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>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE>]
39 [B<-certform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>]
42 [B<-inform> B<DER>|<PEM>]
53 [B<-extensions> I<section>]
54 [B<-extfile> I<section>]
57 [B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
58 [B<-vfyopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
62 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_synopsis -}
63 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}
64 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -}
67 =for openssl ifdef engine
71 This command is a minimal CA application. It can be used
72 to sign certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate
73 CRLs. It also maintains a text database of issued certificates
75 When signing certificates, a single certificate request can be specified
76 with the B<-in> option, or multiple requests can be processed by
77 specifying a set of B<certreq> files after all options.
79 The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose.
87 Print out a usage message.
91 This prints extra details about the operations being performed.
93 =item B<-config> I<filename>
95 Specifies the configuration file to use.
96 Optional; for a description of the default value,
97 see L<openssl(1)/COMMAND SUMMARY>.
99 =item B<-name> I<section>, B<-section> I<section>
101 Specifies the configuration file section to use (overrides
102 B<default_ca> in the B<ca> section).
104 =item B<-in> I<filename>
106 An input filename containing a single certificate request to be
109 =item B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM>
111 The format of the data in CSR input files.
114 =item B<-ss_cert> I<filename>
116 A single self-signed certificate to be signed by the CA.
118 =item B<-spkac> I<filename>
120 A file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge
121 and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<SPKAC FORMAT>
122 section for information on the required input and output format.
126 If present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments
127 are taken as the names of files containing certificate requests.
129 =item B<-out> I<filename>
131 The output file to output certificates to. The default is standard
132 output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this
133 file in PEM format (except that B<-spkac> outputs DER format).
135 =item B<-outdir> I<directory>
137 The directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be
138 written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with
143 The CA certificate file.
145 =item B<-certform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>
147 The format of the data in certificate input files.
148 This option has no effect and is retained for backward compatibility only.
150 =item B<-keyfile> I<filename>
152 The private key to sign requests with.
154 =item B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE>
156 The format of the private key input file; the default is B<PEM>.
157 The only value with effect is B<ENGINE>; all others have become obsolete.
158 See L<openssl(1)/Format Options> for details.
160 =item B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>
162 Pass options to the signature algorithm during sign operations.
163 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
165 =item B<-vfyopt> I<nm>:I<v>
167 Pass options to the signature algorithm during verify operations.
168 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
170 This often needs to be given while signing too, because the input
171 certificate signature request is verified against its own public key,
172 and that verification may need its own set of options.
174 =item B<-key> I<password>
176 =for openssl foreign manual ps(1)
178 The password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some
179 systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g., when using
181 this option should be used with caution.
185 Indicates the issued certificates are to be signed with the key
186 the certificate requests were signed with (given with B<-keyfile>).
187 Certificate requests signed with a different key are ignored. If
188 B<-spkac>, B<-ss_cert> or B<-gencrl> are given, B<-selfsign> is
191 A consequence of using B<-selfsign> is that the self-signed
192 certificate appears among the entries in the certificate database
193 (see the configuration option B<database>), and uses the same
194 serial number counter as all other certificates sign with the
195 self-signed certificate.
197 =item B<-passin> I<arg>
199 The key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
200 see L<openssl(1)/Pass Phrase Options>.
204 Don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.
206 =item B<-startdate> I<date>
208 This allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the
209 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or
210 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In
211 both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.
213 =item B<-enddate> I<date>
215 This allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the
216 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or
217 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In
218 both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.
220 =item B<-days> I<arg>
222 The number of days to certify the certificate for.
226 The message digest to use.
227 Any digest supported by the L<openssl-dgst(1)> command can be used. For signing
228 algorithms that do not support a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448) any message
229 digest that is set is ignored. This option also applies to CRLs.
231 =item B<-policy> I<arg>
233 This option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in
234 the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory
235 or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
236 for more information.
240 This is a deprecated option to make this command work with very old versions
241 of the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings
242 for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs
243 its use is strongly discouraged.
247 Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the
248 fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order
249 is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the
250 older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their
251 DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll.
255 The DN of a certificate can contain the EMAIL field if present in the
256 request DN, however it is good policy just having the e-mail set into
257 the altName extension of the certificate. When this option is set the
258 EMAIL field is removed from the certificate' subject and set only in
259 the, eventually present, extensions. The B<email_in_dn> keyword can be
260 used in the configuration file to enable this behaviour.
264 This sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked
265 and all certificates will be certified automatically.
267 =item B<-extensions> I<section>
269 The section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions
270 to be added when a certificate is issued (defaults to B<x509_extensions>
271 unless the B<-extfile> option is used). If no extension section is
272 present then, a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section
273 is present (even if it is empty), then a V3 certificate is created. See the
274 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
275 extension section format.
277 =item B<-extfile> I<file>
279 An additional configuration file to read certificate extensions from
280 (using the default section unless the B<-extensions> option is also
283 =item B<-subj> I<arg>
285 Supersedes subject name given in the request.
286 The arg must be formatted as C</type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...>.
287 Keyword characters may be escaped by C<\> (backslash), and whitespace is
289 Empty values are permitted, but the corresponding type will not be included
290 in the resulting certificate.
294 This option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings, by
295 default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field
296 values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a
297 configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
299 =item B<-create_serial>
301 If reading serial from the text file as specified in the configuration
302 fails, specifying this option creates a new random serial to be used as next
304 To get random serial numbers, use the B<-rand_serial> flag instead; this
305 should only be used for simple error-recovery.
307 =item B<-rand_serial>
309 Generate a large random number to use as the serial number.
310 This overrides any option or configuration to use a serial number file.
312 =item B<-multivalue-rdn>
314 This option causes the -subj argument to be interpreted with full
315 support for multivalued RDNs. Example:
317 C</DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe>
319 If B<-multi-rdn> is not used then the UID value is C<123456+CN=John Doe>.
321 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_item -}
323 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -}
325 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -}
335 This option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.
337 =item B<-crldays> I<num>
339 The number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from
340 now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.
342 =item B<-crlhours> I<num>
344 The number of hours before the next CRL is due.
346 =item B<-crlsec> I<num>
348 The number of seconds before the next CRL is due.
350 =item B<-revoke> I<filename>
352 A filename containing a certificate to revoke.
354 =item B<-valid> I<filename>
356 A filename containing a certificate to add a Valid certificate entry.
358 =item B<-status> I<serial>
360 Displays the revocation status of the certificate with the specified
361 serial number and exits.
365 Updates the database index to purge expired certificates.
367 =item B<-crl_reason> I<reason>
369 Revocation reason, where I<reason> is one of: B<unspecified>, B<keyCompromise>,
370 B<CACompromise>, B<affiliationChanged>, B<superseded>, B<cessationOfOperation>,
371 B<certificateHold> or B<removeFromCRL>. The matching of I<reason> is case
372 insensitive. Setting any revocation reason will make the CRL v2.
374 In practice B<removeFromCRL> is not particularly useful because it is only used
375 in delta CRLs which are not currently implemented.
377 =item B<-crl_hold> I<instruction>
379 This sets the CRL revocation reason code to B<certificateHold> and the hold
380 instruction to I<instruction> which must be an OID. Although any OID can be
381 used only B<holdInstructionNone> (the use of which is discouraged by RFC2459)
382 B<holdInstructionCallIssuer> or B<holdInstructionReject> will normally be used.
384 =item B<-crl_compromise> I<time>
386 This sets the revocation reason to B<keyCompromise> and the compromise time to
387 I<time>. I<time> should be in GeneralizedTime format that is I<YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ>.
389 =item B<-crl_CA_compromise> I<time>
391 This is the same as B<crl_compromise> except the revocation reason is set to
394 =item B<-crlexts> I<section>
396 The section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to
397 include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is
398 created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is
399 empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are
400 CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted
401 that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs. See
402 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
403 extension section format.
407 =head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
409 The section of the configuration file containing options for this command
410 is found as follows: If the B<-name> command line option is used,
411 then it names the section to be used. Otherwise the section to
412 be used must be named in the B<default_ca> option of the B<ca> section
413 of the configuration file (or in the default section of the
414 configuration file). Besides B<default_ca>, the following options are
415 read directly from the B<ca> section:
419 With the exception of B<RANDFILE>, this is probably a bug and may
420 change in future releases.
422 Many of the configuration file options are identical to command line
423 options. Where the option is present in the configuration file
424 and the command line the command line value is used. Where an
425 option is described as mandatory then it must be present in
426 the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if
433 This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>.
434 Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
435 object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed
436 by white space and finally the long name.
440 This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
441 object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the
442 object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short
443 and long names are the same when this option is used.
445 =item B<new_certs_dir>
447 The same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies
448 the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
452 The same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA
453 certificate. Mandatory.
457 Same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the
458 CA private key. Mandatory.
462 At startup the specified file is loaded into the random number generator,
463 and at exit 256 bytes will be written to it. (Note: Using a RANDFILE is
464 not necessary anymore, see the L</HISTORY> section.
466 =item B<default_days>
468 The same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify
471 =item B<default_startdate>
473 The same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify
474 a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
476 =item B<default_enddate>
478 The same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or
479 B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be
482 =item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days>
484 The same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These
485 will only be used if neither command line option is present. At
486 least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.
490 The same as the B<-md> option. Mandatory except where the signing algorithm does
491 not require a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448).
495 The text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
496 though initially it will be empty.
498 =item B<unique_subject>
500 If the value B<yes> is given, the valid certificate entries in the
501 database must have unique subjects. if the value B<no> is given,
502 several valid certificate entries may have the exact same subject.
503 The default value is B<yes>, to be compatible with older (pre 0.9.8)
504 versions of OpenSSL. However, to make CA certificate roll-over easier,
505 it's recommended to use the value B<no>, especially if combined with
506 the B<-selfsign> command line option.
508 Note that it is valid in some circumstances for certificates to be created
509 without any subject. In the case where there are multiple certificates without
510 subjects this does not count as a duplicate.
514 A text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory.
515 This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.
519 A text file containing the next CRL number to use in hex. The crl number
520 will be inserted in the CRLs only if this file exists. If this file is
521 present, it must contain a valid CRL number.
523 =item B<x509_extensions>
525 The same as B<-extensions>.
527 =item B<crl_extensions>
529 The same as B<-crlexts>.
533 The same as B<-preserveDN>
537 The same as B<-noemailDN>. If you want the EMAIL field to be removed
538 from the DN of the certificate simply set this to 'no'. If not present
539 the default is to allow for the EMAIL filed in the certificate's DN.
543 The same as B<-msie_hack>
547 The same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
548 for more information.
550 =item B<name_opt>, B<cert_opt>
552 These options allow the format used to display the certificate details
553 when asking the user to confirm signing. All the options supported by
554 the B<x509> utilities B<-nameopt> and B<-certopt> switches can be used
555 here, except the B<no_signame> and B<no_sigdump> are permanently set
556 and cannot be disabled (this is because the certificate signature cannot
557 be displayed because the certificate has not been signed at this point).
559 For convenience the values B<ca_default> are accepted by both to produce
562 If neither option is present the format used in earlier versions of
563 OpenSSL is used. Use of the old format is B<strongly> discouraged because
564 it only displays fields mentioned in the B<policy> section, mishandles
565 multicharacter string types and does not display extensions.
567 =item B<copy_extensions>
569 Determines how extensions in certificate requests should be handled.
570 If set to B<none> or this option is not present then extensions are
571 ignored and not copied to the certificate. If set to B<copy> then any
572 extensions present in the request that are not already present are copied
573 to the certificate. If set to B<copyall> then all extensions in the
574 request are copied to the certificate: if the extension is already present
575 in the certificate it is deleted first. See the B<WARNINGS> section before
578 The main use of this option is to allow a certificate request to supply
579 values for certain extensions such as subjectAltName.
585 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
586 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
587 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
588 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
589 it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
590 are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
591 this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
595 The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
596 signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
597 the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
598 It is however possible to create SPKACs using L<openssl-spkac(1)>.
600 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
601 the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
602 If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
603 preceded by a number and a '.'.
605 When processing SPKAC format, the output is DER if the B<-out>
606 flag is used, but PEM format if sending to stdout or the B<-outdir>
611 Note: these examples assume that the directory structure this command
612 assumes is already set up and the relevant files already exist. This
613 usually involves creating a CA certificate and private key with
614 L<openssl-req(1)>, a serial number file and an empty index file and
615 placing them in the relevant directories.
617 To use the sample configuration file below the directories F<demoCA>,
618 F<demoCA/private> and F<demoCA/newcerts> would be created. The CA
619 certificate would be copied to F<demoCA/cacert.pem> and its private
620 key to F<demoCA/private/cakey.pem>. A file F<demoCA/serial> would be
621 created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
625 Sign a certificate request:
627 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
629 Sign an SM2 certificate request:
631 openssl ca -in sm2.csr -out sm2.crt -md sm3 \
632 -sigopt "distid:1234567812345678" \
633 -vfyopt "distid:1234567812345678"
635 Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:
637 openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem
641 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
643 Sign several requests:
645 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
647 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
649 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
651 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
653 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
655 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
659 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for this command:
662 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
666 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
667 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
668 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
670 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
671 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
672 #rand_serial = yes # for random serial#'s
673 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
675 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
676 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
677 default_md = md5 # md to use
679 policy = policy_any # default policy
680 email_in_dn = no # Don't add the email into cert DN
682 name_opt = ca_default # Subject name display option
683 cert_opt = ca_default # Certificate display option
684 copy_extensions = none # Don't copy extensions from request
687 countryName = supplied
688 stateOrProvinceName = optional
689 organizationName = optional
690 organizationalUnitName = optional
691 commonName = supplied
692 emailAddress = optional
696 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
697 configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
698 The values below reflect the default values.
700 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
701 ./demoCA - main CA directory
702 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
703 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
704 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
705 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
706 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
707 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
708 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
712 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
713 if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
714 to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
715 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
717 V2 CRL features like delta CRLs are not currently supported.
719 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
720 possible to include one SPKAC or self-signed certificate.
724 The use of an in-memory text database can cause problems when large
725 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
726 the database has to be kept in memory.
728 This command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
729 exposed at either a command or interface level so that a more user-friendly
730 replacement could handle things properly. The script
731 B<CA.pl> helps a little but not very much.
733 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
734 deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used. To
735 enforce the absence of the EMAIL field within the DN, as suggested by
736 RFCs, regardless the contents of the request' subject the B<-noemailDN>
737 option can be used. The behaviour should be more friendly and
740 Canceling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
741 create an empty file.
745 This command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
747 This command was originally meant as an example of how to do
748 things in a CA. It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself:
749 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
751 This command command is effectively a single user command: no locking
752 is done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<openssl ca>
753 command on the same database can have unpredictable results.
755 The B<copy_extensions> option should be used with caution. If care is
756 not taken then it can be a security risk. For example if a certificate
757 request contains a basicConstraints extension with CA:TRUE and the
758 B<copy_extensions> value is set to B<copyall> and the user does not spot
759 this when the certificate is displayed then this will hand the requester
760 a valid CA certificate.
762 This situation can be avoided by setting B<copy_extensions> to B<copy>
763 and including basicConstraints with CA:FALSE in the configuration file.
764 Then if the request contains a basicConstraints extension it will be
767 It is advisable to also include values for other extensions such
768 as B<keyUsage> to prevent a request supplying its own values.
770 Additional restrictions can be placed on the CA certificate itself.
771 For example if the CA certificate has:
773 basicConstraints = CA:TRUE, pathlen:0
775 then even if a certificate is issued with CA:TRUE it will not be valid.
779 Since OpenSSL 1.1.1, the program follows RFC5280. Specifically,
780 certificate validity period (specified by any of B<-startdate>,
781 B<-enddate> and B<-days>) will be encoded as UTCTime if the dates are
782 earlier than year 2049 (included), and as GeneralizedTime if the dates
783 are in year 2050 or later.
785 OpenSSL 1.1.1 introduced a new random generator (CSPRNG) with an improved
786 seeding mechanism. The new seeding mechanism makes it unnecessary to
787 define a RANDFILE for saving and restoring randomness. This option is
788 retained mainly for compatibility reasons.
790 The B<-section> option was added in OpenSSL 3.0.0.
792 The B<-certform> option has become obsolete in OpenSSL 3.0.0 and has no effect.
794 All B<-keyform> values except B<ENGINE> have become obsolete in OpenSSL 3.0.0
809 Copyright 2000-2020 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
811 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
812 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
813 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
814 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.