1=pod 2{- OpenSSL::safe::output_do_not_edit_headers(); -} 3 4=head1 NAME 5 6openssl-ca - sample minimal CA application 7 8=head1 SYNOPSIS 9 10B<openssl> B<ca> 11[B<-help>] 12[B<-verbose>] 13[B<-quiet>] 14[B<-config> I<filename>] 15[B<-name> I<section>] 16[B<-section> I<section>] 17[B<-gencrl>] 18[B<-revoke> I<file>] 19[B<-valid> I<file>] 20[B<-status> I<serial>] 21[B<-updatedb>] 22[B<-crl_reason> I<reason>] 23[B<-crl_hold> I<instruction>] 24[B<-crl_compromise> I<time>] 25[B<-crl_CA_compromise> I<time>] 26[B<-crl_lastupdate> I<date>] 27[B<-crl_nextupdate> I<date>] 28[B<-crldays> I<days>] 29[B<-crlhours> I<hours>] 30[B<-crlsec> I<seconds>] 31[B<-crlexts> I<section>] 32[B<-startdate> I<date>] 33[B<-enddate> I<date>] 34[B<-days> I<arg>] 35[B<-md> I<arg>] 36[B<-policy> I<arg>] 37[B<-keyfile> I<filename>|I<uri>] 38[B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE>] 39[B<-key> I<arg>] 40[B<-passin> I<arg>] 41[B<-cert> I<file>] 42[B<-certform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>] 43[B<-selfsign>] 44[B<-in> I<file>] 45[B<-inform> B<DER>|<PEM>] 46[B<-out> I<file>] 47[B<-notext>] 48[B<-dateopt>] 49[B<-outdir> I<dir>] 50[B<-infiles>] 51[B<-spkac> I<file>] 52[B<-ss_cert> I<file>] 53[B<-preserveDN>] 54[B<-noemailDN>] 55[B<-batch>] 56[B<-msie_hack>] 57[B<-extensions> I<section>] 58[B<-extfile> I<section>] 59[B<-subj> I<arg>] 60[B<-utf8>] 61[B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>] 62[B<-vfyopt> I<nm>:I<v>] 63[B<-create_serial>] 64[B<-rand_serial>] 65[B<-multivalue-rdn>] 66{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_synopsis -} 67{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -} 68[I<certreq>...] 69 70=head1 DESCRIPTION 71 72This command emulates a CA application. 73See the B<WARNINGS> especially when considering to use it productively. 74It can be used to sign certificate requests (CSRs) in a variety of forms 75and generate certificate revocation lists (CRLs). 76It also maintains a text database of issued certificates and their status. 77When signing certificates, a single request can be specified 78with the B<-in> option, or multiple requests can be processed by 79specifying a set of B<certreq> files after all options. 80 81Note that there are also very lean ways of generating certificates: 82the B<req> and B<x509> commands can be used for directly creating certificates. 83See L<openssl-req(1)> and L<openssl-x509(1)> for details. 84 85The descriptions of the B<ca> command options are divided into each purpose. 86 87=head1 OPTIONS 88 89=over 4 90 91=item B<-help> 92 93Print out a usage message. 94 95=item B<-verbose> 96 97This prints extra details about the operations being performed. 98 99=item B<-quiet> 100 101This prints fewer details about the operations being performed, which may 102be handy during batch scripts or pipelines. 103 104=item B<-config> I<filename> 105 106Specifies the configuration file to use. 107Optional; for a description of the default value, 108see L<openssl(1)/COMMAND SUMMARY>. 109 110=item B<-name> I<section>, B<-section> I<section> 111 112Specifies the configuration file section to use (overrides 113B<default_ca> in the B<ca> section). 114 115=item B<-in> I<filename> 116 117An input filename containing a single certificate request (CSR) to be 118signed by the CA. 119 120=item B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM> 121 122The format of the data in certificate request input files; 123unspecified by default. 124See L<openssl-format-options(1)> for details. 125 126=item B<-ss_cert> I<filename> 127 128A single self-signed certificate to be signed by the CA. 129 130=item B<-spkac> I<filename> 131 132A file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge 133and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<SPKAC FORMAT> 134section for information on the required input and output format. 135 136=item B<-infiles> 137 138If present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments 139are taken as the names of files containing certificate requests. 140 141=item B<-out> I<filename> 142 143The output file to output certificates to. The default is standard 144output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this 145file in PEM format (except that B<-spkac> outputs DER format). 146 147=item B<-outdir> I<directory> 148 149The directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be 150written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with 151F<.pem> appended. 152 153=item B<-cert> I<filename> 154 155The CA certificate, which must match with B<-keyfile>. 156 157=item B<-certform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12> 158 159The format of the data in certificate input files; unspecified by default. 160See L<openssl-format-options(1)> for details. 161 162=item B<-keyfile> I<filename>|I<uri> 163 164The CA private key to sign certificate requests with. 165This must match with B<-cert>. 166 167=item B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>|B<P12>|B<ENGINE> 168 169The format of the private key input file; unspecified by default. 170See L<openssl-format-options(1)> for details. 171 172=item B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v> 173 174Pass options to the signature algorithm during sign operations. 175Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific. 176 177=item B<-vfyopt> I<nm>:I<v> 178 179Pass options to the signature algorithm during verify operations. 180Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific. 181 182This often needs to be given while signing too, because the self-signature of 183a certificate signing request (CSR) is verified against the included public key, 184and that verification may need its own set of options. 185 186=item B<-key> I<password> 187 188=for openssl foreign manual ps(1) 189 190The password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some 191systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g., when using 192L<ps(1)> on Unix), 193this option should be used with caution. 194Better use B<-passin>. 195 196=item B<-passin> I<arg> 197 198The key password source for key files and certificate PKCS#12 files. 199For more information about the format of B<arg> 200see L<openssl-passphrase-options(1)>. 201 202=item B<-selfsign> 203 204Indicates the issued certificates are to be signed with the key 205the certificate requests were signed with (given with B<-keyfile>). 206Certificate requests signed with a different key are ignored. 207If B<-spkac>, B<-ss_cert> or B<-gencrl> are given, B<-selfsign> is ignored. 208 209A consequence of using B<-selfsign> is that the self-signed 210certificate appears among the entries in the certificate database 211(see the configuration option B<database>), and uses the same 212serial number counter as all other certificates sign with the 213self-signed certificate. 214 215=item B<-notext> 216 217Don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file. 218 219=item B<-dateopt> 220 221Specify the date output format. Values are: rfc_822 and iso_8601. 222Defaults to rfc_822. 223 224=item B<-startdate> I<date> 225 226This allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the 227date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or 228YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In 229both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present. 230 231=item B<-enddate> I<date> 232 233This allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the 234date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or 235YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In 236both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present. 237 238=item B<-days> I<arg> 239 240The number of days to certify the certificate for. 241 242=item B<-md> I<alg> 243 244The message digest to use. 245Any digest supported by the L<openssl-dgst(1)> command can be used. For signing 246algorithms that do not support a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448) any message 247digest that is set is ignored. This option also applies to CRLs. 248 249=item B<-policy> I<arg> 250 251This option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in 252the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory 253or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section 254for more information. 255 256=item B<-msie_hack> 257 258This is a deprecated option to make this command work with very old versions 259of the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings 260for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs 261its use is strongly discouraged. 262 263=item B<-preserveDN> 264 265Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the 266fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order 267is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the 268older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their 269DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll. 270 271=item B<-noemailDN> 272 273The DN of a certificate can contain the EMAIL field if present in the 274request DN, however, it is good policy just having the e-mail set into 275the altName extension of the certificate. When this option is set the 276EMAIL field is removed from the certificate' subject and set only in 277the, eventually present, extensions. The B<email_in_dn> keyword can be 278used in the configuration file to enable this behaviour. 279 280=item B<-batch> 281 282This sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked 283and all certificates will be certified automatically. 284 285=item B<-extensions> I<section> 286 287The section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions 288to be added when a certificate is issued (defaults to B<x509_extensions> 289unless the B<-extfile> option is used). 290If no X.509 extensions are specified then a V1 certificate is created, 291else a V3 certificate is created. 292See the L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the 293extension section format. 294 295=item B<-extfile> I<file> 296 297An additional configuration file to read certificate extensions from 298(using the default section unless the B<-extensions> option is also 299used). 300 301=item B<-subj> I<arg> 302 303Supersedes subject name given in the request. 304 305The arg must be formatted as C</type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...>. 306Special characters may be escaped by C<\> (backslash), whitespace is retained. 307Empty values are permitted, but the corresponding type will not be included 308in the resulting certificate. 309Giving a single C</> will lead to an empty sequence of RDNs (a NULL-DN). 310Multi-valued RDNs can be formed by placing a C<+> character instead of a C</> 311between the AttributeValueAssertions (AVAs) that specify the members of the set. 312Example: 313 314C</DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe> 315 316=item B<-utf8> 317 318This option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings, by 319default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field 320values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a 321configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings. 322 323=item B<-create_serial> 324 325If reading serial from the text file as specified in the configuration 326fails, specifying this option creates a new random serial to be used as next 327serial number. 328To get random serial numbers, use the B<-rand_serial> flag instead; this 329should only be used for simple error-recovery. 330 331=item B<-rand_serial> 332 333Generate a large random number to use as the serial number. 334This overrides any option or configuration to use a serial number file. 335 336=item B<-multivalue-rdn> 337 338This option has been deprecated and has no effect. 339 340{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_item -} 341 342{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -} 343 344{- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -} 345 346=back 347 348=head1 CRL OPTIONS 349 350=over 4 351 352=item B<-gencrl> 353 354This option generates a CRL based on information in the index file. 355 356=item B<-crl_lastupdate> I<time> 357 358Allows the value of the CRL's lastUpdate field to be explicitly set; if 359this option is not present, the current time is used. Accepts times in 360YYMMDDHHMMSSZ format (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure) or 361YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ format (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). 362 363=item B<-crl_nextupdate> I<time> 364 365Allows the value of the CRL's nextUpdate field to be explicitly set; if 366this option is present, any values given for B<-crldays>, B<-crlhours> 367and B<-crlsec> are ignored. Accepts times in the same formats as 368B<-crl_lastupdate>. 369 370=item B<-crldays> I<num> 371 372The number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from 373now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field. 374 375=item B<-crlhours> I<num> 376 377The number of hours before the next CRL is due. 378 379=item B<-crlsec> I<num> 380 381The number of seconds before the next CRL is due. 382 383=item B<-revoke> I<filename> 384 385A filename containing a certificate to revoke. 386 387=item B<-valid> I<filename> 388 389A filename containing a certificate to add a Valid certificate entry. 390 391=item B<-status> I<serial> 392 393Displays the revocation status of the certificate with the specified 394serial number and exits. 395 396=item B<-updatedb> 397 398Updates the database index to purge expired certificates. 399 400=item B<-crl_reason> I<reason> 401 402Revocation reason, where I<reason> is one of: B<unspecified>, B<keyCompromise>, 403B<CACompromise>, B<affiliationChanged>, B<superseded>, B<cessationOfOperation>, 404B<certificateHold> or B<removeFromCRL>. The matching of I<reason> is case 405insensitive. Setting any revocation reason will make the CRL v2. 406 407In practice B<removeFromCRL> is not particularly useful because it is only used 408in delta CRLs which are not currently implemented. 409 410=item B<-crl_hold> I<instruction> 411 412This sets the CRL revocation reason code to B<certificateHold> and the hold 413instruction to I<instruction> which must be an OID. Although any OID can be 414used only B<holdInstructionNone> (the use of which is discouraged by RFC2459) 415B<holdInstructionCallIssuer> or B<holdInstructionReject> will normally be used. 416 417=item B<-crl_compromise> I<time> 418 419This sets the revocation reason to B<keyCompromise> and the compromise time to 420I<time>. I<time> should be in GeneralizedTime format that is I<YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ>. 421 422=item B<-crl_CA_compromise> I<time> 423 424This is the same as B<crl_compromise> except the revocation reason is set to 425B<CACompromise>. 426 427=item B<-crlexts> I<section> 428 429The section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to 430include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is 431created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is 432empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are 433CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted 434that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs. See 435L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the 436extension section format. 437 438=back 439 440=head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS 441 442The section of the configuration file containing options for this command 443is found as follows: If the B<-name> command line option is used, 444then it names the section to be used. Otherwise the section to 445be used must be named in the B<default_ca> option of the B<ca> section 446of the configuration file (or in the default section of the 447configuration file). Besides B<default_ca>, the following options are 448read directly from the B<ca> section: 449 RANDFILE 450 preserve 451 msie_hack 452With the exception of B<RANDFILE>, this is probably a bug and may 453change in future releases. 454 455Many of the configuration file options are identical to command line 456options. Where the option is present in the configuration file 457and the command line the command line value is used. Where an 458option is described as mandatory then it must be present in 459the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if 460any) used. 461 462=over 4 463 464=item B<oid_file> 465 466This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>. 467Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the 468object identifier followed by whitespace then the short name followed 469by whitespace and finally the long name. 470 471=item B<oid_section> 472 473This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra 474object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the 475object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short 476and long names are the same when this option is used. 477 478=item B<new_certs_dir> 479 480The same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies 481the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory. 482 483=item B<certificate> 484 485The same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA 486certificate. Mandatory. 487 488=item B<private_key> 489 490Same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the 491CA private key. Mandatory. 492 493=item B<RANDFILE> 494 495At startup the specified file is loaded into the random number generator, 496and at exit 256 bytes will be written to it. (Note: Using a RANDFILE is 497not necessary anymore, see the L</HISTORY> section. 498 499=item B<default_days> 500 501The same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify 502a certificate for. 503 504=item B<default_startdate> 505 506The same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify 507a certificate for. If not set the current time is used. 508 509=item B<default_enddate> 510 511The same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or 512B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be 513present. 514 515=item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days> 516 517The same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These 518will only be used if neither command line option is present. At 519least one of these must be present to generate a CRL. 520 521=item B<default_md> 522 523The same as the B<-md> option. Mandatory except where the signing algorithm does 524not require a digest (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448). 525 526=item B<database> 527 528The text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present 529though initially it will be empty. 530 531=item B<unique_subject> 532 533If the value B<yes> is given, the valid certificate entries in the 534database must have unique subjects. if the value B<no> is given, 535several valid certificate entries may have the exact same subject. 536The default value is B<yes>, to be compatible with older (pre 0.9.8) 537versions of OpenSSL. However, to make CA certificate roll-over easier, 538it's recommended to use the value B<no>, especially if combined with 539the B<-selfsign> command line option. 540 541Note that it is valid in some circumstances for certificates to be created 542without any subject. In the case where there are multiple certificates without 543subjects this does not count as a duplicate. 544 545=item B<serial> 546 547A text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory. 548This file must be present and contain a valid serial number. 549 550=item B<crlnumber> 551 552A text file containing the next CRL number to use in hex. The crl number 553will be inserted in the CRLs only if this file exists. If this file is 554present, it must contain a valid CRL number. 555 556=item B<x509_extensions> 557 558A fallback to the B<-extensions> option. 559 560=item B<crl_extensions> 561 562A fallback to the B<-crlexts> option. 563 564=item B<preserve> 565 566The same as B<-preserveDN> 567 568=item B<email_in_dn> 569 570The same as B<-noemailDN>. If you want the EMAIL field to be removed 571from the DN of the certificate simply set this to 'no'. If not present 572the default is to allow for the EMAIL filed in the certificate's DN. 573 574=item B<msie_hack> 575 576The same as B<-msie_hack> 577 578=item B<policy> 579 580The same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section 581for more information. 582 583=item B<name_opt>, B<cert_opt> 584 585These options allow the format used to display the certificate details 586when asking the user to confirm signing. All the options supported by 587the B<x509> utilities B<-nameopt> and B<-certopt> switches can be used 588here, except the B<no_signame> and B<no_sigdump> are permanently set 589and cannot be disabled (this is because the certificate signature cannot 590be displayed because the certificate has not been signed at this point). 591 592For convenience the values B<ca_default> are accepted by both to produce 593a reasonable output. 594 595If neither option is present the format used in earlier versions of 596OpenSSL is used. Use of the old format is B<strongly> discouraged because 597it only displays fields mentioned in the B<policy> section, mishandles 598multicharacter string types and does not display extensions. 599 600=item B<copy_extensions> 601 602Determines how extensions in certificate requests should be handled. 603If set to B<none> or this option is not present then extensions are 604ignored and not copied to the certificate. If set to B<copy> then any 605extensions present in the request that are not already present are copied 606to the certificate. If set to B<copyall> then all extensions in the 607request are copied to the certificate: if the extension is already present 608in the certificate it is deleted first. See the B<WARNINGS> section before 609using this option. 610 611The main use of this option is to allow a certificate request to supply 612values for certain extensions such as subjectAltName. 613 614=back 615 616=head1 POLICY FORMAT 617 618The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to 619certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value 620must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is 621"supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then 622it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section 623are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but 624this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour. 625 626=head1 SPKAC FORMAT 627 628The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape 629signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from 630the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key. 631It is however possible to create SPKACs using L<openssl-spkac(1)>. 632 633The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of 634the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs. 635If you need to include the same component twice then it can be 636preceded by a number and a '.'. 637 638When processing SPKAC format, the output is DER if the B<-out> 639flag is used, but PEM format if sending to stdout or the B<-outdir> 640flag is used. 641 642=head1 EXAMPLES 643 644Note: these examples assume that the directory structure this command 645assumes is already set up and the relevant files already exist. This 646usually involves creating a CA certificate and private key with 647L<openssl-req(1)>, a serial number file and an empty index file and 648placing them in the relevant directories. 649 650To use the sample configuration file below the directories F<demoCA>, 651F<demoCA/private> and F<demoCA/newcerts> would be created. The CA 652certificate would be copied to F<demoCA/cacert.pem> and its private 653key to F<demoCA/private/cakey.pem>. A file F<demoCA/serial> would be 654created containing for example "01" and the empty index file 655F<demoCA/index.txt>. 656 657 658Sign a certificate request: 659 660 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem 661 662Sign an SM2 certificate request: 663 664 openssl ca -in sm2.csr -out sm2.crt -md sm3 \ 665 -sigopt "distid:1234567812345678" \ 666 -vfyopt "distid:1234567812345678" 667 668Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions: 669 670 openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem 671 672Generate a CRL 673 674 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem 675 676Sign several requests: 677 678 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem 679 680Certify a Netscape SPKAC: 681 682 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt 683 684A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity): 685 686 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5 687 CN=Steve Test 688 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org 689 0.OU=OpenSSL Group 690 1.OU=Another Group 691 692A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for this command: 693 694 [ ca ] 695 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section 696 697 [ CA_default ] 698 699 dir = ./demoCA # top dir 700 database = $dir/index.txt # index file. 701 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir 702 703 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert 704 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file 705 #rand_serial = yes # for random serial#'s 706 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key 707 708 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for 709 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL 710 default_md = md5 # md to use 711 712 policy = policy_any # default policy 713 email_in_dn = no # Don't add the email into cert DN 714 715 name_opt = ca_default # Subject name display option 716 cert_opt = ca_default # Certificate display option 717 copy_extensions = none # Don't copy extensions from request 718 719 [ policy_any ] 720 countryName = supplied 721 stateOrProvinceName = optional 722 organizationName = optional 723 organizationalUnitName = optional 724 commonName = supplied 725 emailAddress = optional 726 727=head1 FILES 728 729Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options, 730configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options. 731The values below reflect the default values. 732 733 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file 734 ./demoCA - main CA directory 735 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate 736 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key 737 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file 738 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file 739 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file 740 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file 741 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file 742 743=head1 RESTRICTIONS 744 745The text database index file is a critical part of the process and 746if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible 747to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current 748CRL: however there is no option to do this. 749 750V2 CRL features like delta CRLs are not currently supported. 751 752Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only 753possible to include one SPKAC or self-signed certificate. 754 755=head1 BUGS 756 757This command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly. 758 759The use of an in-memory text database can cause problems when large 760numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies 761the database has to be kept in memory. 762 763This command really needs rewriting or the required functionality 764exposed at either a command or interface level so that a more user-friendly 765replacement could handle things properly. The script 766B<CA.pl> helps a little but not very much. 767 768Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently 769deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used. To 770enforce the absence of the EMAIL field within the DN, as suggested by 771RFCs, regardless the contents of the request' subject the B<-noemailDN> 772option can be used. The behaviour should be more friendly and 773configurable. 774 775Canceling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can 776create an empty file. 777 778=head1 WARNINGS 779 780This command was originally meant as an example of how to do things in a CA. 781Its code does not have production quality. 782It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself, 783nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose at least internally. 784When doing so, specific care should be taken to 785properly secure the private key(s) used for signing certificates. 786It is advisable to keep them in a secure HW storage such as a smart card or HSM 787and access them via a suitable engine or crypto provider. 788 789This command is effectively a single user command: no locking 790is done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<openssl ca> 791command on the same database can have unpredictable results. 792 793The B<copy_extensions> option should be used with caution. If care is 794not taken then it can be a security risk. For example if a certificate 795request contains a basicConstraints extension with CA:TRUE and the 796B<copy_extensions> value is set to B<copyall> and the user does not spot 797this when the certificate is displayed then this will hand the requester 798a valid CA certificate. 799This situation can be avoided by setting B<copy_extensions> to B<copy> 800and including basicConstraints with CA:FALSE in the configuration file. 801Then if the request contains a basicConstraints extension it will be 802ignored. 803 804It is advisable to also include values for other extensions such 805as B<keyUsage> to prevent a request supplying its own values. 806 807Additional restrictions can be placed on the CA certificate itself. 808For example if the CA certificate has: 809 810 basicConstraints = CA:TRUE, pathlen:0 811 812then even if a certificate is issued with CA:TRUE it will not be valid. 813 814=head1 HISTORY 815 816Since OpenSSL 1.1.1, the program follows RFC5280. Specifically, 817certificate validity period (specified by any of B<-startdate>, 818B<-enddate> and B<-days>) and CRL last/next update time (specified by 819any of B<-crl_lastupdate>, B<-crl_nextupdate>, B<-crldays>, B<-crlhours> 820and B<-crlsec>) will be encoded as UTCTime if the dates are 821earlier than year 2049 (included), and as GeneralizedTime if the dates 822are in year 2050 or later. 823 824OpenSSL 1.1.1 introduced a new random generator (CSPRNG) with an improved 825seeding mechanism. The new seeding mechanism makes it unnecessary to 826define a RANDFILE for saving and restoring randomness. This option is 827retained mainly for compatibility reasons. 828 829The B<-section> option was added in OpenSSL 3.0.0. 830 831The B<-multivalue-rdn> option has become obsolete in OpenSSL 3.0.0 and 832has no effect. 833 834The B<-engine> option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0. 835 836=head1 SEE ALSO 837 838L<openssl(1)>, 839L<openssl-req(1)>, 840L<openssl-spkac(1)>, 841L<openssl-x509(1)>, 842L<CA.pl(1)>, 843L<config(5)>, 844L<x509v3_config(5)> 845 846=head1 COPYRIGHT 847 848Copyright 2000-2022 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved. 849 850Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use 851this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy 852in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at 853L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>. 854 855=cut 856