RFC 9500 · INFORMATIONAL · 2023

Standard Public Key Cryptography Test Keys

Overview

RFC 9500, “Standard Public Key Cryptography Test Keys”, is an Informational document published in December 2023 by P. Gutmann, C. Bonnell. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

This document provides a set of standard Public Key Cryptography (PKC) test keys that may be used wherever pre-generated keys and associated operations like digital signatures are required. Like the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) virus test and the Generic Test for Unsolicited Bulk Email (GTUBE) spam test files, these publicly known test keys can be detected and recognised by applications consuming them as being purely for testing purposes without assigning any security properties to them.

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Informational” means

Published for the general information of the community. It does not define an IETF standard and carries no standards-track status.

Read this RFC

The canonical text of RFC 9500 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in HTML,TXT,PDF,XML.

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