2 {- OpenSSL::safe::output_do_not_edit_headers(); -}
6 openssl-ocsp - Online Certificate Status Protocol command
20 [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 -}
77 =for openssl ifdef multi
81 The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) enables applications to
82 determine the (revocation) state of an identified certificate (RFC 2560).
84 This command performs many common OCSP tasks. It can be used
85 to print out requests and responses, create requests and send queries
86 to an OCSP responder and behave like a mini OCSP server itself.
90 This command operates as either a client or a server.
91 The options are described below, divided into those two modes.
93 =head2 OCSP Client Options
99 Print out a usage message.
101 =item B<-out> I<filename>
103 specify output filename, default is standard output.
105 =item B<-issuer> I<filename>
107 This specifies the current issuer certificate. This option can be used
109 This option B<MUST> come before any B<-cert> options.
111 =item B<-cert> I<filename>
113 Add the certificate I<filename> to the request. The issuer certificate
114 is taken from the previous B<-issuer> option, or an error occurs if no
115 issuer certificate is specified.
117 =item B<-serial> I<num>
119 Same as the B<-cert> option except the certificate with serial number
120 B<num> is added to the request. The serial number is interpreted as a
121 decimal integer unless preceded by C<0x>. Negative integers can also
122 be specified by preceding the value by a C<-> sign.
124 =item B<-signer> I<filename>, B<-signkey> I<filename>
126 Sign the OCSP request using the certificate specified in the B<-signer>
127 option and the private key specified by the B<-signkey> option. If
128 the B<-signkey> option is not present then the private key is read
129 from the same file as the certificate. If neither option is specified then
130 the OCSP request is not signed.
132 =item B<-sign_other> I<filename>
134 Additional certificates to include in the signed request.
135 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
137 =item B<-nonce>, B<-no_nonce>
139 Add an OCSP nonce extension to a request or disable OCSP nonce addition.
140 Normally if an OCSP request is input using the B<-reqin> option no
141 nonce is added: using the B<-nonce> option will force addition of a nonce.
142 If an OCSP request is being created (using B<-cert> and B<-serial> options)
143 a nonce is automatically added specifying B<-no_nonce> overrides this.
145 =item B<-req_text>, B<-resp_text>, B<-text>
147 Print out the text form of the OCSP request, response or both respectively.
149 =item B<-reqout> I<file>, B<-respout> I<file>
151 Write out the DER encoded certificate request or response to I<file>.
153 =item B<-reqin> I<file>, B<-respin> I<file>
155 Read OCSP request or response file from I<file>. These option are ignored
156 if OCSP request or response creation is implied by other options (for example
157 with B<-serial>, B<-cert> and B<-host> options).
159 =item B<-url> I<responder_url>
161 Specify the responder URL. Both HTTP and HTTPS (SSL/TLS) URLs can be specified.
162 The optional userinfo and fragment components are ignored.
163 Any given query component is handled as part of the path component.
165 =item B<-host> I<hostname>:I<port>, B<-path> I<pathname>
167 If the B<-host> option is present then the OCSP request is sent to the host
168 I<hostname> on port I<port>. The B<-path> option specifies the HTTP pathname
169 to use or "/" by default. This is equivalent to specifying B<-url> with scheme
170 http:// and the given hostname, port, and pathname.
172 =item B<-proxy> I<[http[s]://][userinfo@]host[:port][/path]>
174 The HTTP(S) proxy server to use for reaching the OCSP server unless B<-no_proxy>
176 The proxy port defaults to 80 or 443 if the scheme is C<https>; apart from that
177 the optional C<http://> or C<https://> prefix is ignored,
178 as well as any userinfo and path components.
179 Defaults to the environment variable C<http_proxy> if set, else C<HTTP_PROXY>
180 in case no TLS is used, otherwise C<https_proxy> if set, else C<HTTPS_PROXY>.
182 =item B<-no_proxy> I<addresses>
184 List of IP addresses and/or DNS names of servers
185 not to use an HTTP(S) proxy for, separated by commas and/or whitespace
186 (where in the latter case the whole argument must be enclosed in "...").
187 Default is from the environment variable C<no_proxy> if set, else C<NO_PROXY>.
189 =item B<-header> I<name>=I<value>
191 Adds the header I<name> with the specified I<value> to the OCSP request
192 that is sent to the responder.
193 This may be repeated.
195 =item B<-timeout> I<seconds>
197 Connection timeout to the OCSP responder in seconds.
198 On POSIX systems, when running as an OCSP responder, this option also limits
199 the time that the responder is willing to wait for the client request.
200 This time is measured from the time the responder accepts the connection until
201 the complete request is received.
203 =item B<-verify_other> I<file>
205 File or URI containing additional certificates to search
206 when attempting to locate
207 the OCSP response signing certificate. Some responders omit the actual signer's
208 certificate from the response: this option can be used to supply the necessary
209 certificate in such cases.
210 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
212 =item B<-trust_other>
214 The certificates specified by the B<-verify_other> option should be explicitly
215 trusted and no additional checks will be performed on them. This is useful
216 when the complete responder certificate chain is not available or trusting a
217 root CA is not appropriate.
219 =item B<-VAfile> I<file>
221 File or URI containing explicitly trusted responder certificates.
222 Equivalent to the B<-verify_other> and B<-trust_other> options.
223 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
227 Don't attempt to verify the OCSP response signature or the nonce
228 values. This option will normally only be used for debugging since it
229 disables all verification of the responders certificate.
233 Ignore certificates contained in the OCSP response when searching for the
234 signers certificate. With this option the signers certificate must be specified
235 with either the B<-verify_other> or B<-VAfile> options.
237 =item B<-no_signature_verify>
239 Don't check the signature on the OCSP response. Since this option
240 tolerates invalid signatures on OCSP responses it will normally only be
241 used for testing purposes.
243 =item B<-no_cert_verify>
245 Don't verify the OCSP response signers certificate at all. Since this
246 option allows the OCSP response to be signed by any certificate it should
247 only be used for testing purposes.
251 Do not use certificates in the response as additional untrusted CA
254 =item B<-no_explicit>
256 Do not explicitly trust the root CA if it is set to be trusted for OCSP signing.
258 =item B<-no_cert_checks>
260 Don't perform any additional checks on the OCSP response signers certificate.
261 That is do not make any checks to see if the signers certificate is authorised
262 to provide the necessary status information: as a result this option should
263 only be used for testing purposes.
265 =item B<-validity_period> I<nsec>, B<-status_age> I<age>
267 These options specify the range of times, in seconds, which will be tolerated
268 in an OCSP response. Each certificate status response includes a B<notBefore>
269 time and an optional B<notAfter> time. The current time should fall between
270 these two values, but the interval between the two times may be only a few
271 seconds. In practice the OCSP responder and clients clocks may not be precisely
272 synchronised and so such a check may fail. To avoid this the
273 B<-validity_period> option can be used to specify an acceptable error range in
274 seconds, the default value is 5 minutes.
276 If the B<notAfter> time is omitted from a response then this means that new
277 status information is immediately available. In this case the age of the
278 B<notBefore> field is checked to see it is not older than I<age> seconds old.
279 By default this additional check is not performed.
281 =item B<-rcid> I<digest>
283 This option sets the digest algorithm to use for certificate identification
284 in the OCSP response. Any digest supported by the L<openssl-dgst(1)> command can
285 be used. The default is the same digest algorithm used in the request.
289 This option sets digest algorithm to use for certificate identification in the
290 OCSP request. Any digest supported by the OpenSSL B<dgst> command can be used.
291 The default is SHA-1. This option may be used multiple times to specify the
292 digest used by subsequent certificate identifiers.
294 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_trust_item -}
296 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_v_item -}
298 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -}
302 =head2 OCSP Server Options
306 =item B<-index> I<indexfile>
308 The I<indexfile> parameter is the name of a text index file in B<ca>
309 format containing certificate revocation information.
311 If the B<-index> option is specified then this command switches to
312 responder mode, otherwise it is in client mode. The request(s) the responder
313 processes can be either specified on the command line (using B<-issuer>
314 and B<-serial> options), supplied in a file (using the B<-reqin> option)
315 or via external OCSP clients (if B<-port> or B<-url> is specified).
317 If the B<-index> option is present then the B<-CA> and B<-rsigner> options
318 must also be present.
322 CA certificate corresponding to the revocation information in the index
323 file given with B<-index>.
324 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
326 =item B<-rsigner> I<file>
328 The certificate to sign OCSP responses with.
330 =item B<-rkey> I<file>
332 The private key to sign OCSP responses with: if not present the file
333 specified in the B<-rsigner> option is used.
335 =item B<-passin> I<arg>
337 The private key password source. For more information about the format of I<arg>
338 see L<openssl-passphrase-options(1)>.
340 =item B<-rother> I<file>
342 Additional certificates to include in the OCSP response.
343 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
345 =item B<-rsigopt> I<nm>:I<v>
347 Pass options to the signature algorithm when signing OCSP responses.
348 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
350 =item B<-rmd> I<digest>
352 The digest to use when signing the response.
356 Corrupt the response signature before writing it; this can be useful
359 =item B<-resp_no_certs>
361 Don't include any certificates in the OCSP response.
363 =item B<-resp_key_id>
365 Identify the signer certificate using the key ID, default is to use the
368 =item B<-port> I<portnum>
370 Port to listen for OCSP requests on. The port may also be specified
371 using the B<url> option.
375 Ignore malformed requests or responses: When acting as an OCSP client, retry if
376 a malformed response is received. When acting as an OCSP responder, continue
377 running instead of terminating upon receiving a malformed request.
379 =item B<-nrequest> I<number>
381 The OCSP server will exit after receiving I<number> requests, default unlimited.
383 =item B<-multi> I<process-count>
385 Run the specified number of OCSP responder child processes, with the parent
386 process respawning child processes as needed.
387 Child processes will detect changes in the CA index file and automatically
389 When running as a responder B<-timeout> option is recommended to limit the time
390 each child is willing to wait for the client's OCSP response.
391 This option is available on POSIX systems (that support the fork() and other
392 required unix system-calls).
395 =item B<-nmin> I<minutes>, B<-ndays> I<days>
397 Number of minutes or days when fresh revocation information is available:
398 used in the B<nextUpdate> field. If neither option is present then the
399 B<nextUpdate> field is omitted meaning fresh revocation information is
400 immediately available.
404 =head1 OCSP RESPONSE VERIFICATION
406 OCSP Response follows the rules specified in RFC2560.
408 Initially the OCSP responder certificate is located and the signature on
409 the OCSP request checked using the responder certificate's public key.
411 Then a normal certificate verify is performed on the OCSP responder certificate
412 building up a certificate chain in the process. The locations of the trusted
413 certificates used to build the chain can be specified by the B<-CAfile>,
414 B<-CApath> or B<-CAstore> options or they will be looked for in the
415 standard OpenSSL certificates directory.
417 If the initial verify fails then the OCSP verify process halts with an
420 Otherwise the issuing CA certificate in the request is compared to the OCSP
421 responder certificate: if there is a match then the OCSP verify succeeds.
423 Otherwise the OCSP responder certificate's CA is checked against the issuing
424 CA certificate in the request. If there is a match and the OCSPSigning
425 extended key usage is present in the OCSP responder certificate then the
426 OCSP verify succeeds.
428 Otherwise, if B<-no_explicit> is B<not> set the root CA of the OCSP responders
429 CA is checked to see if it is trusted for OCSP signing. If it is the OCSP
432 If none of these checks is successful then the OCSP verify fails.
434 What this effectively means if that if the OCSP responder certificate is
435 authorised directly by the CA it is issuing revocation information about
436 (and it is correctly configured) then verification will succeed.
438 If the OCSP responder is a "global responder" which can give details about
439 multiple CAs and has its own separate certificate chain then its root
440 CA can be trusted for OCSP signing. For example:
442 openssl x509 -in ocspCA.pem -addtrust OCSPSigning -out trustedCA.pem
444 Alternatively the responder certificate itself can be explicitly trusted
445 with the B<-VAfile> option.
449 As noted, most of the verify options are for testing or debugging purposes.
450 Normally only the B<-CApath>, B<-CAfile>, B<-CAstore> and (if the responder
451 is a 'global VA') B<-VAfile> options need to be used.
453 The OCSP server is only useful for test and demonstration purposes: it is
454 not really usable as a full OCSP responder. It contains only a very
455 simple HTTP request handling and can only handle the POST form of OCSP
456 queries. It also handles requests serially meaning it cannot respond to
457 new requests until it has processed the current one. The text index file
458 format of revocation is also inefficient for large quantities of revocation
461 It is possible to run this command in responder mode via a CGI
462 script using the B<-reqin> and B<-respout> options.
466 Create an OCSP request and write it to a file:
468 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem -reqout req.der
470 Send a query to an OCSP responder with URL http://ocsp.myhost.com/ save the
471 response to a file, print it out in text form, and verify the response:
473 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem \
474 -url http://ocsp.myhost.com/ -resp_text -respout resp.der
476 Read in an OCSP response and print out text form:
478 openssl ocsp -respin resp.der -text -noverify
480 OCSP server on port 8888 using a standard B<ca> configuration, and a separate
481 responder certificate. All requests and responses are printed to a file.
483 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
486 As above but exit after processing one request:
488 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
491 Query status information using an internally generated request:
493 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
494 -issuer demoCA/cacert.pem -serial 1
496 Query status information using request read from a file, and write the response
499 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
500 -reqin req.der -respout resp.der
504 The -no_alt_chains option was added in OpenSSL 1.1.0.
508 Copyright 2001-2021 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
510 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
511 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
512 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
513 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.