OpenSSL - Frequently Asked Questions -------------------------------------- * Which is the current version of OpenSSL? * Where is the documentation? * How can I contact the OpenSSL developers? * Do I need patent licenses to use OpenSSL? * Is OpenSSL thread-safe? * Why do I get a "PRNG not seeded" error message? * Why does the linker complain about undefined symbols? * Where can I get a compiled version of OpenSSL? * I've compiled a program under Windows and it crashes: why? * I've called and it fails, why? * I just get a load of numbers for the error output, what do they mean? * Why do I get errors about unknown algorithms? * How do I create certificates or certificate requests? * Why can't I create certificate requests? * Why does fail with a certificate verify error? * Why can I only use weak ciphers when I connect to a server using OpenSSL? * How can I create DSA certificates? * Why can't I make an SSL connection using a DSA certificate? * How can I remove the passphrase on a private key? * Why can't the OpenSSH configure script detect OpenSSL? * Which is the current version of OpenSSL? The current version is available from . OpenSSL 0.9.5a was released on April 1st, 2000. In addition to the current stable release, you can also access daily snapshots of the OpenSSL development version at , or get it by anonymous CVS access. * Where is the documentation? OpenSSL is a library that provides cryptographic functionality to applications such as secure web servers. Be sure to read the documentation of the application you want to use. The INSTALL file explains how to install this library. OpenSSL includes a command line utility that can be used to perform a variety of cryptographic functions. It is described in the openssl(1) manpage. Documentation for developers is currently being written. A few manual pages already are available; overviews over libcrypto and libssl are given in the crypto(3) and ssl(3) manpages. The OpenSSL manpages are installed in /usr/local/ssl/man/ (or a different directory if you specified one as described in INSTALL). In addition, you can read the most current versions at . For information on parts of libcrypto that are not yet documented, you might want to read Ariel Glenn's documentation on SSLeay 0.9, OpenSSL's predecessor, at . Much of this still applies to OpenSSL. There is some documentation about certificate extensions and PKCS#12 in doc/openssl.txt The original SSLeay documentation is included in OpenSSL as doc/ssleay.txt. It may be useful when none of the other resources help, but please note that it reflects the obsolete version SSLeay 0.6.6. * How can I contact the OpenSSL developers? The README file describes how to submit bug reports and patches to OpenSSL. Information on the OpenSSL mailing lists is available from . * Do I need patent licenses to use OpenSSL? The patents section of the README file lists patents that may apply to you if you want to use OpenSSL. For information on intellectual property rights, please consult a lawyer. The OpenSSL team does not offer legal advice. You can configure OpenSSL so as not to use RC5 and IDEA by using ./config no-rc5 no-idea Until the RSA patent expires, U.S. users may want to use ./config no-rc5 no-idea no-rsa Please note that you will *not* be able to communicate with most of the popular web browsers without RSA support. * Is OpenSSL thread-safe? Yes (with limitations: an SSL connection may not concurrently be used by multiple threads). On Windows and many Unix systems, OpenSSL automatically uses the multi-threaded versions of the standard libraries. If your platform is not one of these, consult the INSTALL file. Multi-threaded applications must provide two callback functions to OpenSSL. This is described in the threads(3) manpage. * Why do I get a "PRNG not seeded" error message? Cryptographic software needs a source of unpredictable data to work correctly. Many open source operating systems provide a "randomness device" that serves this purpose. On other systems, applications have to call the RAND_add() or RAND_seed() function with appropriate data before generating keys or performing public key encryption. Some broken applications do not do this. As of version 0.9.5, the OpenSSL functions that need randomness report an error if the random number generator has not been seeded with at least 128 bits of randomness. If this error occurs, please contact the author of the application you are using. It is likely that it never worked correctly. OpenSSL 0.9.5 and later make the error visible by refusing to perform potentially insecure encryption. On systems without /dev/urandom, it is a good idea to use the Entropy Gathering Demon; see the RAND_egd() manpage for details. Most components of the openssl command line tool try to use the file $HOME/.rnd (or $RANDFILE, if this environment variable is set) for seeding the PRNG. If this file does not exist or is too short, the "PRNG not seeded" error message may occur. [Note to OpenSSL 0.9.5 users: The command "openssl rsa" in version 0.9.5 does not do this and will fail on systems without /dev/urandom when trying to password-encrypt an RSA key! This is a bug in the library; try a later version instead.] * Why does the linker complain about undefined symbols? Maybe the compilation was interrupted, and make doesn't notice that something is missing. Run "make clean; make". If you used ./Configure instead of ./config, make sure that you selected the right target. File formats may differ slightly between OS versions (for example sparcv8/sparcv9, or a.out/elf). In case you get errors about the following symbols, use the config option "no-asm", as described in INSTALL: BF_cbc_encrypt, BF_decrypt, BF_encrypt, CAST_cbc_encrypt, CAST_decrypt, CAST_encrypt, RC4, RC5_32_cbc_encrypt, RC5_32_decrypt, RC5_32_encrypt, bn_add_words, bn_div_words, bn_mul_add_words, bn_mul_comba4, bn_mul_comba8, bn_mul_words, bn_sqr_comba4, bn_sqr_comba8, bn_sqr_words, bn_sub_words, des_decrypt3, des_ede3_cbc_encrypt, des_encrypt, des_encrypt2, des_encrypt3, des_ncbc_encrypt, md5_block_asm_host_order, sha1_block_asm_data_order If none of these helps, you may want to try using the current snapshot. If the problem persists, please submit a bug report. * Where can I get a compiled version of OpenSSL? Some applications that use OpenSSL are distributed in binary form. When using such an application, you don't need to install OpenSSL yourself; the application will include the required parts (e.g. DLLs). If you want to install OpenSSL on a Windows system and you don't have a C compiler, read the "Mingw32" section of INSTALL.W32 for information on how to obtain and install the free GNU C compiler. A number of Linux and *BSD distributions include OpenSSL. * I've compiled a program under Windows and it crashes: why? This is usually because you've missed the comment in INSTALL.W32. You must link with the multithreaded DLL version of the VC++ runtime library otherwise the conflict will cause a program to crash: typically on the first BIO related read or write operation. * I've called and it fails, why? Before submitting a report or asking in one of the mailing lists, you should try to determine the cause. In particular, you should call ERR_print_errors() or ERR_print_errors_fp() after the failed call and see if the message helps. Note that the problem may occur earlier than you think -- you should check for errors after every call where it is possible, otherwise the actual problem may be hidden because some OpenSSL functions clear the error state. * I just get a load of numbers for the error output, what do they mean? The actual format is described in the ERR_print_errors() manual page. You should call the function ERR_load_crypto_strings() before hand and the message will be output in text form. If you can't do this (for example it is a pre-compiled binary) you can use the errstr utility on the error code itself (the hex digits after the second colon). * Why do I get errors about unknown algorithms? This can happen under several circumstances such as reading in an encrypted private key or attempting to decrypt a PKCS#12 file. The cause is forgetting to load OpenSSL's table of algorithms with OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms(). See the manual page for more information. * How do I create certificates or certificate requests? Check out the CA.pl(1) manual page. This provides a simple wrapper round the 'req', 'verify', 'ca' and 'pkcs12' utilities. For finer control check out the manual pages for the individual utilities and the certificate extensions documentation (currently in doc/openssl.txt). * Why can't I create certificate requests? You typically get the error: unable to find 'distinguished_name' in config problems making Certificate Request This is because it can't find the configuration file. Check out the DIAGNOSTICS section of req(1) for more information. * Why does fail with a certificate verify error? This problem is usually indicated by log messages saying something like "unable to get local issuer certificate" or "self signed certificate". When a certificate is verified its root CA must be "trusted" by OpenSSL this typically means that the CA certificate must be placed in a directory or file and the relevant program configured to read it. The OpenSSL program 'verify' behaves in a similar way and issues similar error messages: check the verify(1) program manual page for more information. * Why can I only use weak ciphers when I connect to a server using OpenSSL? This is almost certainly because you are using an old "export grade" browser which only supports weak encryption. Upgrade your browser to support 128 bit ciphers. * How can I create DSA certificates? Check the CA.pl(1) manual page for a DSA certificate example. * Why can't I make an SSL connection to a server using a DSA certificate? Typically you'll see a message saying there are no shared ciphers when the same setup works fine with an RSA certificate. There are two possible causes. The client may not support connections to DSA servers most web browsers (including Netscape and MSIE) only support connections to servers supporting RSA cipher suites. The other cause is that a set of DH parameters has not been supplied to the server. DH parameters can be created with the dhparam(1) command and loaded using the SSL_CTX_set_tmp_dh() for example: check the source to s_server in apps/s_server.c for an example. * How can I remove the passphrase on a private key? Firstly you should be really *really* sure you want to do this. Leaving a private key unencrypted is a major security risk. If you decide that you do have to do this check the EXAMPLES sections of the rsa(1) and dsa(1) manual pages. * Why can't the OpenSSH configure script detect OpenSSL? There is a problem with OpenSSH 1.2.2p1, in that the configure script can't find the installed OpenSSL libraries. The problem is actually a small glitch that is easily solved with the following patch to be applied to the OpenSSH distribution: ----- snip:start ----- --- openssh-1.2.2p1/configure.in.orig Thu Mar 23 18:56:58 2000 +++ openssh-1.2.2p1/configure.in Thu Mar 23 18:55:05 2000 @@ -152,10 +152,10 @@ AC_MSG_CHECKING([for OpenSSL/SSLeay directory]) for ssldir in "" $tryssldir /usr /usr/local/openssl /usr/lib/openssl /usr/local/ssl /usr/lib/ssl /usr/local /usr/pkg /opt /opt/openssl ; do if test ! -z "$ssldir" ; then - LIBS="$saved_LIBS -L$ssldir" + LIBS="$saved_LIBS -L$ssldir/lib" CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -I$ssldir/include" if test "x$need_dash_r" = "x1" ; then - LIBS="$LIBS -R$ssldir" + LIBS="$LIBS -R$ssldir/lib" fi fi LIBS="$LIBS -lcrypto" --- openssh-1.2.2p1/configure.orig Thu Mar 23 18:55:02 2000 +++ openssh-1.2.2p1/configure Thu Mar 23 18:57:08 2000 @@ -1890,10 +1890,10 @@ echo "configure:1891: checking for OpenSSL/SSLeay directory" >&5 for ssldir in "" $tryssldir /usr /usr/local/openssl /usr/lib/openssl /usr/local/ssl /usr/lib/ssl /usr/local /usr/pkg /opt /opt/openssl ; do if test ! -z "$ssldir" ; then - LIBS="$saved_LIBS -L$ssldir" + LIBS="$saved_LIBS -L$ssldir/lib" CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -I$ssldir/include" if test "x$need_dash_r" = "x1" ; then - LIBS="$LIBS -R$ssldir" + LIBS="$LIBS -R$ssldir/lib" fi fi LIBS="$LIBS -lcrypto" ----- snip:end -----