OpenSSL X509(1openssl) NNNNAAAAMMMMEEEE
x509 - Certificate display and signing utility
SSSSYYYYNNNNOOOOPPPPSSSSIIIISSSSooooppppeeeennnnssssssssllll xxxx555500009999 [---iiinnnnffffoooorrrrmmmm DDDDEEEERRRR||||PPPPEEEEMMMM||||NNNNEEEETTTT] [---ooouuuuttttffffoooorrrrmmmm DDDDEEEERRRR||||PPPPEEEEMMMM||||NNNNEEEETTTT]
[---kkkeeeeyyyyffffoooorrrrmmmm DDDDEEEERRRR||||PPPPEEEEMMMM] [---CCCAAAAffffoooorrrrmmmm DDDDEEEERRRR||||PPPPEEEEMMMM] [---CCCAAAAkkkkeeeeyyyyffffoooorrrrmmmm DDDDEEEERRRR||||PPPPEEEEMMMM]
[---iiinnnn ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee] [---ooouuuutttt ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee] [---ssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll] [---hhhaaaasssshhhh]
[---sssuuuubbbbjjjjeeeecccctttt_hhhhaaaasssshhhh] [---iiissssssssuuuueeeerrrr_hhhhaaaasssshhhh] [---sssuuuubbbbjjjjeeeecccctttt] [---iiissssssssuuuueeeerrrr]
[---nnnaaaammmmeeeeoooopppptttt ooooppppttttiiiioooonnnn] [---eeemmmmaaaaiiiillll] [---sssttttaaaarrrrttttddddaaaatttteeee] [---eeennnnddddddddaaaatttteeee]
[---pppuuuurrrrppppoooosssseeee] [---dddaaaatttteeeessss] [---mmmoooodddduuuulllluuuussss] [---fffiiiinnnnggggeeeerrrrpppprrrriiiinnnntttt] [---aaalllliiiiaaaassss]
[---nnnoooooooouuuutttt] [---tttrrrruuuussssttttoooouuuutttt] [---cccllllrrrrttttrrrruuuusssstttt] [---cccllllrrrrrrrreeeejjjjeeeecccctttt] [---aaaddddddddttttrrrruuuusssstttt
aaaarrrrgggg] [---aaaddddddddrrrreeeejjjjeeeecccctttt aaaarrrrgggg] [---ssseeeettttaaaalllliiiiaaaassss aaaarrrrgggg] [---dddaaaayyyyssss aaaarrrrgggg]
[---ssseeeetttt_sssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll nnnn] [---sssiiiiggggnnnnkkkkeeeeyyyy ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee] [---xxx555500009999ttttoooorrrreeeeqqqq] [---rrreeeeqqqq] [---CCCAAAA
ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee] [---CCCAAAAkkkkeeeeyyyy ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee] [---CCCAAAAccccrrrreeeeaaaatttteeeesssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll] [---CCCAAAAsssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll
ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee] [---ttteeeexxxxtttt] [---CCC] [---mmmdddd2222||||---mmmdddd5555||||---ssshhhhaaaa1111||||---mmmddddcccc2222] [---cccllllrrrreeeexxxxtttt]
[---eeexxxxttttffffiiiilllleeee ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee] [---eeexxxxtttteeeennnnssssiiiioooonnnnssss sssseeeeccccttttiiiioooonnnn] [---eeennnnggggiiiinnnneeee iiiidddd]
DDDDEEEESSSSCCCCRRRRIIIIPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNN The xxxx555500009999 command is a multi purpose certificate utility. It can be used to display certificate information, convert certificates to various forms, sign certificate requests like a "mini CA" or edit certificate trust settings. Since there are a large number of options they will split up into various sections. OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS IIIINNNNPPPPUUUUTTTT,,,, OOOOUUUUTTTTPPPPUUUUTTTT AAAANNNNDDDD GGGGEEEENNNNEEEERRRRAAAALLLL PPPPUUUURRRRPPPPOOOOSSSSEEEE OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS-iiiinnnnffffoooorrrrmmmm DDDDEEEERRRR||||PPPPEEEEMMMM||||NNNNEEEETTTT
This specifies the input format normally the command will expect an X509 certificate but this can change ifother options such as ---rrreeeeqqqq are present. The DER format
is the DER encoding of the certificate and PEM is the base64 encoding of the DER encoding with header and footer lines added. The NET option is an obscure Netscape server format that is now obsolete.-oooouuuuttttffffoooorrrrmmmm DDDDEEEERRRR||||PPPPEEEEMMMM||||NNNNEEEETTTT
This specifies the output format, the options have thesame meaning as the ---iiinnnnffffoooorrrrmmmm option.
-iiiinnnn ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee
This specifies the input filename to read a certificate from or standard input if this option is not specified.-oooouuuutttt ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee
This specifies the output filename to write to or standard output by default.-mmmmdddd2222||||-mmmmdddd5555||||-sssshhhhaaaa1111||||-mmmmddddcccc2222
the digest to use. This affects any signing or display12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 1 OpenSSL X509(1openssl) option that uses a message digest, such as the
---fffiiiinnnnggggeeeerrrrpppprrrriiiinnnntttt, ---sssiiiiggggnnnnkkkkeeeeyyyy and ---CCCAAAA options. If not specified
then SHA1 is used. If the key being used to sign with is a DSA key then this option has no effect: SHA1 is always used with DSA keys.-eeeennnnggggiiiinnnneeee iiiidddd
specifying an engine (by it's unique iiiidddd string) will cause rrrreeeeqqqq to attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified engine, thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set as the default for all available algorithms. DDDDIIIISSSSPPPPLLLLAAAAYYYY OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSSNote: the ---aaalllliiiiaaaassss and ---pppuuuurrrrppppoooosssseeee options are also display
options but are described in the TTTTRRRRUUUUSSSSTTTT SSSSEEEETTTTTTTTIIIINNNNGGGGSSSS section.-tttteeeexxxxtttt
prints out the certificate in text form. Full details are output including the public key, signature algorithms, issuer and subject names, serial number any extensions present and any trust settings.-cccceeeerrrrttttoooopppptttt ooooppppttttiiiioooonnnn
customise the output format used with ---ttteeeexxxxtttt. The ooooppppttttiiiioooonnnn
argument can be a single option or multiple optionsseparated by commas. The ---ccceeeerrrrttttoooopppptttt switch may be also be
used more than once to set multiple options. See the TTTTEEEEXXXXTTTT OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS section for more information.-nnnnoooooooouuuutttt
this option prevents output of the encoded version of the request.-mmmmoooodddduuuulllluuuussss
this option prints out the value of the modulus of the public key contained in the certificate.-sssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll
outputs the certificate serial number.-ssssuuuubbbbjjjjeeeecccctttt_hhhhaaaasssshhhh
outputs the "hash" of the certificate subject name. This is used in OpenSSL to form an index to allow certificates in a directory to be looked up by subject name.-iiiissssssssuuuueeeerrrr_hhhhaaaasssshhhh
outputs the "hash" of the certificate issuer name.12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 2 OpenSSL X509(1openssl)
-hhhhaaaasssshhhh
synonym for "-subject_hash" for backward compatibility
reasons.-ssssuuuubbbbjjjjeeeecccctttt
outputs the subject name.-iiiissssssssuuuueeeerrrr
outputs the issuer name.-nnnnaaaammmmeeeeoooopppptttt ooooppppttttiiiioooonnnn
option which determines how the subject or issuer names are displayed. The ooooppppttttiiiioooonnnn argument can be a single option or multiple options separated by commas.Alternatively the ---nnnaaaammmmeeeeoooopppptttt switch may be used more than
once to set multiple options. See the NNNNAAAAMMMMEEEE OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS section for more information.-eeeemmmmaaaaiiiillll
outputs the email address(es) if any.-ssssttttaaaarrrrttttddddaaaatttteeee
prints out the start date of the certificate, that is the notBefore date.-eeeennnnddddddddaaaatttteeee
prints out the expiry date of the certificate, that is the notAfter date.-ddddaaaatttteeeessss
prints out the start and expiry dates of a certificate.-ffffiiiinnnnggggeeeerrrrpppprrrriiiinnnntttt
prints out the digest of the DER encoded version of the whole certificate (see digest options).-CCCC this outputs the certificate in the form of a C source
file. TTTTRRRRUUUUSSSSTTTT SSSSEEEETTTTTTTTIIIINNNNGGGGSSSS Please note these options are currently experimental and may well change. A ttttrrrruuuusssstttteeeedddd cccceeeerrrrttttiiiiffffiiiiccccaaaatttteeee is an ordinary certificate which has several additional pieces of information attached to it such as the permitted and prohibited uses of the certificate and an "alias". Normally when a certificate is being verified at least one certificate must be "trusted". By default a trusted certificate must be stored locally and must be a root CA:12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 3 OpenSSL X509(1openssl) any certificate chain ending in this CA is then usable for any purpose. Trust settings currently are only used with a root CA. They allow a finer control over the purposes the root CA can be used for. For example a CA may be trusted for SSL client but not SSL server use. See the description of the vvvveeeerrrriiiiffffyyyy utility for more information on the meaning of trust settings. Future versions of OpenSSL will recognize trust settings on any certificate: not just root CAs.
-ttttrrrruuuussssttttoooouuuutttt
this causes xxxx555500009999 to output a ttttrrrruuuusssstttteeeedddd certificate. An ordinary or trusted certificate can be input but by default an ordinary certificate is output and any trustsettings are discarded. With the ---tttrrrruuuussssttttoooouuuutttt option a
trusted certificate is output. A trusted certificate is automatically output if any trust settings are modified.-sssseeeettttaaaalllliiiiaaaassss aaaarrrrgggg
sets the alias of the certificate. This will allow the certificate to be referred to using a nickname for example "Steve's Certificate".-aaaalllliiiiaaaassss
outputs the certificate alias, if any.-ccccllllrrrrttttrrrruuuusssstttt
clears all the permitted or trusted uses of the certificate.-ccccllllrrrrrrrreeeejjjjeeeecccctttt
clears all the prohibited or rejected uses of the certificate.-aaaaddddddddttttrrrruuuusssstttt aaaarrrrgggg
adds a trusted certificate use. Any object name can be used here but currently only cccclllliiiieeeennnnttttAAAAuuuutttthhhh (SSL client use), sssseeeerrrrvvvveeeerrrrAAAAuuuutttthhhh (SSL server use) and eeeemmmmaaaaiiiillllPPPPrrrrooootttteeeeccccttttiiiioooonnnn(S/MIME email) are used. Other OpenSSL applications may define additional uses.
-aaaaddddddddrrrreeeejjjjeeeecccctttt aaaarrrrgggg
adds a prohibited use. It accepts the same values as the---aaaddddddddttttrrrruuuusssstttt option.
-ppppuuuurrrrppppoooosssseeee
this option performs tests on the certificate extensions and outputs the results. For a more complete description12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 4 OpenSSL X509(1openssl) see the CCCCEEEERRRRTTTTIIIIFFFFIIIICCCCAAAATTTTEEEE EEEEXXXXTTTTEEEENNNNSSSSIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS section. SSSSIIIIGGGGNNNNIIIINNNNGGGG OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS The xxxx555500009999 utility can be used to sign certificates and requests: it can thus behave like a "mini CA".
-ssssiiiiggggnnnnkkkkeeeeyyyy ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee
this option causes the input file to be self signed using the supplied private key. If the input file is a certificate it sets the issuer name to the subject name (i.e. makes it self signed) changes the public key to the supplied value and changes the start and end dates. The start date is set to the current time and the end date is set to a valuedetermined by the ---dddaaaayyyyssss option. Any certificate
extensions are retained unless the ---cccllllrrrreeeexxxxtttt option is
supplied. If the input is a certificate request then a self signed certificate is created using the supplied private key using the subject name in the request.-ccccllllrrrreeeexxxxtttt
delete any extensions from a certificate. This option is used when a certificate is being created from anothercertificate (for example with the ---sssiiiiggggnnnnkkkkeeeeyyyy or the ---CCCAAAA
options). Normally all extensions are retained.-kkkkeeeeyyyyffffoooorrrrmmmm PPPPEEEEMMMM||||DDDDEEEERRRR
specifies the format (DER or PEM) of the private keyfile used in the ---sssiiiiggggnnnnkkkkeeeeyyyy option.
-ddddaaaayyyyssss aaaarrrrgggg
specifies the number of days to make a certificate valid for. The default is 30 days.-xxxx555500009999ttttoooorrrreeeeqqqq
converts a certificate into a certificate request. The---sssiiiiggggnnnnkkkkeeeeyyyy option is used to pass the required private
key.-rrrreeeeqqqq
by default a certificate is expected on input. With this option a certificate request is expected instead.-sssseeeetttt_sssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll nnnn
specifies the serial number to use. This option can beused with either the ---sssiiiiggggnnnnkkkkeeeeyyyy or ---CCCAAAA options. If used in
conjunction with the ---CCCAAAA option the serial number file
(as specified by the ---CCCAAAAsssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll or ---CCCAAAAccccrrrreeeeaaaatttteeeesssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll
12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 5 OpenSSL X509(1openssl) options) is not used. The serial number can be decimal or hex (if preceded by 0000xxxx). Negative serial numbers can also be specified but their use is not recommended.
-CCCCAAAA ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee
specifies the CA certificate to be used for signing. When this option is present xxxx555500009999 behaves like a "mini CA". The input file is signed by this CA using this option: that is its issuer name is set to the subject name of the CA and it is digitally signed using the CAs private key.This option is normally combined with the ---rrreeeeqqqq option.
Without the ---rrreeeeqqqq option the input is a certificate which
must be self signed.-CCCCAAAAkkkkeeeeyyyy ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee
sets the CA private key to sign a certificate with. If this option is not specified then it is assumed that the CA private key is present in the CA certificate file.-CCCCAAAAsssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee
sets the CA serial number file to use.When the ---CCCAAAA option is used to sign a certificate it
uses a serial number specified in a file. This file consist of one line containing an even number of hex digits with the serial number to use. After each use the serial number is incremented and written out to the file again. The default filename consists of the CA certificate file base name with ".srl" appended. For example if the CA certificate file is called "mycacert.pem" it expects to find a serial number file called "mycacert.srl".-CCCCAAAAccccrrrreeeeaaaatttteeeesssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll
with this option the CA serial number file is created if it does not exist: it will contain the serial number "02" and the certificate being signed will have the 1 asits serial number. Normally if the ---CCCAAAA option is
specified and the serial number file does not exist it is an error.-eeeexxxxttttffffiiiilllleeee ffffiiiilllleeeennnnaaaammmmeeee
file containing certificate extensions to use. If not specified then no extensions are added to the certificate.12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 6 OpenSSL X509(1openssl)
-eeeexxxxtttteeeennnnssssiiiioooonnnnssss sssseeeeccccttttiiiioooonnnn
the section to add certificate extensions from. If this option is not specified then the extensions should either be contained in the unnamed (default) section or the default section should contain a variable called "extensions" which contains the section to use. NNNNAAAAMMMMEEEE OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS The nnnnaaaammmmeeeeoooopppptttt command line switch determines how the subject and issuer names are displayed. If no nnnnaaaammmmeeeeoooopppptttt switch is present the default "oneline" format is used which is compatible with previous versions of OpenSSL. Each option is described in detail below, all options can be preceded bya ---- to turn the option off. Only the first four will
normally be used. ccccoooommmmppppaaaatttt use the old format. This is equivalent to specifying no name options at all. RRRRFFFFCCCC2222222255553333 displays names compatible with RFC2253 equivalent toeeeesssscccc_2222222255553333, eeeesssscccc_ccccttttrrrrllll, eeeesssscccc_mmmmssssbbbb, uuuuttttffff8888, dddduuuummmmpppp_nnnnoooossssttttrrrr,
dddduuuummmmpppp_uuuunnnnkkkknnnnoooowwwwnnnn, dddduuuummmmpppp_ddddeeeerrrr, sssseeeepppp_ccccoooommmmmmmmaaaa_pppplllluuuussss, ddddnnnn_rrrreeeevvvv and
ssssnnnnaaaammmmeeee. oooonnnneeeelllliiiinnnneeee a oneline format which is more readable than RFC2253. Itis equivalent to specifying the eeeesssscccc_2222222255553333, eeeesssscccc_ccccttttrrrrllll,
eeeesssscccc_mmmmssssbbbb, uuuuttttffff8888, dddduuuummmmpppp_nnnnoooossssttttrrrr, dddduuuummmmpppp_ddddeeeerrrr, uuuusssseeee_qqqquuuuooootttteeee,
sssseeeepppp_ccccoooommmmmmmmaaaa_pppplllluuuussss_ssssppppaaaacccceeee, ssssppppaaaacccceeee_eeeeqqqq and ssssnnnnaaaammmmeeee options.
mmmmuuuullllttttiiiilllliiiinnnneeeea multiline format. It is equivalent eeeesssscccc_ccccttttrrrrllll, eeeesssscccc_mmmmssssbbbb,
sssseeeepppp_mmmmuuuullllttttiiiilllliiiinnnneeee, ssssppppaaaacccceeee_eeeeqqqq, llllnnnnaaaammmmeeee and aaaalllliiiiggggnnnn.
eeeesssscccc_2222222255553333
escape the "special" characters required by RFC2253 in afield That is ,,,,++++""""<<<<>>>>;;;;. Additionally #### is escaped at the
beginning of a string and a space character at the beginning or end of a string.eeeesssscccc_ccccttttrrrrllll
escape control characters. That is those with ASCII values less than 0x20 (space) and the delete (0x7f) character. They are escaped using the RFC2253 \XX notation (where XX are two hex digits representing the character value).eeeesssscccc_mmmmssssbbbb
escape characters with the MSB set, that is with ASCII12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 7 OpenSSL X509(1openssl) values larger than 127.
uuuusssseeee_qqqquuuuooootttteeee
escapes some characters by surrounding the whole string with """" characters, without the option all escaping is done with the \\\\ character. uuuuttttffff8888 convert all strings to UTF8 format first. This is required by RFC2253. If you are lucky enough to have a UTF8 compatible terminal then the use of this option(and nnnnooootttt setting eeeesssscccc_mmmmssssbbbb) may result in the correct
display of multibyte (international) characters. Is this option is not present then multibyte characters larger than 0xff will be represented using the format \UXXXX for 16 bits and \WXXXXXXXX for 32 bits. Also if this option is off any UTF8Strings will be converted to their character form first.nnnnoooo_ttttyyyyppppeeee
this option does not attempt to interpret multibyte characters in any way. That is their content octets are merely dumped as though one octet represents each character. This is useful for diagnostic purposes but will result in rather odd looking output.sssshhhhoooowwww_ttttyyyyppppeeee
show the type of the ASN1 character string. The type precedes the field contents. For example "BMPSTRING: Hello World".dddduuuummmmpppp_ddddeeeerrrr
when this option is set any fields that need to be hexdumped will be dumped using the DER encoding of the field. Otherwise just the content octets will bedisplayed. Both options use the RFC2253 ####XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX............ format.
dddduuuummmmpppp_nnnnoooossssttttrrrr
dump non character string types (for example OCTET STRING) if this option is not set then non character string types will be displayed as though each content octet represents a single character.dddduuuummmmpppp_aaaallllllll
dump all fields. This option when used with dddduuuummmmpppp_ddddeeeerrrr
allows the DER encoding of the structure to be unambiguously determined.dddduuuummmmpppp_uuuunnnnkkkknnnnoooowwwwnnnn
dump any field whose OID is not recognised by OpenSSL.12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 8 OpenSSL X509(1openssl)
sssseeeepppp_mmmmuuuullllttttiiiilllliiiinnnneeee
sssseeeepppp_ccccoooommmmmmmmaaaa_pppplllluuuussss, sssseeeepppp_ccccoooommmmmmmmaaaa_pppplllluuuussss_ssssppppaaaacccceeee, sssseeeepppp_sssseeeemmmmiiii_pppplllluuuussss_ssssppppaaaacccceeee,
these options determine the field separators. The first character is between RDNs and the second between multiple AVAs (multiple AVAs are very rare and their use is discouraged). The options ending in "space" additionally place a space after the separator to makeit more readable. The sssseeeepppp_mmmmuuuullllttttiiiilllliiiinnnneeee uses a linefeed
character for the RDN separator and a spaced ++++ for the AVA separator. It also indents the fields by four characters.ddddnnnn_rrrreeeevvvv
reverse the fields of the DN. This is required by RFC2253. As a side effect this also reverses the order of multiple AVAs but this is permissible. nnnnooooffffnnnnaaaammmmeeee, ssssnnnnaaaammmmeeee, llllnnnnaaaammmmeeee, ooooiiiidddd these options alter how the field name is displayed. nnnnooooffffnnnnaaaammmmeeee does not display the field at all. ssssnnnnaaaammmmeeee uses the "short name" form (CN for commonName for example). llllnnnnaaaammmmeeee uses the long form. ooooiiiidddd represents the OID in numerical form and is useful for diagnostic purpose. aaaalllliiiiggggnnnn align field values for a more readable output. Onlyusable with sssseeeepppp_mmmmuuuullllttttiiiilllliiiinnnneeee.
ssssppppaaaacccceeee_eeeeqqqq
places spaces round the ==== character which follows the field name. TTTTEEEEXXXXTTTT OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS As well as customising the name output format, it is also possible to customise the actual fields printed using the cccceeeerrrrttttoooopppptttt options when the tttteeeexxxxtttt option is present. The default behaviour is to print all fields. ccccoooommmmppppaaaattttiiiibbbblllleeee use the old format. This is equivalent to specifying no output options at all.nnnnoooo_hhhheeeeaaaaddddeeeerrrr
don't print header information: that is the lines saying "Certificate" and "Data".nnnnoooo_vvvveeeerrrrssssiiiioooonnnn
don't print out the version number.nnnnoooo_sssseeeerrrriiiiaaaallll
don't print out the serial number.12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 9 OpenSSL X509(1openssl)
nnnnoooo_ssssiiiiggggnnnnaaaammmmeeee
don't print out the signature algorithm used.nnnnoooo_vvvvaaaalllliiiiddddiiiittttyyyy
don't print the validity, that is the nnnnoooottttBBBBeeeeffffoooorrrreeee and nnnnoooottttAAAAfffftttteeeerrrr fields.nnnnoooo_ssssuuuubbbbjjjjeeeecccctttt
don't print out the subject name.nnnnoooo_iiiissssssssuuuueeeerrrr
don't print out the issuer name.nnnnoooo_ppppuuuubbbbkkkkeeeeyyyy
don't print out the public key.nnnnoooo_ssssiiiiggggdddduuuummmmpppp
don't give a hexadecimal dump of the certificate signature.nnnnoooo_aaaauuuuxxxx
don't print out certificate trust information.nnnnoooo_eeeexxxxtttteeeennnnssssiiiioooonnnnssss
don't print out any X509V3 extensions.eeeexxxxtttt_ddddeeeeffffaaaauuuulllltttt
retain default extension behaviour: attempt to print out unsupported certificate extensions.eeeexxxxtttt_eeeerrrrrrrroooorrrr
print an error message for unsupported certificate extensions.eeeexxxxtttt_ppppaaaarrrrsssseeee
ASN1 parse unsupported extensions.eeeexxxxtttt_dddduuuummmmpppp
hex dump unsupported extensions.ccccaaaa_ddddeeeeffffaaaauuuulllltttt
the value used by the ccccaaaa utility, equivalent tonnnnoooo_iiiissssssssuuuueeeerrrr, nnnnoooo_ppppuuuubbbbkkkkeeeeyyyy, nnnnoooo_hhhheeeeaaaaddddeeeerrrr, nnnnoooo_vvvveeeerrrrssssiiiioooonnnn, nnnnoooo_ssssiiiiggggdddduuuummmmpppp
and nnnnoooo_ssssiiiiggggnnnnaaaammmmeeee.
EEEEXXXXAAAAMMMMPPPPLLLLEEEESSSS Note: in these examples the '\' means the example should be all on one line. Display the contents of a certificate:12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 10 OpenSSL X509(1openssl)
openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -text
Display the certificate serial number:openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -serial
Display the certificate subject name:openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject
Display the certificate subject name in RFC2253 form:openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject -nameopt RFC2253
Display the certificate subject name in oneline form on a terminal supporting UTF8:openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject -nameopt oneline,-esc_msb
Display the certificate MD5 fingerprint:openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -fingerprint
Display the certificate SHA1 fingerprint:openssl x509 -sha1 -in cert.pem -noout -fingerprint
Convert a certificate from PEM to DER format:openssl x509 -in cert.pem -inform PEM -out cert.der -outform DER
Convert a certificate to a certificate request:openssl x509 -x509toreq -in cert.pem -out req.pem -signkey key.pem
Convert a certificate request into a self signed certificate using extensions for a CA:openssl x509 -req -in careq.pem -extfile openssl.cnf -extensions v3_ca \
-signkey key.pem -out cacert.pem
Sign a certificate request using the CA certificate above and add user certificate extensions:openssl x509 -req -in req.pem -extfile openssl.cnf -extensions v3_usr \
-CA cacert.pem -CAkey key.pem -CAcreateserial
Set a certificate to be trusted for SSL client use and change set its alias to "Steve's Class 1 CA"openssl x509 -in cert.pem -addtrust clientAuth \
-setalias "Steve's Class 1 CA" -out trust.pem
12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 11 OpenSSL X509(1openssl) NNNNOOOOTTTTEEEESSSS The PEM format uses the header and footer lines:
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
it will also handle files containing:-----BEGIN X509 CERTIFICATE-----
-----END X509 CERTIFICATE-----
Trusted certificates have the lines-----BEGIN TRUSTED CERTIFICATE-----
-----END TRUSTED CERTIFICATE-----
The conversion to UTF8 format used with the name optionsassumes that T61Strings use the ISO8859-1 character set.
This is wrong but Netscape and MSIE do this as do many certificates. So although this is incorrect it is more likely to display the majority of certificates correctly.The ---fffiiiinnnnggggeeeerrrrpppprrrriiiinnnntttt option takes the digest of the DER encoded
certificate. This is commonly called a "fingerprint". Because of the nature of message digests the fingerprint of a certificate is unique to that certificate and two certificates with the same fingerprint can be considered to be the same. The Netscape fingerprint uses MD5 whereas MSIE uses SHA1.The ---eeemmmmaaaaiiiillll option searches the subject name and the subject
alternative name extension. Only unique email addresses will be printed out: it will not print the same address more than once. CCCCEEEERRRRTTTTIIIIFFFFIIIICCCCAAAATTTTEEEE EEEEXXXXTTTTEEEENNNNSSSSIIIIOOOONNNNSSSSThe ---pppuuuurrrrppppoooosssseeee option checks the certificate extensions and
determines what the certificate can be used for. The actual checks done are rather complex and include various hacks and workarounds to handle broken certificates and software. The same code is used when verifying untrusted certificates in chains so this section is useful if a chain is rejected by the verify code. The basicConstraints extension CA flag is used to determine whether the certificate can be used as a CA. If the CA flag is true then it is a CA, if the CA flag is false then it is not a CA. AAAAllllllll CAs should have the CA flag set to true.12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 12 OpenSSL X509(1openssl) If the basicConstraints extension is absent then the certificate is considered to be a "possible CA" other extensions are checked according to the intended use of the certificate. A warning is given in this case because the certificate should really not be regarded as a CA: however it is allowed to be a CA to work around some broken software. If the certificate is a V1 certificate (and thus has no extensions) and it is self signed it is also assumed to be a CA but a warning is again given: this is to work around the problem of Verisign roots which are V1 self signed certificates. If the keyUsage extension is present then additional restraints are made on the uses of the certificate. A CA certificate mmmmuuuusssstttt have the keyCertSign bit set if the keyUsage extension is present. The extended key usage extension places additional restrictions on the certificate uses. If this extension is present (whether critical or not) the key can only be used for the purposes specified. A complete description of each test is given below. The comments about basicConstraints and keyUsage and V1 certificates above apply to aaaallllllll CA certificates. SSSSSSSSLLLL CCCClllliiiieeeennnntttt The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "web client authentication" OID. keyUsage must be absent or it must have the digitalSignature bit set. Netscape certificate type must be absent or it must have the SSL client bit set. SSSSSSSSLLLL CCCClllliiiieeeennnntttt CCCCAAAA The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "web client authentication" OID. Netscape certificate type must be absent or it must have the SSL CA bit set: this is used as a work around if the basicConstraints extension is absent. SSSSSSSSLLLL SSSSeeeerrrrvvvveeeerrrr The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "web server authentication" and/or one of the SGC OIDs. keyUsage must be absent or it must have the digitalSignature, the keyEncipherment set or both bits set. Netscape certificate type must be absent or have the SSL server bit set. SSSSSSSSLLLL SSSSeeeerrrrvvvveeeerrrr CCCCAAAA The extended key usage extension must be absent or
12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 13 OpenSSL X509(1openssl) include the "web server authentication" and/or one of the SGC OIDs. Netscape certificate type must be absent or the SSL CA bit must be set: this is used as a work around if the basicConstraints extension is absent. NNNNeeeettttssssccccaaaappppeeee SSSSSSSSLLLL SSSSeeeerrrrvvvveeeerrrr For Netscape SSL clients to connect to an SSL server it must have the keyEncipherment bit set if the keyUsage extension is present. This isn't always valid because some cipher suites use the key for digital signing. Otherwise it is the same as a normal SSL server.
CCCCoooommmmmmmmoooonnnn SSSS////MMMMIIIIMMMMEEEE CCCClllliiiieeeennnntttt TTTTeeeessssttttssss The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "email protection" OID. Netscape certificate
type must be absent or should have the S/MIME bit set.
If the S/MIME bit is not set in netscape certificate type then the SSL client bit is tolerated as an alternative but a warning is shown: this is because
some Verisign certificates don't set the S/MIME bit.
SSSS////MMMMIIIIMMMMEEEE SSSSiiiiggggnnnniiiinnnngggg
In addition to the common S/MIME client tests the digitalSignature bit must be set if the keyUsage extension is present.
SSSS////MMMMIIIIMMMMEEEE EEEEnnnnccccrrrryyyyppppttttiiiioooonnnn
In addition to the common S/MIME tests the keyEncipherment bit must be set if the keyUsage extension is present.
SSSS////MMMMIIIIMMMMEEEE CCCCAAAA The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "email protection" OID. Netscape certificate
type must be absent or must have the S/MIME CA bit set: this is used as a work around if the basicConstraints extension is absent. CCCCRRRRLLLL SSSSiiiiggggnnnniiiinnnngggg The keyUsage extension must be absent or it must have the CRL signing bit set. CCCCRRRRLLLL SSSSiiiiggggnnnniiiinnnngggg CCCCAAAA The normal CA tests apply. Except in this case the basicConstraints extension must be present. BBBBUUUUGGGGSSSS Extensions in certificates are not transferred to certificate requests and vice versa. It is possible to produce invalid certificates or requests by specifying the wrong private key or using inconsistent
12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 14 OpenSSL X509(1openssl) options in some cases: these should be checked. There should be options to explicitly set such things as start and end dates rather than an offset from the current time. The code to implement the verify behaviour described in the TTTTRRRRUUUUSSSSTTTT SSSSEEEETTTTTTTTIIIINNNNGGGGSSSS is currently being developed. It thus describes the intended behaviour rather than the current behaviour. It is hoped that it will represent reality in OpenSSL 0.9.5 and later. SSSSEEEEEEEE AAAALLLLSSSSOOOO req(1), ca(1), genrsa(1), gendsa(1), verify(1) HHHHIIIISSSSTTTTOOOORRRRYYYY Before OpenSSL 0.9.8, the default digest for RSA keys was MD5.
12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 15 OpenSSL X509(1openssl)
12/Mar/2009 Last change: 0.9.8o 16