GenerateKeyPair Method

GenerateKeyPair(Byte, PivAlgorithm, PivPinPolicy, PivTouchPolicy)

Generate a new key pair in the given slot.

C#

public PivPublicKey GenerateKeyPair(byte slotNumber, PivAlgorithm algorithm, PivPinPolicy pinPolicy, PivTouchPolicy touchPolicy)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.Byte	slotNumber	The slot into which the key pair will be generated.
PivAlgorithm	algorithm	The algorithm of the key to generate.
PivPinPolicy	pinPolicy	The PIN policy the key will have. If no argument is given, the policy will be Default.
PivTouchPolicy	touchPolicy	The touch policy the key will have. If no argument is given, the policy will be Default.

Returns

PivPublicKey

The public key partner to the private key generated on the YubiKey.

Exceptions

Type	Condition
System.ArgumentException	The slot or algorithm specified is not valid for generating a key pair.
System.InvalidOperationException	There is no KeyCollector loaded, the key provided was not a valid Triple-DES key, or the YubiKey had some other error, such as unreliable connection.
System.OperationCanceledException	The user canceled management key collection.
System.Security.SecurityException	Mutual authentication was performed and the YubiKey was not authenticated.

Remarks

When you generate a key pair, you specify which slot will hold this new key. If there is a key in that slot already, this method will replace it. That old key will be gone and there will be nothing you can do to recover it. Hence, use this method with caution.

You also have the opportunity to specify the PIN and touch policies of the private key generated. These policies describe what will be required when using the key. For example, if the PIN policy is Always, then every time the key is used (to sign, decrypt, or perform key agreement), it will be necessary to verify the PIV PIN. With the touch policy, for instance, setting it to Always will require touch every time the key is used. This method has the policies as optional arguments. If you do not specify these arguments, the key pair will be generated with the policies set to Default. Currently for all YubiKeys, the default PIN policy is Once, and the default touch policy is Never.

This method will return the public key partner to the private key generated in the slot. For YubiKeys before version 5.3, it is the only time you will have the opportunity to obtain the public key, so make sure your application manages it right from the start. Beginning with version 5.3, it is possible to get a public key out of a slot at any time.

Note that while this method will return the public key, you will still need to obtain a certificate for the private key outside of this SDK. Once you have the certificate, you can load it into the YubiKey using the ImportCertificate(Byte, X509Certificate2) method.

In order to perform this operation, the management key must be authenticated during this session. If it has not been authenticated, this method will call AuthenticateManagementKey(Boolean). That is, your application does not need to authenticate the management key separately (i.e., call TryAuthenticateManagementKey or AuthenticateManagementKey), this method will determine if the management key has been authenticated or not, and if not, it will make the call to perform mutual authentication.

The authentication method will collect the management key using the KeyCollector delegate. If no such delegate has been set, it will throw an exception.

The KeyCollector has an option to cancel the operation. That is, the AuthenticateManagementKey method will call the KeyCollector requesting the management key, and it is possible that during the collection operations, the user cancels. The KeyCollector will return to the authentication method noting the cancellation. In that case, it will throw an exception. If you want the authentication to return false on user cancellation, you must call TryAuthenticateManagementKey(Boolean) directly before calling this method.