# pycose:snake: --- CBOR Object Signing and Encryption
[](https://github.com/TimothyClaeys/pycose/actions/workflows/python-package.yml)
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This project is a Python implementation of the IETF CBOR Encoded Message Syntax (COSE). COSE has reached RFC status and is now available at RFC 8152.
## Installation
```bash
$ pip install cose
```
:warning:**WARNING**:warning:: There is package on [PyPI](https://pypi.org/) called `pycose` which contains old code from this repository. Since I am not the maintainer I cannot update that package or remove it.
## What is COSE ?
CBOR Encoded Message Syntax (COSE) is a data format for concise representation of small messages [RFC 8152](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8152). COSE is optimized for low power devices. The messages can be encrypted, MAC'ed and signed. There are 6 different types of COSE messages:
- **Encrypt0**: An encrypted COSE message with a single recipient. The payload and AAD are protected by a shared CEK (Content Encryption Keys)
- **Encrypt**: An encrypted COSE message can have multiple recipients. For each recipient the CEK is encrypted with a KEK (Key Encryption Key) - using AES key wrap - and added to the message.
- **MAC0**: An authenticated COSE message with one recipient.
- **MAC**: An authenticated COSE message that can have multiple recipients. For each recipient, the authentication key is encrypted with a KEK and added to the message.
- **Sign1**: A signed COSE message with a single signature.
- **Sign**: A COSE message that has been signed by multiple entities (each signature is carried in a COSE signature structure, added to the message).
A basic COSE message consists of 2 _information_ _buckets_ and the _payload_:
- **Protected header**: This message field contains information that needs to be protected. This information is taken into account during the encryption, calculation of the MAC or the signature.
- **Unprotected header**: The information contained in the unprotected header is not protected by the cryptographic algorithms.
- **Payload**: Contains the payload of the message, protected (mac'ed, signed or encrypted) by the cryptographic algorithms.
Additionally, based on the message type, other message fields can be added:
- _MAC_ or _signature_ (for **MAC0** or **Sign1** messages)
- _COSE recipients_ or _COSE signatures_ (for **MAC**, **Encrypt**, and **Sign** messages)
## Examples
### Encoding
```python
from binascii import unhexlify
from cose.messages import Enc0Message
from cose.keys import SymmetricKey
# Create a COSE Encrypt0 Message
msg = Enc0Message(
phdr={'ALG': 'A128GCM', 'IV': unhexlify(b'01010101010101010101010101010101')},
uhdr={'KID': b'meriadoc.brandybuck@buckland.example'},
payload='a secret message'.encode('utf-8')
)
# Create a COSE Symmetric Key
cose_key = SymmetricKey(key=unhexlify(b'000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f'))
msg.key = cose_key
# Performs encryption and CBOR serialization
msg.encode()
b'\xd0\x83U\xa2\x01\x01\x05P\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\xa1\x04X$meriadoc.brandybuck@buckland.exampleX \xc4\xaf\x85\xacJQ4\x93\x19\x93\xec\n\x18c\xa6\xe8\xc6n\xf4\xc9\xac\x161^\xe6\xfe\xcd\x9b.\x1cy\xa1'
```
### Decoding
```python
from binascii import unhexlify
from cose.messages import CoseMessage
from cose.keys import SymmetricKey
# message bytes (CBOR encoded)
msg = b'\xd0\x83U\xa2\x01\x01\x05P\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\x01\xa1\x04X$meriadoc.brandybuck@buckland.exampleX \xc4\xaf\x85\xacJQ4\x93\x19\x93\xec\n\x18c\xa6\xe8\xc6n\xf4\xc9\xac\x161^\xe6\xfe\xcd\x9b.\x1cy\xa1'
cose_msg = CoseMessage.decode(msg)
# Create a COSE Symmetric Key
cose_key = SymmetricKey(key=unhexlify(b'000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f'))
cose_msg.key = cose_key
cose_msg.decrypt()
b'a secret message'
```
### More examples
More examples can be found [here](https://pycose.readthedocs.io/en/latest/examples.html)
## Testing
To run the test suite you need `pytest`:
```shell
$ pip install pytest
```
Move to the root of the repository and type:
```shell
$ pytest
```
## Cryptography
The project depends on [pyca/cryptography](https://github.com/pyca/cryptography) for all cryptographic operations, except the deterministic ECDSA algorithm. For deterministic ECDSA `cose` uses [python-ecdsa](https://github.com/warner/python-ecdsa).
## Documentation
More documentation on COSE and the `cose` API can be found at: https://pycose.readthedocs.io