2 {- OpenSSL::safe::output_do_not_edit_headers(); -}
6 openssl-ocsp - Online Certificate Status Protocol utility
18 [B<-sign_other> I<file>]
30 [B<-host> I<host>:I<port>]
31 [B<-multi> I<process-count>]
34 [B<-attime> I<timestamp>]
48 [B<-purpose> I<purpose>]
55 [B<-auth_level> I<num>]
56 [B<-verify_depth> I<num>]
57 [B<-verify_email> I<email>]
58 [B<-verify_hostname> I<hostname>]
60 [B<-verify_name> I<name>]
63 [B<-validity_period> I<n>]
66 [B<-verify_other> I<file>]
69 [B<-no_signature_verify>]
82 [B<-rsigopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
90 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_trust_synopsis -}
92 =for openssl ifdef multi
96 The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) enables applications to
97 determine the (revocation) state of an identified certificate (RFC 2560).
99 This 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> I<filename>
118 specify output filename, default is standard output.
120 =item B<-issuer> I<filename>
122 This specifies the current issuer certificate. This option can be used
123 multiple times. The certificate specified in I<filename> must be in
124 PEM format. This option B<MUST> come before any B<-cert> options.
126 =item B<-cert> I<filename>
128 Add the certificate I<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.
132 =item B<-serial> I<num>
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 C<0x>. Negative integers can also
137 be specified by preceding the value by a C<-> sign.
139 =item B<-signer> I<filename>, B<-signkey> I<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> I<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> I<file>, B<-respout> I<file>
165 Write out the DER encoded certificate request or response to I<file>.
167 =item B<-reqin> I<file>, B<-respin> I<file>
169 Read OCSP request or response file from I<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> I<responder_url>
175 Specify the responder URL. Both HTTP and HTTPS (SSL/TLS) URLs can be specified.
177 =item B<-host> I<hostname>:I<port>, B<-path> I<pathname>
179 If the B<-host> option is present then the OCSP request is sent to the host
180 I<hostname> on port I<port>. The B<-path> option specifies the HTTP pathname
181 to use 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> I<name>=I<value>
186 Adds the header I<name> with the specified I<value> to the OCSP request
187 that is sent to the responder.
188 This may be repeated.
190 =item B<-timeout> I<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> I<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<-attime>, B<-check_ss_sig>, B<-crl_check>, B<-crl_check_all>,
210 B<-explicit_policy>, B<-extended_crl>, B<-ignore_critical>, B<-inhibit_any>,
211 B<-inhibit_map>, B<-no_alt_chains>, B<-no_check_time>, B<-partial_chain>, B<-policy>,
212 B<-policy_check>, B<-policy_print>, B<-purpose>, B<-suiteB_128>,
213 B<-suiteB_128_only>, B<-suiteB_192>, B<-trusted_first>, B<-use_deltas>,
214 B<-auth_level>, B<-verify_depth>, B<-verify_email>, B<-verify_hostname>,
215 B<-verify_ip>, B<-verify_name>, B<-x509_strict>
217 Set different certificate verification options.
218 See L<openssl-verify(1)> manual page for details.
220 =item B<-verify_other> I<file>
222 File containing additional certificates to search when attempting to locate
223 the OCSP response signing certificate. Some responders omit the actual signer's
224 certificate from the response: this option can be used to supply the necessary
225 certificate in such cases.
227 =item B<-trust_other>
229 The certificates specified by the B<-verify_other> option should be explicitly
230 trusted and no additional checks will be performed on them. This is useful
231 when the complete responder certificate chain is not available or trusting a
232 root CA is not appropriate.
234 =item B<-VAfile> I<file>
236 File containing explicitly trusted responder certificates. Equivalent to the
237 B<-verify_other> and B<-trust_other> options.
241 Don't attempt to verify the OCSP response signature or the nonce
242 values. This option will normally only be used for debugging since it
243 disables all verification of the responders certificate.
247 Ignore certificates contained in the OCSP response when searching for the
248 signers certificate. With this option the signers certificate must be specified
249 with either the B<-verify_other> or B<-VAfile> options.
251 =item B<-no_signature_verify>
253 Don't check the signature on the OCSP response. Since this option
254 tolerates invalid signatures on OCSP responses it will normally only be
255 used for testing purposes.
257 =item B<-no_cert_verify>
259 Don't verify the OCSP response signers certificate at all. Since this
260 option allows the OCSP response to be signed by any certificate it should
261 only be used for testing purposes.
265 Do not use certificates in the response as additional untrusted CA
268 =item B<-no_explicit>
270 Do not explicitly trust the root CA if it is set to be trusted for OCSP signing.
272 =item B<-no_cert_checks>
274 Don't perform any additional checks on the OCSP response signers certificate.
275 That is do not make any checks to see if the signers certificate is authorised
276 to provide the necessary status information: as a result this option should
277 only be used for testing purposes.
279 =item B<-validity_period> I<nsec>, B<-status_age> I<age>
281 These options specify the range of times, in seconds, which will be tolerated
282 in an OCSP response. Each certificate status response includes a B<notBefore>
283 time and an optional B<notAfter> time. The current time should fall between
284 these two values, but the interval between the two times may be only a few
285 seconds. In practice the OCSP responder and clients clocks may not be precisely
286 synchronised and so such a check may fail. To avoid this the
287 B<-validity_period> option can be used to specify an acceptable error range in
288 seconds, the default value is 5 minutes.
290 If the B<notAfter> time is omitted from a response then this means that new
291 status information is immediately available. In this case the age of the
292 B<notBefore> field is checked to see it is not older than I<age> seconds old.
293 By default this additional check is not performed.
295 =item B<-rcid> I<digest>
297 This option sets the digest algorithm to use for certificate identification
298 in the OCSP response. Any digest supported by the L<openssl-dgst(1)> command can
299 be used. The default is the same digest algorithm used in the request.
303 This option sets digest algorithm to use for certificate identification in the
304 OCSP request. Any digest supported by the OpenSSL B<dgst> command can be used.
305 The default is SHA-1. This option may be used multiple times to specify the
306 digest used by subsequent certificate identifiers.
308 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_trust_item -}
312 =head2 OCSP Server Options
316 =item B<-index> I<indexfile>
318 The I<indexfile> parameter is the name of a text index file in B<ca>
319 format containing certificate revocation information.
321 If the B<-index> option is specified then this command switches to
322 responder mode, otherwise it is in client mode. The request(s) the responder
323 processes can be either specified on the command line (using B<-issuer>
324 and B<-serial> options), supplied in a file (using the B<-reqin> option)
325 or via external OCSP clients (if B<-port> or B<-url> is specified).
327 If the B<-index> option is present then the B<-CA> and B<-rsigner> options
328 must also be present.
332 CA certificate corresponding to the revocation information in the index
333 file given with B<-index>.
335 =item B<-rsigner> I<file>
337 The certificate to sign OCSP responses with.
339 =item B<-rother> I<file>
341 Additional certificates to include in the OCSP response.
343 =item B<-resp_no_certs>
345 Don't include any certificates in the OCSP response.
347 =item B<-resp_key_id>
349 Identify the signer certificate using the key ID, default is to use the
352 =item B<-rkey> I<file>
354 The private key to sign OCSP responses with: if not present the file
355 specified in the B<-rsigner> option is used.
357 =item B<-passin> I<arg>
359 The private key password source. For more information about the format of I<arg>
360 see L<openssl(1)/Pass Phrase Options>.
362 =item B<-rsigopt> I<nm>:I<v>
364 Pass options to the signature algorithm when signing OCSP responses.
365 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
367 =item B<-port> I<portnum>
369 Port to listen for OCSP requests on. The port may also be specified
370 using the B<url> option.
374 Ignore malformed requests or responses: When acting as an OCSP client, retry if
375 a malformed response is received. When acting as an OCSP responder, continue
376 running instead of terminating upon receiving a malformed request.
378 =item B<-nrequest> I<number>
380 The OCSP server will exit after receiving I<number> requests, default unlimited.
382 =item B<-nmin> I<minutes>, B<-ndays> I<days>
384 Number of minutes or days when fresh revocation information is available:
385 used in the B<nextUpdate> field. If neither option is present then the
386 B<nextUpdate> field is omitted meaning fresh revocation information is
387 immediately available.
391 =head1 OCSP RESPONSE VERIFICATION
393 OCSP Response follows the rules specified in RFC2560.
395 Initially the OCSP responder certificate is located and the signature on
396 the OCSP request checked using the responder certificate's public key.
398 Then a normal certificate verify is performed on the OCSP responder certificate
399 building up a certificate chain in the process. The locations of the trusted
400 certificates used to build the chain can be specified by the B<-CAfile>,
401 B<-CApath> or B<-CAstore> options or they will be looked for in the
402 standard OpenSSL certificates directory.
404 If the initial verify fails then the OCSP verify process halts with an
407 Otherwise the issuing CA certificate in the request is compared to the OCSP
408 responder certificate: if there is a match then the OCSP verify succeeds.
410 Otherwise the OCSP responder certificate's CA is checked against the issuing
411 CA certificate in the request. If there is a match and the OCSPSigning
412 extended key usage is present in the OCSP responder certificate then the
413 OCSP verify succeeds.
415 Otherwise, if B<-no_explicit> is B<not> set the root CA of the OCSP responders
416 CA is checked to see if it is trusted for OCSP signing. If it is the OCSP
419 If none of these checks is successful then the OCSP verify fails.
421 What this effectively means if that if the OCSP responder certificate is
422 authorised directly by the CA it is issuing revocation information about
423 (and it is correctly configured) then verification will succeed.
425 If the OCSP responder is a "global responder" which can give details about
426 multiple CAs and has its own separate certificate chain then its root
427 CA can be trusted for OCSP signing. For example:
429 openssl x509 -in ocspCA.pem -addtrust OCSPSigning -out trustedCA.pem
431 Alternatively the responder certificate itself can be explicitly trusted
432 with the B<-VAfile> option.
436 As noted, most of the verify options are for testing or debugging purposes.
437 Normally only the B<-CApath>, B<-CAfile>, B<-CAstore> and (if the responder
438 is a 'global VA') B<-VAfile> options need to be used.
440 The OCSP server is only useful for test and demonstration purposes: it is
441 not really usable as a full OCSP responder. It contains only a very
442 simple HTTP request handling and can only handle the POST form of OCSP
443 queries. It also handles requests serially meaning it cannot respond to
444 new requests until it has processed the current one. The text index file
445 format of revocation is also inefficient for large quantities of revocation
448 It is possible to run this command in responder mode via a CGI
449 script using the B<-reqin> and B<-respout> options.
453 Create an OCSP request and write it to a file:
455 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem -reqout req.der
457 Send a query to an OCSP responder with URL http://ocsp.myhost.com/ save the
458 response to a file, print it out in text form, and verify the response:
460 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem \
461 -url http://ocsp.myhost.com/ -resp_text -respout resp.der
463 Read in an OCSP response and print out text form:
465 openssl ocsp -respin resp.der -text -noverify
467 OCSP server on port 8888 using a standard B<ca> configuration, and a separate
468 responder certificate. All requests and responses are printed to a file.
470 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
473 As above but exit after processing one request:
475 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
478 Query status information using an internally generated request:
480 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
481 -issuer demoCA/cacert.pem -serial 1
483 Query status information using request read from a file, and write the response
486 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
487 -reqin req.der -respout resp.der
491 The -no_alt_chains option was added in OpenSSL 1.1.0.
495 Copyright 2001-2019 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
497 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
498 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
499 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
500 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.