NSC_InitToken

Name

NSC_InitToken() - initialize or re-initialize a token.

Syntax 

CK_RV NSC_InitToken(
  CK_SLOT_ID slotID,
  CK_CHAR_PTR pPin,
  CK_ULONG ulPinLen,
  CK_CHAR_PTR pLabel
);

Parameters

NSC_InitToken() has the following parameters:

slotID
the ID of the token's slot
pPin
the password of the security officer (SO)
ulPinLen
the length in bytes of the SO password
pLabel
points to the label of the token, which must be padded with spaces to 32 bytes and not be null-terminated

Description

NSC_InitToken() initializes a brand new token or re-initializes a token that was initialized before.

Specifically, NSC_InitToken() initializes or clears the key database, removes the password, and then marks all the user certs in the certificate database as non-user certs. (User certs are the certificates that have their associated private keys in the key database.)

Note: The SO password should be the empty string, i.e., ulPinLen argument should be 0. NSC_InitToken() ignores the pLabel argument.

Return value

NSC_InitToken() returns the following return codes.

  • CKR_OK: token initialization succeeded.
  • CKR_SLOT_ID_INVALID: slot ID is invalid.
  • CKR_TOKEN_WRITE_PROTECTED
    • slot ID is 1. (The non-FIPS mode has two slots: 1 and 2. The key database is in slot 2. Slot 1 doesn't have a key database.)
    • we don't have a reference to the key database (we failed to open the key database or we have released our reference).
  • CKR_DEVICE_ERROR: failed to reset the key database.

Examples

Application usage

NSC_InitToken() is used to reset the password for the key database when the user forgets the password.

  • The "Reset Password" button of the Mozilla Application Suite and SeaMonkey (in Preferences->Privacy & Security->Master Passwords) calls NSC_InitToken().
  • The "-T" (token reset) command of certutil calls NSC_InitToken().
Note: Resetting the password clears all permanent secret and private keys. You won't be able to decrypt the data, such as Mozilla's stored passwords, that were encrypted using any of those keys.

See also