ca.pod

With OpenSSL 0.9.6, a new component has been added to support external crypto devices, for example a

=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=[e-mail]
 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