Class PrivateKey

Namespace

Yubico.YubiKey.Cryptography

Assembly

Yubico.YubiKey.dll

Abstract base class for private key implementations.

public abstract class PrivateKey : IPrivateKey, IKeyBase

Inheritance

object

PrivateKey

Implements

IPrivateKey

IKeyBase

Derived

Curve25519PrivateKey

ECPrivateKey

RSAPrivateKey

Extension Methods

IPrivateKeyExtensions.Cast<T>(IPrivateKey)

KeyExtensions.EncodeAsPiv(IPrivateKey)

Remarks

This class implements the standard .NET disposal pattern to ensure secure cleanup of sensitive cryptographic material and provides disposal state checking for derived classes.

Concrete implementations include ECPrivateKey, RSAPrivateKey and Curve25519PrivateKey, each providing algorithm-specific key handling and cryptographic operations.

Properties

KeyType

Gets the type of the cryptographic key.

public abstract KeyType KeyType { get; }

Property Value

KeyType

A KeyType value indicating the type of the key.

Methods

Clear()

Clears the buffers containing private key data.

public abstract void Clear()

Dispose()

Clears the private key data and disposes the object

public void Dispose()

ExportPkcs8PrivateKey()

Exports the current key in the PKCS#8 PrivateKeyInfo format.

public abstract byte[] ExportPkcs8PrivateKey()

Returns

byte[]

A byte array containing the PKCS#8 PrivateKeyInfo representation of this key.

ThrowIfDisposed()

Throws an System.ObjectDisposedException if this instance has been disposed.

protected void ThrowIfDisposed()

Remarks

This method should be called at the beginning of all public methods and properties in derived classes to prevent operations on disposed cryptographic key material. The exception message includes the concrete type name for debugging purposes.

Exceptions

ObjectDisposedException

Thrown when this method is called after the object has been disposed.