2 {- OpenSSL::safe::output_do_not_edit_headers(); -}
6 openssl-ocsp - Online Certificate Status Protocol command
21 [B<-sign_other> I<file>]
32 [B<-host> I<host>:I<port>]
34 [B<-proxy> I<[http[s]://][userinfo@]host[:port][/path]>]
35 [B<-no_proxy> I<addresses>]
37 [B<-timeout> I<seconds>]
39 [B<-validity_period> I<n>]
42 [B<-verify_other> I<file>]
45 [B<-no_signature_verify>]
62 [B<-rsigopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
70 [B<-multi> I<process-count>]
73 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_trust_synopsis -}
74 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_v_synopsis -}
75 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -}
79 The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) enables applications to
80 determine the (revocation) state of an identified certificate (RFC 2560).
82 This command performs many common OCSP tasks. It can be used
83 to print out requests and responses, create requests and send queries
84 to an OCSP responder and behave like a mini OCSP server itself.
88 This command operates as either a client or a server.
89 The options are described below, divided into those two modes.
91 =head2 OCSP Client Options
97 Print out a usage message.
99 =item B<-out> I<filename>
101 specify output filename, default is standard output.
103 =item B<-issuer> I<filename>
105 This specifies the current issuer certificate.
106 This option can be used multiple times.
107 This option B<MUST> come before any B<-cert> options.
109 =item B<-cert> I<filename>
111 Add the certificate I<filename> to the request.
112 This option can be used multiple times.
113 The issuer certificate is taken from the previous B<-issuer> option,
114 or an error occurs if no issuer certificate is specified.
118 Don't include any certificates in signed request.
120 =item B<-serial> I<num>
122 Same as the B<-cert> option except the certificate with serial number
123 B<num> is added to the request. The serial number is interpreted as a
124 decimal integer unless preceded by C<0x>. Negative integers can also
125 be specified by preceding the value by a C<-> sign.
127 =item B<-signer> I<filename>, B<-signkey> I<filename>
129 Sign the OCSP request using the certificate specified in the B<-signer>
130 option and the private key specified by the B<-signkey> option. If
131 the B<-signkey> option is not present then the private key is read
132 from the same file as the certificate. If neither option is specified then
133 the OCSP request is not signed.
135 =item B<-sign_other> I<filename>
137 Additional certificates to include in the signed request.
138 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
140 =item B<-nonce>, B<-no_nonce>
142 Add an OCSP nonce extension to a request or disable OCSP nonce addition.
143 Normally if an OCSP request is input using the B<-reqin> option no
144 nonce is added: using the B<-nonce> option will force addition of a nonce.
145 If an OCSP request is being created (using B<-cert> and B<-serial> options)
146 a nonce is automatically added specifying B<-no_nonce> overrides this.
148 =item B<-req_text>, B<-resp_text>, B<-text>
150 Print out the text form of the OCSP request, response or both respectively.
152 =item B<-reqout> I<file>, B<-respout> I<file>
154 Write out the DER encoded certificate request or response to I<file>.
156 =item B<-reqin> I<file>, B<-respin> I<file>
158 Read OCSP request or response file from I<file>. These option are ignored
159 if OCSP request or response creation is implied by other options (for example
160 with B<-serial>, B<-cert> and B<-host> options).
162 =item B<-url> I<responder_url>
164 Specify the responder URL. Both HTTP and HTTPS (SSL/TLS) URLs can be specified.
165 The optional userinfo and fragment components are ignored.
166 Any given query component is handled as part of the path component.
168 =item B<-host> I<hostname>:I<port>, B<-path> I<pathname>
170 If the B<-host> option is present then the OCSP request is sent to the host
171 I<hostname> on port I<port>. The B<-path> option specifies the HTTP pathname
172 to use or "/" by default. This is equivalent to specifying B<-url> with scheme
173 http:// and the given hostname, port, and pathname.
175 =item B<-proxy> I<[http[s]://][userinfo@]host[:port][/path]>
177 The HTTP(S) proxy server to use for reaching the OCSP server unless B<-no_proxy>
179 The proxy port defaults to 80 or 443 if the scheme is C<https>; apart from that
180 the optional C<http://> or C<https://> prefix is ignored,
181 as well as any userinfo and path components.
182 Defaults to the environment variable C<http_proxy> if set, else C<HTTP_PROXY>
183 in case no TLS is used, otherwise C<https_proxy> if set, else C<HTTPS_PROXY>.
185 =item B<-no_proxy> I<addresses>
187 List of IP addresses and/or DNS names of servers
188 not to use an HTTP(S) proxy for, separated by commas and/or whitespace
189 (where in the latter case the whole argument must be enclosed in "...").
190 Default is from the environment variable C<no_proxy> if set, else C<NO_PROXY>.
192 =item B<-header> I<name>=I<value>
194 Adds the header I<name> with the specified I<value> to the OCSP request
195 that is sent to the responder.
196 This may be repeated.
198 =item B<-timeout> I<seconds>
200 Connection timeout to the OCSP responder in seconds.
201 On POSIX systems, when running as an OCSP responder, this option also limits
202 the time that the responder is willing to wait for the client request.
203 This time is measured from the time the responder accepts the connection until
204 the complete request is received.
206 =item B<-verify_other> I<file>
208 File or URI containing additional certificates to search
209 when attempting to locate
210 the OCSP response signing certificate. Some responders omit the actual signer's
211 certificate from the response: this option can be used to supply the necessary
212 certificate in such cases.
213 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
215 =item B<-trust_other>
217 The certificates specified by the B<-verify_other> option should be explicitly
218 trusted and no additional checks will be performed on them. This is useful
219 when the complete responder certificate chain is not available or trusting a
220 root CA is not appropriate.
222 =item B<-VAfile> I<file>
224 File or URI containing explicitly trusted responder certificates.
225 Equivalent to the B<-verify_other> and B<-trust_other> options.
226 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
230 Don't attempt to verify the OCSP response signature or the nonce
231 values. This option will normally only be used for debugging since it
232 disables all verification of the responders certificate.
236 Ignore certificates contained in the OCSP response when searching for the
237 signers certificate. With this option the signers certificate must be specified
238 with either the B<-verify_other> or B<-VAfile> options.
240 =item B<-no_signature_verify>
242 Don't check the signature on the OCSP response. Since this option
243 tolerates invalid signatures on OCSP responses it will normally only be
244 used for testing purposes.
246 =item B<-no_cert_verify>
248 Don't verify the OCSP response signers certificate at all. Since this
249 option allows the OCSP response to be signed by any certificate it should
250 only be used for testing purposes.
254 Do not use certificates in the response as additional untrusted CA
257 =item B<-no_explicit>
259 Do not explicitly trust the root CA if it is set to be trusted for OCSP signing.
261 =item B<-no_cert_checks>
263 Don't perform any additional checks on the OCSP response signers certificate.
264 That is do not make any checks to see if the signers certificate is authorised
265 to provide the necessary status information: as a result this option should
266 only be used for testing purposes.
268 =item B<-validity_period> I<nsec>, B<-status_age> I<age>
270 These options specify the range of times, in seconds, which will be tolerated
271 in an OCSP response. Each certificate status response includes a B<notBefore>
272 time and an optional B<notAfter> time. The current time should fall between
273 these two values, but the interval between the two times may be only a few
274 seconds. In practice the OCSP responder and clients clocks may not be precisely
275 synchronised and so such a check may fail. To avoid this the
276 B<-validity_period> option can be used to specify an acceptable error range in
277 seconds, the default value is 5 minutes.
279 If the B<notAfter> time is omitted from a response then this means that new
280 status information is immediately available. In this case the age of the
281 B<notBefore> field is checked to see it is not older than I<age> seconds old.
282 By default this additional check is not performed.
284 =item B<-rcid> I<digest>
286 This option sets the digest algorithm to use for certificate identification
287 in the OCSP response. Any digest supported by the L<openssl-dgst(1)> command can
288 be used. The default is the same digest algorithm used in the request.
292 This option sets digest algorithm to use for certificate identification in the
293 OCSP request. Any digest supported by the OpenSSL B<dgst> command can be used.
294 The default is SHA-1. This option may be used multiple times to specify the
295 digest used by subsequent certificate identifiers.
297 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_trust_item -}
299 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_v_item -}
301 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -}
305 =head2 OCSP Server Options
309 =item B<-index> I<indexfile>
311 The I<indexfile> parameter is the name of a text index file in B<ca>
312 format containing certificate revocation information.
314 If the B<-index> option is specified then this command switches to
315 responder mode, otherwise it is in client mode. The request(s) the responder
316 processes can be either specified on the command line (using B<-issuer>
317 and B<-serial> options), supplied in a file (using the B<-reqin> option)
318 or via external OCSP clients (if B<-port> or B<-url> is specified).
320 If the B<-index> option is present then the B<-CA> and B<-rsigner> options
321 must also be present.
325 CA certificate corresponding to the revocation information in the index
326 file given with B<-index>.
327 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
329 =item B<-rsigner> I<file>
331 The certificate to sign OCSP responses with.
333 =item B<-rkey> I<file>
335 The private key to sign OCSP responses with: if not present the file
336 specified in the B<-rsigner> option is used.
338 =item B<-passin> I<arg>
340 The private key password source. For more information about the format of I<arg>
341 see L<openssl-passphrase-options(1)>.
343 =item B<-rother> I<file>
345 Additional certificates to include in the OCSP response.
346 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
348 =item B<-rsigopt> I<nm>:I<v>
350 Pass options to the signature algorithm when signing OCSP responses.
351 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
353 =item B<-rmd> I<digest>
355 The digest to use when signing the response.
359 Corrupt the response signature before writing it; this can be useful
362 =item B<-resp_no_certs>
364 Don't include any certificates in the OCSP response.
366 =item B<-resp_key_id>
368 Identify the signer certificate using the key ID, default is to use the
371 =item B<-port> I<portnum>
373 Port to listen for OCSP requests on. The port may also be specified
374 using the B<url> option.
375 A C<0> argument indicates that any available port shall be chosen automatically.
379 Ignore malformed requests or responses: When acting as an OCSP client, retry if
380 a malformed response is received. When acting as an OCSP responder, continue
381 running instead of terminating upon receiving a malformed request.
383 =item B<-nrequest> I<number>
385 The OCSP server will exit after receiving I<number> requests, default unlimited.
387 =item B<-multi> I<process-count>
389 Run the specified number of OCSP responder child processes, with the parent
390 process respawning child processes as needed.
391 Child processes will detect changes in the CA index file and automatically
393 When running as a responder B<-timeout> option is recommended to limit the time
394 each child is willing to wait for the client's OCSP response.
395 This option is available on POSIX systems (that support the fork() and other
396 required unix system-calls).
398 =item B<-nmin> I<minutes>, B<-ndays> I<days>
400 Number of minutes or days when fresh revocation information is available:
401 used in the B<nextUpdate> field. If neither option is present then the
402 B<nextUpdate> field is omitted meaning fresh revocation information is
403 immediately available.
407 =head1 OCSP RESPONSE VERIFICATION
409 OCSP Response follows the rules specified in RFC2560.
411 Initially the OCSP responder certificate is located and the signature on
412 the OCSP request checked using the responder certificate's public key.
414 Then a normal certificate verify is performed on the OCSP responder certificate
415 building up a certificate chain in the process. The locations of the trusted
416 certificates used to build the chain can be specified by the B<-CAfile>,
417 B<-CApath> or B<-CAstore> options or they will be looked for in the
418 standard OpenSSL certificates directory.
420 If the initial verify fails then the OCSP verify process halts with an
423 Otherwise the issuing CA certificate in the request is compared to the OCSP
424 responder certificate: if there is a match then the OCSP verify succeeds.
426 Otherwise the OCSP responder certificate's CA is checked against the issuing
427 CA certificate in the request. If there is a match and the OCSPSigning
428 extended key usage is present in the OCSP responder certificate then the
429 OCSP verify succeeds.
431 Otherwise, if B<-no_explicit> is B<not> set the root CA of the OCSP responders
432 CA is checked to see if it is trusted for OCSP signing. If it is the OCSP
435 If none of these checks is successful then the OCSP verify fails.
437 What this effectively means if that if the OCSP responder certificate is
438 authorised directly by the CA it is issuing revocation information about
439 (and it is correctly configured) then verification will succeed.
441 If the OCSP responder is a "global responder" which can give details about
442 multiple CAs and has its own separate certificate chain then its root
443 CA can be trusted for OCSP signing. For example:
445 openssl x509 -in ocspCA.pem -addtrust OCSPSigning -out trustedCA.pem
447 Alternatively the responder certificate itself can be explicitly trusted
448 with the B<-VAfile> option.
452 As noted, most of the verify options are for testing or debugging purposes.
453 Normally only the B<-CApath>, B<-CAfile>, B<-CAstore> and (if the responder
454 is a 'global VA') B<-VAfile> options need to be used.
456 The OCSP server is only useful for test and demonstration purposes: it is
457 not really usable as a full OCSP responder. It contains only a very
458 simple HTTP request handling and can only handle the POST form of OCSP
459 queries. It also handles requests serially meaning it cannot respond to
460 new requests until it has processed the current one. The text index file
461 format of revocation is also inefficient for large quantities of revocation
464 It is possible to run this command in responder mode via a CGI
465 script using the B<-reqin> and B<-respout> options.
469 Create an OCSP request and write it to a file:
471 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem -reqout req.der
473 Send a query to an OCSP responder with URL http://ocsp.myhost.com/ save the
474 response to a file, print it out in text form, and verify the response:
476 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem \
477 -url http://ocsp.myhost.com/ -resp_text -respout resp.der
479 Read in an OCSP response and print out text form:
481 openssl ocsp -respin resp.der -text -noverify
483 OCSP server on port 8888 using a standard B<ca> configuration, and a separate
484 responder certificate. All requests and responses are printed to a file.
486 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
489 As above but exit after processing one request:
491 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
494 Query status information using an internally generated request:
496 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
497 -issuer demoCA/cacert.pem -serial 1
499 Query status information using request read from a file, and write the response
502 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
503 -reqin req.der -respout resp.der
507 The -no_alt_chains option was added in OpenSSL 1.1.0.
511 Copyright 2001-2022 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
513 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
514 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
515 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
516 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.