BN_NEW(3ossl)

💅 BN_NEW(3ossl) — allocate and free BIGNUMs 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay bestie, this page is about BN_new, BN_secure_new, BN_clear, BN_free, and BN_clear_free — the little crew that allocates and frees BIGNUMs. That’s the whole vibe. 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <openssl/bn.h>

BIGNUM *BN_new(void);

BIGNUM *BN_secure_new(void);

void BN_clear(BIGNUM *a);

void BN_free(BIGNUM *a);

void BN_clear_free(BIGNUM *a);

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

BN_new() allocates and initializes a BIGNUM structure. iconic behavior, honestly. ✨

BN_secure_new() does the same except that the secure heap OPENSSL_secure_malloc(3) is used to store the value. secure little vibe 🔐

BN_clear() is used to destroy sensitive data such as keys when they are no longer needed. It erases the memory used by a and sets it to the value 0. If a is NULL, nothing is done. so clean, so careful 💅

BN_free() frees the components of the BIGNUM, and if it was created by BN_new(), also the structure itself. BN_clear_free() additionally overwrites the data before the memory is returned to the system. If a is NULL, nothing is done. cleanup queen energy 🧚

🦋 RETURN VALUES 🦋

BN_new() and BN_secure_new() return a pointer to the BIGNUM initialised to the value 0. If the allocation fails, they return NULL and set an error code that can be obtained by ERR_get_error(3). so if it’s NULL, go get that error, bestie 😭

BN_clear(), BN_free() and BN_clear_free() have no return values. void, no notes, periodt. 🎀

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• ERR_get_error(3) — for when you need the error code, iykyk 👀
• OPENSSL_secure_malloc(3) — the secure heap allocation situation 💜

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

BN_init() was removed in OpenSSL 1.1.0; use BN_new() instead. RIP BN_init(), you will not be missed. 💀

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

Copyright 2000-2017 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at <https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.

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🧚 source/version: OpenSSL 3.5.0 · date: 2026-09-25 — mwah, bye bestie! 💜🌸