2 {- OpenSSL::safe::output_do_not_edit_headers(); -}
6 openssl-req - PKCS#10 certificate request and certificate generating command
12 [B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM>]
13 [B<-outform> B<DER>|B<PEM>]
25 [B<-pkeyopt> I<opt>:I<value>]
28 [B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>]
29 [B<-keyout> I<filename>]
30 [B<-keygen_engine> I<id>]
32 [B<-config> I<filename>]
40 [B<-extensions> I<section>]
41 [B<-reqexts> I<section>]
47 [B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
48 [B<-vfyopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
51 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_name_synopsis -}
52 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_synopsis -}
53 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_synopsis -}
54 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -}
56 =for openssl ifdef engine keygen_engine
60 This command primarily creates and processes certificate requests
61 in PKCS#10 format. It can additionally create self signed certificates
62 for use as root CAs for example.
70 Print out a usage message.
72 =item B<-inform> B<DER>|B<PEM>, B<-outform> B<DER>|B<PEM>
74 The input and formats; the default is B<PEM>.
75 See L<openssl(1)/Format Options> for details.
77 The data is a PKCS#10 object.
79 =item B<-in> I<filename>
81 This specifies the input filename to read a request from or standard input
82 if this option is not specified. A request is only read if the creation
83 options (B<-new> and B<-newkey>) are not specified.
85 =item B<-sigopt> I<nm>:I<v>
87 Pass options to the signature algorithm during sign operations.
88 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
90 =item B<-vfyopt> I<nm>:I<v>
92 Pass options to the signature algorithm during verify operations.
93 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
97 Maybe it would be preferable to only have -opts instead of -sigopt and
98 -vfyopt? They are both present here to be compatible with L<openssl-ca(1)>,
99 which supports both options for good reasons.
103 =item B<-passin> I<arg>, B<-passout> I<arg>
105 The password source for the input and output file.
106 For more information about the format of B<arg>
107 see L<openssl(1)/Pass Phrase Options>.
109 =item B<-out> I<filename>
111 This specifies the output filename to write to or standard output by
116 Prints out the certificate request in text form.
120 Prints out the request subject (or certificate subject if B<-x509> is
125 Outputs the public key.
129 This option prevents output of the encoded version of the request.
133 This option prints out the value of the modulus of the public key
134 contained in the request.
138 Verifies the signature on the request.
142 This option generates a new certificate request. It will prompt
143 the user for the relevant field values. The actual fields
144 prompted for and their maximum and minimum sizes are specified
145 in the configuration file and any requested extensions.
147 If the B<-key> option is not used it will generate a new RSA private
148 key using information specified in the configuration file.
150 =item B<-newkey> I<arg>
152 This option creates a new certificate request and a new private
153 key. The argument takes one of several forms.
155 B<rsa:>I<nbits>, where
156 I<nbits> is the number of bits, generates an RSA key I<nbits>
157 in size. If I<nbits> is omitted, i.e. B<-newkey> I<rsa> specified,
158 the default key size, specified in the configuration file is used.
160 All other algorithms support the B<-newkey> I<alg>:I<file> form, where file
161 may be an algorithm parameter file, created with C<openssl genpkey -genparam>
162 or an X.509 certificate for a key with appropriate algorithm.
164 B<param:>I<file> generates a key using the parameter file or certificate
165 I<file>, the algorithm is determined by the parameters. I<algname>:I<file>
166 use algorithm I<algname> and parameter file I<file>: the two algorithms must
167 match or an error occurs. I<algname> just uses algorithm I<algname>, and
168 parameters, if necessary should be specified via B<-pkeyopt> parameter.
170 B<dsa:>I<filename> generates a DSA key using the parameters
171 in the file I<filename>. B<ec:>I<filename> generates EC key (usable both with
172 ECDSA or ECDH algorithms), B<gost2001:>I<filename> generates GOST R
173 34.10-2001 key (requires B<gost> engine configured in the configuration
174 file). If just B<gost2001> is specified a parameter set should be
175 specified by B<-pkeyopt> I<paramset:X>
177 =item B<-pkeyopt> I<opt>:I<value>
179 Set the public key algorithm option I<opt> to I<value>. The precise set of
180 options supported depends on the public key algorithm used and its
182 See L<openssl-genpkey(1)/KEY GENERATION OPTIONS> for more details.
184 =item B<-key> I<filename>
186 This specifies the file to read the private key from. It also
187 accepts PKCS#8 format private keys for PEM format files.
189 =item B<-keyform> B<DER>|B<PEM>
191 The format of the private key; the default is B<PEM>.
192 See L<openssl(1)/Format Options> for details.
194 =item B<-keyout> I<filename>
196 This gives the filename to write the newly created private key to.
197 If this option is not specified then the filename present in the
198 configuration file is used.
202 If this option is specified then if a private key is created it
203 will not be encrypted.
207 This specifies the message digest to sign the request.
208 Any digest supported by the OpenSSL B<dgst> command can be used.
209 This overrides the digest algorithm specified in
210 the configuration file.
212 Some public key algorithms may override this choice. For instance, DSA
213 signatures always use SHA1, GOST R 34.10 signatures always use
214 GOST R 34.11-94 (B<-md_gost94>), Ed25519 and Ed448 never use any digest.
216 =item B<-config> I<filename>
218 This allows an alternative configuration file to be specified.
219 Optional; for a description of the default value,
220 see L<openssl(1)/COMMAND SUMMARY>.
222 =item B<-section> I<name>
224 Specifies the name of the section to use; the default is B<req>.
226 =item B<-subj> I<arg>
228 Sets subject name for new request or supersedes the subject name
229 when processing a request.
230 The arg must be formatted as C</type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...>.
231 Keyword characters may be escaped by \ (backslash), and whitespace is retained.
232 Empty values are permitted, but the corresponding type will not be included
235 =item B<-multivalue-rdn>
237 This option causes the -subj argument to be interpreted with full
238 support for multivalued RDNs. Example:
240 C</DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe>
242 If -multi-rdn is not used then the UID value is C<123456+CN=John Doe>.
246 This option outputs a self signed certificate instead of a certificate
247 request. This is typically used to generate a test certificate or
248 a self signed root CA. The extensions added to the certificate
249 (if any) are specified in the configuration file. Unless specified
250 using the B<-set_serial> option, a large random number will be used for
253 If existing request is specified with the B<-in> option, it is converted
254 to the self signed certificate otherwise new request is created.
258 When the B<-x509> option is being used this specifies the number of
259 days to certify the certificate for, otherwise it is ignored. I<n> should
260 be a positive integer. The default is 30 days.
262 =item B<-set_serial> I<n>
264 Serial number to use when outputting a self signed certificate. This
265 may be specified as a decimal value or a hex value if preceded by C<0x>.
267 =item B<-addext> I<ext>
269 Add a specific extension to the certificate (if the B<-x509> option is
270 present) or certificate request. The argument must have the form of
271 a key=value pair as it would appear in a config file.
273 This option can be given multiple times.
275 =item B<-extensions> I<section>
277 =item B<-reqexts> I<section>
279 These options specify alternative sections to include certificate
280 extensions (if the B<-x509> option is present) or certificate
281 request extensions. This allows several different sections to
282 be used in the same configuration file to specify requests for
283 a variety of purposes.
287 A poison extension will be added to the certificate, making it a
288 "pre-certificate" (see RFC6962). This can be submitted to Certificate
289 Transparency logs in order to obtain signed certificate timestamps (SCTs).
290 These SCTs can then be embedded into the pre-certificate as an extension, before
291 removing the poison and signing the certificate.
293 This implies the B<-new> flag.
297 This option causes field values to be interpreted as UTF8 strings, by
298 default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that the field
299 values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a
300 configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
302 =item B<-reqopt> I<option>
304 Customise the output format used with B<-text>. The I<option> argument can be
305 a single option or multiple options separated by commas.
307 See discussion of the B<-certopt> parameter in the L<openssl-x509(1)>
312 Adds the word B<NEW> to the PEM file header and footer lines on the outputted
313 request. Some software (Netscape certificate server) and some CAs need this.
317 Non-interactive mode.
321 Print extra details about the operations being performed.
323 =item B<-keygen_engine> I<id>
325 Specifies an engine (by its unique I<id> string) which would be used
326 for key generation operations.
328 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_name_item -}
330 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_r_item -}
332 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_engine_item -}
334 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -}
338 =head1 CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT
340 The configuration options are specified in the B<req> section of
341 the configuration file. An alternate name be specified by using the
343 As with all configuration files, if no
344 value is specified in the specific section then
345 the initial unnamed or B<default> section is searched too.
347 The options available are described in detail below.
351 =item B<input_password output_password>
353 The passwords for the input private key file (if present) and
354 the output private key file (if one will be created). The
355 command line options B<passin> and B<passout> override the
356 configuration file values.
358 =item B<default_bits>
360 Specifies the default key size in bits.
362 This option is used in conjunction with the B<-new> option to generate
363 a new key. It can be overridden by specifying an explicit key size in
364 the B<-newkey> option. The smallest accepted key size is 512 bits. If
365 no key size is specified then 2048 bits is used.
367 =item B<default_keyfile>
369 This is the default filename to write a private key to. If not
370 specified the key is written to standard output. This can be
371 overridden by the B<-keyout> option.
375 This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>.
376 Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
377 object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed
378 by white space and finally the long name.
382 This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
383 object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the
384 object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short
385 and long names are the same when this option is used.
389 At startup the specified file is loaded into the random number generator,
390 and at exit 256 bytes will be written to it.
391 It is used for private key generation.
395 If this is set to B<no> then if a private key is generated it is
396 B<not> encrypted. This is equivalent to the B<-nodes> command line
397 option. For compatibility B<encrypt_rsa_key> is an equivalent option.
401 This option specifies the digest algorithm to use. Any digest supported by the
402 OpenSSL B<dgst> command can be used. This option can be overridden on the
403 command line. Certain signing algorithms (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448) will ignore
404 any digest that has been set.
408 This option masks out the use of certain string types in certain
409 fields. Most users will not need to change this option.
411 It can be set to several values B<default> which is also the default
412 option uses PrintableStrings, T61Strings and BMPStrings if the
413 B<pkix> value is used then only PrintableStrings and BMPStrings will
414 be used. This follows the PKIX recommendation in RFC2459. If the
415 B<utf8only> option is used then only UTF8Strings will be used: this
416 is the PKIX recommendation in RFC2459 after 2003. Finally the B<nombstr>
417 option just uses PrintableStrings and T61Strings: certain software has
418 problems with BMPStrings and UTF8Strings: in particular Netscape.
420 =item B<req_extensions>
422 This specifies the configuration file section containing a list of
423 extensions to add to the certificate request. It can be overridden
424 by the B<-reqexts> command line switch. See the
425 L<x509v3_config(5)> manual page for details of the
426 extension section format.
428 =item B<x509_extensions>
430 This specifies the configuration file section containing a list of
431 extensions to add to certificate generated when the B<-x509> switch
432 is used. It can be overridden by the B<-extensions> command line switch.
436 If set to the value B<no> this disables prompting of certificate fields
437 and just takes values from the config file directly. It also changes the
438 expected format of the B<distinguished_name> and B<attributes> sections.
442 If set to the value B<yes> then field values to be interpreted as UTF8
443 strings, by default they are interpreted as ASCII. This means that
444 the field values, whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a
445 configuration file, must be valid UTF8 strings.
449 This specifies the section containing any request attributes: its format
450 is the same as B<distinguished_name>. Typically these may contain the
451 challengePassword or unstructuredName types. They are currently ignored
452 by OpenSSL's request signing utilities but some CAs might want them.
454 =item B<distinguished_name>
456 This specifies the section containing the distinguished name fields to
457 prompt for when generating a certificate or certificate request. The format
458 is described in the next section.
462 =head1 DISTINGUISHED NAME AND ATTRIBUTE SECTION FORMAT
464 There are two separate formats for the distinguished name and attribute
465 sections. If the B<prompt> option is set to B<no> then these sections
466 just consist of field names and values: for example,
470 emailAddress=someone@somewhere.org
472 This allows external programs (e.g. GUI based) to generate a template file with
473 all the field names and values and just pass it to this command. An example
474 of this kind of configuration file is contained in the B<EXAMPLES> section.
476 Alternatively if the B<prompt> option is absent or not set to B<no> then the
477 file contains field prompting information. It consists of lines of the form:
480 fieldName_default="default field value"
484 "fieldName" is the field name being used, for example commonName (or CN).
485 The "prompt" string is used to ask the user to enter the relevant
486 details. If the user enters nothing then the default value is used if no
487 default value is present then the field is omitted. A field can
488 still be omitted if a default value is present if the user just
489 enters the '.' character.
491 The number of characters entered must be between the fieldName_min and
492 fieldName_max limits: there may be additional restrictions based
493 on the field being used (for example countryName can only ever be
494 two characters long and must fit in a PrintableString).
496 Some fields (such as organizationName) can be used more than once
497 in a DN. This presents a problem because configuration files will
498 not recognize the same name occurring twice. To avoid this problem
499 if the fieldName contains some characters followed by a full stop
500 they will be ignored. So for example a second organizationName can
501 be input by calling it "1.organizationName".
503 The actual permitted field names are any object identifier short or
504 long names. These are compiled into OpenSSL and include the usual
505 values such as commonName, countryName, localityName, organizationName,
506 organizationalUnitName, stateOrProvinceName. Additionally emailAddress
507 is included as well as name, surname, givenName, initials, and dnQualifier.
509 Additional object identifiers can be defined with the B<oid_file> or
510 B<oid_section> options in the configuration file. Any additional fields
511 will be treated as though they were a DirectoryString.
516 Examine and verify certificate request:
518 openssl req -in req.pem -text -verify -noout
520 Create a private key and then generate a certificate request from it:
522 openssl genrsa -out key.pem 2048
523 openssl req -new -key key.pem -out req.pem
525 The same but just using req:
527 openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem
529 Generate a self signed root certificate:
531 openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem
533 Create an SM2 private key and then generate a certificate request from it:
535 openssl ecparam -genkey -name SM2 -out sm2.key
536 openssl req -new -key sm2.key -out sm2.csr -sm3 -sigopt "distid:1234567812345678"
538 Examine and verify an SM2 certificate request:
540 openssl req -verify -in sm2.csr -sm3 -vfyopt "distid:1234567812345678"
542 Example of a file pointed to by the B<oid_file> option:
544 1.2.3.4 shortName A longer Name
545 1.2.3.6 otherName Other longer Name
547 Example of a section pointed to by B<oid_section> making use of variable
551 testoid2=${testoid1}.6
553 Sample configuration file prompting for field values:
557 default_keyfile = privkey.pem
558 distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name
559 attributes = req_attributes
560 req_extensions = v3_ca
562 dirstring_type = nobmp
564 [ req_distinguished_name ]
565 countryName = Country Name (2 letter code)
566 countryName_default = AU
570 localityName = Locality Name (eg, city)
572 organizationalUnitName = Organizational Unit Name (eg, section)
574 commonName = Common Name (eg, YOUR name)
577 emailAddress = Email Address
578 emailAddress_max = 40
581 challengePassword = A challenge password
582 challengePassword_min = 4
583 challengePassword_max = 20
587 subjectKeyIdentifier=hash
588 authorityKeyIdentifier=keyid:always,issuer:always
589 basicConstraints = critical, CA:true
591 Sample configuration containing all field values:
596 default_keyfile = keyfile.pem
597 distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name
598 attributes = req_attributes
600 output_password = mypass
602 [ req_distinguished_name ]
604 ST = Test State or Province
606 O = Organization Name
607 OU = Organizational Unit Name
609 emailAddress = test@email.address
612 challengePassword = A challenge password
614 Example of giving the most common attributes (subject and extensions)
617 openssl req -new -subj "/C=GB/CN=foo" \
618 -addext "subjectAltName = DNS:foo.co.uk" \
619 -addext "certificatePolicies = 1.2.3.4" \
620 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem
625 The certificate requests generated by B<Xenroll> with MSIE have extensions
626 added. It includes the B<keyUsage> extension which determines the type of
627 key (signature only or general purpose) and any additional OIDs entered
628 by the script in an B<extendedKeyUsage> extension.
632 The following messages are frequently asked about:
634 Using configuration from /some/path/openssl.cnf
635 Unable to load config info
637 This is followed some time later by:
639 unable to find 'distinguished_name' in config
640 problems making Certificate Request
642 The first error message is the clue: it can't find the configuration
643 file! Certain operations (like examining a certificate request) don't
644 need a configuration file so its use isn't enforced. Generation of
645 certificates or requests however does need a configuration file. This
646 could be regarded as a bug.
648 Another puzzling message is this:
653 this is displayed when no attributes are present and the request includes
654 the correct empty B<SET OF> structure (the DER encoding of which is 0xa0
655 0x00). If you just see:
659 then the B<SET OF> is missing and the encoding is technically invalid (but
660 it is tolerated). See the description of the command line option B<-asn1-kludge>
661 for more information.
665 OpenSSL's handling of T61Strings (aka TeletexStrings) is broken: it effectively
666 treats them as ISO-8859-1 (Latin 1), Netscape and MSIE have similar behaviour.
667 This can cause problems if you need characters that aren't available in
668 PrintableStrings and you don't want to or can't use BMPStrings.
670 As a consequence of the T61String handling the only correct way to represent
671 accented characters in OpenSSL is to use a BMPString: unfortunately Netscape
672 currently chokes on these. If you have to use accented characters with Netscape
673 and MSIE then you currently need to use the invalid T61String form.
675 The current prompting is not very friendly. It doesn't allow you to confirm what
676 you've just entered. Other things like extensions in certificate requests are
677 statically defined in the configuration file. Some of these: like an email
678 address in subjectAltName should be input by the user.
685 L<openssl-genrsa(1)>,
686 L<openssl-gendsa(1)>,
692 The B<-section> option was added in OpenSSL 3.0.0.
696 Copyright 2000-2019 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
698 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
699 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
700 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
701 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.