AWS CLI Command Reference

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[ aws . kms ]

generate-data-key

Description

Returns a unique symmetric data key for use outside of KMS. This operation returns a plaintext copy of the data key and a copy that is encrypted under a symmetric encryption KMS key that you specify. The bytes in the plaintext key are random; they are not related to the caller or the KMS key. You can use the plaintext key to encrypt your data outside of KMS and store the encrypted data key with the encrypted data.

To generate a data key, specify the symmetric encryption KMS key that will be used to encrypt the data key. You cannot use an asymmetric KMS key to encrypt data keys. 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 a 128-bit SM4 data key (China Regions only), specify a KeySpec value of AES_128 or a NumberOfBytes value of 16 . The symmetric encryption key used in China Regions to encrypt your data key is an SM4 encryption key.

To get only an encrypted copy of the data key, use GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext . To generate an asymmetric data key pair, use the GenerateDataKeyPair or GenerateDataKeyPairWithoutPlaintext operation. To get a cryptographically secure random byte string, use GenerateRandom .

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 Key Management Service Developer Guide .

GenerateDataKey also supports Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclaves , which provide an isolated compute environment in Amazon EC2. To call GenerateDataKey for an Amazon Web Services Nitro enclave, use the Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclaves SDK or any Amazon Web Services SDK. Use the Recipient parameter to provide the attestation document for the enclave. GenerateDataKey returns a copy of the data key encrypted under the specified KMS key, as usual. But instead of a plaintext copy of the data key, the response includes a copy of the data key encrypted under the public key from the attestation document (CiphertextForRecipient ). For information about the interaction between KMS and Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclaves, see How Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclaves uses KMS in the 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 KMS keys in the Key Management Service Developer Guide .

How to use your data key

We recommend that you use the following pattern to encrypt data locally in your application. You can write your own code or use a client-side encryption library, such as the Amazon Web Services Encryption SDK , the Amazon DynamoDB Encryption Client , or Amazon S3 client-side encryption to do these tasks for you.

To encrypt data outside of KMS:

  • Use the GenerateDataKey operation to get a data key.
  • Use the plaintext data key (in the Plaintext field of the response) to encrypt your data outside of KMS. Then erase the plaintext data key from memory.
  • Store the encrypted data key (in the CiphertextBlob field of the response) with the encrypted data.

To decrypt data outside of KMS:

  • Use the Decrypt operation to decrypt the encrypted data key. The operation returns a plaintext copy of the data key.
  • Use the plaintext data key to decrypt data outside of KMS, then erase the plaintext data key from memory.

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

Required permissions : kms:GenerateDataKey (key policy)

Related operations:

  • Decrypt
  • Encrypt
  • GenerateDataKeyPair
  • GenerateDataKeyPairWithoutPlaintext
  • GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext
Eventual consistency : The KMS API follows an eventual consistency model. For more information, see KMS eventual consistency .

See also: AWS API Documentation

Synopsis

  generate-data-key
--key-id <value>
[--encryption-context <value>]
[--number-of-bytes <value>]
[--key-spec <value>]
[--grant-tokens <value>]
[--recipient <value>]
[--dry-run | --no-dry-run]
[--cli-input-json <value>]
[--generate-cli-skeleton <value>]
[--debug]
[--endpoint-url <value>]
[--no-verify-ssl]
[--no-paginate]
[--output <value>]
[--query <value>]
[--profile <value>]
[--region <value>]
[--version <value>]
[--color <value>]
[--no-sign-request]
[--ca-bundle <value>]
[--cli-read-timeout <value>]
[--cli-connect-timeout <value>]

Options

--key-id (string)

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 Amazon Web Services 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 .

--encryption-context (map)

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

Warning

Do not include confidential or sensitive information in this field. This field may be displayed in plaintext in CloudTrail logs and other output.

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 Key Management Service Developer Guide .

key -> (string)

value -> (string)

Shorthand Syntax:

KeyName1=string,KeyName2=string

JSON Syntax:

{"string": "string"
  ...}

--number-of-bytes (integer)

Specifies 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 128-bit (16-byte) and 256-bit (32-byte) data keys, use the KeySpec parameter.

You must specify either the KeySpec or the NumberOfBytes parameter (but not both) in every GenerateDataKey request.

--key-spec (string)

Specifies 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.

You must specify either the KeySpec or the NumberOfBytes parameter (but not both) in every GenerateDataKey request.

Possible values:

  • AES_256
  • AES_128

--grant-tokens (list)

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 Key Management Service Developer Guide .

(string)

Syntax:

"string" "string" ...

--recipient (structure)

A signed attestation document from an Amazon Web Services Nitro enclave and the encryption algorithm to use with the enclave's public key. The only valid encryption algorithm is RSAES_OAEP_SHA_256 .

This parameter only supports attestation documents for Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclaves. To include this parameter, use the Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclaves SDK or any Amazon Web Services SDK.

When you use this parameter, instead of returning the plaintext data key, KMS encrypts the plaintext data key under the public key in the attestation document, and returns the resulting ciphertext in the CiphertextForRecipient field in the response. This ciphertext can be decrypted only with the private key in the enclave. The CiphertextBlob field in the response contains a copy of the data key encrypted under the KMS key specified by the KeyId parameter. The Plaintext field in the response is null or empty.

For information about the interaction between KMS and Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclaves, see How Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclaves uses KMS in the Key Management Service Developer Guide .

KeyEncryptionAlgorithm -> (string)

The encryption algorithm that KMS should use with the public key for an Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclave to encrypt plaintext values for the response. The only valid value is RSAES_OAEP_SHA_256 .

AttestationDocument -> (blob)

The attestation document for an Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclave. This document includes the enclave's public key.

Shorthand Syntax:

KeyEncryptionAlgorithm=string,AttestationDocument=blob

JSON Syntax:

{
  "KeyEncryptionAlgorithm": "RSAES_OAEP_SHA_256",
  "AttestationDocument": blob
}

--dry-run | --no-dry-run (boolean)

Checks if your request will succeed. DryRun is an optional parameter.

To learn more about how to use this parameter, see Testing your KMS API calls in the Key Management Service Developer Guide .

--cli-input-json (string) Performs service operation based on the JSON string provided. The JSON string follows the format provided by --generate-cli-skeleton. If other arguments are provided on the command line, the CLI values will override the JSON-provided values. It is not possible to pass arbitrary binary values using a JSON-provided value as the string will be taken literally.

--generate-cli-skeleton (string) Prints a JSON skeleton to standard output without sending an API request. If provided with no value or the value input, prints a sample input JSON that can be used as an argument for --cli-input-json. If provided with the value output, it validates the command inputs and returns a sample output JSON for that command.

Global Options

--debug (boolean)

Turn on debug logging.

--endpoint-url (string)

Override command's default URL with the given URL.

--no-verify-ssl (boolean)

By default, the AWS CLI uses SSL when communicating with AWS services. For each SSL connection, the AWS CLI will verify SSL certificates. This option overrides the default behavior of verifying SSL certificates.

--no-paginate (boolean)

Disable automatic pagination. If automatic pagination is disabled, the AWS CLI will only make one call, for the first page of results.

--output (string)

The formatting style for command output.

  • json
  • text
  • table

--query (string)

A JMESPath query to use in filtering the response data.

--profile (string)

Use a specific profile from your credential file.

--region (string)

The region to use. Overrides config/env settings.

--version (string)

Display the version of this tool.

--color (string)

Turn on/off color output.

  • on
  • off
  • auto

--no-sign-request (boolean)

Do not sign requests. Credentials will not be loaded if this argument is provided.

--ca-bundle (string)

The CA certificate bundle to use when verifying SSL certificates. Overrides config/env settings.

--cli-read-timeout (int)

The maximum socket read time in seconds. If the value is set to 0, the socket read will be blocking and not timeout. The default value is 60 seconds.

--cli-connect-timeout (int)

The maximum socket connect time in seconds. If the value is set to 0, the socket connect will be blocking and not timeout. The default value is 60 seconds.

Examples

Note

To use the following examples, you must have the AWS CLI installed and configured. See the Getting started guide in the AWS CLI User Guide for more information.

Unless otherwise stated, all examples have unix-like quotation rules. These examples will need to be adapted to your terminal's quoting rules. See Using quotation marks with strings in the AWS CLI User Guide .

Example 1: To generate a 256-bit symmetric data key

The following generate-data-key example requests a 256-bit symmetric data key for use outside of AWS. The command returns a plaintext data key for immediate use and deletion, and a copy of that data key encrypted under the specified KMS key. You can safely store the encrypted data key with the encrypted data.

To request a 256-bit data key, use the key-spec parameter with a value of AES_256. To request a 128-bit data key, use the key-spec parameter with a value of AES_128. For all other data key lengths, use the number-of-bytes parameter.

The KMS key you specify must be a symmetric encryption KMS key, that is, a KMS key with a key spec value of SYMMETRIC_DEFAULT.

aws kms generate-data-key \
    --key-id alias/ExampleAlias \
    --key-spec AES_256

Output:

{
    "Plaintext": "VdzKNHGzUAzJeRBVY+uUmofUGGiDzyB3+i9fVkh3piw=",
    "KeyId": "arn:aws:kms:us-east-2:111122223333:key/1234abcd-12ab-34cd-56ef-1234567890ab",
    "CiphertextBlob": "AQEDAHjRYf5WytIc0C857tFSnBaPn2F8DgfmThbJlGfR8P3WlwAAAH4wfAYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoG8wbQIBADBoBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDEFogLqPWZconQhwHAIBEIA7d9AC7GeJJM34njQvg4Wf1d5sw0NIo1MrBqZa+YdhV8MrkBQPeac0ReRVNDt9qleAt+SHgIRF8P0H+7U="
}

The Plaintext (plaintext data key) and the CiphertextBlob (encrypted data key) are returned in base64-encoded format.

For more information, see `Data keys <https://docs.aws.amazon.com/kms/latest/developerguide/concepts.html#data-keys`__ in the AWS Key Management Service Developer Guide.

Example 2: To generate a 512-bit symmetric data key

The following generate-data-key example requests a 512-bit symmetric data key for encryption and decryption. The command returns a plaintext data key for immediate use and deletion, and a copy of that data key encrypted under the specified KMS key. You can safely store the encrypted data key with the encrypted data.

To request a key length other than 128 or 256 bits, use the number-of-bytes parameter. To request a 512-bit data key, the following example uses the number-of-bytes parameter with a value of 64 (bytes).

The KMS key you specify must be a symmetric encryption KMS key, that is, a KMS key with a key spec value of SYMMETRIC_DEFAULT.

NOTE: The values in the output of this example are truncated for display.

aws kms generate-data-key \
    --key-id 1234abcd-12ab-34cd-56ef-1234567890ab \
    --number-of-bytes 64

Output:

{
    "CiphertextBlob": "AQIBAHi6LtupRpdKl2aJTzkK6FbhOtQkMlQJJH3PdtHvS/y+hAEnX/QQNmMwDfg2korNMEc8AAACaDCCAmQGCSqGSIb3DQEHBqCCAlUwggJRAgEAMIICSgYJKoZ...",
    "Plaintext": "ty8Lr0Bk6OF07M2BWt6qbFdNB+G00ZLtf5MSEb4al3R2UKWGOp06njAwy2n72VRm2m7z/Pm9Wpbvttz6a4lSo9hgPvKhZ5y6RTm4OovEXiVfBveyX3DQxDzRSwbKDPk/...",
    "KeyId": "arn:aws:kms:us-west-2:111122223333:key/1234abcd-12ab-34cd-56ef-1234567890ab"
}

The Plaintext (plaintext data key) and CiphertextBlob (encrypted data key) are returned in base64-encoded format.

For more information, see `Data keys <https://docs.aws.amazon.com/kms/latest/developerguide/concepts.html#data-keys`__ in the AWS Key Management Service Developer Guide.

Output

CiphertextBlob -> (blob)

The encrypted copy of the data key. When you use the HTTP API or the Amazon Web Services CLI, the value is Base64-encoded. Otherwise, it is not Base64-encoded.

Plaintext -> (blob)

The plaintext data key. When you use the HTTP API or the Amazon Web Services CLI, the value is Base64-encoded. Otherwise, it is not Base64-encoded. Use this data key to encrypt your data outside of KMS. Then, remove it from memory as soon as possible.

If the response includes the CiphertextForRecipient field, the Plaintext field is null or empty.

KeyId -> (string)

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

CiphertextForRecipient -> (blob)

The plaintext data key encrypted with the public key from the Nitro enclave. This ciphertext can be decrypted only by using a private key in the Nitro enclave.

This field is included in the response only when the Recipient parameter in the request includes a valid attestation document from an Amazon Web Services Nitro enclave. For information about the interaction between KMS and Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclaves, see How Amazon Web Services Nitro Enclaves uses KMS in the Key Management Service Developer Guide .