Add ECDSA pubkey recovery usage example

Author: theStack

.gitignore

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ exhaustive_tests
 precompute_ecmult_gen
 precompute_ecmult
 ctime_tests
+recovery_example
 ecdh_example
 ecdsa_example
 schnorr_example

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+#### Added
+ - Added usage example for ECDSA public key recovery.
+
 ## [0.7.0] - 2025-07-21
 
 #### Added

Makefile.am

@@ -163,6 +163,17 @@ if BUILD_WINDOWS
 ecdsa_example_LDFLAGS += -lbcrypt
 endif
 TESTS += ecdsa_example
+if ENABLE_MODULE_RECOVERY
+noinst_PROGRAMS += recovery_example
+recovery_example_SOURCES = examples/recovery.c
+recovery_example_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/include -DSECP256K1_STATIC
+recovery_example_LDADD = libsecp256k1.la
+recovery_example_LDFLAGS = -static
+if BUILD_WINDOWS
+recovery_example_LDFLAGS += -lbcrypt
+endif
+TESTS += recovery_example
+endif
 if ENABLE_MODULE_ECDH
 noinst_PROGRAMS += ecdh_example
 ecdh_example_SOURCES = examples/ecdh.c

README.md

@@ -149,6 +149,7 @@ Usage examples
 Usage examples can be found in the [examples](examples) directory. To compile them you need to configure with `--enable-examples`.
   * [ECDSA example](examples/ecdsa.c)
   * [Schnorr signatures example](examples/schnorr.c)
+  * [ECDSA public key recovery example](examples/recovery.c)
   * [Deriving a shared secret (ECDH) example](examples/ecdh.c)
   * [ElligatorSwift key exchange example](examples/ellswift.c)
   * [MuSig2 Schnorr multi-signatures example](examples/musig.c)

examples/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ endfunction()
 
 add_example(ecdsa)
 
+if(SECP256K1_ENABLE_MODULE_RECOVERY)
+  add_example(recovery)
+endif()
+
 if(SECP256K1_ENABLE_MODULE_ECDH)
   add_example(ecdh)
 endif()

examples/recovery.c

@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+/*************************************************************************
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all    *
+ * copyright and related and neighboring rights to the software in this  *
+ * file to the public domain worldwide. This software is distributed     *
+ * without any warranty. For the CC0 Public Domain Dedication, see       *
+ * EXAMPLES_COPYING or https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 *
+ *************************************************************************/
+
+/** This file demonstrates how to use the recovery module to create a
+  * recoverable ECDSA signature and extract the corresponding
+  * public key from it.
+  */
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include <secp256k1.h>
+#include <secp256k1_recovery.h>
+
+#include "examples_util.h"
+
+int main(void) {
+    unsigned char msg[32] = "this_could_be_the_hash_of_a_msg";
+    unsigned char seckey[32];
+    unsigned char randomize[32];
+    unsigned char recoverable_sig_ser[64];
+    unsigned char serialized_pubkey[33];
+    unsigned char serialized_recovered_pubkey[33];
+    size_t len;
+    int return_val, recovery_id;
+    secp256k1_pubkey pubkey, recovered_pubkey;
+    secp256k1_ecdsa_recoverable_signature recoverable_sig;
+    secp256k1_ecdsa_signature normal_sig;
+
+    /* Before we can call actual API functions, we need to create a "context". */
+    secp256k1_context* ctx = secp256k1_context_create(SECP256K1_CONTEXT_NONE);
+    if (!fill_random(randomize, sizeof(randomize))) {
+        printf("Failed to generate randomness\n");
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
+    /* Randomizing the context is recommended to protect against side-channel
+     * leakage. See `secp256k1_context_randomize` in secp256k1.h for more
+     * information about it. This should never fail. */
+    return_val = secp256k1_context_randomize(ctx, randomize);
+    assert(return_val);
+
+    /*** Key Generation ***/
+    if (!fill_random(seckey, sizeof(seckey))) {
+        printf("Failed to generate randomness\n");
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
+    /* Try to create a public key with a valid context. This only fails if the
+     * secret key is zero or out of range (greater than secp256k1's order). Note
+     * that the probability of this occurring is negligible with a properly
+     * functioning random number generator. */
+    if (!secp256k1_ec_pubkey_create(ctx, &pubkey, seckey)) {
+        printf("Generated secret key is invalid. This indicates an issue with the random number generator.\n");
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
+
+    /* Serialize the public key. Should always return 1 for a valid public key. */
+    len = sizeof(serialized_pubkey);
+    return_val = secp256k1_ec_pubkey_serialize(ctx, serialized_pubkey, &len, &pubkey, SECP256K1_EC_COMPRESSED);
+    assert(return_val);
+
+    /*** Signing ***/
+
+    /* Signing with a valid context, verified secret key
+     * and the default nonce function should never fail. */
+    return_val = secp256k1_ecdsa_sign_recoverable(ctx, &recoverable_sig, msg, seckey, NULL, NULL);
+    assert(return_val);
+
+    /* Serialize in compact format (64 bytes + recovery id integer) */
+    return_val = secp256k1_ecdsa_recoverable_signature_serialize_compact(ctx,
+        recoverable_sig_ser, &recovery_id, &recoverable_sig);
+    assert(return_val);
+
+    /*** Public key recovery / verification ***/
+
+    /* Deserialize the recoverable signature. This will return 0 if the signature can't be parsed correctly. */
+    if (!secp256k1_ecdsa_recoverable_signature_parse_compact(ctx, &recoverable_sig, recoverable_sig_ser, recovery_id)) {
+        printf("Failed parsing the recoverable signature\n");
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
+
+    /* Recover the public key */
+    if (!secp256k1_ecdsa_recover(ctx, &recovered_pubkey, &recoverable_sig, msg)) {
+        printf("Public key recovery failed\n");
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
+    len = sizeof(serialized_recovered_pubkey);
+    return_val = secp256k1_ec_pubkey_serialize(ctx, serialized_recovered_pubkey,
+        &len, &recovered_pubkey, SECP256K1_EC_COMPRESSED);
+    assert(return_val);
+
+    /* Successful recovery guarantees a correct signature, but we also do an explicit verification
+       do demonstrate how to convert a recoverable to a normal ECDSA signature */
+    return_val = secp256k1_ecdsa_recoverable_signature_convert(ctx, &normal_sig, &recoverable_sig);
+    assert(return_val);
+    if (!secp256k1_ecdsa_verify(ctx, &normal_sig, msg, &recovered_pubkey)) {
+        printf("Signature verification with converted recoverable signature failed\n");
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
+
+    /* Actual public key and recovered public key should match */
+    return_val = memcmp(serialized_pubkey, serialized_recovered_pubkey, sizeof(serialized_pubkey));
+    assert(return_val == 0);
+
+    printf("     Secret Key: ");
+    print_hex(seckey, sizeof(seckey));
+    printf("     Public Key: ");
+    print_hex(serialized_pubkey, sizeof(serialized_pubkey));
+    printf(" Rec. signature: ");
+    print_hex(recoverable_sig_ser, sizeof(recoverable_sig_ser));
+    printf("    Recovery id: %d\n", recovery_id);
+    printf("Rec. public key: ");
+    print_hex(serialized_recovered_pubkey, sizeof(serialized_recovered_pubkey));
+
+    /* This will clear everything from the context and free the memory */
+    secp256k1_context_destroy(ctx);
+
+    /* It's best practice to try to clear secrets from memory after using them.
+     * This is done because some bugs can allow an attacker to leak memory, for
+     * example through "out of bounds" array access (see Heartbleed), or the OS
+     * swapping them to disk. Hence, we overwrite the secret key buffer with zeros.
+     *
+     * Here we are preventing these writes from being optimized out, as any good compiler
+     * will remove any writes that aren't used. */
+    secure_erase(seckey, sizeof(seckey));
+
+    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+}