AWS KMS Encryption/Decryption C++20 Project

This project demonstrates how to use AWS KMS (Key Management Service) to encrypt and decrypt messages using C++20.

Prerequisites

• C++20 compatible compiler (GCC 10+, Clang 10+, or MSVC 19.27+)
• CMake 3.16 or higher
• AWS SDK for C++ installed
• AWS credentials configured

Building the Project

1. Create a build directory:

2. Configure with CMake:

3. Build the project:

Running the Application

Before running the application, make sure to:

1. Configure your AWS credentials (using aws configure or environment variables)
2. Have a valid KMS key ID or ARN ready for encryption operations

Then run the application with one of the following options:

# To encrypt a message (key ID required)
./aws_kms_crypto --encrypt "Your secret message" --key "YOUR_KMS_KEY_ID"

# To decrypt a ciphertext (in hex format, key ID optional)
./aws_kms_crypto --decrypt "0123456789abcdef..."

# You can also specify the key ID for decryption (optional)
./aws_kms_crypto --decrypt "0123456789abcdef..." --key "YOUR_KMS_KEY_ID"

# For help and usage information
./aws_kms_crypto --help

You can also use the short form of the options:

./aws_kms_crypto -e "Your secret message" -k "YOUR_KMS_KEY_ID"
./aws_kms_crypto -d "0123456789abcdef..."
./aws_kms_crypto -h

Project Structure

• CMakeLists.txt - CMake build configuration
• src/main.cpp - Main application code with KMS encryption/decryption logic

AWS SDK Installation

If you haven't installed the AWS SDK for C++ yet, follow these steps to build it statically:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/aws/aws-sdk-cpp
mkdir build-aws-sdk && cd build-aws-sdk
cmake ../aws-sdk-cpp -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
    -DBUILD_ONLY=kms \
    -DENABLE_UNITY_BUILD=ON \
    -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF \
    -DCUSTOM_MEMORY_MANAGEMENT=OFF \
    -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=/tmp/aws-sdk
cmake --build . -j 8
sudo cmake --install .

AWS Credentials

Make sure your AWS credentials are properly configured with permissions to use KMS. You can configure credentials using:

Or by setting environment variables:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your_access_key"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your_secret_key"
export AWS_REGION="your_region"