5 openssl-ocsp - Online Certificate Status Protocol utility
30 [B<-multi process-count>]
37 [B<-attime timestamp>]
59 [B<-verify_depth num>]
60 [B<-verify_email email>]
61 [B<-verify_hostname hostname>]
63 [B<-verify_name name>]
66 [B<-validity_period n>]
69 [B<-verify_other file>]
72 [B<-no_signature_verify>]
95 The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) enables applications to
96 determine the (revocation) state of an identified certificate (RFC 2560).
98 The B<ocsp> command performs many common OCSP tasks. It can be used
99 to print out requests and responses, create requests and send queries
100 to an OCSP responder and behave like a mini OCSP server itself.
104 This command operates as either a client or a server.
105 The options are described below, divided into those two modes.
107 =head2 OCSP Client Options
113 Print out a usage message.
115 =item B<-out filename>
117 specify output filename, default is standard output.
119 =item B<-issuer filename>
121 This specifies the current issuer certificate. This option can be used
122 multiple times. The certificate specified in B<filename> must be in
123 PEM format. This option B<MUST> come before any B<-cert> options.
125 =item B<-cert filename>
127 Add the certificate B<filename> to the request. The issuer certificate
128 is taken from the previous B<issuer> option, or an error occurs if no
129 issuer certificate is specified.
133 Same as the B<cert> option except the certificate with serial number
134 B<num> is added to the request. The serial number is interpreted as a
135 decimal integer unless preceded by B<0x>. Negative integers can also
136 be specified by preceding the value by a B<-> sign.
138 =item B<-signer filename>, B<-signkey filename>
140 Sign the OCSP request using the certificate specified in the B<signer>
141 option and the private key specified by the B<signkey> option. If
142 the B<signkey> option is not present then the private key is read
143 from the same file as the certificate. If neither option is specified then
144 the OCSP request is not signed.
146 =item B<-sign_other filename>
148 Additional certificates to include in the signed request.
150 =item B<-nonce>, B<-no_nonce>
152 Add an OCSP nonce extension to a request or disable OCSP nonce addition.
153 Normally if an OCSP request is input using the B<reqin> option no
154 nonce is added: using the B<nonce> option will force addition of a nonce.
155 If an OCSP request is being created (using B<cert> and B<serial> options)
156 a nonce is automatically added specifying B<no_nonce> overrides this.
158 =item B<-req_text>, B<-resp_text>, B<-text>
160 Print out the text form of the OCSP request, response or both respectively.
162 =item B<-reqout file>, B<-respout file>
164 Write out the DER encoded certificate request or response to B<file>.
166 =item B<-reqin file>, B<-respin file>
168 Read OCSP request or response file from B<file>. These option are ignored
169 if OCSP request or response creation is implied by other options (for example
170 with B<serial>, B<cert> and B<host> options).
172 =item B<-url responder_url>
174 Specify the responder URL. Both HTTP and HTTPS (SSL/TLS) URLs can be specified.
176 =item B<-host hostname:port>, B<-path pathname>
178 If the B<host> option is present then the OCSP request is sent to the host
179 B<hostname> on port B<port>. B<path> specifies the HTTP path name to use
180 or "/" by default. This is equivalent to specifying B<-url> with scheme
181 http:// and the given hostname, port, and pathname.
183 =item B<-header name=value>
185 Adds the header B<name> with the specified B<value> to the OCSP request
186 that is sent to the responder.
187 This may be repeated.
189 =item B<-timeout seconds>
191 Connection timeout to the OCSP responder in seconds.
192 On POSIX systems, when running as an OCSP responder, this option also limits
193 the time that the responder is willing to wait for the client request.
194 This time is measured from the time the responder accepts the connection until
195 the complete request is received.
197 =item B<-multi process-count>
199 Run the specified number of OCSP responder child processes, with the parent
200 process respawning child processes as needed.
201 Child processes will detect changes in the CA index file and automatically
203 When running as a responder B<-timeout> option is recommended to limit the time
204 each child is willing to wait for the client's OCSP response.
205 This option is available on POSIX systems (that support the fork() and other
206 required unix system-calls).
208 =item B<-CAfile file>, B<-CApath pathname>
210 File or pathname containing trusted CA certificates. These are used to verify
211 the signature on the OCSP response.
215 Do not load the trusted CA certificates from the default file location
219 Do not load the trusted CA certificates from the default directory location
221 =item B<-attime>, B<-check_ss_sig>, B<-crl_check>, B<-crl_check_all>,
222 B<-explicit_policy>, B<-extended_crl>, B<-ignore_critical>, B<-inhibit_any>,
223 B<-inhibit_map>, B<-no_alt_chains>, B<-no_check_time>, B<-partial_chain>, B<-policy>,
224 B<-policy_check>, B<-policy_print>, B<-purpose>, B<-suiteB_128>,
225 B<-suiteB_128_only>, B<-suiteB_192>, B<-trusted_first>, B<-use_deltas>,
226 B<-auth_level>, B<-verify_depth>, B<-verify_email>, B<-verify_hostname>,
227 B<-verify_ip>, B<-verify_name>, B<-x509_strict>
229 Set different certificate verification options.
230 See L<verify(1)> manual page for details.
232 =item B<-verify_other file>
234 File containing additional certificates to search when attempting to locate
235 the OCSP response signing certificate. Some responders omit the actual signer's
236 certificate from the response: this option can be used to supply the necessary
237 certificate in such cases.
239 =item B<-trust_other>
241 The certificates specified by the B<-verify_other> option should be explicitly
242 trusted and no additional checks will be performed on them. This is useful
243 when the complete responder certificate chain is not available or trusting a
244 root CA is not appropriate.
246 =item B<-VAfile file>
248 File containing explicitly trusted responder certificates. Equivalent to the
249 B<-verify_other> and B<-trust_other> options.
253 Don't attempt to verify the OCSP response signature or the nonce
254 values. This option will normally only be used for debugging since it
255 disables all verification of the responders certificate.
259 Ignore certificates contained in the OCSP response when searching for the
260 signers certificate. With this option the signers certificate must be specified
261 with either the B<-verify_other> or B<-VAfile> options.
263 =item B<-no_signature_verify>
265 Don't check the signature on the OCSP response. Since this option
266 tolerates invalid signatures on OCSP responses it will normally only be
267 used for testing purposes.
269 =item B<-no_cert_verify>
271 Don't verify the OCSP response signers certificate at all. Since this
272 option allows the OCSP response to be signed by any certificate it should
273 only be used for testing purposes.
277 Do not use certificates in the response as additional untrusted CA
280 =item B<-no_explicit>
282 Do not explicitly trust the root CA if it is set to be trusted for OCSP signing.
284 =item B<-no_cert_checks>
286 Don't perform any additional checks on the OCSP response signers certificate.
287 That is do not make any checks to see if the signers certificate is authorised
288 to provide the necessary status information: as a result this option should
289 only be used for testing purposes.
291 =item B<-validity_period nsec>, B<-status_age age>
293 These options specify the range of times, in seconds, which will be tolerated
294 in an OCSP response. Each certificate status response includes a B<notBefore>
295 time and an optional B<notAfter> time. The current time should fall between
296 these two values, but the interval between the two times may be only a few
297 seconds. In practice the OCSP responder and clients clocks may not be precisely
298 synchronised and so such a check may fail. To avoid this the
299 B<-validity_period> option can be used to specify an acceptable error range in
300 seconds, the default value is 5 minutes.
302 If the B<notAfter> time is omitted from a response then this means that new
303 status information is immediately available. In this case the age of the
304 B<notBefore> field is checked to see it is not older than B<age> seconds old.
305 By default this additional check is not performed.
307 =item B<-rcid I<digest>>
309 This option sets the digest algorithm to use for certificate identification
310 in the OCSP response. Any digest supported by the OpenSSL B<dgst> command can
311 be used. The default is the same digest algorithm used in the request.
315 This option sets digest algorithm to use for certificate identification in the
316 OCSP request. Any digest supported by the OpenSSL B<dgst> command can be used.
317 The default is SHA-1. This option may be used multiple times to specify the
318 digest used by subsequent certificate identifiers.
322 =head2 OCSP Server Options
326 =item B<-index indexfile>
328 The B<indexfile> parameter is the name of a text index file in B<ca>
329 format containing certificate revocation information.
331 If the B<index> option is specified the B<ocsp> utility is in responder
332 mode, otherwise it is in client mode. The request(s) the responder
333 processes can be either specified on the command line (using B<issuer>
334 and B<serial> options), supplied in a file (using the B<reqin> option)
335 or via external OCSP clients (if B<port> or B<url> is specified).
337 If the B<index> option is present then the B<CA> and B<rsigner> options
338 must also be present.
342 CA certificate corresponding to the revocation information in B<indexfile>.
344 =item B<-rsigner file>
346 The certificate to sign OCSP responses with.
348 =item B<-rother file>
350 Additional certificates to include in the OCSP response.
352 =item B<-resp_no_certs>
354 Don't include any certificates in the OCSP response.
356 =item B<-resp_key_id>
358 Identify the signer certificate using the key ID, default is to use the
363 The private key to sign OCSP responses with: if not present the file
364 specified in the B<rsigner> option is used.
366 =item B<-rsigopt nm:v>
368 Pass options to the signature algorithm when signing OCSP responses.
369 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
371 =item B<-port portnum>
373 Port to listen for OCSP requests on. The port may also be specified
374 using the B<url> option.
378 Ignore malformed requests or responses: When acting as an OCSP client, retry if
379 a malformed response is received. When acting as an OCSP responder, continue
380 running instead of terminating upon receiving a malformed request.
382 =item B<-nrequest number>
384 The OCSP server will exit after receiving B<number> requests, default unlimited.
386 =item B<-nmin minutes>, B<-ndays days>
388 Number of minutes or days when fresh revocation information is available:
389 used in the B<nextUpdate> field. If neither option is present then the
390 B<nextUpdate> field is omitted meaning fresh revocation information is
391 immediately available.
395 =head1 OCSP Response verification.
397 OCSP Response follows the rules specified in RFC2560.
399 Initially the OCSP responder certificate is located and the signature on
400 the OCSP request checked using the responder certificate's public key.
402 Then a normal certificate verify is performed on the OCSP responder certificate
403 building up a certificate chain in the process. The locations of the trusted
404 certificates used to build the chain can be specified by the B<CAfile>
405 and B<CApath> options or they will be looked for in the standard OpenSSL
406 certificates directory.
408 If the initial verify fails then the OCSP verify process halts with an
411 Otherwise the issuing CA certificate in the request is compared to the OCSP
412 responder certificate: if there is a match then the OCSP verify succeeds.
414 Otherwise the OCSP responder certificate's CA is checked against the issuing
415 CA certificate in the request. If there is a match and the OCSPSigning
416 extended key usage is present in the OCSP responder certificate then the
417 OCSP verify succeeds.
419 Otherwise, if B<-no_explicit> is B<not> set the root CA of the OCSP responders
420 CA is checked to see if it is trusted for OCSP signing. If it is the OCSP
423 If none of these checks is successful then the OCSP verify fails.
425 What this effectively means if that if the OCSP responder certificate is
426 authorised directly by the CA it is issuing revocation information about
427 (and it is correctly configured) then verification will succeed.
429 If the OCSP responder is a "global responder" which can give details about
430 multiple CAs and has its own separate certificate chain then its root
431 CA can be trusted for OCSP signing. For example:
433 openssl x509 -in ocspCA.pem -addtrust OCSPSigning -out trustedCA.pem
435 Alternatively the responder certificate itself can be explicitly trusted
436 with the B<-VAfile> option.
440 As noted, most of the verify options are for testing or debugging purposes.
441 Normally only the B<-CApath>, B<-CAfile> and (if the responder is a 'global
442 VA') B<-VAfile> options need to be used.
444 The OCSP server is only useful for test and demonstration purposes: it is
445 not really usable as a full OCSP responder. It contains only a very
446 simple HTTP request handling and can only handle the POST form of OCSP
447 queries. It also handles requests serially meaning it cannot respond to
448 new requests until it has processed the current one. The text index file
449 format of revocation is also inefficient for large quantities of revocation
452 It is possible to run the B<ocsp> application in responder mode via a CGI
453 script using the B<reqin> and B<respout> options.
457 Create an OCSP request and write it to a file:
459 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem -reqout req.der
461 Send a query to an OCSP responder with URL http://ocsp.myhost.com/ save the
462 response to a file, print it out in text form, and verify the response:
464 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem \
465 -url http://ocsp.myhost.com/ -resp_text -respout resp.der
467 Read in an OCSP response and print out text form:
469 openssl ocsp -respin resp.der -text -noverify
471 OCSP server on port 8888 using a standard B<ca> configuration, and a separate
472 responder certificate. All requests and responses are printed to a file.
474 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
477 As above but exit after processing one request:
479 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
482 Query status information using an internally generated request:
484 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
485 -issuer demoCA/cacert.pem -serial 1
487 Query status information using request read from a file, and write the response
490 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
491 -reqin req.der -respout resp.der
495 The -no_alt_chains option was added in OpenSSL 1.1.0.
499 Copyright 2001-2019 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
501 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
502 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
503 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
504 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.