Extract Public Key From Private Key using OpenSSL

Private key consist of various components such as modulus, public exponent, private exponent, coefficient, etc. This tutorial shows how to extract public key from private key using OpenSSL.

Let's say we have the following private key:

-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIBVQIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCAT8wggE7AgEAAkEA3+i8CaGg06cTZWgl
5S6ekQH4LBPI9sojxWdD6strvmuIG2Z9isZ1QPwK/+n6KgvzrHBK9f4dheeQ998R
dzsiVQIDAQABAkA3eyS0wj7mkvykYPUa371csv86dMCUHixU6qySjkspSGcvdqNQ
UuAfRJ97n8m8wkNSHhF2HIWH2lPdC/MsZX/VAiEA8QLAZXzsUiEIQ04enLZRq0cv
YkD8mLyXVpT56ZrdEDsCIQDt1bMedIH1kCcAvg4PHAugXw1NeJSvpOpUqOyPwmB+
rwIhAJDhq5EW4OWaT+JOAt8IRt4k49o34OFcdcmpsvZ4jy3jAiA7n+2N3wuNspv0
lbEUnKVViT7egzJTbnbIzqivyb1DRQIhAKbr3cYY4mk0HKFQg3oEhWi2stSPulYz
KNkxLcXmqXjr
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----

The openssl rsa command can be used for private keys processing. To extract public key from private key, use the following command::

openssl rsa -in test.key -pubout -out test.pub

The meaning of options:

• -in test.key - specifies the filename to read a private key.
• -pubout - outputs a public key instead of a private key.
• -out test.pub - specifies where public key should be saved.

Result:

-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFwwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADSwAwSAJBAN/ovAmhoNOnE2VoJeUunpEB+CwTyPbK
I8VnQ+rLa75riBtmfYrGdUD8Cv/p+ioL86xwSvX+HYXnkPffEXc7IlUCAwEAAQ==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----