2 {- OpenSSL::safe::output_do_not_edit_headers(); -}
6 openssl-ca - sample minimal CA application
13 [B<-config> I<filename>]
15 [B<-section> I<section>]
19 [B<-status> I<serial>]
21 [B<-crl_reason> I<reason>]
22 [B<-crl_hold> I<instruction>]
23 [B<-crl_compromise> I<time>]
24 [B<-crl_CA_compromise> I<time>]
26 [B<-crlhours> I<hours>]
27 [B<-crlsec> I<seconds>]
28 [B<-crlexts> I<section>]
29 [B<-startdate> I<date>]
35 [B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>]
51 [B<-extensions> I<section>]
52 [B<-extfile> I<section>]
55 [B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
56 [B<-vfyopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
60 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_synopsis -}
61 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}
62 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -}
65 =for openssl ifdef engine
69 This command is a minimal CA application. It can be used
70 to sign certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate
71 CRLs. It also maintains a text database of issued certificates
73 When signing certificates, a single certificate request can be specified
74 with the B<-in> option, or multiple requests can be processed by
75 specifying a set of B<certreq> files after all options.
77 The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose.
85 Print out a usage message.
89 This prints extra details about the operations being performed.
91 =item B<-config> I<filename>
93 Specifies the configuration file to use.
94 Optional; for a description of the default value,
95 see L<openssl(1)/COMMAND SUMMARY>.
97 =item B<-name> I<section>, B<-section> I<section>
99 Specifies the configuration file section to use (overrides
100 B<default_ca> in the B<ca> section).
102 =item B<-in> I<filename>
104 An input filename containing a single certificate request to be
107 =item B<-ss_cert> I<filename>
109 A single self-signed certificate to be signed by the CA.
111 =item B<-spkac> I<filename>
113 A file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge
114 and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<SPKAC FORMAT>
115 section for information on the required input and output format.
119 If present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments
120 are taken as the names of files containing certificate requests.
122 =item B<-out> I<filename>
124 The output file to output certificates to. The default is standard
125 output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this
126 file in PEM format (except that B<-spkac> outputs DER format).
128 =item B<-outdir> I<directory>
130 The directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be
131 written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with
136 The CA certificate file.
138 =item B<-keyfile> I<filename>
140 The private key to sign requests with.
142 =item B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>
144 The format of the private key file; the default is B<PEM>.
145 See L<openssl(1)/Format Options> for details.
147 =item B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>
149 Pass options to the signature algorithm during sign operations.
150 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
152 =item B<-vfyopt> I<nm>:I<v>
154 Pass options to the signature algorithm during verify operations.
155 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
157 This often needs to be given while signing too, because the input
158 certificate signature request is verified against its own public key,
159 and that verification may need its own set of options.
161 =item B<-key> I<password>
163 =for openssl foreign manual ps(1)
165 The password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some
166 systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g., when using
168 this option should be used with caution.
172 Indicates the issued certificates are to be signed with the key
173 the certificate requests were signed with (given with B<-keyfile>).
174 Certificate requests signed with a different key are ignored. If
175 B<-spkac>, B<-ss_cert> or B<-gencrl> are given, B<-selfsign> is
178 A consequence of using B<-selfsign> is that the self-signed
179 certificate appears among the entries in the certificate database
180 (see the configuration option B<database>), and uses the same
181 serial number counter as all other certificates sign with the
182 self-signed certificate.
184 =item B<-passin> I<arg>
186 The key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
187 see L<openssl(1)/Pass Phrase Options>.
191 Don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.
193 =item B<-startdate> I<date>
195 This allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the
196 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or
197 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In
198 both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.
200 =item B<-enddate> I<date>
202 This allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the
203 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or
204 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In
205 both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.
207 =item B<-days> I<arg>
209 The number of days to certify the certificate for.
213 The message digest to use.
214 Any digest supported by the L<openssl-dgst(1)> command can be used. For signing
215 algorithms that do not support a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448) any message
216 digest that is set is ignored. This option also applies to CRLs.
218 =item B<-policy> I<arg>
220 This option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in
221 the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory
222 or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
223 for more information.
227 This is a deprecated option to make this command work with very old versions
228 of the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings
229 for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs
230 its use is strongly discouraged.
234 Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the
235 fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order
236 is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the
237 older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their
238 DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll.
242 The DN of a certificate can contain the EMAIL field if present in the
243 request DN, however it is good policy just having the e-mail set into
244 the altName extension of the certificate. When this option is set the
245 EMAIL field is removed from the certificate' subject and set only in
246 the, eventually present, extensions. The B<email_in_dn> keyword can be
247 used in the configuration file to enable this behaviour.
251 This sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked
252 and all certificates will be certified automatically.
254 =item B<-extensions> I<section>
256 The section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions
257 to be added when a certificate is issued (defaults to B<x509_extensions>
258 unless the B<-extfile> option is used). If no extension section is
259 present then, a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section
260 is present (even if it is empty), then a V3 certificate is created. See the
261 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
262 extension section format.
264 =item B<-extfile> I<file>
266 An additional configuration file to read certificate extensions from
267 (using the default section unless the B<-extensions> option is also
270 =item B<-subj> I<arg>
272 Supersedes subject name given in the request.
273 The arg must be formatted as C</type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...>.
274 Keyword characters may be escaped by C<\> (backslash), and whitespace is
276 Empty values are permitted, but the corresponding type will not be included
277 in the resulting certificate.
281 This option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings, by
282 default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field
283 values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a
284 configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
286 =item B<-create_serial>
288 If reading serial from the text file as specified in the configuration
289 fails, specifying this option creates a new random serial to be used as next
291 To get random serial numbers, use the B<-rand_serial> flag instead; this
292 should only be used for simple error-recovery.
294 =item B<-rand_serial>
296 Generate a large random number to use as the serial number.
297 This overrides any option or configuration to use a serial number file.
299 =item B<-multivalue-rdn>
301 This option causes the -subj argument to be interpreted with full
302 support for multivalued RDNs. Example:
304 C</DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe>
306 If B<-multi-rdn> is not used then the UID value is C<123456+CN=John Doe>.
308 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_item -}
310 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -}
312 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -}
322 This option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.
324 =item B<-crldays> I<num>
326 The number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from
327 now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.
329 =item B<-crlhours> I<num>
331 The number of hours before the next CRL is due.
333 =item B<-crlsec> I<num>
335 The number of seconds before the next CRL is due.
337 =item B<-revoke> I<filename>
339 A filename containing a certificate to revoke.
341 =item B<-valid> I<filename>
343 A filename containing a certificate to add a Valid certificate entry.
345 =item B<-status> I<serial>
347 Displays the revocation status of the certificate with the specified
348 serial number and exits.
352 Updates the database index to purge expired certificates.
354 =item B<-crl_reason> I<reason>
356 Revocation reason, where I<reason> is one of: B<unspecified>, B<keyCompromise>,
357 B<CACompromise>, B<affiliationChanged>, B<superseded>, B<cessationOfOperation>,
358 B<certificateHold> or B<removeFromCRL>. The matching of I<reason> is case
359 insensitive. Setting any revocation reason will make the CRL v2.
361 In practice B<removeFromCRL> is not particularly useful because it is only used
362 in delta CRLs which are not currently implemented.
364 =item B<-crl_hold> I<instruction>
366 This sets the CRL revocation reason code to B<certificateHold> and the hold
367 instruction to I<instruction> which must be an OID. Although any OID can be
368 used only B<holdInstructionNone> (the use of which is discouraged by RFC2459)
369 B<holdInstructionCallIssuer> or B<holdInstructionReject> will normally be used.
371 =item B<-crl_compromise> I<time>
373 This sets the revocation reason to B<keyCompromise> and the compromise time to
374 I<time>. I<time> should be in GeneralizedTime format that is I<YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ>.
376 =item B<-crl_CA_compromise> I<time>
378 This is the same as B<crl_compromise> except the revocation reason is set to
381 =item B<-crlexts> I<section>
383 The section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to
384 include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is
385 created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is
386 empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are
387 CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted
388 that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs. See
389 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
390 extension section format.
394 =head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
396 The section of the configuration file containing options for this command
397 is found as follows: If the B<-name> command line option is used,
398 then it names the section to be used. Otherwise the section to
399 be used must be named in the B<default_ca> option of the B<ca> section
400 of the configuration file (or in the default section of the
401 configuration file). Besides B<default_ca>, the following options are
402 read directly from the B<ca> section:
406 With the exception of B<RANDFILE>, this is probably a bug and may
407 change in future releases.
409 Many of the configuration file options are identical to command line
410 options. Where the option is present in the configuration file
411 and the command line the command line value is used. Where an
412 option is described as mandatory then it must be present in
413 the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if
420 This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>.
421 Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
422 object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed
423 by white space and finally the long name.
427 This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
428 object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the
429 object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short
430 and long names are the same when this option is used.
432 =item B<new_certs_dir>
434 The same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies
435 the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
439 The same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA
440 certificate. Mandatory.
444 Same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the
445 CA private key. Mandatory.
449 At startup the specified file is loaded into the random number generator,
450 and at exit 256 bytes will be written to it. (Note: Using a RANDFILE is
451 not necessary anymore, see the L</HISTORY> section.
453 =item B<default_days>
455 The same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify
458 =item B<default_startdate>
460 The same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify
461 a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
463 =item B<default_enddate>
465 The same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or
466 B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be
469 =item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days>
471 The same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These
472 will only be used if neither command line option is present. At
473 least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.
477 The same as the B<-md> option. Mandatory except where the signing algorithm does
478 not require a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448).
482 The text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
483 though initially it will be empty.
485 =item B<unique_subject>
487 If the value B<yes> is given, the valid certificate entries in the
488 database must have unique subjects. if the value B<no> is given,
489 several valid certificate entries may have the exact same subject.
490 The default value is B<yes>, to be compatible with older (pre 0.9.8)
491 versions of OpenSSL. However, to make CA certificate roll-over easier,
492 it's recommended to use the value B<no>, especially if combined with
493 the B<-selfsign> command line option.
495 Note that it is valid in some circumstances for certificates to be created
496 without any subject. In the case where there are multiple certificates without
497 subjects this does not count as a duplicate.
501 A text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory.
502 This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.
506 A text file containing the next CRL number to use in hex. The crl number
507 will be inserted in the CRLs only if this file exists. If this file is
508 present, it must contain a valid CRL number.
510 =item B<x509_extensions>
512 The same as B<-extensions>.
514 =item B<crl_extensions>
516 The same as B<-crlexts>.
520 The same as B<-preserveDN>
524 The same as B<-noemailDN>. If you want the EMAIL field to be removed
525 from the DN of the certificate simply set this to 'no'. If not present
526 the default is to allow for the EMAIL filed in the certificate's DN.
530 The same as B<-msie_hack>
534 The same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
535 for more information.
537 =item B<name_opt>, B<cert_opt>
539 These options allow the format used to display the certificate details
540 when asking the user to confirm signing. All the options supported by
541 the B<x509> utilities B<-nameopt> and B<-certopt> switches can be used
542 here, except the B<no_signame> and B<no_sigdump> are permanently set
543 and cannot be disabled (this is because the certificate signature cannot
544 be displayed because the certificate has not been signed at this point).
546 For convenience the values B<ca_default> are accepted by both to produce
549 If neither option is present the format used in earlier versions of
550 OpenSSL is used. Use of the old format is B<strongly> discouraged because
551 it only displays fields mentioned in the B<policy> section, mishandles
552 multicharacter string types and does not display extensions.
554 =item B<copy_extensions>
556 Determines how extensions in certificate requests should be handled.
557 If set to B<none> or this option is not present then extensions are
558 ignored and not copied to the certificate. If set to B<copy> then any
559 extensions present in the request that are not already present are copied
560 to the certificate. If set to B<copyall> then all extensions in the
561 request are copied to the certificate: if the extension is already present
562 in the certificate it is deleted first. See the B<WARNINGS> section before
565 The main use of this option is to allow a certificate request to supply
566 values for certain extensions such as subjectAltName.
572 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
573 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
574 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
575 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
576 it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
577 are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
578 this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
582 The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
583 signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
584 the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
585 It is however possible to create SPKACs using L<openssl-spkac(1)>.
587 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
588 the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
589 If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
590 preceded by a number and a '.'.
592 When processing SPKAC format, the output is DER if the B<-out>
593 flag is used, but PEM format if sending to stdout or the B<-outdir>
598 Note: these examples assume that the directory structure this command
599 assumes is already set up and the relevant files already exist. This
600 usually involves creating a CA certificate and private key with
601 L<openssl-req(1)>, a serial number file and an empty index file and
602 placing them in the relevant directories.
604 To use the sample configuration file below the directories F<demoCA>,
605 F<demoCA/private> and F<demoCA/newcerts> would be created. The CA
606 certificate would be copied to F<demoCA/cacert.pem> and its private
607 key to F<demoCA/private/cakey.pem>. A file F<demoCA/serial> would be
608 created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
612 Sign a certificate request:
614 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
616 Sign an SM2 certificate request:
618 openssl ca -in sm2.csr -out sm2.crt -md sm3 \
619 -sigopt "distid:1234567812345678" \
620 -vfyopt "distid:1234567812345678"
622 Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:
624 openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem
628 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
630 Sign several requests:
632 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
634 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
636 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
638 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
640 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
642 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
646 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for this command:
649 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
653 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
654 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
655 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
657 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
658 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
659 #rand_serial = yes # for random serial#'s
660 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
662 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
663 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
664 default_md = md5 # md to use
666 policy = policy_any # default policy
667 email_in_dn = no # Don't add the email into cert DN
669 name_opt = ca_default # Subject name display option
670 cert_opt = ca_default # Certificate display option
671 copy_extensions = none # Don't copy extensions from request
674 countryName = supplied
675 stateOrProvinceName = optional
676 organizationName = optional
677 organizationalUnitName = optional
678 commonName = supplied
679 emailAddress = optional
683 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
684 configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
685 The values below reflect the default values.
687 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
688 ./demoCA - main CA directory
689 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
690 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
691 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
692 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
693 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
694 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
695 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
699 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
700 if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
701 to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
702 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
704 V2 CRL features like delta CRLs are not currently supported.
706 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
707 possible to include one SPKAC or self-signed certificate.
711 The use of an in-memory text database can cause problems when large
712 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
713 the database has to be kept in memory.
715 This command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
716 exposed at either a command or interface level so that a more user-friendly
717 replacement could handle things properly. The script
718 B<CA.pl> helps a little but not very much.
720 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
721 deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used. To
722 enforce the absence of the EMAIL field within the DN, as suggested by
723 RFCs, regardless the contents of the request' subject the B<-noemailDN>
724 option can be used. The behaviour should be more friendly and
727 Canceling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
728 create an empty file.
732 This command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
734 This command was originally meant as an example of how to do
735 things in a CA. It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself:
736 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
738 This command command is effectively a single user command: no locking
739 is done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<openssl ca>
740 command on the same database can have unpredictable results.
742 The B<copy_extensions> option should be used with caution. If care is
743 not taken then it can be a security risk. For example if a certificate
744 request contains a basicConstraints extension with CA:TRUE and the
745 B<copy_extensions> value is set to B<copyall> and the user does not spot
746 this when the certificate is displayed then this will hand the requester
747 a valid CA certificate.
749 This situation can be avoided by setting B<copy_extensions> to B<copy>
750 and including basicConstraints with CA:FALSE in the configuration file.
751 Then if the request contains a basicConstraints extension it will be
754 It is advisable to also include values for other extensions such
755 as B<keyUsage> to prevent a request supplying its own values.
757 Additional restrictions can be placed on the CA certificate itself.
758 For example if the CA certificate has:
760 basicConstraints = CA:TRUE, pathlen:0
762 then even if a certificate is issued with CA:TRUE it will not be valid.
766 Since OpenSSL 1.1.1, the program follows RFC5280. Specifically,
767 certificate validity period (specified by any of B<-startdate>,
768 B<-enddate> and B<-days>) will be encoded as UTCTime if the dates are
769 earlier than year 2049 (included), and as GeneralizedTime if the dates
770 are in year 2050 or later.
772 OpenSSL 1.1.1 introduced a new random generator (CSPRNG) with an improved
773 seeding mechanism. The new seeding mechanism makes it unnecessary to
774 define a RANDFILE for saving and restoring randomness. This option is
775 retained mainly for compatibility reasons.
777 The B<-section> option was added in OpenSSL 3.0.0.
791 Copyright 2000-2019 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
793 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
794 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
795 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
796 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.