=pod

=head1 NAME

EVP_SKEY, EVP_SKEY_generate, EVP_SKEY_import, EVP_SKEY_import_raw_key,
EVP_SKEY_import_SKEYMGMT, EVP_SKEY_up_ref, EVP_SKEY_export,
EVP_SKEY_get0_raw_key, EVP_SKEY_get0_key_id, EVP_SKEY_get0_skeymgmt_name,
EVP_SKEY_get0_provider_name, EVP_SKEY_free, EVP_SKEY_is_a, EVP_SKEY_to_provider
- opaque symmetric key allocation and handling functions

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 #include <openssl/evp.h>

 typedef evp_skey_st EVP_SKEY;

 EVP_SKEY *EVP_SKEY_generate(OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, const char *skeymgmtname,
                             const char *propquery, const OSSL_PARAM *params);
 EVP_SKEY *EVP_SKEY_import(OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, const char *skeymgmtname,
                           const char *propquery,
                           int selection, const OSSL_PARAM *params);
 EVP_SKEY *EVP_SKEY_import_raw_key(OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, const char *skeymgmtname,
                                   unsigned char *key, size_t len,
                                   const char *propquery);
 EVP_SKEY *EVP_SKEY_import_SKEYMGMT(OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, EVP_SKEYMGMT *skeymgmt,
                                    int selection, const OSSL_PARAM *params);
 int EVP_SKEY_export(const EVP_SKEY *skey, int selection,
                     OSSL_CALLBACK *export_cb, void *export_cbarg);
 int EVP_SKEY_get0_raw_key(const EVP_SKEY *skey, const unsigned char **key,
                          size_t *len);
 const char *EVP_SKEY_get0_key_id(const EVP_SKEY *skey);

 const char *EVP_SKEY_get0_skeymgmt_name(const EVP_SKEY *skey);
 const char *EVP_SKEY_get0_provider_name(const EVP_SKEY *skey);

 int EVP_SKEY_up_ref(EVP_SKEY *key);
 void EVP_SKEY_free(EVP_SKEY *key);
 int EVP_SKEY_is_a(const EVP_SKEY *skey, const char *name);
 EVP_SKEY *EVP_SKEY_to_provider(EVP_SKEY *skey, OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx,
                                OSSL_PROVIDER *prov, const char *propquery);


=head1 DESCRIPTION

B<EVP_SKEY> is a generic structure to hold symmetric keys as opaque objects.
The keys themselves are often referred to as the "internal key", and are handled by
providers using L<EVP_SKEYMGMT(3)>.

Conceptually, an B<EVP_SKEY> internal key may hold a symmetric key, and along
with those, key parameters if the key type requires them.

The EVP_SKEY_generate() functions creates a new B<EVP_SKEY> object and
initializes it according to the B<params> argument.

The EVP_SKEY_import() function allocates an empty B<EVP_SKEY> structure
which is used by OpenSSL to store symmetric keys, assigns the
B<EVP_SKEYMGMT> object associated with the key, and initializes the object from
the B<params> argument.

The EVP_SKEY_import_raw_key() function is a helper that creates an B<EVP_SKEY>
object containing the raw byte representation of the symmetric keys from the
buffer I<key> having length I<len>. The I<skeymgmtname> defines the name of the
target B<EVP_SKEYMGMT> for the newly created key.

The EVP_SKEY_import_SKEYMGMT() function is a helper that creates an B<EVP_SKEY>
object containing the representation of the symmetric keys specific to the
particular B<EVP_SKEYMGMT>.

The EVP_SKEY_export() function extracts values from a key I<skey> using the
I<selection>.  I<selection> is described below. It uses a callback I<export_cb>
that gets passed the value of I<export_cbarg>.  See L<openssl-core.h(7)> for
more information about the callback. Note that the L<OSSL_PARAM(3)> array that
is passed to the callback is not persistent after the callback returns.

The EVP_SKEY_get0_raw_key() returns a pointer to a raw key bytes to the passed
address and sets the key len. The returned address is managed by the internal
key management and shouldn't be freed explicitly.  The operation can fail when
the underlying key management doesn't support export of the secret key.

The EVP_SKEY_get0_key_id() returns a NUL-terminated string providing some
human-readable identifier of the key if provided by the underlying key
management. The pointer becomes invalid after freeing the EVP_SKEY object.

The EVP_SKEY_get0_skeymgmt_name() and EVP_SKEY_get0_provider_name() return the
names of the associated EVP_SKEYMGMT object and its provider correspondingly.

EVP_SKEY_up_ref() increments the reference count of I<key>.

EVP_SKEY_free() decrements the reference count of I<key> and, if the reference
count is zero, frees it. If I<key> is NULL, nothing is done.

EVP_SKEY_is_a() checks if the key type of I<skey> is I<name>.

EVP_SKEY_to_provider() simplifies the task of importing a I<skey> into a
different provider identified by I<prov>. If I<prov> is NULL, the default
provider for the key type identified via I<skey> is used.

=head2 Selections

The following constants can be used for I<selection>:

=over 4

=item B<OSSL_SKEYMGMT_SELECT_SECRET_KEY>

Only the raw key representation will be selected.

=item B<OSSL_SKEYMGMT_SELECT_PARAMETERS>

Only the key parameters will be selected. This includes optional key
parameters.

=item B<OSSL_SKEYMGMT_SELECT_ALL>

All parameters will be selected.

=back

=head1 NOTES

The B<EVP_SKEY> structure is used by various OpenSSL functions which require a
general symmetric key without reference to any particular algorithm.

The EVP_SKEY_to_provider() function will fail and return NULL if the origin
key I<skey> cannot be exported from its provider.

=head1 RETURN VALUES

EVP_SKEY_generate(), EVP_SKEY_import(), EVP_SKEY_import_raw_key(), and
EVP_SKEY_import_SKEYMGMT() return either the newly allocated B<EVP_SKEY>
structure or NULL if an error occurred.

EVP_SKEY_get0_key_id() returns either a valid pointer or NULL.

EVP_SKEY_up_ref() returns 1 for success and 0 on failure.

EVP_SKEY_export() and EVP_SKEY_get0_raw_key() return 1 for success and 0 on failure.

EVP_SKEY_get0_skeymgmt_name() and EVP_SKEY_get0_provider_name() return the
names of the associated EVP_SKEYMGMT object and its provider correspondingly.

EVP_SKEY_is_a() returns 1 if I<skey> has the key type I<name>,
otherwise 0.

EVP_SKEY_to_provider() returns a new B<EVP_SKEY> suitable for operations with
the I<prov> provider or NULL in case of failure.

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<EVP_SKEYMGMT(3)>, L<provider(7)>, L<OSSL_PARAM(3)>

=head1 HISTORY

The B<EVP_SKEY> API and functions EVP_SKEY_export(),
EVP_SKEY_free(), EVP_SKEY_get0_raw_key(), EVP_SKEY_import(),
EVP_SKEY_import_raw_key(), EVP_SKEY_up_ref(), EVP_SKEY_generate(),
EVP_SKEY_get0_key_id(), EVP_SKEY_get0_provider_name(),
EVP_SKEY_get0_skeymgmt_name(), EVP_SKEY_is_a(), EVP_SKEY_to_provider()
were introduced in OpenSSL 3.5.

The EVP_SKEY_import_SKEYMGMT() function was introduced in OpenSSL 4.0.

=head1 COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2025-2026 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License").  You may not use
this file except in compliance with the License.  You can obtain a copy
in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.

=cut
