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req(1ssl)
NAME
req - PKCS#10 certificate and certificate generating utility
SYNOPSIS
openssl req [-inform PEM | DER] [-outform PEM | DER] [-in filename]
[-passin arg] [-out filename] [-passoutarg] [-text] [-noout] [-verify]
[-modulus] [-new] [-randfilename] [-newkeyrsa:bits] [-newkey dsa:file]
[-nodes] [-key filename] [-keyform PEM | DER] [-keyoutfilename] [--md5 |
sha1 | md2 | mdc2] [-configfilename] [-x509] [-daysn] [-asn1-kludge]
[-newhdr] [-extensionssection] [-reqextssection]
OPTIONS
-informDER|PEM
Specifies the input format. The DER option uses an ASN1 DER encoded
form compatible with the PKCS#10. The PEM form is the default
format; it consists of the DER format base64 encoded with
additional header and footer lines.
-outformDER|PEM
Specifies the output format. The options have the same meaning as
the -inform option.
-infilename
Specifies the input filename to read a request from or standard
input if this option is not specified. A request is only read if
the creation options (-new and -newkey) are not specified.
-passinarg
Input file password source. For more information about the format
of arg, see the Pass Phrase Arguments section in openssl(1).
-outfilename
Specifies the output filename to write to or standard output by
default.
-passoutarg
Output file password source. For more information about the format
of arg, see the Pass Phrase Arguments section in openssl(1).
-text Prints out the certificate request in text form.
-noout Prevents output of the encoded version of the request.
-modulus
Prints out the value of the modulus of the public key contained in
the request.
-verify Verifies the signature on the request.
-new Generates a new certificate request. It will prompt the user for
the relevant field values. The actual fields prompted for and their
maximum and minimum sizes are specified in the configuration file
and any requested extensions.
If the -key option is not used it will generate a new RSA private
key using information specified in the configuration file.
-randfilename
A file or files containing random data used to seed the random
number generator, or an EGD socket. (See RAND_egd(3).) Multiple
files are separated by an OS-dependent character. The separator is
a semicolon (;) for MS-Windows, a comma (,) for OpenVMS, and a
colon (:) for all others.
-newkeyarg
Creates a new certificate request and a new private key. The
argument takes one of two forms. The rsa:nbits, where nbits is the
number of bits, generates an RSA key nbits in size. The
dsa:filename generates a DSA key using the parameters in the file
filename.
-keyfilename
Specifies the file to read the private key from. It also accepts
PKCS#8 format private keys for PEM format files.
-keyformPEM|DER
The format of the private key file specified in the -key option.
The PEM format is the default.
-keyoutfilename
Gives the filename to write the newly created private key to. If
this option is not specified then the filename present in the
configuration file is used.
-nodes If this option is specified then if a private key is created it
will not be encrypted.
-[md5|sha1|md2|mdc2]
Specifies the message digest to sign the request with. This
overrides the digest algorithm specified in the configuration file.
This option is ignored for DSA requests; they always use SHA1.
-configfilename
Allows an alternative configuration file to be specified. This
overrides the compile time filename or any specified in the
OPENSSL_CONF environment variable.
-x509 Outputs a self-signed certificate instead of a certificate request.
This is typically used to generate a test certificate or a self-
signed root CA. The extensions added to the certificate (if any)
are specified in the configuration file.
-daysn When the -x509 option is being used this specifies the number of
days to certify the certificate. The default is 30 days.
-extensionssection
-reqextssection
Specifies alternative sections to include certificate extensions
(if the -x509 option is present) or certificate request extensions.
This allows several different sections to be used in the same
configuration file to specify requests for a variety of purposes.
-asn1-kludge
By default the req command outputs certificate requests containing
no attributes in the correct PKCS#10 format. However certain CAs
will only accept requests containing no attributes in an invalid
form. This option produces this invalid format.
More precisely the Attributes in a PKCS#10 certificate request are
defined as a SET OF Attribute. They are not optional, so if no
attributes are present then they should be encoded as an empty SET
OF. The invalid form does not include the empty SET OF, whereas the
correct form does.
It should be noted that very few CAs still require the use of this
option.
-newhdr Adds the word NEW to the PEM file header and footer lines on the
outputed request. Some software (Netscape certificate server) and
some CAs need this.
CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
The configuration options are specified in the req section of the
configuration file. As with all configuration files if no value is
specified in the specific section (i.e. req) then the initial unnamed or
default section is searched too.
The options available are described in detail below.
input_password output_password
The passwords for the input private key file (if present) and the
output private key file (if one will be created). The command line
options passin and passout override the configuration file values.
default_bits
Specifies the default key size in bits. If not specified then 512
is used. It is used if the -new option is used. It can be
overridden by using the -newkey option.
default_keyfile
The default filename to write a private key to. If not specified
the key is written to standard output. This can be overridden by
the -keyout option.
oid_file
Specifies a file containing additional 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.
oid_section
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 = and the numerical form. The
short and long names are the same when this option is used.
RANDFILE
Specifies a filename in which random number seed information is
placed and read from, or an EGD socket. (See RAND_egd(3)). It is
used for private key generation.
encrypt_key
If this is set to no then if a private key is generated it is not
encrypted. This is equivalent to the -nodes command line option.
For compatibility encrypt_rsa_key is an equivalent option.
default_md
Specifies the digest algorithm to use. Possible values include md5
sha1 mdc2. If not present then MD5 is used. This option can be
overridden on the command line.
string_mask
Masks out the use of certain string types in certain fields. Most
users will not need to change this option.
It can be set to several values. The default option uses
PrintableStrings, T61Strings and BMPStrings. If the pkix value is
used then only PrintableStrings and BMPStrings will be used. This
follows the PKIX recommendation in RFC2459. If the utf8only option
is used then only UTF8Strings will be used; this is the PKIX
recommendation in RFC2459 after 2003. Finally, the nombstr option
uses PrintableStrings and T61Strings. Certain software has problems
with BMPStrings and UTF8Strings, particularly Netscape.
req_extensions
Specifies the configuration file section containing a list of
extensions to add to the certificate request. It can be overridden
by the -reqexts command line option.
x509_extensions
Specifies the configuration file section containing a list of
extensions to add to the certificate generated when the -x509
option is used. It can be overridden by the -extensions command
line option.
prompt If set to the value no this disables prompting of certificate
fields and takes values from the config file directly. It also
changes the expected format of the distinguished_name and
attributes sections.
attributes
Specifies the section containing any request attributes. Its format
is the same as distinguished_name. Typically these may contain the
challengePassword or unstructuredName types. They are currently
ignored by OpenSSL's request signing utilities but some CAs might
want them.
distinguished_name
Specifies the section containing the distinguished name fields to
prompt for when generating a certificate or certificate request.
The format is described in the next section.
DISTINGUISHED NAME AND ATTRIBUTES SECTIONS FORMAT
There are two separate formats for the distinguished name and attribute
sections. If the prompt option is set to no then these sections only
consist of field names and values. An example follows:
CN=My Name
OU=My Organization
emailAddress=someone@somewhere.org
This allows external programs (e.g. GUI based) to generate a template file
with all the field names and values and pass it to req. An example of this
kind of configuration file is contained in the Examples section.
Alternatively if the prompt option is absent or not set to no then the file
contains field prompting information. It consists of lines such as the
following:
fieldName="prompt"
fieldName_default="default field value"
fieldName_min= 2
fieldName_max= 4
The fieldName is the field name being used, such as commonName (or CN).
The prompt string is used to ask the user to enter the relevant details.
If the user enters nothing then the default value is used. If no default
value is present then the field is omitted. A field can still be omitted if
a default value is present if the user enters the '.' character.
The number of characters entered must be between the fieldName_min and
fieldName_max limits. There may be additional restrictions based on the
field being used. For example, countryName can only be two characters long
and must fit in a PrintableString.
Some fields, such as organizationName, can be used more than once in a DN.
This presents a problem because configuration files will not recognize the
same name occurring twice. To avoid this problem if the fieldName contains
some characters followed by a full stop they will be ignored. So, for
example, a second organizationName can be input by calling it
1.organizationName.
The actual permitted field names are any object identifier short or long
names. These are compiled into OpenSSL and include the usual values such as
commonName, countryName, localityName, organizationName,
organizationUnitName, stateOrPrivinceName. Additionally emailAddress is
included, as well as name, surname, givenName initials and dnQualifier.
Additional object identifiers can be defined with the oid_file or
oid_section options in the configuration file. Any additional fields will
be treated as though they were a DirectoryString.
DESCRIPTION
The req command primarily creates and processes certificate requests in
PKCS#10 format. It can additionally create self signed certificates for use
as root CAs for example.
NOTES
The header and footer lines in the PEM format are normally:
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST----
-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST----
Some software, including some versions of Netscape certificate server,
need:
-----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST----
-----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST----
This is produced with the -newhdr option, but is otherwise compatible.
Either form is accepted transparently on input.
The certificate requests generated by Xenroll with MSIE have extensions
added. It includes the keyUsage extension which determines the type of key
(signature only or general purpose) and any additional OIDs entered by the
script in an extendedKeyUsage extension.
RESTRICTIONS
OpenSSL's handling of T61Strings (also known as TeletexStrings) is broken.
It effectively treats them as ISO-8859-1 (Latin 1). Netscape and MSIE have
similar behavior. This can cause problems if you need characters that are
not available in PrintableStrings and you do not want to or cannot use
BMPStrings.
As a consequence of the T61String handling the only correct way to
represent accented characters in OpenSSL is to use a BMPString.
Unfortunately Netscape currently chokes on these. If you have to use
accented characters with Netscape and MSIE then you currently need to use
the invalid T61String form.
The current prompting is not very friendly. It doesn't allow you to confirm
what you've entered. Other things, such as extensions in certificate
requests, are statically defined in the configuration file. Some of these,
such as an email address in subjectAltName, should be input by the user.
ERRORS
The following messages are frequently asked about:
Using configuration from /some/path/openssl.cnf
Unable to load config info
This is followed some time later by the following lines:
unable to find 'distinguished_name' in config
problems making Certificate Request
The first error message is the clue. It means the configuration file cannot
be found. Certain operations, such as examining a certificate request, do
not need a configuration file; so its use isn't enforced. Generation of
certificates or requests, however, do need a configuration file.
Another error message is this:
Attributes:
a0:00
This is displayed when no attributes are present and the request includes
the correct empty SET OF structure (the DER encoding of which is 0xa0
0x00). If you only see
Attributes:
then the SET OF is missing and the encoding is technically invalid (but it
is tolerated). See the description of the command line option -asn1-kludge
for more information.
EXAMPLES
Examine and verify certificate request:
openssl req -in req.pem -text -verify -noout
Create a private key and then generate a certificate request from it:
openssl genrsa -out key.pem 1024
openssl req -new -key key.pem -out req.pem
The same but just using req:
openssl req -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem
Generate a self signed root certificate:
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem
Example of a file pointed to by the oid_file option:
1.2.3.4 shortName A longer Name
1.2.3.6 otherName Other longer Name
Example of a section pointed to by oid_section making use of variable
expansion:
testoid1=1.2.3.5
testoid2=${testoid1}.6
Sample configuration file prompting for field values:
[ req ]
default_bits = 1024
default_keyfile = privkey.pem
distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name
attributes = req_attributes
x509_extensions = v3_ca
dirstring_type = nobmp
[ req_distinguished_name ]
countryName = Country Name (2 letter code)
countryName_default = AU
countryName_min = 2
countryName_max = 2
localityName = Locality Name (eg, city)
organizationalUnitName = Organizational Unit Name (eg, section)
commonName = Common Name (eg, YOUR name)
commonName_max = 64
emailAddress = Email Address
emailAddress_max = 40
[ req_attributes ]
challengePassword = A challenge password
challengePassword_min = 4
challengePassword_max = 20
[ v3_ca ]
subjectKeyIdentifier=hash
authorityKeyIdentifier=keyid:always,issuer:always
basicConstraints = CA:true
Sample configuration containing all field values:
RANDFILE = $ENV::HOME/.rnd
[ req ]
default_bits = 1024
default_keyfile = keyfile.pem
distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name
attributes = req_attributes
prompt = no
output_password = mypass
[ req_distinguished_name ]
C = GB
ST = Test State or Province
L = Test Locality
O = Organization Name
OU = Organizational Unit Name
CN = Common Name
emailAddress = test@email.address
[ req_attributes ]
challengePassword = A challenge password
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
If defined, the variable OPENSSL_CONF allows an alternative configuration
file location to be specified. It will be overridden by the -config command
line option if it is present. For compatibility reasons the SSLEAY_CONF
environment variable serves the same purpose, but its use is discouraged.
SEE ALSO
Commands: x509(1ssl), ca(1ssl), genrsa(1ssl), gendsa(1ssl)
Others: config(5)
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