CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javasecuritysmartcard
Seephor
Seephor

Reputation: 1732

Read smart card information without PIN?

I have a Java app that can read certificates from smart cards and use them to log in a user. The app can also track failed login attempts using other login methods (user name and password).

I want to know if it is possible to read user information from a smart card without the pin? I would like to mark a failed pin entry as a failed login attempt, but because I need the pin to read the alias from the certificate, I can't know what user is attempting the login. Is there anyway to read this information without the pin in Java?

I tried loading the KeyStore object based on a suggestion from this thread: Getting certificates from PKCS11 Smartcard without PIN/password but have no luck. I don't even know if this is possible.

I can seen certain information from my ActivClient Agent without entering the pin, but don't know if Java can somehow retrieve this. This is how I am loading the keystore:

KeyStore keyTest = KeyStore.getInstance("PKCS11",pkcs11Provider);
keyTest.load(null,null);

The above still asks for a pin even though I have not specified a callback handler. The pkcs11Provider is the cfg containing the ActivClient dll. Normally I load the keystore using a pin callback handler.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1507

Answers (1)

Seephor
Seephor

Reputation: 1732

After some investigation, this depends heavily on the type of card you are using and the PKCS11 library you use. There is no one answer fits all.

Upvotes: 2

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