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At the moment, I'm trying to check the fingerprint of the oracle_vbox.asc key that I downloaded from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads: they provide the key and the fingerprint but no instructions for reviewing this information myself.

How do I show the fingerprint of the key I just downloaded?

apt-key finger oracle_vbox.asc shows the fingerprints of all trusted keys, which isn't what I want.

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5 Answers 5

30

Get the key:

$ wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc

Print the key fingerprint with GPG version 1:

$ gpg --with-fingerprint oracle_vbox.asc 
pub  1024D/98AB5139 2010-05-18 Oracle Corporation
                      (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>
      Key fingerprint = 7B0F AB3A 13B9 0743 5925  D9C9 5442 2A4B 98AB 5139
sub  2048g/281DDC4B 2010-05-18
      Key fingerprint = 27B0 97CF 8257 4209 C434  8D42 B674 8A65 281D DC4B

Note that the 2nd fingeprint is just the fingerprint of the sub-key.

Print the fingerprint with GPG version 2:

$ gpg2 -n -q --import --import-options import-show  oracle_vbox.asc   
pub   dsa1024 2010-05-18 [SC]
      7B0FAB3A13B907435925D9C954422A4B98AB5139
uid   Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>
sub   elg2048 2010-05-18 [E]

Note that -n is an alias for --dry-run, i.e. the key isn't actually imported.

Alternatively, to just display the fingerprints:

$ gpg2 -nq --import --import-options import-show --with-colons oracle_vbox.asc \
     | awk -F: '$1 == "fpr" { print $10 }'
7B0FAB3A13B907435925D9C954422A4B98AB5139
27B097CF82574209C4348D42B6748A65281DDC4B
9
  • Is there an analogous command without using gpg? I mean, in SSH, I can do cat ./id_rsa.pub | awk '{print $2}' | base64 -d | md5sum and it will return me an MD5 hash which is equal to the fingerprint hash of ssh -lf ./id_rsa.pub. Is there a similar way to do it with GPG public keys? Sep 13, 2015 at 9:16
  • 2
    @user3019105, no, there is not. The format of a PGP public key is a little bit more complicated. See RFC 4880 and the GPG source code for details. Sep 13, 2015 at 9:58
  • The RFC says (about MD5 deprecated fingerprints): The fingerprint of a V3 key is formed by hashing the body (but not the two-octet length) of the MPIs that form the key material (public modulus n, followed by exponent e) with MD5., can't I get this MPIs' body given an ASCII Armor (Radix-64) public key file? Sep 13, 2015 at 10:06
  • 1
    Some explanatory comments and references could go a long way towards improving this answer (e.g. Exchanging keys - GnuPG). Nov 28, 2017 at 20:12
  • 1
    This syntax does not work with GnuPG 2 anymore. It outputs: WARNING: no command supplied. Trying to guess what you mean .... Then, it lists the key without fingerprint. See my answer.
    – ominug
    Apr 22, 2019 at 12:24
9

Step 1

$ deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian artful contrib

Step 2

$ wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Step 3

$ apt-key list

or, equivalently,

$ apt-key finger

which should return

/etc/apt/trusted.gpg
--------------------
pub   rsa4096 2016-04-22 [SC]
      B9F8 D658 297A F3EF C18D  5CDF A2F6 83C5 2980 AECF
uid           [ unknown] Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>
sub   rsa4096 2016-04-22 [E]

which in turn should be equivalent to

The key fingerprint for oracle_vbox_2016.asc is

B9F8 D658 297A F3EF C18D  5CDF A2F6 83C5 2980 AECF
Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>

on https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads, either by visual inspection or further command line fu.


Related links:

1
  • this question is missing some explanation... Aug 1, 2018 at 7:24
2

Using gpg version 2.2.27

gpg --version

# output
gpg (GnuPG) 2.2.27
libgcrypt 1.9.4

Download the current .asc file from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads as of this writing (2023-03-22):

wget https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc

The VirtualBox website currently states:

The key fingerprint for oracle_vbox_2016.asc is

B9F8 D658 297A F3EF C18D  5CDF A2F6 83C5 2980 AECF
Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>

The following commands all allow to verify this information, each with different formatting:

gpg --show-keys --with-fingerprint --keyid-format=short oracle_vbox_2016.asc

Output:

pub   rsa4096/2980AECF 2016-04-22 [SC]
      Key fingerprint = B9F8 D658 297A F3EF C18D  5CDF A2F6 83C5 2980 AECF
uid                    Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>
sub   rsa4096/920E471F 2016-04-22 [E]

gpg --show-keys --with-fingerprint oracle_vbox_2016.asc

Output:

pub   rsa4096 2016-04-22 [SC]
      B9F8 D658 297A F3EF C18D  5CDF A2F6 83C5 2980 AECF
uid                      Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>
sub   rsa4096 2016-04-22 [E]

gpg --show-keys oracle_vbox_2016.asc

Output:

pub   rsa4096 2016-04-22 [SC]
      B9F8D658297AF3EFC18D5CDFA2F683C52980AECF
uid                      Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>
sub   rsa4096 2016-04-22 [E]

gpg --show-keys --with-colons oracle_vbox_2016.asc

Output ("The --with-colons option emits the output in a stable, machine-parseable format, which is intended for use by scripts and other programs."):

pub:-:4096:1:A2F683C52980AECF:1461318881:::-:::scESC::::::23::0:
fpr:::::::::B9F8D658297AF3EFC18D5CDFA2F683C52980AECF:
uid:-::::1461318881::CA5D570DDFDB695A0301885765DD8E285368742C::Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>::::::::::0:
sub:-:4096:1:AD18C79D920E471F:1461318881::::::e::::::23:
fpr:::::::::31DD01EB8C64DF3D12E7BC97AD18C79D920E471F:
1

This works with GPG 2 (at least I could check it with versions 2.1.18 and 2.2.12):

wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc
gpg_home=$(mktemp -d)
gpg --homedir "$gpg_home" --import oracle_vbox.asc
# gpg: keybox '/tmp/tmp.CHoWuJBy7N/pubring.kbx' created
# gpg: /tmp/tmp.CHoWuJBy7N/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
# gpg: key 54422A4B98AB5139: public key "Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>" imported
# gpg: Total number processed: 1
# gpg:               imported: 1
gpg --homedir "$gpg_home" --list-keys
# /tmp/tmp.CHoWuJBy7N/pubring.kbx
# -------------------------------
# pub   dsa1024 2010-05-18 [SC]
#       7B0FAB3A13B907435925D9C954422A4B98AB5139
# uid           [ unknown] Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <[email protected]>
# sub   elg2048 2010-05-18 [E]
# 

Source: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/468889

0

You have both the key and the fingerprint? Run:

ssh-keygen -lf key.pub

against the key to get the fingerprint.

ssh-keygen reference: http://www.manpagez.com/man/1/ssh-keygen/

5
  • 3
    ssh-keygen doesn't recognize "oracle_vbox.asc" as a public key file.
    – Amanda
    Jun 13, 2011 at 22:09
  • my mistake, the command should be "ssh-keygen -lf" Do you still get a nerror?
    – mvario
    Jun 13, 2011 at 22:30
  • 4
    This does not work. Jun 14, 2012 at 22:39
  • ssh-keygen -lf oracle_vbox_2016.asc oracle_vbox_2016.asc is not a public key file. Jun 30, 2016 at 0:20
  • 2
    ssh-keygen is not for PGP keys.
    – Geoffrey
    Oct 28, 2018 at 2:42

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