CardConnection transmit error while generating RSA Keys longer than 64 bytes (SAM)

[juanmardefago]

Hello,

I'm trying to generate a RSA key pair using a SAM (Secure Access Module), I followed all instructions from the documentation, but if I try to generate keys larger than 64 bytes (i.e. 128/256 bytes) I get a weird error related to the PCSC driver.

This is the most detailed stack trace that I could get, using cyberflex:

<class 'smartcard.Exceptions.CardConnectionException'>: Failed to transmit with protocol T1. Transaction failed.
  File "/home/cyberflex-shell/shell.py", line 126, in _run
    self.parse_and_execute(line)
  File "cyberflex-shell.py", line 309, in parse_and_execute
    result = Shell.parse_and_execute(self, line)
  File "/home/cyberflex-shell/shell.py", line 201, in parse_and_execute
    return function(*args)
  File "cyberflex-shell.py", line 244, in do_fancy_apdu
    return self.do_apdu(apdu)
  File "cyberflex-shell.py", line 267, in do_apdu
    response = self.card.send_apdu(apdu)
  File "/home/cyberflex-shell/cards/generic_card.py", line 173, in send_apdu
    result = self._send_with_retry(apdu)
  File "/home/cyberflex-shell/cards/iso_card.py", line 130, in _send_with_retry
    result = self._real_send(apdu)
  File "/home/cyberflex-shell/cards/iso_card.py", line 122, in _real_send
    result = Card._real_send(self, apdu)
  File "/home/cyberflex-shell/cards/generic_card.py", line 138, in _real_send
    result_binary = self.reader.transceive(apdu_binary)
  File "/home/cyberflex-shell/readers.py", line 115, in transceive
    data, sw1, sw2 = self._cardservice.connection.transmit(data_bytes, protocol=self.PROTOMAP[self.get_protocol()])
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/smartcard/CardConnectionDecorator.py", line 82, in transmit
    return self.component.transmit(bytes, protocol)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/smartcard/CardConnection.py", line 146, in transmit
    data, sw1, sw2 = self.doTransmit(bytes, protocol)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/smartcard/pcsc/PCSCCardConnection.py", line 205, in doTransmit
    SCardGetErrorMessage(hresult))

Also, in the docs they said that this C-APDU execution takes a while (1 minute or so, for longer keys), when I tried generating 64 byte keys or less it didn't took as much (barely 1 or 2 seconds), but when generating larger keys it starts computing for about 3-5 seconds, and then this error happens. I thought that maybe there was a timer/timeout callback, but couldn't find anything related, even so, maybe that extra bit of information helps.

Thanks in advance!

[LudovicRousseau]

Hello,
Please provide the information listed at http:https://pcsclite.alioth.debian.org/pcsclite.html#support

[juanmardefago]

Turns out I was using outdated versions of pcscd and libccid because I'm using Ubuntu 16.04.

I was using these versions:
libccid 1.4.22-1
pcscd 1.8.14-1ubuntu1

then we tested it on Debian (4.9.0) with these versions:
libccid 1.4.26-1
pcscd 1.8.20-1

It worked fine on Debian with those versions, even while trying to generate 256 byte keys (1 min approximately)

Sorry for the inconvenience!