id

# Call the API.
public_key = client.get_public_key name: key_version_name
puts "Public key: #{public_key.pem}"

API

These examples use curl as an HTTP client to demonstrate using the API. For more information about access control, see Accessing the Cloud KMS API.

Retrieve the public key by calling the CryptoKeyVersions.getPublicKey method.

curl "https://cloudkms.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/keyRings/KEY_RING/cryptoKeys/KEY_NAME/cryptoKeyVersions/KEY_VERSION/publicKey" \
    --request "GET" \
    --header "authorization: Bearer TOKEN"

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project that contains the key ring.
• LOCATION: the Cloud KMS location of the key ring.
• KEY_RING: the name of the key ring that contains the key.
• KEY_NAME: the name of the key.
• KEY_VERSION: the key version number.

The output should look similar to the following:

{
  "pem": "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nQ29uZ3JhdHVsYXRpb25zLCB5b3UndmUgZGlzY292ZX
          JlZCB0aGF0IHRoaXMgaXNuJ3QgYWN0dWFsbHkgYSBwdWJsaWMga2V5ISBIYXZlIGEgbmlj
          ZSBkYXkgOik=\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----\n",
  "algorithm": "ALGORITHM",
  "pemCrc32c": "2561089887",
  "name": "projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/keyRings/
           KEY_RING/cryptoKeys/KEY_NAME/cryptoKeyVersions/
           KEY_VERSION",
  "protectionLevel": "PROTECTION_LEVEL"
}