=pod =head1 NAME ca - sample minimal CA application =head1 SYNOPSIS B<openssl> B<ca> [B<-verbose>] [B<-config filename>] [B<-name section>] [B<-gencrl>] [B<-revoke file>] [B<-crldays days>] [B<-crlhours hours>] [B<-crlexts section>] [B<-startdate date>] [B<-enddate date>] [B<-days arg>] [B<-md arg>] [B<-policy arg>] [B<-keyfile arg>] [B<-key arg>] [B<-passin arg>] [B<-cert file>] [B<-in file>] [B<-out file>] [B<-notext>] [B<-outdir dir>] [B<-infiles>] [B<-spkac file>] [B<-ss_cert file>] [B<-preserveDN>] [B<-batch>] [B<-msie_hack>] [B<-extensions section>] =head1 DESCRIPTION The B<ca> command is a minimal CA application. It can be used to sign certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate CRLs it also maintains a text database of issued certificates and their status. The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose. =head1 CA OPTIONS =over 4 =item B<-config filename> specifies the configuration file to use. =item B<-name section> specifies the configuration file section to use (overrides B<default_ca> in the B<ca> section). =item B<-in filename> an input filename containing a single certificate request to be signed by the CA. =item B<-ss_cert filename> a single self signed certificate to be signed by the CA. =item B<-spkac filename> a file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<NOTES> section for information on the required format. =item B<-infiles> if present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments are assumed to the the names of files containing certificate requests. =item B<-out filename> the output file to output certificates to. The default is standard output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this file. =item B<-outdir directory> the directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with ".pem" appended. =item B<-cert> the CA certificate file. =item B<-keyfile filename> the private key to sign requests with. =item B<-key password> the password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g. Unix with the 'ps' utility) this option should be used with caution. =item B<-passin arg> the key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg> see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>. =item B<-verbose> this prints extra details about the operations being performed. =item B<-notext> don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file. =item B<-startdate date> this allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure). =item B<-enddate date> this allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure). =item B<-days arg> the number of days to certify the certificate for. =item B<-md alg> the message digest to use. Possible values include md5, sha1 and mdc2. This option also applies to CRLs. =item B<-policy arg> this option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section for more information. =item B<-msie_hack> this is a legacy option to make B<ca> work with very old versions of the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs its use is strongly discouraged. The newer control "Xenroll" does not need this option. =item B<-preserveDN> Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll. =item B<-batch> this sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked and all certificates will be certified automatically. =item B<-extensions section> the section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions to be added when a certificate is issued. If no extension section is present then a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section is present (even if it is empty) then a V3 certificate is created. =back =head1 CRL OPTIONS =over 4 =item B<-gencrl> this option generates a CRL based on information in the index file. =item B<-crldays num> the number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field. =item B<-crlhours num> the number of hours before the next CRL is due. =item B<-revoke filename> a filename containing a certificate to revoke. =item B<-crlexts section> the section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs. =back =head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS The section of the configuration file containing options for B<ca> is found as follows: If the B<-name> command line option is used, then it names the section to be used. Otherwise the section to be used must be named in the B<default_ca> option of the B<ca> section of the configuration file (or in the default section of the configuration file). Besides B<default_ca>, the following options are read directly from the B<ca> section: RANDFILE preserve msie_hack With the exception of B<RANDFILE>, this is probably a bug and may change in future releases. Many of the configuration file options are identical to command line options. Where the option is present in the configuration file and the command line the command line value is used. Where an option is described as mandatory then it must be present in the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if any) used. =over 4 =item B<oid_file> This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>. Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed by white space and finally the long name. =item B<oid_section> This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short and long names are the same when this option is used. =item B<new_certs_dir> the same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory. =item B<certificate> the same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA certificate. Mandatory. =item B<private_key> same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the CA private key. Mandatory. =item B<RANDFILE> a file used to read and write random number seed information, or an EGD socket (see L<RAND_egd(3)|RAND_egd(3)>). =item B<default_days> the same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify a certificate for. =item B<default_startdate> the same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify a certificate for. If not set the current time is used. =item B<default_enddate> the same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be present. =item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days> the same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These will only be used if neither command line option is present. At least one of these must be present to generate a CRL. =item B<default_md> the same as the B<-md> option. The message digest to use. Mandatory. =item B<database> the text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present though initially it will be empty. =item B<serialfile> a text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory. This file must be present and contain a valid serial number. =item B<x509_extensions> the same as B<-extensions>. =item B<crl_extensions> the same as B<-crlexts>. =item B<preserve> the same as B<-preserveDN> =item B<msie_hack> the same as B<-msie_hack> =item B<policy> the same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section for more information. =back =head1 POLICY FORMAT The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour. =head1 SPKAC FORMAT The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key. It is however possible to create SPKACs using the B<spkac> utility. The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs. If you need to include the same component twice then it can be preceded by a number and a '.'. =head1 EXAMPLES Note: these examples assume that the B<ca> directory structure is already set up and the relevant files already exist. This usually involves creating a CA certificate and private key with B<req>, a serial number file and an empty index file and placing them in the relevant directories. To use the sample configuration file below the directories demoCA, demoCA/private and demoCA/newcerts would be created. The CA certificate would be copied to demoCA/cacert.pem and its private key to demoCA/private/cakey.pem. A file demoCA/serial would be created containing for example "01" and the empty index file demoCA/index.txt. Sign a certificate request: openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions: openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem Generate a CRL openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem Sign several requests: openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem Certify a Netscape SPKAC: openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity): SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5 CN=Steve Test emailAddress=steve@openssl.org 0.OU=OpenSSL Group 1.OU=Another Group A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for B<ca>: [ ca ] default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section [ CA_default ] dir = ./demoCA # top dir database = $dir/index.txt # index file. new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert serial = $dir/serial # serial no file private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key RANDFILE = $dir/private/.rand # random number file default_days = 365 # how long to certify for default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL default_md = md5 # md to use policy = policy_any # default policy [ policy_any ] countryName = supplied stateOrProvinceName = optional organizationName = optional organizationalUnitName = optional commonName = supplied emailAddress = optional =head1 WARNINGS The B<ca> command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly. The B<ca> utility was originally meant as an example of how to do things in a CA. It was not supposed be be used as a full blown CA itself: nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose. The B<ca> command is effectively a single user command: no locking is done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<ca> command on the same database can have unpredictable results. =head1 FILES Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options, configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options. The values below reflect the default values. /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file ./demoCA - main CA directory ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file ./demoCA/.rnd - CA random seed information =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES B<OPENSSL_CONF> reflects the location of master configuration file it can be overridden by the B<-config> command line option. =head1 RESTRICTIONS The text database index file is a critical part of the process and if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current CRL: however there is no option to do this. CRL entry extensions cannot currently be created: only CRL extensions can be added. V2 CRL features like delta CRL support and CRL numbers are not currently supported. Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only possible to include one SPKAC or self signed certificate. =head1 BUGS The use of an in memory text database can cause problems when large numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies the database has to be kept in memory. Certificate request extensions are ignored: some kind of "policy" should be included to use certain static extensions and certain extensions from the request. It is not possible to certify two certificates with the same DN: this is a side effect of how the text database is indexed and it cannot easily be fixed without introducing other problems. Some S/MIME clients can use two certificates with the same DN for separate signing and encryption keys. The B<ca> command really needs rewriting or the required functionality exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The scripts B<CA.sh> and B<CA.pl> help a little but not very much. Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used but the extra fields are not displayed when the user is asked to certify a request. The behaviour should be more friendly and configurable. Cancelling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can create an empty file. =head1 SEE ALSO L<req(1)|req(1)>, L<spkac(1)|spkac(1)>, L<x509(1)|x509(1)>, L<CA.pl(1)|CA.pl(1)>, L<config(5)|config(5)> =cut