Troubleshooting Pkcs11Interop with PKCS11-LOGGER

Pkcs11Interop is managed library written in C# that brings full power of PKCS#11 API to the .NET environment. It loads unmanaged PKCS#11 library provided by the cryptographic device vendor and makes its functions accessible to .NET application.

Following figure presents the typical usage of Pkcs11Interop library in .NET application:

Next code sample shows how to load PKCS#11 library via Pkcs11Interop in .NET application:

string pkcs11Library = null;

if (Net.Pkcs11Interop.Common.Platform.Uses64BitRuntime)
{
    pkcs11Library = @"c:\path\to\pkcs11-x64.dll";
}
else
{
    pkcs11Library = @"c:\path\to\pkcs11-x86.dll";
}

using (var pkcs11 = new Net.Pkcs11Interop.HighLevelAPI.Pkcs11(pkcs11Library, true))
{
    // Do something interesting
}

Due to the complexity of PKCS#11 API it is not rare that user needs to troubleshoot communication problems between application and PKCS#11 library. That is the moment when PKCS11-LOGGER may come handy.

Logger takes place between the application and the original PKCS#11 library. Application calls PKCS#11 function provided by logger, logger calls the same function provided by the original PKCS#11 library and while logging everything it returns the result to the application.

Following figure presents the typical usage of Pkcs11Interop library with PKCS11-LOGGER proxy in .NET application:

Next code sample shows how to load PKCS#11 library via PKCS11-LOGGER and Pkcs11Interop in .NET application:

string pkcs11Library = null;
string loggerLibrary = null;
string logFile = null;

if (Net.Pkcs11Interop.Common.Platform.Uses64BitRuntime)
{
    pkcs11Library = @"c:\path\to\pkcs11-x64.dll";
    loggerLibrary = @"c:\path\to\pkcs11-logger-x64.dll";
    logFile = @"c:\path\to\pkcs11-logger-x64.log";
}
else
{
    pkcs11Library = @"c:\path\to\pkcs11-x86.dll";
    loggerLibrary = @"c:\path\to\pkcs11-logger-x86.dll";
    logFile = @"c:\path\to\pkcs11-logger-x86.log";
}

System.Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("PKCS11_LOGGER_LIBRARY_PATH", pkcs11Library);
System.Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("PKCS11_LOGGER_LOG_FILE_PATH", logFile);
System.Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("PKCS11_LOGGER_FLAGS", @"64");

using (var pkcs11 = new Net.Pkcs11Interop.HighLevelAPI.Pkcs11(loggerLibrary, true))
{
    // Do something interesting
}

Analysis of the logged information should be performed by a person familiar with PKCS#11 specifications.

Here’s the short sample of the content extracted from the beginning of the log file:

0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : ****************************** 2015-12-14 23:56:07 ***
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : PKCS11-LOGGER 2.1.0
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : PKCS#11 logging proxy module
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Developed as a part of the Pkcs11Interop project
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Please visit www.pkcs11interop.net for more information
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : ****************************** 2015-12-14 23:56:07 ***
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Successfuly loaded C:\SoftHSM2\lib\softhsm2-x64.dll
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Memory contents are dumped without endianness conversion
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : ****************************** 2015-12-14 23:56:07 ***
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Calling C_GetFunctionList
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Input
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :  ppFunctionList: 000000C98228E8E0
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Output
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :  Note: Returning function list of PKCS11-LOGGER
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Returning 0 (CKR_OK)
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : ****************************** 2015-12-14 23:56:07 ***
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Calling C_Initialize
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Input
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :  pInitArgs: 000000C9E59AF5E0
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   CreateMutex: 0000000000000000
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   DestroyMutex: 0000000000000000
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   LockMutex: 0000000000000000
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   UnlockMutex: 0000000000000000
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   Flags: 2
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :    CKF_LIBRARY_CANT_CREATE_OS_THREADS: FALSE
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :    CKF_OS_LOCKING_OK: TRUE
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   pReserved: 0000000000000000
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Returning 0 (CKR_OK)
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : ****************************** 2015-12-14 23:56:07 ***
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Calling C_GetInfo
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Input
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :  pInfo: 000000C98228E7F0
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Output
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :  pInfo: 000000C98228E7F0
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   cryptokiVersion:
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :    major: 2
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :    minor: 30
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   manufacturerID: SoftHSM                         
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   flags: 0
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   libraryDescription: Implementation of PKCS11        
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :   libraryVersion:
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :    major: 2
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 :    minor: 0
0x000013c8 : 0x00001078 : Returning 0 (CKR_OK)

Warning: Log files produced by PKCS11-LOGGER may contain sensitive information and should not be shared publicly.