1CA(1) OpenSSL CA(1)
2
6 ca - sample minimal CA application
7
9 openssl ca [-verbose] [-config filename] [-name section] [-gencrl]
10 [-revoke file] [-crl_reason reason] [-crl_hold instruction]
11 [-crl_compromise time] [-crl_CA_compromise time] [-crldays days]
12 [-crlhours hours] [-crlexts section] [-startdate date] [-enddate date]
13 [-days arg] [-md arg] [-policy arg] [-keyfile arg] [-key arg] [-passin
14 arg] [-cert file] [-selfsign] [-in file] [-out file] [-notext] [-outdir
15 dir] [-infiles] [-spkac file] [-ss_cert file] [-preserveDN]
16 [-noemailDN] [-batch] [-msie_hack] [-extensions section] [-extfile
17 section] [-engine id] [-subj arg] [-utf8] [-multivalue-rdn]
18
20 The ca command is a minimal CA application. It can be used to sign
21 certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate CRLs it also
22 maintains a text database of issued certificates and their status.
23 The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose.
25
27 -config filename
28 specifies the configuration file to use.
29 -name section
31 specifies the configuration file section to use (overrides
32 default_ca in the ca section).
33 -in filename
35 an input filename containing a single certificate request to be
36 signed by the CA.
37 -ss_cert filename
39 a single self signed certificate to be signed by the CA.
40 -spkac filename
42 a file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge
43 and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the SPKAC
44 FORMAT section for information on the required format.
45 -infiles
47 if present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments
48 are assumed to the the names of files containing certificate
49 requests.
50 -out filename
52 the output file to output certificates to. The default is standard
53 output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this
54 file.
55 -outdir directory
57 the directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be
58 written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with
59 ".pem" appended.
60 -cert
62 the CA certificate file.
63 -keyfile filename
65 the private key to sign requests with.
66 -key password
68 the password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some systems
69 the command line arguments are visible (e.g. Unix with the 'ps'
70 utility) this option should be used with caution.
71 -selfsign
73 indicates the issued certificates are to be signed with the key the
74 certificate requests were signed with (given with -keyfile).
75 Cerificate requests signed with a different key are ignored. If
76 -spkac, -ss_cert or -gencrl are given, -selfsign is ignored.
77 A consequence of using -selfsign is that the self-signed
79 certificate appears among the entries in the certificate database
80 (see the configuration option database), and uses the same serial
81 number counter as all other certificates sign with the self-signed
82 certificate.
83 -passin arg
85 the key password source. For more information about the format of
86 arg see the PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS section in openssl(1).
87 -verbose
89 this prints extra details about the operations being performed.
90 -notext
92 don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.
93 -startdate date
95 this allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the
96 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).
97 -enddate date
99 this allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the
100 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).
101 -days arg
103 the number of days to certify the certificate for.
104 -md alg
106 the message digest to use. Possible values include md5, sha1 and
107 mdc2. For full list of digests see openssl dgst -h output. This
108 option also applies to CRLs.
109 -policy arg
111 this option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in
112 the configuration file which decides which fields should be
113 mandatory or match the CA certificate. Check out the POLICY FORMAT
114 section for more information.
115 -msie_hack
117 this is a legacy option to make ca work with very old versions of
118 the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used
119 UniversalStrings for almost everything. Since the old control has
120 various security bugs its use is strongly discouraged. The newer
121 control "Xenroll" does not need this option.
122 -preserveDN
124 Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of
125 the fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set
126 the order is the same as the request. This is largely for
127 compatibility with the older IE enrollment control which would only
128 accept certificates if their DNs match the order of the request.
129 This is not needed for Xenroll.
130 -noemailDN
132 The DN of a certificate can contain the EMAIL field if present in
133 the request DN, however it is good policy just having the e-mail
134 set into the altName extension of the certificate. When this option
135 is set the EMAIL field is removed from the certificate' subject and
136 set only in the, eventually present, extensions. The email_in_dn
137 keyword can be used in the configuration file to enable this
138 behaviour.
139 -batch
141 this sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked
142 and all certificates will be certified automatically.
143 -extensions section
145 the section of the configuration file containing certificate
146 extensions to be added when a certificate is issued (defaults to
147 x509_extensions unless the -extfile option is used). If no
148 extension section is present then, a V1 certificate is created. If
149 the extension section is present (even if it is empty), then a V3
150 certificate is created. See the:w x509v3_config(5) manual page for
151 details of the extension section format.
152 -extfile file
154 an additional configuration file to read certificate extensions
155 from (using the default section unless the -extensions option is
156 also used).
157 -engine id
159 specifying an engine (by its unique id string) will cause ca to
160 attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified engine,
161 thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set as the
162 default for all available algorithms.
163 -subj arg
165 supersedes subject name given in the request. The arg must be
166 formatted as /type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=..., characters may
167 be escaped by \ (backslash), no spaces are skipped.
168 -utf8
170 this option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings,
171 by default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field
172 values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a
173 configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
174 -multivalue-rdn
176 this option causes the -subj argument to be interpretedt with full
177 support for multivalued RDNs. Example:
178 /DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe
180 If -multi-rdn is not used then the UID value is 123456+CN=John Doe.
182
184 -gencrl
185 this option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.
186 -crldays num
188 the number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days
189 from now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.
190 -crlhours num
192 the number of hours before the next CRL is due.
193 -revoke filename
195 a filename containing a certificate to revoke.
196 -crl_reason reason
198 revocation reason, where reason is one of: unspecified,
199 keyCompromise, CACompromise, affiliationChanged, superseded,
200 cessationOfOperation, certificateHold or removeFromCRL. The
201 matching of reason is case insensitive. Setting any revocation
202 reason will make the CRL v2.
203 In practive removeFromCRL is not particularly useful because it is
205 only used in delta CRLs which are not currently implemented.
206 -crl_hold instruction
208 This sets the CRL revocation reason code to certificateHold and the
209 hold instruction to instruction which must be an OID. Although any
210 OID can be used only holdInstructionNone (the use of which is
211 discouraged by RFC2459) holdInstructionCallIssuer or
212 holdInstructionReject will normally be used.
213 -crl_compromise time
215 This sets the revocation reason to keyCompromise and the compromise
216 time to time. time should be in GeneralizedTime format that is
217 YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ.
218 -crl_CA_compromise time
220 This is the same as crl_compromise except the revocation reason is
221 set to CACompromise.
222 -crlexts section
224 the section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to
225 include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is
226 created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is
227 empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are
228 CRL extensions and not CRL entry extensions. It should be noted
229 that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs. See
230 x509v3_config(5) manual page for details of the extension section
231 format.
232
234 The section of the configuration file containing options for ca is
235 found as follows: If the -name command line option is used, then it
236 names the section to be used. Otherwise the section to be used must be
237 named in the default_ca option of the ca section of the configuration
238 file (or in the default section of the configuration file). Besides
239 default_ca, the following options are read directly from the ca
240 section:
241 RANDFILE
242 preserve
243 msie_hack With the exception of RANDFILE, this is probably a bug and
244 may change in future releases.
245 Many of the configuration file options are identical to command line
247 options. Where the option is present in the configuration file and the
248 command line the command line value is used. Where an option is
249 described as mandatory then it must be present in the configuration
250 file or the command line equivalent (if any) used.
251 oid_file
253 This specifies a file containing additional OBJECT IDENTIFIERS.
254 Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
255 object identifier followed by white space then the short name
256 followed by white space and finally the long name.
257 oid_section
259 This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
260 object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of
261 the object identifier followed by = and the numerical form. The
262 short and long names are the same when this option is used.
263 new_certs_dir
265 the same as the -outdir command line option. It specifies the
266 directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
267 certificate
269 the same as -cert. It gives the file containing the CA certificate.
270 Mandatory.
271 private_key
273 same as the -keyfile option. The file containing the CA private
274 key. Mandatory.
275 RANDFILE
277 a file used to read and write random number seed information, or an
278 EGD socket (see RAND_egd(3)).
279 default_days
281 the same as the -days option. The number of days to certify a
282 certificate for.
283 default_startdate
285 the same as the -startdate option. The start date to certify a
286 certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
287 default_enddate
289 the same as the -enddate option. Either this option or default_days
290 (or the command line equivalents) must be present.
291 default_crl_hours default_crl_days
293 the same as the -crlhours and the -crldays options. These will only
294 be used if neither command line option is present. At least one of
295 these must be present to generate a CRL.
296 default_md
298 the same as the -md option. The message digest to use. Mandatory.
299 database
301 the text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
302 though initially it will be empty.
303 unique_subject
305 if the value yes is given, the valid certificate entries in the
306 database must have unique subjects. if the value no is given,
307 several valid certificate entries may have the exact same subject.
308 The default value is yes, to be compatible with older (pre 0.9.8)
309 versions of OpenSSL. However, to make CA certificate roll-over
310 easier, it's recommended to use the value no, especially if
311 combined with the -selfsign command line option.
312 serial
314 a text file containing the next serial number to use in hex.
315 Mandatory. This file must be present and contain a valid serial
316 number.
317 crlnumber
319 a text file containing the next CRL number to use in hex. The crl
320 number will be inserted in the CRLs only if this file exists. If
321 this file is present, it must contain a valid CRL number.
322 x509_extensions
324 the same as -extensions.
325 crl_extensions
327 the same as -crlexts.
328 preserve
330 the same as -preserveDN
331 email_in_dn
333 the same as -noemailDN. If you want the EMAIL field to be removed
334 from the DN of the certificate simply set this to 'no'. If not
335 present the default is to allow for the EMAIL filed in the
336 certificate's DN.
337 msie_hack
339 the same as -msie_hack
340 policy
342 the same as -policy. Mandatory. See the POLICY FORMAT section for
343 more information.
344 name_opt, cert_opt
346 these options allow the format used to display the certificate
347 details when asking the user to confirm signing. All the options
348 supported by the x509 utilities -nameopt and -certopt switches can
349 be used here, except the no_signame and no_sigdump are permanently
350 set and cannot be disabled (this is because the certificate
351 signature cannot be displayed because the certificate has not been
352 signed at this point).
353 For convenience the values ca_default are accepted by both to
355 produce a reasonable output.
356 If neither option is present the format used in earlier versions of
358 OpenSSL is used. Use of the old format is strongly discouraged
359 because it only displays fields mentioned in the policy section,
360 mishandles multicharacter string types and does not display
361 extensions.
362 copy_extensions
364 determines how extensions in certificate requests should be
365 handled. If set to none or this option is not present then
366 extensions are ignored and not copied to the certificate. If set to
367 copy then any extensions present in the request that are not
368 already present are copied to the certificate. If set to copyall
369 then all extensions in the request are copied to the certificate:
370 if the extension is already present in the certificate it is
371 deleted first. See the WARNINGS section before using this option.
372 The main use of this option is to allow a certificate request to
374 supply values for certain extensions such as subjectAltName.
375
377 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
378 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
379 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
380 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then it
381 may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section are
382 silently deleted, unless the -preserveDN option is set but this can be
383 regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
384
386 The input to the -spkac command line option is a Netscape signed public
387 key and challenge. This will usually come from the KEYGEN tag in an
388 HTML form to create a new private key. It is however possible to
389 create SPKACs using the spkac utility.
390 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of the
392 SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs. If you
393 need to include the same component twice then it can be preceded by a
394 number and a '.'.
395
397 Note: these examples assume that the ca directory structure is already
398 set up and the relevant files already exist. This usually involves
399 creating a CA certificate and private key with req, a serial number
400 file and an empty index file and placing them in the relevant
401 directories.
402 To use the sample configuration file below the directories demoCA,
404 demoCA/private and demoCA/newcerts would be created. The CA certificate
405 would be copied to demoCA/cacert.pem and its private key to
406 demoCA/private/cakey.pem. A file demoCA/serial would be created
407 containing for example "01" and the empty index file demoCA/index.txt.
408 Sign a certificate request:
410 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
412 Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:
414 openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem
416 Generate a CRL
418 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
420 Sign several requests:
422 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
424 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
426 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
428 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
430 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
432 CN=Steve Test
433 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
434 0.OU=OpenSSL Group
435 1.OU=Another Group
436 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for ca:
438 [ ca ]
440 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
441 [ CA_default ]
443 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
445 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
446 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
447 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
449 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
450 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
451 RANDFILE = $dir/private/.rand # random number file
452 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
454 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
455 default_md = md5 # md to use
456 policy = policy_any # default policy
458 email_in_dn = no # Don't add the email into cert DN
459 name_opt = ca_default # Subject name display option
461 cert_opt = ca_default # Certificate display option
462 copy_extensions = none # Don't copy extensions from request
463 [ policy_any ]
465 countryName = supplied
466 stateOrProvinceName = optional
467 organizationName = optional
468 organizationalUnitName = optional
469 commonName = supplied
470 emailAddress = optional
471
473 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time
474 options, configuration file entries, environment variables or command
475 line options. The values below reflect the default values.
476 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
478 ./demoCA - main CA directory
479 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
480 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
481 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
482 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
483 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
484 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
485 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
486 ./demoCA/.rnd - CA random seed information
487
489 OPENSSL_CONF reflects the location of master configuration file it can
490 be overridden by the -config command line option.
491
493 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and if
494 corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible to
495 rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
496 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
497 V2 CRL features like delta CRLs are not currently supported.
499 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
501 possible to include one SPKAC or self signed certificate.
502
504 The use of an in memory text database can cause problems when large
505 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies the
506 database has to be kept in memory.
507 The ca command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
509 exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly
510 utility (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The scripts
511 CA.sh and CA.pl help a little but not very much.
512 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
514 deleted. This does not happen if the -preserveDN option is used. To
515 enforce the absence of the EMAIL field within the DN, as suggested by
516 RFCs, regardless the contents of the request' subject the -noemailDN
517 option can be used. The behaviour should be more friendly and
518 configurable.
519 Cancelling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
521 create an empty file.
522
524 The ca command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
525 The ca utility was originally meant as an example of how to do things
527 in a CA. It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself:
528 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
529 The ca command is effectively a single user command: no locking is done
531 on the various files and attempts to run more than one ca command on
532 the same database can have unpredictable results.
533 The copy_extensions option should be used with caution. If care is not
535 taken then it can be a security risk. For example if a certificate
536 request contains a basicConstraints extension with CA:TRUE and the
537 copy_extensions value is set to copyall and the user does not spot this
538 when the certificate is displayed then this will hand the requestor a
539 valid CA certificate.
540 This situation can be avoided by setting copy_extensions to copy and
542 including basicConstraints with CA:FALSE in the configuration file.
543 Then if the request contains a basicConstraints extension it will be
544 ignored.
545 It is advisable to also include values for other extensions such as
547 keyUsage to prevent a request supplying its own values.
548 Additional restrictions can be placed on the CA certificate itself.
550 For example if the CA certificate has:
551 basicConstraints = CA:TRUE, pathlen:0
553 then even if a certificate is issued with CA:TRUE it will not be valid.
555
557 req(1), spkac(1), x509(1), CA.pl(1), config(5), x509v3_config(5)
5581.0.1e 2017-03-22 CA(1)