21.6. Generating a public and private key pair


To use a custom kernel or custom kernel modules on a Secure Boot-enabled system, you must generate a public and private X.509 key pair. You can use the generated private key to sign the kernel or the kernel modules. You can also validate the signed kernel or kernel modules by adding the corresponding public key to the Machine Owner Key (MOK) for Secure Boot.

Prerequisites

  • You have root permissions on the system.

Procedure

  • Create an X.509 public and private key pair.

    • If you only want to sign custom kernel modules:

      # efikeygen --dbdir /etc/pki/pesign \
                  --self-sign \
                  --module \
                  --common-name 'CN=Organization signing key' \
                  --nickname 'Custom Secure Boot key'
    • If you want to sign custom kernel:

      # efikeygen --dbdir /etc/pki/pesign \
                  --self-sign \
                  --kernel \
                  --common-name 'CN=Organization signing key' \
                  --nickname 'Custom Secure Boot key'
    • When the RHEL system is running FIPS mode:

      # efikeygen --dbdir /etc/pki/pesign \
                  --self-sign \
                  --kernel \
                  --common-name 'CN=Organization signing key' \
                  --nickname 'Custom Secure Boot key'
                  --token 'NSS FIPS 140-2 Certificate DB'
      注意

      In FIPS mode, you must use the --token option so that efikeygen finds the default "NSS Certificate DB" token in the PKI database.

      The public and private keys are now stored in the /etc/pki/pesign/ directory. See the openssl(1) man page on your system for more information.

重要

It is a good security practice to sign the kernel and the kernel modules within the validity period of its signing key. However, the sign-file utility does not warn you and the key will be usable in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 regardless of the validity dates.

Red Hat logoGithubredditYoutubeTwitter

学习

尝试、购买和销售

社区

关于红帽文档

通过我们的产品和服务,以及可以信赖的内容,帮助红帽用户创新并实现他们的目标。 了解我们当前的更新.

让开源更具包容性

红帽致力于替换我们的代码、文档和 Web 属性中存在问题的语言。欲了解更多详情,请参阅红帽博客.

關於紅帽

我们提供强化的解决方案,使企业能够更轻松地跨平台和环境(从核心数据中心到网络边缘)工作。

Theme

© 2026 Red Hat
返回顶部