6 pkcs12 - PKCS#12 file utility
14 [B<-certfile filename>]
26 [B<-des | -des3 | -idea | -aes128 | -aes192 | -aes256 | -camellia128 | -camellia192 | -camellia256 | -nodes>]
28 [B<-maciter | -nomaciter | -nomac>]
46 The B<pkcs12> command allows PKCS#12 files (sometimes referred to as
47 PFX files) to be created and parsed. PKCS#12 files are used by several
48 programs including Netscape, MSIE and MS Outlook.
50 =head1 COMMAND OPTIONS
52 There are a lot of options the meaning of some depends of whether a PKCS#12 file
53 is being created or parsed. By default a PKCS#12 file is parsed. A PKCS#12
54 file can be created by using the B<-export> option (see below).
56 =head1 PARSING OPTIONS
62 This specifies filename of the PKCS#12 file to be parsed. Standard input is used
65 =item B<-out filename>
67 The filename to write certificates and private keys to, standard output by
68 default. They are all written in PEM format.
70 =item B<-pass arg>, B<-passin arg>
72 the PKCS#12 file (i.e. input file) password source. For more information about
73 the format of B<arg> see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in
74 L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
78 pass phrase source to encrypt any outputed private keys with. For more
79 information about the format of B<arg> see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section
80 in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
84 this option inhibits output of the keys and certificates to the output file
85 version of the PKCS#12 file.
89 only output client certificates (not CA certificates).
93 only output CA certificates (not client certificates).
97 no certificates at all will be output.
101 no private keys will be output.
105 output additional information about the PKCS#12 file structure, algorithms used and
110 use DES to encrypt private keys before outputting.
114 use triple DES to encrypt private keys before outputting, this is the default.
118 use IDEA to encrypt private keys before outputting.
120 =item B<-aes128>, B<-aes192>, B<-aes256>
122 use AES to encrypt private keys before outputting.
124 =item B<-camellia128>, B<-camellia192>, B<-camellia256>
126 use Camellia to encrypt private keys before outputting.
130 don't encrypt the private keys at all.
134 don't attempt to verify the integrity MAC before reading the file.
138 prompt for separate integrity and encryption passwords: most software
139 always assumes these are the same so this option will render such
140 PKCS#12 files unreadable.
144 =head1 FILE CREATION OPTIONS
150 This option specifies that a PKCS#12 file will be created rather than
153 =item B<-out filename>
155 This specifies filename to write the PKCS#12 file to. Standard output is used
158 =item B<-in filename>
160 The filename to read certificates and private keys from, standard input by
161 default. They must all be in PEM format. The order doesn't matter but one
162 private key and its corresponding certificate should be present. If additional
163 certificates are present they will also be included in the PKCS#12 file.
165 =item B<-inkey filename>
167 file to read private key from. If not present then a private key must be present
170 =item B<-name friendlyname>
172 This specifies the "friendly name" for the certificate and private key. This
173 name is typically displayed in list boxes by software importing the file.
175 =item B<-certfile filename>
177 A filename to read additional certificates from.
179 =item B<-caname friendlyname>
181 This specifies the "friendly name" for other certificates. This option may be
182 used multiple times to specify names for all certificates in the order they
183 appear. Netscape ignores friendly names on other certificates whereas MSIE
186 =item B<-pass arg>, B<-passout arg>
188 the PKCS#12 file (i.e. output file) password source. For more information about
189 the format of B<arg> see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in
190 L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
192 =item B<-passin password>
194 pass phrase source to decrypt any input private keys with. For more information
195 about the format of B<arg> see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in
196 L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
200 if this option is present then an attempt is made to include the entire
201 certificate chain of the user certificate. The standard CA store is used
202 for this search. If the search fails it is considered a fatal error.
206 encrypt the certificate using triple DES, this may render the PKCS#12
207 file unreadable by some "export grade" software. By default the private
208 key is encrypted using triple DES and the certificate using 40 bit RC2.
210 =item B<-keypbe alg>, B<-certpbe alg>
212 these options allow the algorithm used to encrypt the private key and
213 certificates to be selected. Any PKCS#5 v1.5 or PKCS#12 PBE algorithm name
214 can be used (see B<NOTES> section for more information). If a a cipher name
215 (as output by the B<list-cipher-algorithms> command is specified then it
216 is used with PKCS#5 v2.0. For interoperability reasons it is advisable to only
217 use PKCS#12 algorithms.
219 =item B<-keyex|-keysig>
221 specifies that the private key is to be used for key exchange or just signing.
222 This option is only interpreted by MSIE and similar MS software. Normally
223 "export grade" software will only allow 512 bit RSA keys to be used for
224 encryption purposes but arbitrary length keys for signing. The B<-keysig>
225 option marks the key for signing only. Signing only keys can be used for
226 S/MIME signing, authenticode (ActiveX control signing) and SSL client
227 authentication, however due to a bug only MSIE 5.0 and later support
228 the use of signing only keys for SSL client authentication.
230 =item B<-macalg digest>
232 specify the MAC digest algorithm. If not included them SHA1 will be used.
234 =item B<-nomaciter>, B<-noiter>
236 these options affect the iteration counts on the MAC and key algorithms.
237 Unless you wish to produce files compatible with MSIE 4.0 you should leave
240 To discourage attacks by using large dictionaries of common passwords the
241 algorithm that derives keys from passwords can have an iteration count applied
242 to it: this causes a certain part of the algorithm to be repeated and slows it
243 down. The MAC is used to check the file integrity but since it will normally
244 have the same password as the keys and certificates it could also be attacked.
245 By default both MAC and encryption iteration counts are set to 2048, using
246 these options the MAC and encryption iteration counts can be set to 1, since
247 this reduces the file security you should not use these options unless you
248 really have to. Most software supports both MAC and key iteration counts.
249 MSIE 4.0 doesn't support MAC iteration counts so it needs the B<-nomaciter>
254 This option is included for compatibility with previous versions, it used
255 to be needed to use MAC iterations counts but they are now used by default.
259 don't attempt to provide the MAC integrity.
261 =item B<-rand file(s)>
263 a file or files containing random data used to seed the random number
264 generator, or an EGD socket (see L<RAND_egd(3)|RAND_egd(3)>).
265 Multiple files can be specified separated by a OS-dependent character.
266 The separator is B<;> for MS-Windows, B<,> for OpenVMS, and B<:> for
269 =item B<-CAfile file>
271 CA storage as a file.
275 CA storage as a directory. This directory must be a standard certificate
276 directory: that is a hash of each subject name (using B<x509 -hash>) should be
277 linked to each certificate.
281 write B<name> as a Microsoft CSP name.
287 Although there are a large number of options most of them are very rarely
288 used. For PKCS#12 file parsing only B<-in> and B<-out> need to be used
289 for PKCS#12 file creation B<-export> and B<-name> are also used.
291 If none of the B<-clcerts>, B<-cacerts> or B<-nocerts> options are present
292 then all certificates will be output in the order they appear in the input
293 PKCS#12 files. There is no guarantee that the first certificate present is
294 the one corresponding to the private key. Certain software which requires
295 a private key and certificate and assumes the first certificate in the
296 file is the one corresponding to the private key: this may not always
297 be the case. Using the B<-clcerts> option will solve this problem by only
298 outputting the certificate corresponding to the private key. If the CA
299 certificates are required then they can be output to a separate file using
300 the B<-nokeys -cacerts> options to just output CA certificates.
302 The B<-keypbe> and B<-certpbe> algorithms allow the precise encryption
303 algorithms for private keys and certificates to be specified. Normally
304 the defaults are fine but occasionally software can't handle triple DES
305 encrypted private keys, then the option B<-keypbe PBE-SHA1-RC2-40> can
306 be used to reduce the private key encryption to 40 bit RC2. A complete
307 description of all algorithms is contained in the B<pkcs8> manual page.
311 Parse a PKCS#12 file and output it to a file:
313 openssl pkcs12 -in file.p12 -out file.pem
315 Output only client certificates to a file:
317 openssl pkcs12 -in file.p12 -clcerts -out file.pem
319 Don't encrypt the private key:
321 openssl pkcs12 -in file.p12 -out file.pem -nodes
323 Print some info about a PKCS#12 file:
325 openssl pkcs12 -in file.p12 -info -noout
327 Create a PKCS#12 file:
329 openssl pkcs12 -export -in file.pem -out file.p12 -name "My Certificate"
331 Include some extra certificates:
333 openssl pkcs12 -export -in file.pem -out file.p12 -name "My Certificate" \
334 -certfile othercerts.pem
338 Some would argue that the PKCS#12 standard is one big bug :-)
340 Versions of OpenSSL before 0.9.6a had a bug in the PKCS#12 key generation
341 routines. Under rare circumstances this could produce a PKCS#12 file encrypted
342 with an invalid key. As a result some PKCS#12 files which triggered this bug
343 from other implementations (MSIE or Netscape) could not be decrypted
344 by OpenSSL and similarly OpenSSL could produce PKCS#12 files which could
345 not be decrypted by other implementations. The chances of producing such
346 a file are relatively small: less than 1 in 256.
348 A side effect of fixing this bug is that any old invalidly encrypted PKCS#12
349 files cannot no longer be parsed by the fixed version. Under such circumstances
350 the B<pkcs12> utility will report that the MAC is OK but fail with a decryption
351 error when extracting private keys.
353 This problem can be resolved by extracting the private keys and certificates
354 from the PKCS#12 file using an older version of OpenSSL and recreating the PKCS#12
355 file from the keys and certificates using a newer version of OpenSSL. For example:
357 old-openssl -in bad.p12 -out keycerts.pem
358 openssl -in keycerts.pem -export -name "My PKCS#12 file" -out fixed.p12