2 {- OpenSSL::safe::output_do_not_edit_headers(); -}
6 openssl-ca - sample minimal CA application
13 [B<-config> I<filename>]
18 [B<-status> I<serial>]
20 [B<-crl_reason> I<reason>]
21 [B<-crl_hold> I<instruction>]
22 [B<-crl_compromise> I<time>]
23 [B<-crl_CA_compromise> I<time>]
25 [B<-crlhours> I<hours>]
26 [B<-crlexts> I<section>]
27 [B<-startdate> I<date>]
33 [B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>]
49 [B<-extensions> I<section>]
50 [B<-extfile> I<section>]
53 [B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
57 [B<-sm2-id> I<string>]
58 [B<-sm2-hex-id> I<hex-string>]
59 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_synopsis -}
60 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}
63 =for openssl ifdef engine sm2-id sm2-hex-id
67 This command is a minimal CA application. It can be used
68 to sign certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate
69 CRLs. It also maintains a text database of issued certificates
71 When signing certificates, a single certificate request can be specified
72 with the B<-in> option, or multiple requests can be processed by
73 specifying a set of B<certreq> files after all options.
75 The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose.
83 Print out a usage message.
87 This prints extra details about the operations being performed.
89 =item B<-config> I<filename>
91 Specifies the configuration file to use.
92 Optional; for a description of the default value,
93 see L<openssl(1)/COMMAND SUMMARY>.
95 =item B<-name> I<section>
97 Specifies the configuration file section to use (overrides
98 B<default_ca> in the B<ca> section).
100 =item B<-in> I<filename>
102 An input filename containing a single certificate request to be
105 =item B<-ss_cert> I<filename>
107 A single self-signed certificate to be signed by the CA.
109 =item B<-spkac> I<filename>
111 A file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge
112 and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<SPKAC FORMAT>
113 section for information on the required input and output format.
117 If present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments
118 are taken as the names of files containing certificate requests.
120 =item B<-out> I<filename>
122 The output file to output certificates to. The default is standard
123 output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this
124 file in PEM format (except that B<-spkac> outputs DER format).
126 =item B<-outdir> I<directory>
128 The directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be
129 written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with
134 The CA certificate file.
136 =item B<-keyfile> I<filename>
138 The private key to sign requests with.
140 =item B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>
142 The format of the private key file; the default is B<PEM>.
143 See L<openssl(1)/Format Options> for details.
145 =item B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>
147 Pass options to the signature algorithm during sign or verify operations.
148 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
150 =item B<-key> I<password>
152 =for openssl foreign manual ps(1)
154 The password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some
155 systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g. Unix with
156 the L<ps(1)> utility) this option should be used with caution.
160 Indicates the issued certificates are to be signed with the key
161 the certificate requests were signed with (given with B<-keyfile>).
162 Certificate requests signed with a different key are ignored. If
163 B<-spkac>, B<-ss_cert> or B<-gencrl> are given, B<-selfsign> is
166 A consequence of using B<-selfsign> is that the self-signed
167 certificate appears among the entries in the certificate database
168 (see the configuration option B<database>), and uses the same
169 serial number counter as all other certificates sign with the
170 self-signed certificate.
172 =item B<-passin> I<arg>
174 The key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
175 see L<openssl(1)/Pass Phrase Options>.
179 Don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.
181 =item B<-startdate> I<date>
183 This allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the
184 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or
185 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In
186 both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.
188 =item B<-enddate> I<date>
190 This allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the
191 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or
192 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In
193 both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.
195 =item B<-days> I<arg>
197 The number of days to certify the certificate for.
201 The message digest to use.
202 Any digest supported by the L<openssl-dgst(1)> command can be used. For signing
203 algorithms that do not support a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448) any message
204 digest that is set is ignored. This option also applies to CRLs.
206 =item B<-policy> I<arg>
208 This option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in
209 the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory
210 or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
211 for more information.
215 This is a deprecated option to make this command work with very old versions
216 of the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings
217 for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs
218 its use is strongly discouraged.
222 Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the
223 fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order
224 is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the
225 older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their
226 DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll.
230 The DN of a certificate can contain the EMAIL field if present in the
231 request DN, however it is good policy just having the e-mail set into
232 the altName extension of the certificate. When this option is set the
233 EMAIL field is removed from the certificate' subject and set only in
234 the, eventually present, extensions. The B<email_in_dn> keyword can be
235 used in the configuration file to enable this behaviour.
239 This sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked
240 and all certificates will be certified automatically.
242 =item B<-extensions> I<section>
244 The section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions
245 to be added when a certificate is issued (defaults to B<x509_extensions>
246 unless the B<-extfile> option is used). If no extension section is
247 present then, a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section
248 is present (even if it is empty), then a V3 certificate is created. See the
249 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
250 extension section format.
252 =item B<-extfile> I<file>
254 An additional configuration file to read certificate extensions from
255 (using the default section unless the B<-extensions> option is also
258 =item B<-subj> I<arg>
260 Supersedes subject name given in the request.
261 The arg must be formatted as C</type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...>.
262 Keyword characters may be escaped by C<\> (backslash), and whitespace is
264 Empty values are permitted, but the corresponding type will not be included
265 in the resulting certificate.
269 This option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings, by
270 default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field
271 values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a
272 configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
274 =item B<-create_serial>
276 If reading serial from the text file as specified in the configuration
277 fails, specifying this option creates a new random serial to be used as next
279 To get random serial numbers, use the B<-rand_serial> flag instead; this
280 should only be used for simple error-recovery.
282 =item B<-rand_serial>
284 Generate a large random number to use as the serial number.
285 This overrides any option or configuration to use a serial number file.
287 =item B<-multivalue-rdn>
289 This option causes the -subj argument to be interpreted with full
290 support for multivalued RDNs. Example:
292 C</DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe>
294 If B<-multi-rdn> is not used then the UID value is C<123456+CN=John Doe>.
296 =item B<-sm2-id> I<string>
298 Specify the ID string to use when verifying an SM2 certificate. The ID string is
299 required by the SM2 signature algorithm for signing and verification.
301 =item B<-sm2-hex-id> I<hex-string>
303 Specify a binary ID string to use when signing or verifying using an SM2
304 certificate. The argument for this option is string of hexadecimal digits.
306 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_item -}
308 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -}
318 This option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.
320 =item B<-crldays> I<num>
322 The number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from
323 now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.
325 =item B<-crlhours> I<num>
327 The number of hours before the next CRL is due.
329 =item B<-revoke> I<filename>
331 A filename containing a certificate to revoke.
333 =item B<-valid> I<filename>
335 A filename containing a certificate to add a Valid certificate entry.
337 =item B<-status> I<serial>
339 Displays the revocation status of the certificate with the specified
340 serial number and exits.
344 Updates the database index to purge expired certificates.
346 =item B<-crl_reason> I<reason>
348 Revocation reason, where I<reason> is one of: B<unspecified>, B<keyCompromise>,
349 B<CACompromise>, B<affiliationChanged>, B<superseded>, B<cessationOfOperation>,
350 B<certificateHold> or B<removeFromCRL>. The matching of I<reason> is case
351 insensitive. Setting any revocation reason will make the CRL v2.
353 In practice B<removeFromCRL> is not particularly useful because it is only used
354 in delta CRLs which are not currently implemented.
356 =item B<-crl_hold> I<instruction>
358 This sets the CRL revocation reason code to B<certificateHold> and the hold
359 instruction to I<instruction> which must be an OID. Although any OID can be
360 used only B<holdInstructionNone> (the use of which is discouraged by RFC2459)
361 B<holdInstructionCallIssuer> or B<holdInstructionReject> will normally be used.
363 =item B<-crl_compromise> I<time>
365 This sets the revocation reason to B<keyCompromise> and the compromise time to
366 I<time>. I<time> should be in GeneralizedTime format that is I<YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ>.
368 =item B<-crl_CA_compromise> I<time>
370 This is the same as B<crl_compromise> except the revocation reason is set to
373 =item B<-crlexts> I<section>
375 The section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to
376 include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is
377 created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is
378 empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are
379 CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted
380 that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs. See
381 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
382 extension section format.
386 =head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
388 The section of the configuration file containing options for this command
389 is found as follows: If the B<-name> command line option is used,
390 then it names the section to be used. Otherwise the section to
391 be used must be named in the B<default_ca> option of the B<ca> section
392 of the configuration file (or in the default section of the
393 configuration file). Besides B<default_ca>, the following options are
394 read directly from the B<ca> section:
398 With the exception of B<RANDFILE>, this is probably a bug and may
399 change in future releases.
401 Many of the configuration file options are identical to command line
402 options. Where the option is present in the configuration file
403 and the command line the command line value is used. Where an
404 option is described as mandatory then it must be present in
405 the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if
412 This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>.
413 Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
414 object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed
415 by white space and finally the long name.
419 This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
420 object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the
421 object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short
422 and long names are the same when this option is used.
424 =item B<new_certs_dir>
426 The same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies
427 the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
431 The same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA
432 certificate. Mandatory.
436 Same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the
437 CA private key. Mandatory.
441 At startup the specified file is loaded into the random number generator,
442 and at exit 256 bytes will be written to it. (Note: Using a RANDFILE is
443 not necessary anymore, see the L</HISTORY> section.
445 =item B<default_days>
447 The same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify
450 =item B<default_startdate>
452 The same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify
453 a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
455 =item B<default_enddate>
457 The same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or
458 B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be
461 =item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days>
463 The same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These
464 will only be used if neither command line option is present. At
465 least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.
469 The same as the B<-md> option. Mandatory except where the signing algorithm does
470 not require a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448).
474 The text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
475 though initially it will be empty.
477 =item B<unique_subject>
479 If the value B<yes> is given, the valid certificate entries in the
480 database must have unique subjects. if the value B<no> is given,
481 several valid certificate entries may have the exact same subject.
482 The default value is B<yes>, to be compatible with older (pre 0.9.8)
483 versions of OpenSSL. However, to make CA certificate roll-over easier,
484 it's recommended to use the value B<no>, especially if combined with
485 the B<-selfsign> command line option.
487 Note that it is valid in some circumstances for certificates to be created
488 without any subject. In the case where there are multiple certificates without
489 subjects this does not count as a duplicate.
493 A text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory.
494 This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.
498 A text file containing the next CRL number to use in hex. The crl number
499 will be inserted in the CRLs only if this file exists. If this file is
500 present, it must contain a valid CRL number.
502 =item B<x509_extensions>
504 The same as B<-extensions>.
506 =item B<crl_extensions>
508 The same as B<-crlexts>.
512 The same as B<-preserveDN>
516 The same as B<-noemailDN>. If you want the EMAIL field to be removed
517 from the DN of the certificate simply set this to 'no'. If not present
518 the default is to allow for the EMAIL filed in the certificate's DN.
522 The same as B<-msie_hack>
526 The same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
527 for more information.
529 =item B<name_opt>, B<cert_opt>
531 These options allow the format used to display the certificate details
532 when asking the user to confirm signing. All the options supported by
533 the B<x509> utilities B<-nameopt> and B<-certopt> switches can be used
534 here, except the B<no_signame> and B<no_sigdump> are permanently set
535 and cannot be disabled (this is because the certificate signature cannot
536 be displayed because the certificate has not been signed at this point).
538 For convenience the values B<ca_default> are accepted by both to produce
541 If neither option is present the format used in earlier versions of
542 OpenSSL is used. Use of the old format is B<strongly> discouraged because
543 it only displays fields mentioned in the B<policy> section, mishandles
544 multicharacter string types and does not display extensions.
546 =item B<copy_extensions>
548 Determines how extensions in certificate requests should be handled.
549 If set to B<none> or this option is not present then extensions are
550 ignored and not copied to the certificate. If set to B<copy> then any
551 extensions present in the request that are not already present are copied
552 to the certificate. If set to B<copyall> then all extensions in the
553 request are copied to the certificate: if the extension is already present
554 in the certificate it is deleted first. See the B<WARNINGS> section before
557 The main use of this option is to allow a certificate request to supply
558 values for certain extensions such as subjectAltName.
564 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
565 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
566 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
567 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
568 it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
569 are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
570 this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
574 The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
575 signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
576 the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
577 It is however possible to create SPKACs using L<openssl-spkac(1)>.
579 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
580 the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
581 If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
582 preceded by a number and a '.'.
584 When processing SPKAC format, the output is DER if the B<-out>
585 flag is used, but PEM format if sending to stdout or the B<-outdir>
590 Note: these examples assume that the directory structure this command
591 assumes is already set up and the relevant files already exist. This
592 usually involves creating a CA certificate and private key with
593 L<openssl-req(1)>, a serial number file and an empty index file and
594 placing them in the relevant directories.
596 To use the sample configuration file below the directories F<demoCA>,
597 F<demoCA/private> and F<demoCA/newcerts> would be created. The CA
598 certificate would be copied to F<demoCA/cacert.pem> and its private
599 key to F<demoCA/private/cakey.pem>. A file F<demoCA/serial> would be
600 created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
604 Sign a certificate request:
606 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
608 Sign an SM2 certificate request:
610 openssl ca -in sm2.csr -out sm2.crt -md sm3 -sigopt "sm2_id:1234567812345678" -sm2-id "1234567812345678"
612 Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:
614 openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem
618 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
620 Sign several requests:
622 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
624 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
626 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
628 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
630 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
632 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
636 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for this command:
639 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
643 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
644 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
645 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
647 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
648 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
649 #rand_serial = yes # for random serial#'s
650 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
652 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
653 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
654 default_md = md5 # md to use
656 policy = policy_any # default policy
657 email_in_dn = no # Don't add the email into cert DN
659 name_opt = ca_default # Subject name display option
660 cert_opt = ca_default # Certificate display option
661 copy_extensions = none # Don't copy extensions from request
664 countryName = supplied
665 stateOrProvinceName = optional
666 organizationName = optional
667 organizationalUnitName = optional
668 commonName = supplied
669 emailAddress = optional
673 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
674 configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
675 The values below reflect the default values.
677 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
678 ./demoCA - main CA directory
679 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
680 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
681 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
682 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
683 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
684 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
685 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
689 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
690 if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
691 to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
692 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
694 V2 CRL features like delta CRLs are not currently supported.
696 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
697 possible to include one SPKAC or self-signed certificate.
701 The use of an in-memory text database can cause problems when large
702 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
703 the database has to be kept in memory.
705 This command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
706 exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility
707 (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The script
708 B<CA.pl> helps a little but not very much.
710 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
711 deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used. To
712 enforce the absence of the EMAIL field within the DN, as suggested by
713 RFCs, regardless the contents of the request' subject the B<-noemailDN>
714 option can be used. The behaviour should be more friendly and
717 Canceling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
718 create an empty file.
722 This command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
724 This command was originally meant as an example of how to do
725 things in a CA. It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself:
726 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
728 This command command is effectively a single user command: no locking
729 is done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<openssl ca>
730 command on the same database can have unpredictable results.
732 The B<copy_extensions> option should be used with caution. If care is
733 not taken then it can be a security risk. For example if a certificate
734 request contains a basicConstraints extension with CA:TRUE and the
735 B<copy_extensions> value is set to B<copyall> and the user does not spot
736 this when the certificate is displayed then this will hand the requester
737 a valid CA certificate.
739 This situation can be avoided by setting B<copy_extensions> to B<copy>
740 and including basicConstraints with CA:FALSE in the configuration file.
741 Then if the request contains a basicConstraints extension it will be
744 It is advisable to also include values for other extensions such
745 as B<keyUsage> to prevent a request supplying its own values.
747 Additional restrictions can be placed on the CA certificate itself.
748 For example if the CA certificate has:
750 basicConstraints = CA:TRUE, pathlen:0
752 then even if a certificate is issued with CA:TRUE it will not be valid.
756 Since OpenSSL 1.1.1, the program follows RFC5280. Specifically,
757 certificate validity period (specified by any of B<-startdate>,
758 B<-enddate> and B<-days>) will be encoded as UTCTime if the dates are
759 earlier than year 2049 (included), and as GeneralizedTime if the dates
760 are in year 2050 or later.
762 OpenSSL 1.1.1 introduced a new random generator (CSPRNG) with an improved
763 seeding mechanism. The new seeding mechanism makes it unnecessary to
764 define a RANDFILE for saving and restoring randomness. This option is
765 retained mainly for compatibility reasons.
779 Copyright 2000-2019 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
781 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
782 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
783 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
784 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.