class OpenSSL::ASN1::ASN1Data

The top-level class representing any ASN.1 object. When parsed by ASN1.decode, tagged values are always represented by an instance of ASN1Data.

The role of ASN1Data for parsing tagged values

When encoding an ASN.1 type it is inherently clear what original type (e.g. INTEGER, OCTET STRING etc.) this value has, regardless of its tagging. But opposed to the time an ASN.1 type is to be encoded, when parsing them it is not possible to deduce the “real type” of tagged values. This is why tagged values are generally parsed into ASN1Data instances, but with a different outcome for implicit and explicit tagging.

Example of a parsed implicitly tagged value

An implicitly 1-tagged INTEGER value will be parsed as an ASN1Data with * tag equal to 1 * tag_class equal to :CONTEXT_SPECIFIC * value equal to a String that carries the raw encoding of the INTEGER. This implies that a subsequent decoding step is required to completely decode implicitly tagged values.

Example of a parsed explicitly tagged value

An explicitly 1-tagged INTEGER value will be parsed as an ASN1Data with * tag equal to 1 * tag_class equal to :CONTEXT_SPECIFIC * value equal to an Array with one single element, an instance of OpenSSL::ASN1::Integer, i.e. the inner element is the non-tagged primitive value, and the tagging is represented in the outer ASN1Data

Example - Decoding an implicitly tagged INTEGER

int = OpenSSL::ASN1::Integer.new(1, 0, :IMPLICIT) # implicit 0-tagged
seq = OpenSSL::ASN1::Sequence.new( [int] )
der = seq.to_der
asn1 = OpenSSL::ASN1.decode(der)
# pp asn1 => #<OpenSSL::ASN1::Sequence:0x87326e0
#              @indefinite_length=false,
#              @tag=16,
#              @tag_class=:UNIVERSAL,
#              @tagging=nil,
#              @value=
#                [#<OpenSSL::ASN1::ASN1Data:0x87326f4
#                   @indefinite_length=false,
#                   @tag=0,
#                   @tag_class=:CONTEXT_SPECIFIC,
#                   @value="\x01">]>
raw_int = asn1.value[0]
# manually rewrite tag and tag class to make it an UNIVERSAL value
raw_int.tag = OpenSSL::ASN1::INTEGER
raw_int.tag_class = :UNIVERSAL
int2 = OpenSSL::ASN1.decode(raw_int)
puts int2.value # => 1

Example - Decoding an explicitly tagged INTEGER

int = OpenSSL::ASN1::Integer.new(1, 0, :EXPLICIT) # explicit 0-tagged
seq = OpenSSL::ASN1::Sequence.new( [int] )
der = seq.to_der
asn1 = OpenSSL::ASN1.decode(der)
# pp asn1 => #<OpenSSL::ASN1::Sequence:0x87326e0
#              @indefinite_length=false,
#              @tag=16,
#              @tag_class=:UNIVERSAL,
#              @tagging=nil,
#              @value=
#                [#<OpenSSL::ASN1::ASN1Data:0x87326f4
#                   @indefinite_length=false,
#                   @tag=0,
#                   @tag_class=:CONTEXT_SPECIFIC,
#                   @value=
#                     [#<OpenSSL::ASN1::Integer:0x85bf308
#                        @indefinite_length=false,
#                        @tag=2,
#                        @tag_class=:UNIVERSAL
#                        @tagging=nil,
#                        @value=1>]>]>
int2 = asn1.value[0].value[0]
puts int2.value # => 1