6 ocsp - Online Certificate Status Protocol utility
31 [B<-multi process-count>]
38 [B<-attime timestamp>]
60 [B<-verify_depth num>]
61 [B<-verify_email email>]
62 [B<-verify_hostname hostname>]
64 [B<-verify_name name>]
67 [B<-validity_period n>]
70 [B<-verify_other file>]
73 [B<-no_signature_verify>]
96 The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) enables applications to
97 determine the (revocation) state of an identified certificate (RFC 2560).
99 The B<ocsp> command performs many common OCSP tasks. It can be used
100 to print out requests and responses, create requests and send queries
101 to an OCSP responder and behave like a mini OCSP server itself.
105 This command operates as either a client or a server.
106 The options are described below, divided into those two modes.
108 =head2 OCSP Client Options
114 Print out a usage message.
116 =item B<-out filename>
118 specify output filename, default is standard output.
120 =item B<-issuer filename>
122 This specifies the current issuer certificate. This option can be used
123 multiple times. The certificate specified in B<filename> must be in
124 PEM format. This option B<MUST> come before any B<-cert> options.
126 =item B<-cert filename>
128 Add the certificate B<filename> to the request. The issuer certificate
129 is taken from the previous B<issuer> option, or an error occurs if no
130 issuer certificate is specified.
134 Same as the B<cert> option except the certificate with serial number
135 B<num> is added to the request. The serial number is interpreted as a
136 decimal integer unless preceded by B<0x>. Negative integers can also
137 be specified by preceding the value by a B<-> sign.
139 =item B<-signer filename>, B<-signkey filename>
141 Sign the OCSP request using the certificate specified in the B<signer>
142 option and the private key specified by the B<signkey> option. If
143 the B<signkey> option is not present then the private key is read
144 from the same file as the certificate. If neither option is specified then
145 the OCSP request is not signed.
147 =item B<-sign_other filename>
149 Additional certificates to include in the signed request.
151 =item B<-nonce>, B<-no_nonce>
153 Add an OCSP nonce extension to a request or disable OCSP nonce addition.
154 Normally if an OCSP request is input using the B<reqin> option no
155 nonce is added: using the B<nonce> option will force addition of a nonce.
156 If an OCSP request is being created (using B<cert> and B<serial> options)
157 a nonce is automatically added specifying B<no_nonce> overrides this.
159 =item B<-req_text>, B<-resp_text>, B<-text>
161 Print out the text form of the OCSP request, response or both respectively.
163 =item B<-reqout file>, B<-respout file>
165 Write out the DER encoded certificate request or response to B<file>.
167 =item B<-reqin file>, B<-respin file>
169 Read OCSP request or response file from B<file>. These option are ignored
170 if OCSP request or response creation is implied by other options (for example
171 with B<serial>, B<cert> and B<host> options).
173 =item B<-url responder_url>
175 Specify the responder URL. Both HTTP and HTTPS (SSL/TLS) URLs can be specified.
177 =item B<-host hostname:port>, B<-path pathname>
179 If the B<host> option is present then the OCSP request is sent to the host
180 B<hostname> on port B<port>. B<path> specifies the HTTP path name to use
181 or "/" by default. This is equivalent to specifying B<-url> with scheme
182 http:// and the given hostname, port, and pathname.
184 =item B<-header name=value>
186 Adds the header B<name> with the specified B<value> to the OCSP request
187 that is sent to the responder.
188 This may be repeated.
190 =item B<-timeout seconds>
192 Connection timeout to the OCSP responder in seconds.
193 On POSIX systems, when running as an OCSP responder, this option also limits
194 the time that the responder is willing to wait for the client request.
195 This time is measured from the time the responder accepts the connection until
196 the complete request is received.
198 =item B<-multi process-count>
200 Run the specified number of OCSP responder child processes, with the parent
201 process respawning child processes as needed.
202 Child processes will detect changes in the CA index file and automatically
204 When running as a responder B<-timeout> option is recommended to limit the time
205 each child is willing to wait for the client's OCSP response.
206 This option is available on POSIX systems (that support the fork() and other
207 required unix system-calls).
209 =item B<-CAfile file>, B<-CApath pathname>
211 File or pathname containing trusted CA certificates. These are used to verify
212 the signature on the OCSP response.
216 Do not load the trusted CA certificates from the default file location
220 Do not load the trusted CA certificates from the default directory location
222 =item B<-attime>, B<-check_ss_sig>, B<-crl_check>, B<-crl_check_all>,
223 B<-explicit_policy>, B<-extended_crl>, B<-ignore_critical>, B<-inhibit_any>,
224 B<-inhibit_map>, B<-no_alt_chains>, B<-no_check_time>, B<-partial_chain>, B<-policy>,
225 B<-policy_check>, B<-policy_print>, B<-purpose>, B<-suiteB_128>,
226 B<-suiteB_128_only>, B<-suiteB_192>, B<-trusted_first>, B<-use_deltas>,
227 B<-auth_level>, B<-verify_depth>, B<-verify_email>, B<-verify_hostname>,
228 B<-verify_ip>, B<-verify_name>, B<-x509_strict>
230 Set different certificate verification options.
231 See L<verify(1)> manual page for details.
233 =item B<-verify_other file>
235 File containing additional certificates to search when attempting to locate
236 the OCSP response signing certificate. Some responders omit the actual signer's
237 certificate from the response: this option can be used to supply the necessary
238 certificate in such cases.
240 =item B<-trust_other>
242 The certificates specified by the B<-verify_other> option should be explicitly
243 trusted and no additional checks will be performed on them. This is useful
244 when the complete responder certificate chain is not available or trusting a
245 root CA is not appropriate.
247 =item B<-VAfile file>
249 File containing explicitly trusted responder certificates. Equivalent to the
250 B<-verify_other> and B<-trust_other> options.
254 Don't attempt to verify the OCSP response signature or the nonce
255 values. This option will normally only be used for debugging since it
256 disables all verification of the responders certificate.
260 Ignore certificates contained in the OCSP response when searching for the
261 signers certificate. With this option the signers certificate must be specified
262 with either the B<-verify_other> or B<-VAfile> options.
264 =item B<-no_signature_verify>
266 Don't check the signature on the OCSP response. Since this option
267 tolerates invalid signatures on OCSP responses it will normally only be
268 used for testing purposes.
270 =item B<-no_cert_verify>
272 Don't verify the OCSP response signers certificate at all. Since this
273 option allows the OCSP response to be signed by any certificate it should
274 only be used for testing purposes.
278 Do not use certificates in the response as additional untrusted CA
281 =item B<-no_explicit>
283 Do not explicitly trust the root CA if it is set to be trusted for OCSP signing.
285 =item B<-no_cert_checks>
287 Don't perform any additional checks on the OCSP response signers certificate.
288 That is do not make any checks to see if the signers certificate is authorised
289 to provide the necessary status information: as a result this option should
290 only be used for testing purposes.
292 =item B<-validity_period nsec>, B<-status_age age>
294 These options specify the range of times, in seconds, which will be tolerated
295 in an OCSP response. Each certificate status response includes a B<notBefore>
296 time and an optional B<notAfter> time. The current time should fall between
297 these two values, but the interval between the two times may be only a few
298 seconds. In practice the OCSP responder and clients clocks may not be precisely
299 synchronised and so such a check may fail. To avoid this the
300 B<-validity_period> option can be used to specify an acceptable error range in
301 seconds, the default value is 5 minutes.
303 If the B<notAfter> time is omitted from a response then this means that new
304 status information is immediately available. In this case the age of the
305 B<notBefore> field is checked to see it is not older than B<age> seconds old.
306 By default this additional check is not performed.
308 =item B<-rcid I<digest>>
310 This option sets the digest algorithm to use for certificate identification
311 in the OCSP response. Any digest supported by the OpenSSL B<dgst> command can
312 be used. The default is the same digest algorithm used in the request.
316 This option sets digest algorithm to use for certificate identification in the
317 OCSP request. Any digest supported by the OpenSSL B<dgst> command can be used.
318 The default is SHA-1. This option may be used multiple times to specify the
319 digest used by subsequent certificate identifiers.
323 =head2 OCSP Server Options
327 =item B<-index indexfile>
329 The B<indexfile> parameter is the name of a text index file in B<ca>
330 format containing certificate revocation information.
332 If the B<index> option is specified the B<ocsp> utility is in responder
333 mode, otherwise it is in client mode. The request(s) the responder
334 processes can be either specified on the command line (using B<issuer>
335 and B<serial> options), supplied in a file (using the B<reqin> option)
336 or via external OCSP clients (if B<port> or B<url> is specified).
338 If the B<index> option is present then the B<CA> and B<rsigner> options
339 must also be present.
343 CA certificate corresponding to the revocation information in B<indexfile>.
345 =item B<-rsigner file>
347 The certificate to sign OCSP responses with.
349 =item B<-rother file>
351 Additional certificates to include in the OCSP response.
353 =item B<-resp_no_certs>
355 Don't include any certificates in the OCSP response.
357 =item B<-resp_key_id>
359 Identify the signer certificate using the key ID, default is to use the
364 The private key to sign OCSP responses with: if not present the file
365 specified in the B<rsigner> option is used.
367 =item B<-rsigopt nm:v>
369 Pass options to the signature algorithm when signing OCSP responses.
370 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
372 =item B<-port portnum>
374 Port to listen for OCSP requests on. The port may also be specified
375 using the B<url> option.
379 Ignore malformed requests or responses: When acting as an OCSP client, retry if
380 a malformed response is received. When acting as an OCSP responder, continue
381 running instead of terminating upon receiving a malformed request.
383 =item B<-nrequest number>
385 The OCSP server will exit after receiving B<number> requests, default unlimited.
387 =item B<-nmin minutes>, B<-ndays days>
389 Number of minutes or days when fresh revocation information is available:
390 used in the B<nextUpdate> field. If neither option is present then the
391 B<nextUpdate> field is omitted meaning fresh revocation information is
392 immediately available.
396 =head1 OCSP Response verification.
398 OCSP Response follows the rules specified in RFC2560.
400 Initially the OCSP responder certificate is located and the signature on
401 the OCSP request checked using the responder certificate's public key.
403 Then a normal certificate verify is performed on the OCSP responder certificate
404 building up a certificate chain in the process. The locations of the trusted
405 certificates used to build the chain can be specified by the B<CAfile>
406 and B<CApath> options or they will be looked for in the standard OpenSSL
407 certificates directory.
409 If the initial verify fails then the OCSP verify process halts with an
412 Otherwise the issuing CA certificate in the request is compared to the OCSP
413 responder certificate: if there is a match then the OCSP verify succeeds.
415 Otherwise the OCSP responder certificate's CA is checked against the issuing
416 CA certificate in the request. If there is a match and the OCSPSigning
417 extended key usage is present in the OCSP responder certificate then the
418 OCSP verify succeeds.
420 Otherwise, if B<-no_explicit> is B<not> set the root CA of the OCSP responders
421 CA is checked to see if it is trusted for OCSP signing. If it is the OCSP
424 If none of these checks is successful then the OCSP verify fails.
426 What this effectively means if that if the OCSP responder certificate is
427 authorised directly by the CA it is issuing revocation information about
428 (and it is correctly configured) then verification will succeed.
430 If the OCSP responder is a "global responder" which can give details about
431 multiple CAs and has its own separate certificate chain then its root
432 CA can be trusted for OCSP signing. For example:
434 openssl x509 -in ocspCA.pem -addtrust OCSPSigning -out trustedCA.pem
436 Alternatively the responder certificate itself can be explicitly trusted
437 with the B<-VAfile> option.
441 As noted, most of the verify options are for testing or debugging purposes.
442 Normally only the B<-CApath>, B<-CAfile> and (if the responder is a 'global
443 VA') B<-VAfile> options need to be used.
445 The OCSP server is only useful for test and demonstration purposes: it is
446 not really usable as a full OCSP responder. It contains only a very
447 simple HTTP request handling and can only handle the POST form of OCSP
448 queries. It also handles requests serially meaning it cannot respond to
449 new requests until it has processed the current one. The text index file
450 format of revocation is also inefficient for large quantities of revocation
453 It is possible to run the B<ocsp> application in responder mode via a CGI
454 script using the B<reqin> and B<respout> options.
458 Create an OCSP request and write it to a file:
460 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem -reqout req.der
462 Send a query to an OCSP responder with URL http://ocsp.myhost.com/ save the
463 response to a file, print it out in text form, and verify the response:
465 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem \
466 -url http://ocsp.myhost.com/ -resp_text -respout resp.der
468 Read in an OCSP response and print out text form:
470 openssl ocsp -respin resp.der -text -noverify
472 OCSP server on port 8888 using a standard B<ca> configuration, and a separate
473 responder certificate. All requests and responses are printed to a file.
475 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
478 As above but exit after processing one request:
480 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
483 Query status information using an internally generated request:
485 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
486 -issuer demoCA/cacert.pem -serial 1
488 Query status information using request read from a file, and write the response
491 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
492 -reqin req.der -respout resp.der
496 The -no_alt_chains option was added in OpenSSL 1.1.0.
500 Copyright 2001-2018 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
502 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
503 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
504 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
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