1OPENSSL-REQ(1ossl)                  OpenSSL                 OPENSSL-REQ(1ossl)
2
3
4

NAME

6       openssl-req - PKCS#10 certificate request and certificate generating
7       command
8

SYNOPSIS

10       openssl req [-help] [-inform DER|PEM] [-outform DER|PEM] [-in filename]
11       [-passin arg] [-out filename] [-passout arg] [-text] [-pubkey] [-noout]
12       [-verify] [-modulus] [-new] [-newkey arg] [-pkeyopt opt:value] [-noenc]
13       [-nodes] [-key filename|uri] [-keyform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE] [-keyout
14       filename] [-keygen_engine id] [-digest] [-config filename] [-section
15       name] [-x509] [-CA filename|uri] [-CAkey filename|uri] [-days n]
16       [-set_serial n] [-newhdr] [-copy_extensions arg] [-addext ext]
17       [-extensions section] [-reqexts section] [-precert] [-utf8] [-reqopt]
18       [-subject] [-subj arg] [-multivalue-rdn] [-sigopt nm:v] [-vfyopt nm:v]
19       [-batch] [-verbose] [-nameopt option] [-rand files] [-writerand file]
20       [-engine id] [-provider name] [-provider-path path] [-propquery propq]
21

DESCRIPTION

23       This command primarily creates and processes certificate requests
24       (CSRs) in PKCS#10 format. It can additionally create self-signed
25       certificates for use as root CAs for example.
26

OPTIONS

28       -help
29           Print out a usage message.
30
31       -inform DER|PEM, -outform DER|PEM
32           The input and output formats; unspecified by default.  See
33           openssl-format-options(1) for details.
34
35           The data is a PKCS#10 object.
36
37       -in filename
38           This specifies the input filename to read a request from.  This
39           defaults to standard input unless -x509 or -CA is specified.  A
40           request is only read if the creation options (-new or -newkey or
41           -precert) are not specified.
42
43       -sigopt nm:v
44           Pass options to the signature algorithm during sign operations.
45           Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
46
47       -vfyopt nm:v
48           Pass options to the signature algorithm during verify operations.
49           Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
50
51       -passin arg
52           The password source for private key and certificate input.  For
53           more information about the format of arg see
54           openssl-passphrase-options(1).
55
56       -passout arg
57           The password source for the output file.  For more information
58           about the format of arg see openssl-passphrase-options(1).
59
60       -out filename
61           This specifies the output filename to write to or standard output
62           by default.
63
64       -text
65           Prints out the certificate request in text form.
66
67       -subject
68           Prints out the certificate request subject (or certificate subject
69           if -x509 is in use).
70
71       -pubkey
72           Prints out the public key.
73
74       -noout
75           This option prevents output of the encoded version of the
76           certificate request.
77
78       -modulus
79           Prints out the value of the modulus of the public key contained in
80           the request.
81
82       -verify
83           Verifies the self-signature on the request.
84
85       -new
86           This option generates a new certificate request. It will prompt the
87           user for the relevant field values. The actual fields prompted for
88           and their maximum and minimum sizes are specified in the
89           configuration file and any requested extensions.
90
91           If the -key option is not given it will generate a new private key
92           using information specified in the configuration file or given with
93           the -newkey and -pkeyopt options, else by default an RSA key with
94           2048 bits length.
95
96       -newkey arg
97           This option is used to generate a new private key unless -key is
98           given.  It is subsequently used as if it was given using the -key
99           option.
100
101           This option implies the -new flag to create a new certificate
102           request or a new certificate in case -x509 is given.
103
104           The argument takes one of several forms.
105
106           [rsa:]nbits generates an RSA key nbits in size.  If nbits is
107           omitted, i.e., -newkey rsa is specified, the default key size
108           specified in the configuration file with the default_bits option is
109           used if present, else 2048.
110
111           All other algorithms support the -newkey algname:file form, where
112           file is an algorithm parameter file, created with "openssl genpkey
113           -genparam" or an X.509 certificate for a key with appropriate
114           algorithm.
115
116           param:file generates a key using the parameter file or certificate
117           file, the algorithm is determined by the parameters.
118
119           algname[:file] generates a key using the given algorithm algname.
120           If a parameter file file is given then the parameters specified
121           there are used, where the algorithm parameters must match algname.
122           If algorithm parameters are not given, any necessary parameters
123           should be specified via the -pkeyopt option.
124
125           dsa:filename generates a DSA key using the parameters in the file
126           filename. ec:filename generates EC key (usable both with ECDSA or
127           ECDH algorithms), gost2001:filename generates GOST R 34.10-2001 key
128           (requires gost engine configured in the configuration file). If
129           just gost2001 is specified a parameter set should be specified by
130           -pkeyopt paramset:X
131
132       -pkeyopt opt:value
133           Set the public key algorithm option opt to value. The precise set
134           of options supported depends on the public key algorithm used and
135           its implementation.  See "KEY GENERATION OPTIONS" in
136           openssl-genpkey(1) for more details.
137
138       -key filename|uri
139           This option provides the private key for signing a new certificate
140           or certificate request.  Unless -in is given, the corresponding
141           public key is placed in the new certificate or certificate request,
142           resulting in a self-signature.
143
144           For certificate signing this option is overridden by the -CA
145           option.
146
147           This option also accepts PKCS#8 format private keys for PEM format
148           files.
149
150       -keyform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE
151           The format of the private key; unspecified by default.  See
152           openssl-format-options(1) for details.
153
154       -keyout filename
155           This gives the filename to write any private key to that has been
156           newly created or read from -key.  If neither the -keyout option nor
157           the -key option are given then the filename specified in the
158           configuration file with the default_keyfile option is used, if
159           present.  Thus, if you want to write the private key and the -key
160           option is provided, you should provide the -keyout option
161           explicitly.  If a new key is generated and no filename is specified
162           the key is written to standard output.
163
164       -noenc
165           If this option is specified then if a private key is created it
166           will not be encrypted.
167
168       -nodes
169           This option is deprecated since OpenSSL 3.0; use -noenc instead.
170
171       -digest
172           This specifies the message digest to sign the request.  Any digest
173           supported by the OpenSSL dgst command can be used.  This overrides
174           the digest algorithm specified in the configuration file.
175
176           Some public key algorithms may override this choice. For instance,
177           DSA signatures always use SHA1, GOST R 34.10 signatures always use
178           GOST R 34.11-94 (-md_gost94), Ed25519 and Ed448 never use any
179           digest.
180
181       -config filename
182           This allows an alternative configuration file to be specified.
183           Optional; for a description of the default value, see "COMMAND
184           SUMMARY" in openssl(1).
185
186       -section name
187           Specifies the name of the section to use; the default is req.
188
189       -subj arg
190           Sets subject name for new request or supersedes the subject name
191           when processing a certificate request.
192
193           The arg must be formatted as
194           "/type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...".  Special characters may be
195           escaped by "\" (backslash), whitespace is retained.  Empty values
196           are permitted, but the corresponding type will not be included in
197           the request.  Giving a single "/" will lead to an empty sequence of
198           RDNs (a NULL-DN).  Multi-valued RDNs can be formed by placing a "+"
199           character instead of a "/" between the AttributeValueAssertions
200           (AVAs) that specify the members of the set.  Example:
201
202           "/DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe"
203
204       -multivalue-rdn
205           This option has been deprecated and has no effect.
206
207       -x509
208           This option outputs a certificate instead of a certificate request.
209           This is typically used to generate test certificates.  It is
210           implied by the -CA option.
211
212           This option implies the -new flag if -in is not given.
213
214           If an existing request is specified with the -in option, it is
215           converted to the a certificate; otherwise a request is created from
216           scratch.
217
218           Unless specified using the -set_serial option, a large random
219           number will be used for the serial number.
220
221           Unless the -copy_extensions option is used, X.509 extensions are
222           not copied from any provided request input file.
223
224           X.509 extensions to be added can be specified in the configuration
225           file or using the -addext option.
226
227       -CA filename|uri
228           Specifies the "CA" certificate to be used for signing a new
229           certificate and implies use of -x509.  When present, this behaves
230           like a "micro CA" as follows: The subject name of the "CA"
231           certificate is placed as issuer name in the new certificate, which
232           is then signed using the "CA" key given as specified below.
233
234       -CAkey filename|uri
235           Sets the "CA" private key to sign a certificate with.  The private
236           key must match the public key of the certificate given with -CA.
237           If this option is not provided then the key must be present in the
238           -CA input.
239
240       -days n
241           When -x509 is in use this specifies the number of days to certify
242           the certificate for, otherwise it is ignored. n should be a
243           positive integer. The default is 30 days.
244
245       -set_serial n
246           Serial number to use when outputting a self-signed certificate.
247           This may be specified as a decimal value or a hex value if preceded
248           by "0x".  If not given, a large random number will be used.
249
250       -copy_extensions arg
251           Determines how X.509 extensions in certificate requests should be
252           handled when -x509 is in use.  If arg is none or this option is not
253           present then extensions are ignored.  If arg is copy or copyall
254           then all extensions in the request are copied to the certificate.
255
256           The main use of this option is to allow a certificate request to
257           supply values for certain extensions such as subjectAltName.
258
259       -addext ext
260           Add a specific extension to the certificate (if -x509 is in use) or
261           certificate request.  The argument must have the form of a
262           key=value pair as it would appear in a config file.
263
264           This option can be given multiple times.
265
266       -extensions section
267       -reqexts section
268           These options specify alternative sections to include certificate
269           extensions (if -x509 is in use) or certificate request extensions.
270           This allows several different sections to be used in the same
271           configuration file to specify requests for a variety of purposes.
272
273       -precert
274           A poison extension will be added to the certificate, making it a
275           "pre-certificate" (see RFC6962). This can be submitted to
276           Certificate Transparency logs in order to obtain signed certificate
277           timestamps (SCTs).  These SCTs can then be embedded into the pre-
278           certificate as an extension, before removing the poison and signing
279           the certificate.
280
281           This implies the -new flag.
282
283       -utf8
284           This option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings,
285           by default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field
286           values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a
287           configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
288
289       -reqopt option
290           Customise the printing format used with -text. The option argument
291           can be a single option or multiple options separated by commas.
292
293           See discussion of the  -certopt parameter in the openssl-x509(1)
294           command.
295
296       -newhdr
297           Adds the word NEW to the PEM file header and footer lines on the
298           outputted request. Some software (Netscape certificate server) and
299           some CAs need this.
300
301       -batch
302           Non-interactive mode.
303
304       -verbose
305           Print extra details about the operations being performed.
306
307       -keygen_engine id
308           Specifies an engine (by its unique id string) which would be used
309           for key generation operations.
310
311       -nameopt option
312           This specifies how the subject or issuer names are displayed.  See
313           openssl-namedisplay-options(1) for details.
314
315       -rand files, -writerand file
316           See "Random State Options" in openssl(1) for details.
317
318       -engine id
319           See "Engine Options" in openssl(1).  This option is deprecated.
320
321       -provider name
322       -provider-path path
323       -propquery propq
324           See "Provider Options" in openssl(1), provider(7), and property(7).
325

CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT

327       The configuration options are specified in the req section of the
328       configuration file. An alternate name be specified by using the
329       -section option.  As with all configuration files, if no value is
330       specified in the specific section then the initial unnamed or default
331       section is searched too.
332
333       The options available are described in detail below.
334
335       input_password, output_password
336           The passwords for the input private key file (if present) and the
337           output private key file (if one will be created). The command line
338           options passin and passout override the configuration file values.
339
340       default_bits
341           Specifies the default key size in bits.
342
343           This option is used in conjunction with the -new option to generate
344           a new key. It can be overridden by specifying an explicit key size
345           in the -newkey option. The smallest accepted key size is 512 bits.
346           If no key size is specified then 2048 bits is used.
347
348       default_keyfile
349           This is the default filename to write a private key to. If not
350           specified the key is written to standard output. This can be
351           overridden by the -keyout option.
352
353       oid_file
354           This specifies a file containing additional OBJECT IDENTIFIERS.
355           Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
356           object identifier followed by whitespace then the short name
357           followed by whitespace and finally the long name.
358
359       oid_section
360           This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
361           object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of
362           the object identifier followed by = and the numerical form. The
363           short and long names are the same when this option is used.
364
365       RANDFILE
366           At startup the specified file is loaded into the random number
367           generator, and at exit 256 bytes will be written to it.  It is used
368           for private key generation.
369
370       encrypt_key
371           If this is set to no then if a private key is generated it is not
372           encrypted. This is equivalent to the -noenc command line option.
373           For compatibility encrypt_rsa_key is an equivalent option.
374
375       default_md
376           This option specifies the digest algorithm to use. Any digest
377           supported by the OpenSSL dgst command can be used. This option can
378           be overridden on the command line. Certain signing algorithms (i.e.
379           Ed25519 and Ed448) will ignore any digest that has been set.
380
381       string_mask
382           This option masks out the use of certain string types in certain
383           fields. Most users will not need to change this option.
384
385           It can be set to several values default which is also the default
386           option uses PrintableStrings, T61Strings and BMPStrings if the pkix
387           value is used then only PrintableStrings and BMPStrings will be
388           used. This follows the PKIX recommendation in RFC2459. If the
389           utf8only option is used then only UTF8Strings will be used: this is
390           the PKIX recommendation in RFC2459 after 2003. Finally the nombstr
391           option just uses PrintableStrings and T61Strings: certain software
392           has problems with BMPStrings and UTF8Strings: in particular
393           Netscape.
394
395       req_extensions
396           This specifies the configuration file section containing a list of
397           extensions to add to the certificate request. It can be overridden
398           by the -reqexts command line switch. See the x509v3_config(5)
399           manual page for details of the extension section format.
400
401       x509_extensions
402           This specifies the configuration file section containing a list of
403           extensions to add to certificate generated when -x509 is in use.
404           It can be overridden by the -extensions command line switch.
405
406       prompt
407           If set to the value no this disables prompting of certificate
408           fields and just takes values from the config file directly. It also
409           changes the expected format of the distinguished_name and
410           attributes sections.
411
412       utf8
413           If set to the value yes then field values to be interpreted as UTF8
414           strings, by default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that
415           the field values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from
416           a configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
417
418       attributes
419           This specifies the section containing any request attributes: its
420           format is the same as distinguished_name. Typically these may
421           contain the challengePassword or unstructuredName types. They are
422           currently ignored by OpenSSL's request signing utilities but some
423           CAs might want them.
424
425       distinguished_name
426           This specifies the section containing the distinguished name fields
427           to prompt for when generating a certificate or certificate request.
428           The format is described in the next section.
429

DISTINGUISHED NAME AND ATTRIBUTE SECTION FORMAT

431       There are two separate formats for the distinguished name and attribute
432       sections. If the prompt option is set to no then these sections just
433       consist of field names and values: for example,
434
435        CN=My Name
436        OU=My Organization
437        emailAddress=someone@somewhere.org
438
439       This allows external programs (e.g. GUI based) to generate a template
440       file with all the field names and values and just pass it to this
441       command. An example of this kind of configuration file is contained in
442       the EXAMPLES section.
443
444       Alternatively if the prompt option is absent or not set to no then the
445       file contains field prompting information. It consists of lines of the
446       form:
447
448        fieldName="prompt"
449        fieldName_default="default field value"
450        fieldName_min= 2
451        fieldName_max= 4
452
453       "fieldName" is the field name being used, for example commonName (or
454       CN).  The "prompt" string is used to ask the user to enter the relevant
455       details. If the user enters nothing then the default value is used if
456       no default value is present then the field is omitted. A field can
457       still be omitted if a default value is present if the user just enters
458       the '.' character.
459
460       The number of characters entered must be between the fieldName_min and
461       fieldName_max limits: there may be additional restrictions based on the
462       field being used (for example countryName can only ever be two
463       characters long and must fit in a PrintableString).
464
465       Some fields (such as organizationName) can be used more than once in a
466       DN. This presents a problem because configuration files will not
467       recognize the same name occurring twice. To avoid this problem if the
468       fieldName contains some characters followed by a full stop they will be
469       ignored. So for example a second organizationName can be input by
470       calling it "1.organizationName".
471
472       The actual permitted field names are any object identifier short or
473       long names. These are compiled into OpenSSL and include the usual
474       values such as commonName, countryName, localityName, organizationName,
475       organizationalUnitName, stateOrProvinceName. Additionally emailAddress
476       is included as well as name, surname, givenName, initials, and
477       dnQualifier.
478
479       Additional object identifiers can be defined with the oid_file or
480       oid_section options in the configuration file. Any additional fields
481       will be treated as though they were a DirectoryString.
482

EXAMPLES

484       Examine and verify certificate request:
485
486        openssl req -in req.pem -text -verify -noout
487
488       Create a private key and then generate a certificate request from it:
489
490        openssl genrsa -out key.pem 2048
491        openssl req -new -key key.pem -out req.pem
492
493       The same but just using req:
494
495        openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem
496
497       Generate a self-signed root certificate:
498
499        openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem
500
501       Create an SM2 private key and then generate a certificate request from
502       it:
503
504        openssl ecparam -genkey -name SM2 -out sm2.key
505        openssl req -new -key sm2.key -out sm2.csr -sm3 -sigopt "distid:1234567812345678"
506
507       Examine and verify an SM2 certificate request:
508
509        openssl req -verify -in sm2.csr -sm3 -vfyopt "distid:1234567812345678"
510
511       Example of a file pointed to by the oid_file option:
512
513        1.2.3.4        shortName       A longer Name
514        1.2.3.6        otherName       Other longer Name
515
516       Example of a section pointed to by oid_section making use of variable
517       expansion:
518
519        testoid1=1.2.3.5
520        testoid2=${testoid1}.6
521
522       Sample configuration file prompting for field values:
523
524        [ req ]
525        default_bits           = 2048
526        default_keyfile        = privkey.pem
527        distinguished_name     = req_distinguished_name
528        attributes             = req_attributes
529        req_extensions         = v3_ca
530
531        dirstring_type = nobmp
532
533        [ req_distinguished_name ]
534        countryName                    = Country Name (2 letter code)
535        countryName_default            = AU
536        countryName_min                = 2
537        countryName_max                = 2
538
539        localityName                   = Locality Name (eg, city)
540
541        organizationalUnitName         = Organizational Unit Name (eg, section)
542
543        commonName                     = Common Name (eg, YOUR name)
544        commonName_max                 = 64
545
546        emailAddress                   = Email Address
547        emailAddress_max               = 40
548
549        [ req_attributes ]
550        challengePassword              = A challenge password
551        challengePassword_min          = 4
552        challengePassword_max          = 20
553
554        [ v3_ca ]
555
556        subjectKeyIdentifier=hash
557        authorityKeyIdentifier=keyid:always,issuer:always
558        basicConstraints = critical, CA:true
559
560       Sample configuration containing all field values:
561
562        [ req ]
563        default_bits           = 2048
564        default_keyfile        = keyfile.pem
565        distinguished_name     = req_distinguished_name
566        attributes             = req_attributes
567        prompt                 = no
568        output_password        = mypass
569
570        [ req_distinguished_name ]
571        C                      = GB
572        ST                     = Test State or Province
573        L                      = Test Locality
574        O                      = Organization Name
575        OU                     = Organizational Unit Name
576        CN                     = Common Name
577        emailAddress           = test@email.address
578
579        [ req_attributes ]
580        challengePassword              = A challenge password
581
582       Example of giving the most common attributes (subject and extensions)
583       on the command line:
584
585        openssl req -new -subj "/C=GB/CN=foo" \
586                         -addext "subjectAltName = DNS:foo.co.uk" \
587                         -addext "certificatePolicies = 1.2.3.4" \
588                         -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem
589

NOTES

591       The certificate requests generated by Xenroll with MSIE have extensions
592       added. It includes the keyUsage extension which determines the type of
593       key (signature only or general purpose) and any additional OIDs entered
594       by the script in an extendedKeyUsage extension.
595

DIAGNOSTICS

597       The following messages are frequently asked about:
598
599               Using configuration from /some/path/openssl.cnf
600               Unable to load config info
601
602       This is followed some time later by:
603
604               unable to find 'distinguished_name' in config
605               problems making Certificate Request
606
607       The first error message is the clue: it can't find the configuration
608       file! Certain operations (like examining a certificate request) don't
609       need a configuration file so its use isn't enforced. Generation of
610       certificates or requests however does need a configuration file. This
611       could be regarded as a bug.
612
613       Another puzzling message is this:
614
615               Attributes:
616                   a0:00
617
618       this is displayed when no attributes are present and the request
619       includes the correct empty SET OF structure (the DER encoding of which
620       is 0xa0 0x00). If you just see:
621
622               Attributes:
623
624       then the SET OF is missing and the encoding is technically invalid (but
625       it is tolerated). See the description of the command line option
626       -asn1-kludge for more information.
627

BUGS

629       OpenSSL's handling of T61Strings (aka TeletexStrings) is broken: it
630       effectively treats them as ISO-8859-1 (Latin 1), Netscape and MSIE have
631       similar behaviour.  This can cause problems if you need characters that
632       aren't available in PrintableStrings and you don't want to or can't use
633       BMPStrings.
634
635       As a consequence of the T61String handling the only correct way to
636       represent accented characters in OpenSSL is to use a BMPString:
637       unfortunately Netscape currently chokes on these. If you have to use
638       accented characters with Netscape and MSIE then you currently need to
639       use the invalid T61String form.
640
641       The current prompting is not very friendly. It doesn't allow you to
642       confirm what you've just entered. Other things like extensions in
643       certificate requests are statically defined in the configuration file.
644       Some of these: like an email address in subjectAltName should be input
645       by the user.
646

SEE ALSO

648       openssl(1), openssl-x509(1), openssl-ca(1), openssl-genrsa(1),
649       openssl-gendsa(1), config(5), x509v3_config(5)
650

HISTORY

652       The -section option was added in OpenSSL 3.0.0.
653
654       The -multivalue-rdn option has become obsolete in OpenSSL 3.0.0 and has
655       no effect.
656
657       The -engine option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0.  The <-nodes> option
658       was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0, too; use -noenc instead.
659
661       Copyright 2000-2021 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
662
663       Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License").  You may not use
664       this file except in compliance with the License.  You can obtain a copy
665       in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
666       <https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
667
668
669
6703.1.1                             2023-08-31                OPENSSL-REQ(1ossl)
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