x509 (1)

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NAME

x509 - Certificate display and signing utility

SYNOPSIS

openssl x509 [-inform DER|PEM|NET] [-outform DER|PEM|NET] [-keyform DER|PEM] [-CAform DER|PEM] [-CAkeyform DER|PEM] [-in filename] [-out filename] [-serial] [-hash] [-subject_hash] [-issuer_hash] [-ocspid] [-subject] [-issuer] [-nameopt option] [-email] [-ocsp_uri] [-startdate] [-enddate] [-purpose] [-dates] [-checkend num] [-modulus] [-pubkey] [-fingerprint] [-alias] [-noout] [-trustout] [-clrtrust] [-clrreject] [-addtrust arg] [-addreject arg] [-setalias arg] [-days arg] [-set_serial n] [-signkey filename] [-passin arg] [-x509toreq] [-req] [-CA filename] [-CAkey filename] [-CAcreateserial] [-CAserial filename] [-force_pubkey key] [-text] [-certopt option] [-C] [-md2|-md5|-sha1|-mdc2] [-clrext] [-extfile filename] [-extensions section] [-engine id]

DESCRIPTION

The x509 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 or edit certificate trust settings.

Since there are a large number of options they will split up into various sections.

OPTIONS

INPUT, OUTPUT AND GENERAL PURPOSE OPTIONS

-inform DER|PEM|NET

This specifies the input format normally the command will expect an X509 certificate but this can change if other options such as -req 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.

-outform DER|PEM|NET

This specifies the output format, the options have the same meaning as the -inform option.

-in filename

This specifies the input filename to read a certificate from or standard input if this option is not specified.

-out filename

This specifies the output filename to write to or standard output by default.

-md2|-md5|-sha1|-mdc2

the digest to use. This affects any signing or display option that uses a message digest, such as the -fingerprint, -signkey and -CA 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.

-engine id

specifying an engine (by its unique id string) will cause x509 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.

DISPLAY OPTIONS

Note: the -alias and -purpose options are also display options but are described in the section.

-text

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.

-certopt option

customise the output format used with -text. The option argument can be a single option or multiple options separated by commas. The -certopt switch may be also be used more than once to set multiple options. See the

TEXT OPTIONS

section for more information.

-noout

this option prevents output of the encoded version of the request.

-pubkey

outputs the the certificate's SubjectPublicKeyInfo block in

PEM

format.

-modulus

this option prints out the value of the modulus of the public key contained in the certificate.

-serial

outputs the certificate serial number.

-subject_hash

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.

-issuer_hash

outputs the ``hash'' of the certificate issuer name.

-ocspid

outputs the

OCSP

hash values for the subject name and public key.

-hash

synonym for ``-subject_hash'' for backward compatibility reasons.

-subject_hash_old

outputs the ``hash'' of the certificate subject name using the older algorithm as used by OpenSSL versions before 1.0.0.

-issuer_hash_old

outputs the ``hash'' of the certificate issuer name using the older algorithm as used by OpenSSL versions before 1.0.0.

-subject

outputs the subject name.

-issuer

outputs the issuer name.

-nameopt option

option which determines how the subject or issuer names are displayed. The option argument can be a single option or multiple options separated by commas. Alternatively the -nameopt switch may be used more than once to set multiple options. See the

NAME OPTIONS

section for more information.

-email

outputs the email address(es) if any.

-ocsp_uri

outputs the

OCSP

responder address(es) if any.

-startdate

prints out the start date of the certificate, that is the notBefore date.

-enddate

prints out the expiry date of the certificate, that is the notAfter date.

-dates

prints out the start and expiry dates of a certificate.

-checkend arg

checks if the certificate expires within the next arg seconds and exits non-zero if yes it will expire or zero if not.

-fingerprint

prints out the digest of the

DER

encoded version of the whole certificate (see digest options).

-C

this outputs the certificate in the form of a C source file.

TRUST SETTINGS

Please note these options are currently experimental and may well change.

A trusted certificate 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

any certificate chain ending in this is then usable for any purpose.

Trust settings currently are only used with a root

They allow a finer control over the purposes the root can be used for. For example a may be trusted for client but not server use.

See the description of the verify 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.

-trustout

this causes x509 to output a trusted certificate. An ordinary or trusted certificate can be input but by default an ordinary certificate is output and any trust settings are discarded. With the -trustout option a trusted certificate is output. A trusted certificate is automatically output if any trust settings are modified.

-setalias arg

sets the alias of the certificate. This will allow the certificate to be referred to using a nickname for example ``Steve's Certificate''.

-alias

outputs the certificate alias, if any.

-clrtrust

clears all the permitted or trusted uses of the certificate.

-clrreject

clears all the prohibited or rejected uses of the certificate.

-addtrust arg

adds a trusted certificate use. Any object name can be used here but currently only clientAuth (

SSL

client use), serverAuth (

SSL

server use) and emailProtection (S/MIME email) are used. Other OpenSSL applications may define additional uses.

-addreject arg

adds a prohibited use. It accepts the same values as the -addtrust option.

-purpose

this option performs tests on the certificate extensions and outputs the results. For a more complete description see the

CERTIFICATE EXTENSIONS

section.

SIGNING OPTIONS

The x509 utility can be used to sign certificates and requests: it can thus behave like a ``mini

-signkey filename

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 value determined by the -days option. Any certificate extensions are retained unless the -clrext 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.

-passin arg

the key password source. For more information about the format of arg see the

PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS

section in openssl(1).

-clrext

delete any extensions from a certificate. This option is used when a certificate is being created from another certificate (for example with the -signkey or the -CA options). Normally all extensions are retained.

-keyform PEM|DER

specifies the format (

DER

or

PEM

) of the private key file used in the -signkey option.

-days arg

specifies the number of days to make a certificate valid for. The default is 30 days.

-x509toreq

converts a certificate into a certificate request. The -signkey option is used to pass the required private key.

-req

by default a certificate is expected on input. With this option a certificate request is expected instead.

-set_serial n

specifies the serial number to use. This option can be used with either the -signkey or -CA options. If used in conjunction with the -CA option the serial number file (as specified by the -CAserial or -CAcreateserial options) is not used.

The serial number can be decimal or hex (if preceded by 0x). Negative serial numbers can also be specified but their use is not recommended.

-CA filename

specifies the

CA

certificate to be used for signing. When this option is present x509 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 -req option. Without the -req option the input is a certificate which must be self signed.

-CAkey filename

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.

-CAserial filename

sets the

CA

serial number file to use.

When the -CA 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''.

-CAcreateserial

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 as its serial number. Normally if the -CA option is specified and the serial number file does not exist it is an error.

-extfile filename

file containing certificate extensions to use. If not specified then no extensions are added to the certificate.

-extensions section

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. See the x509v3_config(5) manual page for details of the extension section format.

-force_pubkey key

when a certificate is created set its public key to key instead of the key in the certificate or certificate request. This option is useful for creating certificates where the algorithm can't normally sign requests, for example

DH.

The format or key can be specified using the -keyform option.

NAME OPTIONS

The nameopt command line switch determines how the subject and issuer names are displayed. If no nameopt 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 by a - to turn the option off. Only the first four will normally be used.

compat

use the old format. This is equivalent to specifying no name options at all.

RFC2253

displays names compatible with

RFC2253

equivalent to esc_2253, esc_ctrl, esc_msb, utf8, dump_nostr, dump_unknown, dump_der, sep_comma_plus, dn_rev and sname.

oneline

a oneline format which is more readable than

RFC2253.

It is equivalent to specifying the esc_2253, esc_ctrl, esc_msb, utf8, dump_nostr, dump_der, use_quote, sep_comma_plus_space, space_eq and sname options.

multiline

a multiline format. It is equivalent esc_ctrl, esc_msb, sep_multiline, space_eq, lname and align.

esc_2253

escape the ``special'' characters required by

RFC2253

in a field That is ,+"<>;. Additionally # is escaped at the beginning of a string and a space character at the beginning or end of a string.

esc_ctrl

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).

esc_msb

escape characters with the

MSB

set, that is with

ASCII

values larger than 127.

use_quote

escapes some characters by surrounding the whole string with " characters, without the option all escaping is done with the \ character.

utf8

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 not setting esc_msb) 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.

ignore_type

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.

show_type

show the type of the

ASN1

character string. The type precedes the field contents. For example ``

BMPSTRING:

Hello World''.

dump_der

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 be displayed. Both options use the

RFC2253

#XXXX... format.

dump_nostr

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.

dump_all

dump all fields. This option when used with dump_der allows the

DER

encoding of the structure to be unambiguously determined.

dump_unknown

dump any field whose

OID

is not recognised by OpenSSL.

sep_comma_plus, sep_comma_plus_space, sep_semi_plus_space, sep_multiline

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 make it more readable. The sep_multiline uses a linefeed character for the

RDN

separator and a spaced + for the

AVA

separator. It also indents the fields by four characters. If no field separator is specified then sep_comma_plus_space is used by default.

dn_rev

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.

nofname, sname, lname, oid

these options alter how the field name is displayed. nofname does not display the field at all. sname uses the ``short name'' form (

CN

for commonName for example). lname uses the long form. oid represents the

OID

in numerical form and is useful for diagnostic purpose.

align

align field values for a more readable output. Only usable with sep_multiline.

space_eq

places spaces round the = character which follows the field name.

TEXT OPTIONS

As well as customising the name output format, it is also possible to customise the actual fields printed using the certopt options when the text option is present. The default behaviour is to print all fields.

compatible

use the old format. This is equivalent to specifying no output options at all.

no_header

don't print header information: that is the lines saying ``Certificate'' and ``Data''.

no_version

don't print out the version number.

no_serial

don't print out the serial number.

no_signame

don't print out the signature algorithm used.

no_validity

don't print the validity, that is the notBefore and notAfter fields.

no_subject

don't print out the subject name.

no_issuer

don't print out the issuer name.

no_pubkey

don't print out the public key.

no_sigdump

don't give a hexadecimal dump of the certificate signature.

no_aux

don't print out certificate trust information.

no_extensions

don't print out any X509V3 extensions.

ext_default

retain default extension behaviour: attempt to print out unsupported certificate extensions.

ext_error

print an error message for unsupported certificate extensions.

ext_parse

ASN1

parse unsupported extensions.

ext_dump

hex dump unsupported extensions.

ca_default

the value used by the ca utility, equivalent to no_issuer, no_pubkey, no_header, no_version, no_sigdump and no_signame.

EXAMPLES

Note: in these examples the '\' means the example should be all on one line.

Display the contents of a certificate:

 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

form:

 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject -nameopt RFC2253

Display the certificate subject name in oneline form on a terminal supporting

 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -subject -nameopt oneline,-esc_msb

Display the certificate

fingerprint:

 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -noout -fingerprint

Display the certificate

fingerprint:

 openssl x509 -sha1 -in cert.pem -noout -fingerprint

Convert a certificate from

to 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

 openssl x509 -req -in careq.pem -extfile openssl.cnf -extensions v3_ca \
        -signkey key.pem -out cacert.pem

Sign a certificate request using the

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

client use and change set its alias to ``Steve's Class 1

 openssl x509 -in cert.pem -addtrust clientAuth \
        -setalias "Steve's Class 1 CA" -out trust.pem

NOTES

The 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

format used with the name options assumes that T61Strings use the character set. This is wrong but Netscape and do this as do many certificates. So although this is incorrect it is more likely to display the majority of certificates correctly.

The -fingerprint option takes the digest of the

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

whereas uses

The -email 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.

CERTIFICATE EXTENSIONS

The -purpose 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

flag is used to determine whether the certificate can be used as a If the flag is true then it is a if the flag is false then it is not a All CAs should have the flag set to true.

If the basicConstraints extension is absent then the certificate is considered to be a ``possible

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 however it is allowed to be a 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

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

certificate must 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 all

certificates.

SSL

Client

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.

SSL

Client

CA

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.

SSL

Server

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.

SSL

Server

CA

The extended key usage extension must be absent or 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.

Netscape

SSL

Server

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.

Common S/MIME Client Tests

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.

S/MIME Signing

In addition to the common S/MIME client tests the digitalSignature bit must be set if the keyUsage extension is present.

S/MIME Encryption

In addition to the common S/MIME tests the keyEncipherment bit must be set if the keyUsage extension is present.

S/MIME

CA

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.

CRL

Signing

The keyUsage extension must be absent or it must have the

CRL

signing bit set.

CRL

Signing

CA

The normal

CA

tests apply. Except in this case the basicConstraints extension must be present.

BUGS

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 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

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.

SEE ALSO

req(1), ca(1), genrsa(1), gendsa(1), verify(1), x509v3_config(5)

HISTORY

Before OpenSSL 0.9.8, the default digest for keys was

The hash algorithm used in the -subject_hash and -issuer_hash options before OpenSSL 1.0.0 was based on the deprecated

algorithm and the encoding of the distinguished name. In OpenSSL 1.0.0 and later it is based on a canonical version of the using This means that any directories using the old form must have their links rebuilt using c_rehash or similar.