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<-crlsec> I<seconds>]
27 [B<-crlexts> I<section>]
28 [B<-startdate> I<date>]
34 [B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>]
50 [B<-extensions> I<section>]
51 [B<-extfile> I<section>]
54 [B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
58 [B<-sm2-id> I<string>]
59 [B<-sm2-hex-id> I<hex-string>]
60 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_synopsis -}
61 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}
64 =for openssl ifdef engine sm2-id sm2-hex-id
68 This command is a minimal CA application. It can be used
69 to sign certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate
70 CRLs. It also maintains a text database of issued certificates
72 When signing certificates, a single certificate request can be specified
73 with the B<-in> option, or multiple requests can be processed by
74 specifying a set of B<certreq> files after all options.
76 The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose.
84 Print out a usage message.
88 This prints extra details about the operations being performed.
90 =item B<-config> I<filename>
92 Specifies the configuration file to use.
93 Optional; for a description of the default value,
94 see L<openssl(1)/COMMAND SUMMARY>.
96 =item B<-name> I<section>
98 Specifies the configuration file section to use (overrides
99 B<default_ca> in the B<ca> section).
101 =item B<-in> I<filename>
103 An input filename containing a single certificate request to be
106 =item B<-ss_cert> I<filename>
108 A single self-signed certificate to be signed by the CA.
110 =item B<-spkac> I<filename>
112 A file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge
113 and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<SPKAC FORMAT>
114 section for information on the required input and output format.
118 If present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments
119 are taken as the names of files containing certificate requests.
121 =item B<-out> I<filename>
123 The output file to output certificates to. The default is standard
124 output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this
125 file in PEM format (except that B<-spkac> outputs DER format).
127 =item B<-outdir> I<directory>
129 The directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be
130 written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with
135 The CA certificate file.
137 =item B<-keyfile> I<filename>
139 The private key to sign requests with.
141 =item B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>
143 The format of the private key file; the default is B<PEM>.
144 See L<openssl(1)/Format Options> for details.
146 =item B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>
148 Pass options to the signature algorithm during sign or verify operations.
149 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
151 =item B<-key> I<password>
153 =for openssl foreign manual ps(1)
155 The password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some
156 systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g. Unix with
157 the L<ps(1)> utility) this option should be used with caution.
161 Indicates the issued certificates are to be signed with the key
162 the certificate requests were signed with (given with B<-keyfile>).
163 Certificate requests signed with a different key are ignored. If
164 B<-spkac>, B<-ss_cert> or B<-gencrl> are given, B<-selfsign> is
167 A consequence of using B<-selfsign> is that the self-signed
168 certificate appears among the entries in the certificate database
169 (see the configuration option B<database>), and uses the same
170 serial number counter as all other certificates sign with the
171 self-signed certificate.
173 =item B<-passin> I<arg>
175 The key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
176 see L<openssl(1)/Pass Phrase Options>.
180 Don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.
182 =item B<-startdate> I<date>
184 This allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the
185 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or
186 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In
187 both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.
189 =item B<-enddate> I<date>
191 This allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the
192 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or
193 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In
194 both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present.
196 =item B<-days> I<arg>
198 The number of days to certify the certificate for.
202 The message digest to use.
203 Any digest supported by the L<openssl-dgst(1)> command can be used. For signing
204 algorithms that do not support a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448) any message
205 digest that is set is ignored. This option also applies to CRLs.
207 =item B<-policy> I<arg>
209 This option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in
210 the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory
211 or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
212 for more information.
216 This is a deprecated option to make this command work with very old versions
217 of the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings
218 for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs
219 its use is strongly discouraged.
223 Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the
224 fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order
225 is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the
226 older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their
227 DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll.
231 The DN of a certificate can contain the EMAIL field if present in the
232 request DN, however it is good policy just having the e-mail set into
233 the altName extension of the certificate. When this option is set the
234 EMAIL field is removed from the certificate' subject and set only in
235 the, eventually present, extensions. The B<email_in_dn> keyword can be
236 used in the configuration file to enable this behaviour.
240 This sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked
241 and all certificates will be certified automatically.
243 =item B<-extensions> I<section>
245 The section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions
246 to be added when a certificate is issued (defaults to B<x509_extensions>
247 unless the B<-extfile> option is used). If no extension section is
248 present then, a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section
249 is present (even if it is empty), then a V3 certificate is created. See the
250 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
251 extension section format.
253 =item B<-extfile> I<file>
255 An additional configuration file to read certificate extensions from
256 (using the default section unless the B<-extensions> option is also
259 =item B<-subj> I<arg>
261 Supersedes subject name given in the request.
262 The arg must be formatted as C</type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...>.
263 Keyword characters may be escaped by C<\> (backslash), and whitespace is
265 Empty values are permitted, but the corresponding type will not be included
266 in the resulting certificate.
270 This option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings, by
271 default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field
272 values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a
273 configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
275 =item B<-create_serial>
277 If reading serial from the text file as specified in the configuration
278 fails, specifying this option creates a new random serial to be used as next
280 To get random serial numbers, use the B<-rand_serial> flag instead; this
281 should only be used for simple error-recovery.
283 =item B<-rand_serial>
285 Generate a large random number to use as the serial number.
286 This overrides any option or configuration to use a serial number file.
288 =item B<-multivalue-rdn>
290 This option causes the -subj argument to be interpreted with full
291 support for multivalued RDNs. Example:
293 C</DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe>
295 If B<-multi-rdn> is not used then the UID value is C<123456+CN=John Doe>.
297 =item B<-sm2-id> I<string>
299 Specify the ID string to use when verifying an SM2 certificate. The ID string is
300 required by the SM2 signature algorithm for signing and verification.
302 =item B<-sm2-hex-id> I<hex-string>
304 Specify a binary ID string to use when signing or verifying using an SM2
305 certificate. The argument for this option is string of hexadecimal digits.
307 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_item -}
309 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -}
319 This option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.
321 =item B<-crldays> I<num>
323 The number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from
324 now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.
326 =item B<-crlhours> I<num>
328 The number of hours before the next CRL is due.
330 =item B<-crlsec> I<num>
332 The number of seconds before the next CRL is due.
334 =item B<-revoke> I<filename>
336 A filename containing a certificate to revoke.
338 =item B<-valid> I<filename>
340 A filename containing a certificate to add a Valid certificate entry.
342 =item B<-status> I<serial>
344 Displays the revocation status of the certificate with the specified
345 serial number and exits.
349 Updates the database index to purge expired certificates.
351 =item B<-crl_reason> I<reason>
353 Revocation reason, where I<reason> is one of: B<unspecified>, B<keyCompromise>,
354 B<CACompromise>, B<affiliationChanged>, B<superseded>, B<cessationOfOperation>,
355 B<certificateHold> or B<removeFromCRL>. The matching of I<reason> is case
356 insensitive. Setting any revocation reason will make the CRL v2.
358 In practice B<removeFromCRL> is not particularly useful because it is only used
359 in delta CRLs which are not currently implemented.
361 =item B<-crl_hold> I<instruction>
363 This sets the CRL revocation reason code to B<certificateHold> and the hold
364 instruction to I<instruction> which must be an OID. Although any OID can be
365 used only B<holdInstructionNone> (the use of which is discouraged by RFC2459)
366 B<holdInstructionCallIssuer> or B<holdInstructionReject> will normally be used.
368 =item B<-crl_compromise> I<time>
370 This sets the revocation reason to B<keyCompromise> and the compromise time to
371 I<time>. I<time> should be in GeneralizedTime format that is I<YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ>.
373 =item B<-crl_CA_compromise> I<time>
375 This is the same as B<crl_compromise> except the revocation reason is set to
378 =item B<-crlexts> I<section>
380 The section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to
381 include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is
382 created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is
383 empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are
384 CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted
385 that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs. See
386 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
387 extension section format.
391 =head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
393 The section of the configuration file containing options for this command
394 is found as follows: If the B<-name> command line option is used,
395 then it names the section to be used. Otherwise the section to
396 be used must be named in the B<default_ca> option of the B<ca> section
397 of the configuration file (or in the default section of the
398 configuration file). Besides B<default_ca>, the following options are
399 read directly from the B<ca> section:
403 With the exception of B<RANDFILE>, this is probably a bug and may
404 change in future releases.
406 Many of the configuration file options are identical to command line
407 options. Where the option is present in the configuration file
408 and the command line the command line value is used. Where an
409 option is described as mandatory then it must be present in
410 the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if
417 This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>.
418 Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
419 object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed
420 by white space and finally the long name.
424 This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
425 object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the
426 object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short
427 and long names are the same when this option is used.
429 =item B<new_certs_dir>
431 The same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies
432 the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
436 The same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA
437 certificate. Mandatory.
441 Same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the
442 CA private key. Mandatory.
446 At startup the specified file is loaded into the random number generator,
447 and at exit 256 bytes will be written to it. (Note: Using a RANDFILE is
448 not necessary anymore, see the L</HISTORY> section.
450 =item B<default_days>
452 The same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify
455 =item B<default_startdate>
457 The same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify
458 a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
460 =item B<default_enddate>
462 The same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or
463 B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be
466 =item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days>
468 The same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These
469 will only be used if neither command line option is present. At
470 least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.
474 The same as the B<-md> option. Mandatory except where the signing algorithm does
475 not require a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448).
479 The text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
480 though initially it will be empty.
482 =item B<unique_subject>
484 If the value B<yes> is given, the valid certificate entries in the
485 database must have unique subjects. if the value B<no> is given,
486 several valid certificate entries may have the exact same subject.
487 The default value is B<yes>, to be compatible with older (pre 0.9.8)
488 versions of OpenSSL. However, to make CA certificate roll-over easier,
489 it's recommended to use the value B<no>, especially if combined with
490 the B<-selfsign> command line option.
492 Note that it is valid in some circumstances for certificates to be created
493 without any subject. In the case where there are multiple certificates without
494 subjects this does not count as a duplicate.
498 A text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory.
499 This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.
503 A text file containing the next CRL number to use in hex. The crl number
504 will be inserted in the CRLs only if this file exists. If this file is
505 present, it must contain a valid CRL number.
507 =item B<x509_extensions>
509 The same as B<-extensions>.
511 =item B<crl_extensions>
513 The same as B<-crlexts>.
517 The same as B<-preserveDN>
521 The same as B<-noemailDN>. If you want the EMAIL field to be removed
522 from the DN of the certificate simply set this to 'no'. If not present
523 the default is to allow for the EMAIL filed in the certificate's DN.
527 The same as B<-msie_hack>
531 The same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
532 for more information.
534 =item B<name_opt>, B<cert_opt>
536 These options allow the format used to display the certificate details
537 when asking the user to confirm signing. All the options supported by
538 the B<x509> utilities B<-nameopt> and B<-certopt> switches can be used
539 here, except the B<no_signame> and B<no_sigdump> are permanently set
540 and cannot be disabled (this is because the certificate signature cannot
541 be displayed because the certificate has not been signed at this point).
543 For convenience the values B<ca_default> are accepted by both to produce
546 If neither option is present the format used in earlier versions of
547 OpenSSL is used. Use of the old format is B<strongly> discouraged because
548 it only displays fields mentioned in the B<policy> section, mishandles
549 multicharacter string types and does not display extensions.
551 =item B<copy_extensions>
553 Determines how extensions in certificate requests should be handled.
554 If set to B<none> or this option is not present then extensions are
555 ignored and not copied to the certificate. If set to B<copy> then any
556 extensions present in the request that are not already present are copied
557 to the certificate. If set to B<copyall> then all extensions in the
558 request are copied to the certificate: if the extension is already present
559 in the certificate it is deleted first. See the B<WARNINGS> section before
562 The main use of this option is to allow a certificate request to supply
563 values for certain extensions such as subjectAltName.
569 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
570 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
571 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
572 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
573 it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
574 are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
575 this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
579 The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
580 signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
581 the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
582 It is however possible to create SPKACs using L<openssl-spkac(1)>.
584 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
585 the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
586 If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
587 preceded by a number and a '.'.
589 When processing SPKAC format, the output is DER if the B<-out>
590 flag is used, but PEM format if sending to stdout or the B<-outdir>
595 Note: these examples assume that the directory structure this command
596 assumes is already set up and the relevant files already exist. This
597 usually involves creating a CA certificate and private key with
598 L<openssl-req(1)>, a serial number file and an empty index file and
599 placing them in the relevant directories.
601 To use the sample configuration file below the directories F<demoCA>,
602 F<demoCA/private> and F<demoCA/newcerts> would be created. The CA
603 certificate would be copied to F<demoCA/cacert.pem> and its private
604 key to F<demoCA/private/cakey.pem>. A file F<demoCA/serial> would be
605 created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
609 Sign a certificate request:
611 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
613 Sign an SM2 certificate request:
615 openssl ca -in sm2.csr -out sm2.crt -md sm3 -sigopt "sm2_id:1234567812345678" -sm2-id "1234567812345678"
617 Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:
619 openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem
623 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
625 Sign several requests:
627 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
629 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
631 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
633 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
635 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
637 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
641 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for this command:
644 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
648 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
649 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
650 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
652 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
653 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
654 #rand_serial = yes # for random serial#'s
655 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
657 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
658 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
659 default_md = md5 # md to use
661 policy = policy_any # default policy
662 email_in_dn = no # Don't add the email into cert DN
664 name_opt = ca_default # Subject name display option
665 cert_opt = ca_default # Certificate display option
666 copy_extensions = none # Don't copy extensions from request
669 countryName = supplied
670 stateOrProvinceName = optional
671 organizationName = optional
672 organizationalUnitName = optional
673 commonName = supplied
674 emailAddress = optional
678 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
679 configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
680 The values below reflect the default values.
682 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
683 ./demoCA - main CA directory
684 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
685 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
686 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
687 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
688 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
689 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
690 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
694 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
695 if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
696 to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
697 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
699 V2 CRL features like delta CRLs are not currently supported.
701 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
702 possible to include one SPKAC or self-signed certificate.
706 The use of an in-memory text database can cause problems when large
707 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
708 the database has to be kept in memory.
710 This command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
711 exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility
712 (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The script
713 B<CA.pl> helps a little but not very much.
715 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
716 deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used. To
717 enforce the absence of the EMAIL field within the DN, as suggested by
718 RFCs, regardless the contents of the request' subject the B<-noemailDN>
719 option can be used. The behaviour should be more friendly and
722 Canceling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
723 create an empty file.
727 This command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
729 This command was originally meant as an example of how to do
730 things in a CA. It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself:
731 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
733 This command command is effectively a single user command: no locking
734 is done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<openssl ca>
735 command on the same database can have unpredictable results.
737 The B<copy_extensions> option should be used with caution. If care is
738 not taken then it can be a security risk. For example if a certificate
739 request contains a basicConstraints extension with CA:TRUE and the
740 B<copy_extensions> value is set to B<copyall> and the user does not spot
741 this when the certificate is displayed then this will hand the requester
742 a valid CA certificate.
744 This situation can be avoided by setting B<copy_extensions> to B<copy>
745 and including basicConstraints with CA:FALSE in the configuration file.
746 Then if the request contains a basicConstraints extension it will be
749 It is advisable to also include values for other extensions such
750 as B<keyUsage> to prevent a request supplying its own values.
752 Additional restrictions can be placed on the CA certificate itself.
753 For example if the CA certificate has:
755 basicConstraints = CA:TRUE, pathlen:0
757 then even if a certificate is issued with CA:TRUE it will not be valid.
761 Since OpenSSL 1.1.1, the program follows RFC5280. Specifically,
762 certificate validity period (specified by any of B<-startdate>,
763 B<-enddate> and B<-days>) will be encoded as UTCTime if the dates are
764 earlier than year 2049 (included), and as GeneralizedTime if the dates
765 are in year 2050 or later.
767 OpenSSL 1.1.1 introduced a new random generator (CSPRNG) with an improved
768 seeding mechanism. The new seeding mechanism makes it unnecessary to
769 define a RANDFILE for saving and restoring randomness. This option is
770 retained mainly for compatibility reasons.
784 Copyright 2000-2019 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
786 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
787 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
788 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
789 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.