4 {- join("\n", @autowarntext) -}
10 openssl-ca - sample minimal CA application
17 [B<-config> I<filename>]
22 [B<-status> I<serial>]
24 [B<-crl_reason> I<reason>]
25 [B<-crl_hold> I<instruction>]
26 [B<-crl_compromise> I<time>]
27 [B<-crl_CA_compromise> I<time>]
29 [B<-crlhours> I<hours>]
30 [B<-crlexts> I<section>]
31 [B<-startdate> I<date>]
37 [B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>]
53 [B<-extensions> I<section>]
54 [B<-extfile> I<section>]
58 [B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
62 [B<-sm2-id> I<string>]
63 [B<-sm2-hex-id> I<hex-string>]
64 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_synopsis -}
67 =for openssl ifdef engine sm2-id sm2-hex-id
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>
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<-ss_cert> I<filename>
111 A single self-signed certificate to be signed by the CA.
113 =item B<-spkac> I<filename>
115 A file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge
116 and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<SPKAC FORMAT>
117 section for information on the required input and output format.
121 If present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments
122 are taken as the names of files containing certificate requests.
124 =item B<-out> I<filename>
126 The output file to output certificates to. The default is standard
127 output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this
128 file in PEM format (except that B<-spkac> outputs DER format).
130 =item B<-outdir> I<directory>
132 The directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be
133 written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with
138 The CA certificate file.
140 =item B<-keyfile> I<filename>
142 The private key to sign requests with.
144 =item B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>
146 The format of the private key file; the default is B<PEM>.
147 See L<openssl(1)/Format Options> for details.
149 =item B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>
151 Pass options to the signature algorithm during sign or verify operations.
152 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
154 =item B<-key> I<password>
156 The password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some
157 systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g. Unix with
158 the L<ps(1)> utility) this option should be used with caution.
162 Indicates the issued certificates are to be signed with the key
163 the certificate requests were signed with (given with B<-keyfile>).
164 Certificate requests signed with a different key are ignored. If
165 B<-spkac>, B<-ss_cert> or B<-gencrl> are given, B<-selfsign> is
168 A consequence of using B<-selfsign> is that the self-signed
169 certificate appears among the entries in the certificate database
170 (see the configuration option B<database>), and uses the same
171 serial number counter as all other certificates sign with the
172 self-signed certificate.
174 =item B<-passin> I<arg>
176 The key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
177 see L<openssl(1)/Pass Phrase Options>.
181 Don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.
183 =item B<-startdate> I<date>
185 This allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the
186 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or
187 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In
188 both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.
190 =item B<-enddate> I<date>
192 This allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the
193 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or
194 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In
195 both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.
197 =item B<-days> I<arg>
199 The number of days to certify the certificate for.
203 The message digest to use.
204 Any digest supported by the L<openssl-dgst(1)> command can be used. For signing
205 algorithms that do not support a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448) any message
206 digest that is set is ignored. This option also applies to CRLs.
208 =item B<-policy> I<arg>
210 This option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in
211 the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory
212 or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
213 for more information.
217 This is a deprecated option to make this command work with very old versions
218 of the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings
219 for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs
220 its use is strongly discouraged.
224 Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the
225 fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order
226 is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the
227 older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their
228 DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll.
232 The DN of a certificate can contain the EMAIL field if present in the
233 request DN, however it is good policy just having the e-mail set into
234 the altName extension of the certificate. When this option is set the
235 EMAIL field is removed from the certificate' subject and set only in
236 the, eventually present, extensions. The B<email_in_dn> keyword can be
237 used in the configuration file to enable this behaviour.
241 This sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked
242 and all certificates will be certified automatically.
244 =item B<-extensions> I<section>
246 The section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions
247 to be added when a certificate is issued (defaults to B<x509_extensions>
248 unless the B<-extfile> option is used). If no extension section is
249 present then, a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section
250 is present (even if it is empty), then a V3 certificate is created. See the
251 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
252 extension section format.
254 =item B<-extfile> I<file>
256 An additional configuration file to read certificate extensions from
257 (using the default section unless the B<-extensions> option is also
260 =item B<-engine> I<id>
262 Specifying an engine (by its unique I<id> string) will cause B<ca>
263 to attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified engine,
264 thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set as the default
265 for all available algorithms.
267 =item B<-subj> I<arg>
269 Supersedes subject name given in the request.
270 The arg must be formatted as C</type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...>.
271 Keyword characters may be escaped by C<\> (backslash), and whitespace is
273 Empty values are permitted, but the corresponding type will not be included
274 in the resulting certificate.
278 This option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings, by
279 default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field
280 values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a
281 configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
283 =item B<-create_serial>
285 If reading serial from the text file as specified in the configuration
286 fails, specifying this option creates a new random serial to be used as next
288 To get random serial numbers, use the B<-rand_serial> flag instead; this
289 should only be used for simple error-recovery.
291 =item B<-rand_serial>
293 Generate a large random number to use as the serial number.
294 This overrides any option or configuration to use a serial number file.
296 =item B<-multivalue-rdn>
298 This option causes the -subj argument to be interpreted with full
299 support for multivalued RDNs. Example:
301 C</DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe>
303 If B<-multi-rdn> is not used then the UID value is C<123456+CN=John Doe>.
305 =item B<-sm2-id> I<string>
307 Specify the ID string to use when verifying an SM2 certificate. The ID string is
308 required by the SM2 signature algorithm for signing and verification.
310 =item B<-sm2-hex-id> I<hex-string>
312 Specify a binary ID string to use when signing or verifying using an SM2
313 certificate. The argument for this option is string of hexadecimal digits.
315 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_item -}
325 This option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.
327 =item B<-crldays> I<num>
329 The number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from
330 now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.
332 =item B<-crlhours> I<num>
334 The number of hours before the next CRL is due.
336 =item B<-revoke> I<filename>
338 A filename containing a certificate to revoke.
340 =item B<-valid> I<filename>
342 A filename containing a certificate to add a Valid certificate entry.
344 =item B<-status> I<serial>
346 Displays the revocation status of the certificate with the specified
347 serial number and exits.
351 Updates the database index to purge expired certificates.
353 =item B<-crl_reason> I<reason>
355 Revocation reason, where I<reason> is one of: B<unspecified>, B<keyCompromise>,
356 B<CACompromise>, B<affiliationChanged>, B<superseded>, B<cessationOfOperation>,
357 B<certificateHold> or B<removeFromCRL>. The matching of I<reason> is case
358 insensitive. Setting any revocation reason will make the CRL v2.
360 In practice B<removeFromCRL> is not particularly useful because it is only used
361 in delta CRLs which are not currently implemented.
363 =item B<-crl_hold> I<instruction>
365 This sets the CRL revocation reason code to B<certificateHold> and the hold
366 instruction to I<instruction> which must be an OID. Although any OID can be
367 used only B<holdInstructionNone> (the use of which is discouraged by RFC2459)
368 B<holdInstructionCallIssuer> or B<holdInstructionReject> will normally be used.
370 =item B<-crl_compromise> I<time>
372 This sets the revocation reason to B<keyCompromise> and the compromise time to
373 I<time>. I<time> should be in GeneralizedTime format that is I<YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ>.
375 =item B<-crl_CA_compromise> I<time>
377 This is the same as B<crl_compromise> except the revocation reason is set to
380 =item B<-crlexts> I<section>
382 The section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to
383 include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is
384 created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is
385 empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are
386 CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted
387 that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs. See
388 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
389 extension section format.
393 =head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
395 The section of the configuration file containing options for this command
396 is found as follows: If the B<-name> command line option is used,
397 then it names the section to be used. Otherwise the section to
398 be used must be named in the B<default_ca> option of the B<ca> section
399 of the configuration file (or in the default section of the
400 configuration file). Besides B<default_ca>, the following options are
401 read directly from the B<ca> section:
405 With the exception of B<RANDFILE>, this is probably a bug and may
406 change in future releases.
408 Many of the configuration file options are identical to command line
409 options. Where the option is present in the configuration file
410 and the command line the command line value is used. Where an
411 option is described as mandatory then it must be present in
412 the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if
419 This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>.
420 Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
421 object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed
422 by white space and finally the long name.
426 This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
427 object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the
428 object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short
429 and long names are the same when this option is used.
431 =item B<new_certs_dir>
433 The same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies
434 the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
438 The same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA
439 certificate. Mandatory.
443 Same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the
444 CA private key. Mandatory.
448 At startup the specified file is loaded into the random number generator,
449 and at exit 256 bytes will be written to it.
451 =item B<default_days>
453 The same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify
456 =item B<default_startdate>
458 The same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify
459 a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
461 =item B<default_enddate>
463 The same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or
464 B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be
467 =item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days>
469 The same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These
470 will only be used if neither command line option is present. At
471 least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.
475 The same as the B<-md> option. Mandatory except where the signing algorithm does
476 not require a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448).
480 The text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
481 though initially it will be empty.
483 =item B<unique_subject>
485 If the value B<yes> is given, the valid certificate entries in the
486 database must have unique subjects. if the value B<no> is given,
487 several valid certificate entries may have the exact same subject.
488 The default value is B<yes>, to be compatible with older (pre 0.9.8)
489 versions of OpenSSL. However, to make CA certificate roll-over easier,
490 it's recommended to use the value B<no>, especially if combined with
491 the B<-selfsign> command line option.
493 Note that it is valid in some circumstances for certificates to be created
494 without any subject. In the case where there are multiple certificates without
495 subjects this does not count as a duplicate.
499 A text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory.
500 This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.
504 A text file containing the next CRL number to use in hex. The crl number
505 will be inserted in the CRLs only if this file exists. If this file is
506 present, it must contain a valid CRL number.
508 =item B<x509_extensions>
510 The same as B<-extensions>.
512 =item B<crl_extensions>
514 The same as B<-crlexts>.
518 The same as B<-preserveDN>
522 The same as B<-noemailDN>. If you want the EMAIL field to be removed
523 from the DN of the certificate simply set this to 'no'. If not present
524 the default is to allow for the EMAIL filed in the certificate's DN.
528 The same as B<-msie_hack>
532 The same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
533 for more information.
535 =item B<name_opt>, B<cert_opt>
537 These options allow the format used to display the certificate details
538 when asking the user to confirm signing. All the options supported by
539 the B<x509> utilities B<-nameopt> and B<-certopt> switches can be used
540 here, except the B<no_signame> and B<no_sigdump> are permanently set
541 and cannot be disabled (this is because the certificate signature cannot
542 be displayed because the certificate has not been signed at this point).
544 For convenience the values B<ca_default> are accepted by both to produce
547 If neither option is present the format used in earlier versions of
548 OpenSSL is used. Use of the old format is B<strongly> discouraged because
549 it only displays fields mentioned in the B<policy> section, mishandles
550 multicharacter string types and does not display extensions.
552 =item B<copy_extensions>
554 Determines how extensions in certificate requests should be handled.
555 If set to B<none> or this option is not present then extensions are
556 ignored and not copied to the certificate. If set to B<copy> then any
557 extensions present in the request that are not already present are copied
558 to the certificate. If set to B<copyall> then all extensions in the
559 request are copied to the certificate: if the extension is already present
560 in the certificate it is deleted first. See the B<WARNINGS> section before
563 The main use of this option is to allow a certificate request to supply
564 values for certain extensions such as subjectAltName.
570 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
571 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
572 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
573 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
574 it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
575 are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
576 this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
580 The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
581 signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
582 the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
583 It is however possible to create SPKACs using L<openssl-spkac(1)>.
585 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
586 the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
587 If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
588 preceded by a number and a '.'.
590 When processing SPKAC format, the output is DER if the B<-out>
591 flag is used, but PEM format if sending to stdout or the B<-outdir>
596 Note: these examples assume that the directory structure this command
597 assumes is already set up and the relevant files already exist. This
598 usually involves creating a CA certificate and private key with
599 L<openssl-req(1)>, a serial number file and an empty index file and
600 placing them in the relevant directories.
602 To use the sample configuration file below the directories F<demoCA>,
603 F<demoCA/private> and F<demoCA/newcerts> would be created. The CA
604 certificate would be copied to F<demoCA/cacert.pem> and its private
605 key to F<demoCA/private/cakey.pem>. A file F<demoCA/serial> would be
606 created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
610 Sign a certificate request:
612 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
614 Sign an SM2 certificate request:
616 openssl ca -in sm2.csr -out sm2.crt -md sm3 -sigopt "sm2_id:1234567812345678" -sm2-id "1234567812345678"
618 Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:
620 openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem
624 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
626 Sign several requests:
628 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
630 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
632 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
634 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
636 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
638 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
642 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for this command:
645 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
649 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
650 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
651 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
653 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
654 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
655 #rand_serial = yes # for random serial#'s
656 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
657 RANDFILE = $dir/private/.rand # random number file
659 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
660 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
661 default_md = md5 # md to use
663 policy = policy_any # default policy
664 email_in_dn = no # Don't add the email into cert DN
666 name_opt = ca_default # Subject name display option
667 cert_opt = ca_default # Certificate display option
668 copy_extensions = none # Don't copy extensions from request
671 countryName = supplied
672 stateOrProvinceName = optional
673 organizationName = optional
674 organizationalUnitName = optional
675 commonName = supplied
676 emailAddress = optional
680 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
681 configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
682 The values below reflect the default values.
684 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
685 ./demoCA - main CA directory
686 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
687 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
688 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
689 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
690 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
691 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
692 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
693 ./demoCA/.rnd - CA random seed information
697 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
698 if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
699 to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
700 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
702 V2 CRL features like delta CRLs are not currently supported.
704 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
705 possible to include one SPKAC or self-signed certificate.
709 The use of an in-memory text database can cause problems when large
710 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
711 the database has to be kept in memory.
713 This command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
714 exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility
715 (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The script
716 B<CA.pl> helps a little but not very much.
718 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
719 deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used. To
720 enforce the absence of the EMAIL field within the DN, as suggested by
721 RFCs, regardless the contents of the request' subject the B<-noemailDN>
722 option can be used. The behaviour should be more friendly and
725 Canceling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
726 create an empty file.
730 This command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
732 This command was originally meant as an example of how to do
733 things in a CA. It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself:
734 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
736 This command command is effectively a single user command: no locking
737 is done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<openssl ca>
738 command on the same database can have unpredictable results.
740 The B<copy_extensions> option should be used with caution. If care is
741 not taken then it can be a security risk. For example if a certificate
742 request contains a basicConstraints extension with CA:TRUE and the
743 B<copy_extensions> value is set to B<copyall> and the user does not spot
744 this when the certificate is displayed then this will hand the requester
745 a valid CA certificate.
747 This situation can be avoided by setting B<copy_extensions> to B<copy>
748 and including basicConstraints with CA:FALSE in the configuration file.
749 Then if the request contains a basicConstraints extension it will be
752 It is advisable to also include values for other extensions such
753 as B<keyUsage> to prevent a request supplying its own values.
755 Additional restrictions can be placed on the CA certificate itself.
756 For example if the CA certificate has:
758 basicConstraints = CA:TRUE, pathlen:0
760 then even if a certificate is issued with CA:TRUE it will not be valid.
764 Since OpenSSL 1.1.1, the program follows RFC5280. Specifically,
765 certificate validity period (specified by any of B<-startdate>,
766 B<-enddate> and B<-days>) will be encoded as UTCTime if the dates are
767 earlier than year 2049 (included), and as GeneralizedTime if the dates
768 are in year 2050 or later.
782 Copyright 2000-2019 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
784 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
785 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
786 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
787 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.