6 pkcs12 - PKCS#12 file utility
14 [B<-certfile filename>]
38 [B<-password password>]
42 [B<-passout password>]
48 The B<pkcs12> command allows PKCS#12 files (sometimes referred to as
49 PFX files) to be created and parsed. PKCS#12 files are used by several
50 programs including Netscape, MSIE and MS Outlook.
52 =head1 COMMAND OPTIONS
54 There are a lot of options the meaning of some depends of whether a PKCS#12 file
55 is being created or parsed. By default a PKCS#12 file is parsed a PKCS#12
56 file can be created by using the B<-export> option (see below).
58 =head1 PARSING OPTIONS
64 This specifies filename of the PKCS#12 file to be parsed. Standard input is used
67 =item B<-out filename>
69 The filename to write certificates and private keys to, standard output by default.
70 They are all written in PEM format.
72 =item B<-pass password>, B<-passin password>
74 the PKCS#12 file (i.e. input file) password. Since certain utilities like "ps" make
75 the command line visible this option should be used with caution.
77 =item B<-envpass var>, B<-envpassin password>
79 read the PKCS#12 file password from the environment variable B<var>.
81 =item B<-passout password>
83 pass phrase to encrypt any outputed private keys with. Since certain utilities like
84 "ps" make the command line visible this option should be used with caution.
86 =item B<-envpass var>, B<-envpassin password>
88 read the outputed private keys file password from the environment variable B<var>.
92 this option inhibits output of the keys and certificates to the output file version
97 only output client certificates (not CA certificates).
101 only output CA certificates (not client certificates).
105 no certificates at all will be output.
109 no private keys will be output.
113 output additional information about the PKCS#12 file structure, algorithms used and
118 use DES to encrypt private keys before outputting.
122 use triple DES to encrypt private keys before outputting, this is the default.
126 use IDEA to encrypt private keys before outputting.
130 don't encrypt the private keys at all.
134 don't attempt to verify the integrity MAC before reading the file.
138 prompt for separate integrity and encryption passwords: most software
139 always assumes these are the same so this option will render such
140 PKCS#12 files unreadable.
144 =head1 FILE CREATION OPTIONS
150 This option specifies that a PKCS#12 file will be created rather than
153 =item B<-out filename>
155 This specifies filename to write the PKCS#12 file to. Standard output is used
158 =item B<-in filename>
160 The filename to read certificates and private keys from, standard input by default.
161 They must all be in PEM format. The order doesn't matter but one private key and
162 its corresponding certificate should be present. If additional certificates are
163 present they will also be included in the PKCS#12 file.
165 =item B<-inkey filename>
167 file to read private key from. If not present then a private key must be present
170 =item B<-name friendlyname>
172 This specifies the "friendly name" for the certificate and private key. This name
173 is typically displayed in list boxes by software importing the file.
175 =item B<-certfile filename>
177 A filename to read additional certificates from.
179 =item B<-caname friendlyname>
181 This specifies the "friendly name" for other certificates. This option may be
182 used multiple times to specify names for all certificates in the order they
183 appear. Netscape ignores friendly names on other certificates whereas MSIE
186 =item B<-pass password>, B<-passout password>
188 the PKCS#12 file (i.e. output file) password. Since certain utilities like "ps"
189 make the command line visible this option should be used with caution.
191 =item B<-envpass var>, B<-envpassout var>
193 read the PKCS#12 file password from the environment variable B<var>.
195 =item B<-passin password>
197 pass phrase to decrypt the input private key with. Since certain utilities like
198 "ps" make the command line visible this option should be used with caution.
200 =item B<-envpassin password>
202 read the input private key file password from the environment variable B<var>.
206 if this option is present then an attempt is made to include the entire
207 certificate chain of the user certificate. The standard CA store is used
208 for this search. If the search fails it is considered a fatal error.
212 encrypt the certificate using triple DES, this may render the PKCS#12
213 file unreadable by some "export grade" software. By default the private
214 key is encrypted using triple DES and the certificate using 40 bit RC2.
216 =item B<-keypbe alg>, B<-certpbe alg>
218 these options allow the algorithm used to encrypt the private key and
219 certificates to be selected. Although any PKCS#5 v1.5 or PKCS#12 algorithms
220 can be selected it is advisable only to use PKCS#12 algorithms. See the list
221 in the B<NOTES> section for more information.
223 =item B<-keyex|-keysig>
225 specifies that the private key is to be used for key exchange or just signing.
226 This option is only interpreted by MSIE and similar MS software. Normally
227 "export grade" software will only allow 512 bit RSA keys to be used for
228 encryption purposes but arbitrary length keys for signing. The B<-keysig>
229 option marks the key for signing only. Signing only keys can be used for
230 S/MIME signing, authenticode (ActiveX control signing) and SSL client
231 authentication, however due to a bug only MSIE 5.0 and later support
232 the use of signing only keys for SSL client authentication.
234 =item B<-nomaciter>, B<-noiter>
236 these options affect the iteration counts on the MAC and key algorithms.
237 Unless you wish to produce files compatible with MSIE 4.0 you should leave
240 To discourage attacks by using large dictionaries of common passwords the
241 algorithm that derives keys from passwords can have an iteration count applied
242 to it: this causes a certain part of the algorithm to be repeated and slows it
243 down. The MAC is used to check the file integrity but since it will normally
244 have the same password as the keys and certificates it could also be attacked.
245 By default both MAC and encryption iteration counts are set to 2048, using
246 these options the MAC and encryption iteration counts can be set to 1, since
247 this reduces the file security you should not use these options unless you
248 really have to. Most software supports both MAC and key iteration counts.
249 MSIE 4.0 doesn't support MAC iteration counts so it needs the B<-nomaciter>
254 This option is included for compatibility with previous versions, it used
255 to be needed to use MAC iterations counts but they are now used by default.
257 =item B<-rand file(s)>
259 a file or files containing random data used to seed the random number
260 generator. Multiple files can be specified separated by a OS-dependent
261 character. For MS-Windows, the separator is B<;>. For OpenVMS, it's
262 B<,>. For all others, it's B<:>.
268 Although there are a large number of options most of them are very rarely
269 used. For PKCS#12 file parsing only B<-in> and B<-out> need to be used
270 for PKCS#12 file creation B<-export> and B<-name> are also used.
272 If none of the B<-clcerts>, B<-cacerts> or B<-nocerts> options are present
273 then all certificates will be output in the order they appear in the input
274 PKCS#12 files. There is no guarantee that the first certificate present is
275 the one corresponding to the private key. Certain software which requires
276 a private key and certificate and assumes the first certificate in the
277 file is the one corresponding to the private key: this may not always
278 be the case. Using the B<-clcerts> option will solve this problem by only
279 outputing the certificate corresponding to the private key. If the CA
280 certificates are required then they can be output to a separate file using
281 the B<-nokeys -cacerts> options to just output CA certificates.
283 The B<-keypbe> and B<-certpbe> algorithms allow the precise encryption
284 algorithms for private keys and certificates to be specified. Normally
285 the defaults are fine but occasionally software can't handle triple DES
286 encrypted private keys, then the option B<-keypbe PBE-SHA1-RC2-40> can
287 be used to reduce the private key encryption to 40 bit RC2. A complete
288 description of all algorithms is contained in the B<pkcs8> manual page.
292 Parse a PKCS#12 file and output it to a file:
294 openssl pkcs12 -in file.p12 -out file.pem
296 Output only client certificates to a file:
298 openssl pkcs12 -in file.p12 -clcerts -out file.pem
300 Don't encrypt the private key:
302 openssl pkcs12 -in file.p12 -out file.pem -nodes
304 Print some info about a PKCS#12 file:
306 openssl pkcs12 -in file.p12 -info -noout
308 Create a PKCS#12 file:
310 openssl pkcs12 -export -in file.pem -out file.p12 -name "My Certificate"
312 Include some extra certificates:
314 openssl pkcs12 -export -in file.pem -out file.p12 -name "My Certificate" \
315 -certfile othercerts.pem
319 Some would argue that the PKCS#12 standard is one big bug :-)