Remove Private Key Passphrase with openSSL

In some circumstances there may be a need to have the certificate private key unencrypted. To remove private key passphrase password. Follow this procedure below:

1. Copy the private key file into your OpenSSL directory (or you can specify the path in the command line).
2. Run this command using OpenSSL:

openssl rsa -in [file1.key] -out [file2.key] 

• file1.key original key that protected password.
• file2.key result key not protected password.

Enter the passphrase and [file2.key] is now the unprotected private key.

The output file:  [file2.key] should be unencrypted.

To verify this open the file using a text editor (such as MS Notepad) and view the headers.

Encrypted headers look like this:

—–BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY—–
Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED DEK-Info: DES-EDE3-CBC,
6AC307785DD187EF…
—–END RSA PRIVATE KEY—–

Unencrypted headers look like this:

 —–BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY—–
6AC307785DD187EF…
—–END RSA PRIVATE KEY—–

That is simple method to remove passphrase private key. May be it’s helpful, please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions and I’ll appreciate it.

Resource: https://help.cloud66.com/maestro/how-to-guides/security/remove-passphrase.html