6 x509 - Certificate display and signing utility
11 [B<-inform DER|PEM|NET>]
12 [B<-outform DER|PEM|NET>]
15 [B<-CAkeyform DER|PEM>]
46 [B<-signkey filename>]
53 [B<-CAserial filename>]
57 [B<-md2|-md5|-sha1|-mdc2>]
59 [B<-extfile filename>]
60 [B<-extensions section>]
65 The B<x509> command is a multi purpose certificate utility. It can be
66 used to display certificate information, convert certificates to
67 various forms, sign certificate requests like a "mini CA" or edit
68 certificate trust settings.
70 Since there are a large number of options they will split up into
75 =head2 INPUT, OUTPUT AND GENERAL PURPOSE OPTIONS
79 =item B<-inform DER|PEM|NET>
81 This specifies the input format normally the command will expect an X509
82 certificate but this can change if other options such as B<-req> are
83 present. The DER format is the DER encoding of the certificate and PEM
84 is the base64 encoding of the DER encoding with header and footer lines
85 added. The NET option is an obscure Netscape server format that is now
88 =item B<-outform DER|PEM|NET>
90 This specifies the output format, the options have the same meaning as the
95 This specifies the input filename to read a certificate from or standard input
96 if this option is not specified.
98 =item B<-out filename>
100 This specifies the output filename to write to or standard output by
103 =item B<-md2|-md5|-sha1|-mdc2>
105 the digest to use. This affects any signing or display option that uses a message
106 digest, such as the B<-fingerprint>, B<-signkey> and B<-CA> options. If not
107 specified then SHA1 is used. If the key being used to sign with is a DSA key
108 then this option has no effect: SHA1 is always used with DSA keys.
112 specifying an engine (by its unique B<id> string) will cause B<x509>
113 to attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified engine,
114 thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set as the default
115 for all available algorithms.
119 =head2 DISPLAY OPTIONS
121 Note: the B<-alias> and B<-purpose> options are also display options
122 but are described in the B<TRUST SETTINGS> section.
128 prints out the certificate in text form. Full details are output including the
129 public key, signature algorithms, issuer and subject names, serial number
130 any extensions present and any trust settings.
132 =item B<-certopt option>
134 customise the output format used with B<-text>. The B<option> argument can be
135 a single option or multiple options separated by commas. The B<-certopt> switch
136 may be also be used more than once to set multiple options. See the B<TEXT OPTIONS>
137 section for more information.
141 this option prevents output of the encoded version of the request.
145 outputs the the certificate's SubjectPublicKeyInfo block in PEM format.
149 this option prints out the value of the modulus of the public key
150 contained in the certificate.
154 outputs the certificate serial number.
156 =item B<-subject_hash>
158 outputs the "hash" of the certificate subject name. This is used in OpenSSL to
159 form an index to allow certificates in a directory to be looked up by subject
162 =item B<-issuer_hash>
164 outputs the "hash" of the certificate issuer name.
168 outputs the OCSP hash values for the subject name and public key.
172 synonym for "-subject_hash" for backward compatibility reasons.
174 =item B<-subject_hash_old>
176 outputs the "hash" of the certificate subject name using the older algorithm
177 as used by OpenSSL versions before 1.0.0.
179 =item B<-issuer_hash_old>
181 outputs the "hash" of the certificate issuer name using the older algorithm
182 as used by OpenSSL versions before 1.0.0.
186 outputs the subject name.
190 outputs the issuer name.
192 =item B<-nameopt option>
194 option which determines how the subject or issuer names are displayed. The
195 B<option> argument can be a single option or multiple options separated by
196 commas. Alternatively the B<-nameopt> switch may be used more than once to
197 set multiple options. See the B<NAME OPTIONS> section for more information.
201 outputs the email address(es) if any.
205 outputs the OCSP responder address(es) if any.
209 prints out the start date of the certificate, that is the notBefore date.
213 prints out the expiry date of the certificate, that is the notAfter date.
217 prints out the start and expiry dates of a certificate.
219 =item B<-checkend arg>
221 checks if the certificate expires within the next B<arg> seconds and exits
222 non-zero if yes it will expire or zero if not.
224 =item B<-fingerprint>
226 prints out the digest of the DER encoded version of the whole certificate
227 (see digest options).
231 this outputs the certificate in the form of a C source file.
235 =head2 TRUST SETTINGS
237 Please note these options are currently experimental and may well change.
239 A B<trusted certificate> is an ordinary certificate which has several
240 additional pieces of information attached to it such as the permitted
241 and prohibited uses of the certificate and an "alias".
243 Normally when a certificate is being verified at least one certificate
244 must be "trusted". By default a trusted certificate must be stored
245 locally and must be a root CA: any certificate chain ending in this CA
246 is then usable for any purpose.
248 Trust settings currently are only used with a root CA. They allow a finer
249 control over the purposes the root CA can be used for. For example a CA
250 may be trusted for SSL client but not SSL server use.
252 See the description of the B<verify> utility for more information on the
253 meaning of trust settings.
255 Future versions of OpenSSL will recognize trust settings on any
256 certificate: not just root CAs.
263 this causes B<x509> to output a B<trusted> certificate. An ordinary
264 or trusted certificate can be input but by default an ordinary
265 certificate is output and any trust settings are discarded. With the
266 B<-trustout> option a trusted certificate is output. A trusted
267 certificate is automatically output if any trust settings are modified.
269 =item B<-setalias arg>
271 sets the alias of the certificate. This will allow the certificate
272 to be referred to using a nickname for example "Steve's Certificate".
276 outputs the certificate alias, if any.
280 clears all the permitted or trusted uses of the certificate.
284 clears all the prohibited or rejected uses of the certificate.
286 =item B<-addtrust arg>
288 adds a trusted certificate use. Any object name can be used here
289 but currently only B<clientAuth> (SSL client use), B<serverAuth>
290 (SSL server use) and B<emailProtection> (S/MIME email) are used.
291 Other OpenSSL applications may define additional uses.
293 =item B<-addreject arg>
295 adds a prohibited use. It accepts the same values as the B<-addtrust>
300 this option performs tests on the certificate extensions and outputs
301 the results. For a more complete description see the B<CERTIFICATE
306 =head2 SIGNING OPTIONS
308 The B<x509> utility can be used to sign certificates and requests: it
309 can thus behave like a "mini CA".
313 =item B<-signkey filename>
315 this option causes the input file to be self signed using the supplied
318 If the input file is a certificate it sets the issuer name to the
319 subject name (i.e. makes it self signed) changes the public key to the
320 supplied value and changes the start and end dates. The start date is
321 set to the current time and the end date is set to a value determined
322 by the B<-days> option. Any certificate extensions are retained unless
323 the B<-clrext> option is supplied.
325 If the input is a certificate request then a self signed certificate
326 is created using the supplied private key using the subject name in
331 the key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
332 see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
336 delete any extensions from a certificate. This option is used when a
337 certificate is being created from another certificate (for example with
338 the B<-signkey> or the B<-CA> options). Normally all extensions are
341 =item B<-keyform PEM|DER>
343 specifies the format (DER or PEM) of the private key file used in the
348 specifies the number of days to make a certificate valid for. The default
353 converts a certificate into a certificate request. The B<-signkey> option
354 is used to pass the required private key.
358 by default a certificate is expected on input. With this option a
359 certificate request is expected instead.
361 =item B<-set_serial n>
363 specifies the serial number to use. This option can be used with either
364 the B<-signkey> or B<-CA> options. If used in conjunction with the B<-CA>
365 option the serial number file (as specified by the B<-CAserial> or
366 B<-CAcreateserial> options) is not used.
368 The serial number can be decimal or hex (if preceded by B<0x>). Negative
369 serial numbers can also be specified but their use is not recommended.
371 =item B<-CA filename>
373 specifies the CA certificate to be used for signing. When this option is
374 present B<x509> behaves like a "mini CA". The input file is signed by this
375 CA using this option: that is its issuer name is set to the subject name
376 of the CA and it is digitally signed using the CAs private key.
378 This option is normally combined with the B<-req> option. Without the
379 B<-req> option the input is a certificate which must be self signed.
381 =item B<-CAkey filename>
383 sets the CA private key to sign a certificate with. If this option is
384 not specified then it is assumed that the CA private key is present in
385 the CA certificate file.
387 =item B<-CAserial filename>
389 sets the CA serial number file to use.
391 When the B<-CA> option is used to sign a certificate it uses a serial
392 number specified in a file. This file consist of one line containing
393 an even number of hex digits with the serial number to use. After each
394 use the serial number is incremented and written out to the file again.
396 The default filename consists of the CA certificate file base name with
397 ".srl" appended. For example if the CA certificate file is called
398 "mycacert.pem" it expects to find a serial number file called "mycacert.srl".
400 =item B<-CAcreateserial>
402 with this option the CA serial number file is created if it does not exist:
403 it will contain the serial number "02" and the certificate being signed will
404 have the 1 as its serial number. Normally if the B<-CA> option is specified
405 and the serial number file does not exist it is an error.
407 =item B<-extfile filename>
409 file containing certificate extensions to use. If not specified then
410 no extensions are added to the certificate.
412 =item B<-extensions section>
414 the section to add certificate extensions from. If this option is not
415 specified then the extensions should either be contained in the unnamed
416 (default) section or the default section should contain a variable called
417 "extensions" which contains the section to use. See the
418 L<x509v3_config(5)|x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
419 extension section format.
425 The B<nameopt> command line switch determines how the subject and issuer
426 names are displayed. If no B<nameopt> switch is present the default "oneline"
427 format is used which is compatible with previous versions of OpenSSL.
428 Each option is described in detail below, all options can be preceded by
429 a B<-> to turn the option off. Only the first four will normally be used.
435 use the old format. This is equivalent to specifying no name options at all.
439 displays names compatible with RFC2253 equivalent to B<esc_2253>, B<esc_ctrl>,
440 B<esc_msb>, B<utf8>, B<dump_nostr>, B<dump_unknown>, B<dump_der>,
441 B<sep_comma_plus>, B<dn_rev> and B<sname>.
445 a oneline format which is more readable than RFC2253. It is equivalent to
446 specifying the B<esc_2253>, B<esc_ctrl>, B<esc_msb>, B<utf8>, B<dump_nostr>,
447 B<dump_der>, B<use_quote>, B<sep_comma_plus_space>, B<space_eq> and B<sname>
452 a multiline format. It is equivalent B<esc_ctrl>, B<esc_msb>, B<sep_multiline>,
453 B<space_eq>, B<lname> and B<align>.
457 escape the "special" characters required by RFC2253 in a field That is
458 B<,+"E<lt>E<gt>;>. Additionally B<#> is escaped at the beginning of a string
459 and a space character at the beginning or end of a string.
463 escape control characters. That is those with ASCII values less than
464 0x20 (space) and the delete (0x7f) character. They are escaped using the
465 RFC2253 \XX notation (where XX are two hex digits representing the
470 escape characters with the MSB set, that is with ASCII values larger than
475 escapes some characters by surrounding the whole string with B<"> characters,
476 without the option all escaping is done with the B<\> character.
480 convert all strings to UTF8 format first. This is required by RFC2253. If
481 you are lucky enough to have a UTF8 compatible terminal then the use
482 of this option (and B<not> setting B<esc_msb>) may result in the correct
483 display of multibyte (international) characters. Is this option is not
484 present then multibyte characters larger than 0xff will be represented
485 using the format \UXXXX for 16 bits and \WXXXXXXXX for 32 bits.
486 Also if this option is off any UTF8Strings will be converted to their
487 character form first.
491 this option does not attempt to interpret multibyte characters in any
492 way. That is their content octets are merely dumped as though one octet
493 represents each character. This is useful for diagnostic purposes but
494 will result in rather odd looking output.
498 show the type of the ASN1 character string. The type precedes the
499 field contents. For example "BMPSTRING: Hello World".
503 when this option is set any fields that need to be hexdumped will
504 be dumped using the DER encoding of the field. Otherwise just the
505 content octets will be displayed. Both options use the RFC2253
510 dump non character string types (for example OCTET STRING) if this
511 option is not set then non character string types will be displayed
512 as though each content octet represents a single character.
516 dump all fields. This option when used with B<dump_der> allows the
517 DER encoding of the structure to be unambiguously determined.
519 =item B<dump_unknown>
521 dump any field whose OID is not recognised by OpenSSL.
523 =item B<sep_comma_plus>, B<sep_comma_plus_space>, B<sep_semi_plus_space>,
526 these options determine the field separators. The first character is
527 between RDNs and the second between multiple AVAs (multiple AVAs are
528 very rare and their use is discouraged). The options ending in
529 "space" additionally place a space after the separator to make it
530 more readable. The B<sep_multiline> uses a linefeed character for
531 the RDN separator and a spaced B<+> for the AVA separator. It also
532 indents the fields by four characters.
536 reverse the fields of the DN. This is required by RFC2253. As a side
537 effect this also reverses the order of multiple AVAs but this is
540 =item B<nofname>, B<sname>, B<lname>, B<oid>
542 these options alter how the field name is displayed. B<nofname> does
543 not display the field at all. B<sname> uses the "short name" form
544 (CN for commonName for example). B<lname> uses the long form.
545 B<oid> represents the OID in numerical form and is useful for
550 align field values for a more readable output. Only usable with
555 places spaces round the B<=> character which follows the field
562 As well as customising the name output format, it is also possible to
563 customise the actual fields printed using the B<certopt> options when
564 the B<text> option is present. The default behaviour is to print all fields.
570 use the old format. This is equivalent to specifying no output options at all.
574 don't print header information: that is the lines saying "Certificate" and "Data".
578 don't print out the version number.
582 don't print out the serial number.
586 don't print out the signature algorithm used.
590 don't print the validity, that is the B<notBefore> and B<notAfter> fields.
594 don't print out the subject name.
598 don't print out the issuer name.
602 don't print out the public key.
606 don't give a hexadecimal dump of the certificate signature.
610 don't print out certificate trust information.
612 =item B<no_extensions>
614 don't print out any X509V3 extensions.
618 retain default extension behaviour: attempt to print out unsupported certificate extensions.
622 print an error message for unsupported certificate extensions.
626 ASN1 parse unsupported extensions.
630 hex dump unsupported extensions.
634 the value used by the B<ca> utility, equivalent to B<no_issuer>, B<no_pubkey>, B<no_header>,
635 B<no_version>, B<no_sigdump> and B<no_signame>.
641 Note: in these examples the '\' means the example should be all on one
644 Display the contents of a certificate:
646 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -text
648 Display the certificate serial number:
650 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -serial
652 Display the certificate subject name:
654 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject
656 Display the certificate subject name in RFC2253 form:
658 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject -nameopt RFC2253
660 Display the certificate subject name in oneline form on a terminal
663 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject -nameopt oneline,-esc_msb
665 Display the certificate MD5 fingerprint:
667 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -fingerprint
669 Display the certificate SHA1 fingerprint:
671 openssl x509 -sha1 -in cert.pem -noout -fingerprint
673 Convert a certificate from PEM to DER format:
675 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -inform PEM -out cert.der -outform DER
677 Convert a certificate to a certificate request:
679 openssl x509 -x509toreq -in cert.pem -out req.pem -signkey key.pem
681 Convert a certificate request into a self signed certificate using
684 openssl x509 -req -in careq.pem -extfile openssl.cnf -extensions v3_ca \
685 -signkey key.pem -out cacert.pem
687 Sign a certificate request using the CA certificate above and add user
688 certificate extensions:
690 openssl x509 -req -in req.pem -extfile openssl.cnf -extensions v3_usr \
691 -CA cacert.pem -CAkey key.pem -CAcreateserial
694 Set a certificate to be trusted for SSL client use and change set its alias to
697 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -addtrust clientAuth \
698 -setalias "Steve's Class 1 CA" -out trust.pem
702 The PEM format uses the header and footer lines:
704 -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
705 -----END CERTIFICATE-----
707 it will also handle files containing:
709 -----BEGIN X509 CERTIFICATE-----
710 -----END X509 CERTIFICATE-----
712 Trusted certificates have the lines
714 -----BEGIN TRUSTED CERTIFICATE-----
715 -----END TRUSTED CERTIFICATE-----
717 The conversion to UTF8 format used with the name options assumes that
718 T61Strings use the ISO8859-1 character set. This is wrong but Netscape
719 and MSIE do this as do many certificates. So although this is incorrect
720 it is more likely to display the majority of certificates correctly.
722 The B<-fingerprint> option takes the digest of the DER encoded certificate.
723 This is commonly called a "fingerprint". Because of the nature of message
724 digests the fingerprint of a certificate is unique to that certificate and
725 two certificates with the same fingerprint can be considered to be the same.
727 The Netscape fingerprint uses MD5 whereas MSIE uses SHA1.
729 The B<-email> option searches the subject name and the subject alternative
730 name extension. Only unique email addresses will be printed out: it will
731 not print the same address more than once.
733 =head1 CERTIFICATE EXTENSIONS
735 The B<-purpose> option checks the certificate extensions and determines
736 what the certificate can be used for. The actual checks done are rather
737 complex and include various hacks and workarounds to handle broken
738 certificates and software.
740 The same code is used when verifying untrusted certificates in chains
741 so this section is useful if a chain is rejected by the verify code.
743 The basicConstraints extension CA flag is used to determine whether the
744 certificate can be used as a CA. If the CA flag is true then it is a CA,
745 if the CA flag is false then it is not a CA. B<All> CAs should have the
748 If the basicConstraints extension is absent then the certificate is
749 considered to be a "possible CA" other extensions are checked according
750 to the intended use of the certificate. A warning is given in this case
751 because the certificate should really not be regarded as a CA: however
752 it is allowed to be a CA to work around some broken software.
754 If the certificate is a V1 certificate (and thus has no extensions) and
755 it is self signed it is also assumed to be a CA but a warning is again
756 given: this is to work around the problem of Verisign roots which are V1
757 self signed certificates.
759 If the keyUsage extension is present then additional restraints are
760 made on the uses of the certificate. A CA certificate B<must> have the
761 keyCertSign bit set if the keyUsage extension is present.
763 The extended key usage extension places additional restrictions on the
764 certificate uses. If this extension is present (whether critical or not)
765 the key can only be used for the purposes specified.
767 A complete description of each test is given below. The comments about
768 basicConstraints and keyUsage and V1 certificates above apply to B<all>
776 The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "web client
777 authentication" OID. keyUsage must be absent or it must have the
778 digitalSignature bit set. Netscape certificate type must be absent or it must
779 have the SSL client bit set.
781 =item B<SSL Client CA>
783 The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "web client
784 authentication" OID. Netscape certificate type must be absent or it must have
785 the SSL CA bit set: this is used as a work around if the basicConstraints
790 The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "web server
791 authentication" and/or one of the SGC OIDs. keyUsage must be absent or it
792 must have the digitalSignature, the keyEncipherment set or both bits set.
793 Netscape certificate type must be absent or have the SSL server bit set.
795 =item B<SSL Server CA>
797 The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "web server
798 authentication" and/or one of the SGC OIDs. Netscape certificate type must
799 be absent or the SSL CA bit must be set: this is used as a work around if the
800 basicConstraints extension is absent.
802 =item B<Netscape SSL Server>
804 For Netscape SSL clients to connect to an SSL server it must have the
805 keyEncipherment bit set if the keyUsage extension is present. This isn't
806 always valid because some cipher suites use the key for digital signing.
807 Otherwise it is the same as a normal SSL server.
809 =item B<Common S/MIME Client Tests>
811 The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "email
812 protection" OID. Netscape certificate type must be absent or should have the
813 S/MIME bit set. If the S/MIME bit is not set in netscape certificate type
814 then the SSL client bit is tolerated as an alternative but a warning is shown:
815 this is because some Verisign certificates don't set the S/MIME bit.
817 =item B<S/MIME Signing>
819 In addition to the common S/MIME client tests the digitalSignature bit must
820 be set if the keyUsage extension is present.
822 =item B<S/MIME Encryption>
824 In addition to the common S/MIME tests the keyEncipherment bit must be set
825 if the keyUsage extension is present.
829 The extended key usage extension must be absent or include the "email
830 protection" OID. Netscape certificate type must be absent or must have the
831 S/MIME CA bit set: this is used as a work around if the basicConstraints
836 The keyUsage extension must be absent or it must have the CRL signing bit
839 =item B<CRL Signing CA>
841 The normal CA tests apply. Except in this case the basicConstraints extension
848 Extensions in certificates are not transferred to certificate requests and
851 It is possible to produce invalid certificates or requests by specifying the
852 wrong private key or using inconsistent options in some cases: these should
855 There should be options to explicitly set such things as start and end
856 dates rather than an offset from the current time.
858 The code to implement the verify behaviour described in the B<TRUST SETTINGS>
859 is currently being developed. It thus describes the intended behaviour rather
860 than the current behaviour. It is hoped that it will represent reality in
861 OpenSSL 0.9.5 and later.
865 L<req(1)|req(1)>, L<ca(1)|ca(1)>, L<genrsa(1)|genrsa(1)>,
866 L<gendsa(1)|gendsa(1)>, L<verify(1)|verify(1)>,
867 L<x509v3_config(5)|x509v3_config(5)>
871 Before OpenSSL 0.9.8, the default digest for RSA keys was MD5.
873 The hash algorithm used in the B<-subject_hash> and B<-issuer_hash> options
874 before OpenSSL 1.0.0 was based on the deprecated MD5 algorithm and the encoding
875 of the distinguished name. In OpenSSL 1.0.0 and later it is based on a
876 canonical version of the DN using SHA1. This means that any directories using
877 the old form must have their links rebuilt using B<c_rehash> or similar.