Request Syntax Request Parameters Response Syntax Response Elements Errors Examples See Also

GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext

Returns a unique symmetric data key for use outside of AWS KMS. This operation returns a data key that is encrypted under a symmetric encryption KMS key that you specify. The bytes in the key are random; they are not related to the caller or to the KMS key.

GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext is identical to the GenerateDataKey operation except that it does not return a plaintext copy of the data key.

This operation is useful for systems that need to encrypt data at some point, but not immediately. When you need to encrypt the data, you call the Decrypt operation on the encrypted copy of the key.

It's also useful in distributed systems with different levels of trust. For example, you might store encrypted data in containers. One component of your system creates new containers and stores an encrypted data key with each container. Then, a different component puts the data into the containers. That component first decrypts the data key, uses the plaintext data key to encrypt data, puts the encrypted data into the container, and then destroys the plaintext data key. In this system, the component that creates the containers never sees the plaintext data key.

To request an asymmetric data key pair, use the GenerateDataKeyPair or GenerateDataKeyPairWithoutPlaintext operations.

To generate a data key, you must specify the symmetric encryption KMS key that is used to encrypt the data key. You cannot use an asymmetric KMS key or a key in a custom key store to generate a data key. To get the type of your KMS key, use the DescribeKey operation.

You must also specify the length of the data key. Use either the KeySpec or NumberOfBytes parameters (but not both). For 128-bit and 256-bit data keys, use the KeySpec parameter.

To generate an SM4 data key (China Regions only), specify a KeySpec value of AES_128 or NumberOfBytes value of 128. The symmetric encryption key used in China Regions to encrypt your data key is an SM4 encryption key.

If the operation succeeds, you will find the encrypted copy of the data key in the CiphertextBlob field.

You can use an optional encryption context to add additional security to the encryption operation. If you specify an EncryptionContext, you must specify the same encryption context (a case-sensitive exact match) when decrypting the encrypted data key. Otherwise, the request to decrypt fails with an InvalidCiphertextException. For more information, see Encryption Context in the AWS Key Management Service Developer Guide.

The KMS key that you use for this operation must be in a compatible key state. For details, see Key states of AWS KMS keys in the AWS Key Management Service Developer Guide.

Cross-account use: Yes. To perform this operation with a KMS key in a different AWS account, specify the key ARN or alias ARN in the value of the KeyId parameter.

Required permissions: kms:GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext (key policy)

Related operations:

Request Syntax


{
   "EncryptionContext": { 
      "string" : "string" 
   },
   "GrantTokens": [ "string" ],
   "KeyId": "string",
   "KeySpec": "string",
   "NumberOfBytes": number
}

Request Parameters

For information about the parameters that are common to all actions, see Common Parameters.

The request accepts the following data in JSON format.

Note

In the following list, the required parameters are described first.

KeyId

Specifies the symmetric encryption KMS key that encrypts the data key. You cannot specify an asymmetric KMS key or a KMS key in a custom key store. To get the type and origin of your KMS key, use the DescribeKey operation.

To specify a KMS key, use its key ID, key ARN, alias name, or alias ARN. When using an alias name, prefix it with "alias/". To specify a KMS key in a different AWS account, you must use the key ARN or alias ARN.

For example:

Key ID: 1234abcd-12ab-34cd-56ef-1234567890ab
Key ARN: arn:aws:kms:us-east-2:111122223333:key/1234abcd-12ab-34cd-56ef-1234567890ab
Alias name: alias/ExampleAlias
Alias ARN: arn:aws:kms:us-east-2:111122223333:alias/ExampleAlias

To get the key ID and key ARN for a KMS key, use ListKeys or DescribeKey. To get the alias name and alias ARN, use ListAliases.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 2048.

Required: Yes

EncryptionContext

Specifies the encryption context that will be used when encrypting the data key.

An encryption context is a collection of non-secret key-value pairs that represent additional authenticated data. When you use an encryption context to encrypt data, you must specify the same (an exact case-sensitive match) encryption context to decrypt the data. An encryption context is supported only on operations with symmetric encryption KMS keys. On operations with symmetric encryption KMS keys, an encryption context is optional, but it is strongly recommended.

For more information, see Encryption context in the AWS Key Management Service Developer Guide.

Type: String to string map

Required: No

GrantTokens

A list of grant tokens.

Use a grant token when your permission to call this operation comes from a new grant that has not yet achieved eventual consistency. For more information, see Grant token and Using a grant token in the AWS Key Management Service Developer Guide.

Type: Array of strings

Array Members: Minimum number of 0 items. Maximum number of 10 items.

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 8192.

Required: No

KeySpec

The length of the data key. Use AES_128 to generate a 128-bit symmetric key, or AES_256 to generate a 256-bit symmetric key.

Type: String

Valid Values: AES_256 | AES_128

Required: No

NumberOfBytes

The length of the data key in bytes. For example, use the value 64 to generate a 512-bit data key (64 bytes is 512 bits). For common key lengths (128-bit and 256-bit symmetric keys), we recommend that you use the KeySpec field instead of this one.

Type: Integer

Valid Range: Minimum value of 1. Maximum value of 1024.

Required: No

Response Syntax


{
   "CiphertextBlob": blob,
   "KeyId": "string"
}

Response Elements

If the action is successful, the service sends back an HTTP 200 response.

The following data is returned in JSON format by the service.

CiphertextBlob

The encrypted data key. When you use the HTTP API or the AWS CLI, the value is Base64-encoded. Otherwise, it is not Base64-encoded.

Type: Base64-encoded binary data object

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 6144.

KeyId

The Amazon Resource Name (key ARN) of the KMS key that encrypted the data key.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 2048.

Errors

For information about the errors that are common to all actions, see Common Errors.

DependencyTimeoutException

The system timed out while trying to fulfill the request. The request can be retried.

HTTP Status Code: 500

DisabledException

The request was rejected because the specified KMS key is not enabled.

HTTP Status Code: 400

InvalidGrantTokenException

The request was rejected because the specified grant token is not valid.

HTTP Status Code: 400

InvalidKeyUsageException

The request was rejected for one of the following reasons:

The KeyUsage value of the KMS key is incompatible with the API operation.
The encryption algorithm or signing algorithm specified for the operation is incompatible with the type of key material in the KMS key (KeySpec).

For encrypting, decrypting, re-encrypting, and generating data keys, the KeyUsage must be ENCRYPT_DECRYPT. For signing and verifying messages, the KeyUsage must be SIGN_VERIFY. For generating and verifying message authentication codes (MACs), the KeyUsage must be GENERATE_VERIFY_MAC. To find the KeyUsage of a KMS key, use the DescribeKey operation.

To find the encryption or signing algorithms supported for a particular KMS key, use the DescribeKey operation.

HTTP Status Code: 400

KeyUnavailableException

The request was rejected because the specified KMS key was not available. You can retry the request.

HTTP Status Code: 500

KMSInternalException

The request was rejected because an internal exception occurred. The request can be retried.

HTTP Status Code: 500

KMSInvalidStateException

The request was rejected because the state of the specified resource is not valid for this request.

For more information about how key state affects the use of a KMS key, see Key states of AWS KMS keys in the AWS Key Management Service Developer Guide .

HTTP Status Code: 400

NotFoundException

The request was rejected because the specified entity or resource could not be found.

HTTP Status Code: 400

Examples

The following examples are formatted for legibility.

Example Request

This example illustrates one usage of GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext.


POST / HTTP/1.1
Host: kms.us-east-2.amazonaws.com
Content-Length: 50
X-Amz-Target: TrentService.GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext
X-Amz-Date: 20161112T001941Z
Content-Type: application/x-amz-json-1.1
Authorization: AWS4-HMAC-SHA256\
 Credential=AKIAI44QH8DHBEXAMPLE/20161112/us-east-2/kms/aws4_request,\
 SignedHeaders=content-type;host;x-amz-date;x-amz-target,\
 Signature=c86e7fc0218461e537c0d06ac29d865d94dba6fbfad00a844f61200e651df483

{
  "KeyId": "alias/ExampleAlias",
  "KeySpec": "AES_256"
}

Example Response

This example illustrates one usage of GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext.


HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: Server
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2016 00:19:41 GMT
Content-Type: application/x-amz-json-1.1
Content-Length: 331
Connection: keep-alive
x-amzn-RequestId: b4ca7ee7-a86d-11e6-8a4e-2f341b963ed6

{
  "CiphertextBlob": "AQEDAHjRYf5WytIc0C857tFSnBaPn2F8DgfmThbJlGfR8P3WlwAAAH4wfAYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoG8wbQIBADBoBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDEvihQE/ntdQTL16wQIBEIA7BE/3LB7F1meU8z4e1vEKBGZgXPwMvkZXbKnf3wxCD9lB4hU29lii4euOqxp8pESb+7oCN9f1R75ac3s=",
  "KeyId": "arn:aws:kms:us-east-2:111122223333:key/1234abcd-12ab-34cd-56ef-1234567890ab"
}