openssl-ocsp.pod.in revision 1.1.1.2 1 =pod
2 {- OpenSSL::safe::output_do_not_edit_headers(); -}
3
4 =head1 NAME
5
6 openssl-ocsp - Online Certificate Status Protocol command
7
8 =head1 SYNOPSIS
9
10 =head2 OCSP Client
11
12 B<openssl> B<ocsp>
13 [B<-help>]
14 [B<-out> I<file>]
15 [B<-issuer> I<file>]
16 [B<-cert> I<file>]
17 [B<-no_certs>]
18 [B<-serial> I<n>]
19 [B<-signer> I<file>]
20 [B<-signkey> I<file>]
21 [B<-sign_other> I<file>]
22 [B<-nonce>]
23 [B<-no_nonce>]
24 [B<-req_text>]
25 [B<-resp_text>]
26 [B<-text>]
27 [B<-reqout> I<file>]
28 [B<-respout> I<file>]
29 [B<-reqin> I<file>]
30 [B<-respin> I<file>]
31 [B<-url> I<URL>]
32 [B<-host> I<host>:I<port>]
33 [B<-path> I<pathname>]
34 [B<-proxy> I<[http[s]://][userinfo@]host[:port][/path][?query][#fragment]>]
35 [B<-no_proxy> I<addresses>]
36 [B<-header>]
37 [B<-timeout> I<seconds>]
38 [B<-VAfile> I<file>]
39 [B<-validity_period> I<n>]
40 [B<-status_age> I<n>]
41 [B<-noverify>]
42 [B<-verify_other> I<file>]
43 [B<-trust_other>]
44 [B<-no_intern>]
45 [B<-no_signature_verify>]
46 [B<-no_cert_verify>]
47 [B<-no_chain>]
48 [B<-no_cert_checks>]
49 [B<-no_explicit>]
50 [B<-port> I<num>]
51 [B<-ignore_err>]
52
53 =head2 OCSP Server
54
55 B<openssl> B<ocsp>
56 [B<-index> I<file>]
57 [B<-CA> I<file>]
58 [B<-rsigner> I<file>]
59 [B<-rkey> I<file>]
60 [B<-passin> I<arg>]
61 [B<-rother> I<file>]
62 [B<-rsigopt> I<nm>:I<v>]
63 [B<-rmd> I<digest>]
64 [B<-badsig>]
65 [B<-resp_no_certs>]
66 [B<-nmin> I<n>]
67 [B<-ndays> I<n>]
68 [B<-resp_key_id>]
69 [B<-nrequest> I<n>]
70 [B<-multi> I<process-count>]
71 [B<-rcid> I<digest>]
72 [B<-I<digest>>]
73 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_trust_synopsis -}
74 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_v_synopsis -}
75 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_synopsis -}
76
77 =head1 DESCRIPTION
78
79 The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) enables applications to
80 determine the (revocation) state of an identified certificate (RFC 2560).
81
82 This command performs many common OCSP tasks. It can be used
83 to print out requests and responses, create requests and send queries
84 to an OCSP responder and behave like a mini OCSP server itself.
85
86 =head1 OPTIONS
87
88 This command operates as either a client or a server.
89 The options are described below, divided into those two modes.
90
91 =head2 OCSP Client Options
92
93 =over 4
94
95 =item B<-help>
96
97 Print out a usage message.
98
99 =item B<-out> I<filename>
100
101 specify output filename, default is standard output.
102
103 =item B<-issuer> I<filename>
104
105 This specifies the current issuer certificate. This option can be used
106 multiple times.
107 This option B<MUST> come before any B<-cert> options.
108
109 =item B<-cert> I<filename>
110
111 Add the certificate I<filename> to the request. The issuer certificate
112 is taken from the previous B<-issuer> option, or an error occurs if no
113 issuer certificate is specified.
114
115 =item B<-no_certs>
116
117 Don't include any certificates in signed request.
118
119 =item B<-serial> I<num>
120
121 Same as the B<-cert> option except the certificate with serial number
122 B<num> is added to the request. The serial number is interpreted as a
123 decimal integer unless preceded by C<0x>. Negative integers can also
124 be specified by preceding the value by a C<-> sign.
125
126 =item B<-signer> I<filename>, B<-signkey> I<filename>
127
128 Sign the OCSP request using the certificate specified in the B<-signer>
129 option and the private key specified by the B<-signkey> option. If
130 the B<-signkey> option is not present then the private key is read
131 from the same file as the certificate. If neither option is specified then
132 the OCSP request is not signed.
133
134 =item B<-sign_other> I<filename>
135
136 Additional certificates to include in the signed request.
137 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
138
139 =item B<-nonce>, B<-no_nonce>
140
141 Add an OCSP nonce extension to a request or disable OCSP nonce addition.
142 Normally if an OCSP request is input using the B<-reqin> option no
143 nonce is added: using the B<-nonce> option will force addition of a nonce.
144 If an OCSP request is being created (using B<-cert> and B<-serial> options)
145 a nonce is automatically added specifying B<-no_nonce> overrides this.
146
147 =item B<-req_text>, B<-resp_text>, B<-text>
148
149 Print out the text form of the OCSP request, response or both respectively.
150
151 =item B<-reqout> I<file>, B<-respout> I<file>
152
153 Write out the DER encoded certificate request or response to I<file>.
154
155 =item B<-reqin> I<file>, B<-respin> I<file>
156
157 Read OCSP request or response file from I<file>. These option are ignored
158 if OCSP request or response creation is implied by other options (for example
159 with B<-serial>, B<-cert> and B<-host> options).
160
161 =item B<-url> I<responder_url>
162
163 Specify the responder host and optionally port and path via a URL.
164 Both HTTP and HTTPS (SSL/TLS) URLs can be specified.
165 The optional userinfo and fragment components are ignored.
166 Any given query component is handled as part of the path component.
167 For details, see the B<-host> and B<-path> options described next.
168
169 =item B<-host> I<host>:I<port>, B<-path> I<pathname>
170
171 If the B<-host> option is present then the OCSP request is sent to the host
172 I<host> on port I<port>.
173 The I<host> may be a domain name or an IP (v4 or v6) address,
174 such as C<127.0.0.1> or C<[::1]> for localhost.
175 If it is an IPv6 address, it must be enclosed in C<[> and C<]>.
176
177 The B<-path> option specifies the HTTP pathname to use or "/" by default.
178 This is equivalent to specifying B<-url> with scheme
179 http:// and the given I<host>, I<port>, and optional I<pathname>.
180
181 =item B<-proxy> I<[http[s]://][userinfo@]host[:port][/path][?query][#fragment]>
182
183 The HTTP(S) proxy server to use for reaching the OCSP server unless B<-no_proxy>
184 applies, see below.
185 If the host string is an IPv6 address, it must be enclosed in C<[> and C<]>.
186 The proxy port defaults to 80 or 443 if the scheme is C<https>; apart from that
187 the optional C<http://> or C<https://> prefix is ignored,
188 as well as any userinfo, path, query, and fragment components.
189 Defaults to the environment variable C<http_proxy> if set, else C<HTTP_PROXY>
190 in case no TLS is used, otherwise C<https_proxy> if set, else C<HTTPS_PROXY>.
191
192 =item B<-no_proxy> I<addresses>
193
194 List of IP addresses and/or DNS names of servers
195 not to use an HTTP(S) proxy for, separated by commas and/or whitespace
196 (where in the latter case the whole argument must be enclosed in "...").
197 Default is from the environment variable C<no_proxy> if set, else C<NO_PROXY>.
198
199 =item B<-header> I<name>=I<value>
200
201 Adds the header I<name> with the specified I<value> to the OCSP request
202 that is sent to the responder.
203 This may be repeated.
204
205 =item B<-timeout> I<seconds>
206
207 Connection timeout to the OCSP responder in seconds.
208 On POSIX systems, when running as an OCSP responder, this option also limits
209 the time that the responder is willing to wait for the client request.
210 This time is measured from the time the responder accepts the connection until
211 the complete request is received.
212
213 =item B<-verify_other> I<file>
214
215 File or URI containing additional certificates to search
216 when attempting to locate
217 the OCSP response signing certificate. Some responders omit the actual signer's
218 certificate from the response: this option can be used to supply the necessary
219 certificate in such cases.
220 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
221
222 =item B<-trust_other>
223
224 The certificates specified by the B<-verify_other> option should be explicitly
225 trusted and no additional checks will be performed on them. This is useful
226 when the complete responder certificate chain is not available or trusting a
227 root CA is not appropriate.
228
229 =item B<-VAfile> I<file>
230
231 File or URI containing explicitly trusted responder certificates.
232 Equivalent to the B<-verify_other> and B<-trust_other> options.
233 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
234
235 =item B<-noverify>
236
237 Don't attempt to verify the OCSP response signature or the nonce
238 values. This option will normally only be used for debugging since it
239 disables all verification of the responders certificate.
240
241 =item B<-no_intern>
242
243 Ignore certificates contained in the OCSP response when searching for the
244 signers certificate. With this option the signers certificate must be specified
245 with either the B<-verify_other> or B<-VAfile> options.
246
247 =item B<-no_signature_verify>
248
249 Don't check the signature on the OCSP response. Since this option
250 tolerates invalid signatures on OCSP responses it will normally only be
251 used for testing purposes.
252
253 =item B<-no_cert_verify>
254
255 Don't verify the OCSP response signers certificate at all. Since this
256 option allows the OCSP response to be signed by any certificate it should
257 only be used for testing purposes.
258
259 =item B<-no_chain>
260
261 Do not use certificates in the response as additional untrusted CA
262 certificates.
263
264 =item B<-no_explicit>
265
266 Do not explicitly trust the root CA if it is set to be trusted for OCSP signing.
267
268 =item B<-no_cert_checks>
269
270 Don't perform any additional checks on the OCSP response signers certificate.
271 That is do not make any checks to see if the signers certificate is authorised
272 to provide the necessary status information: as a result this option should
273 only be used for testing purposes.
274
275 =item B<-validity_period> I<nsec>, B<-status_age> I<age>
276
277 These options specify the range of times, in seconds, which will be tolerated
278 in an OCSP response. Each certificate status response includes a B<notBefore>
279 time and an optional B<notAfter> time. The current time should fall between
280 these two values, but the interval between the two times may be only a few
281 seconds. In practice the OCSP responder and clients clocks may not be precisely
282 synchronised and so such a check may fail. To avoid this the
283 B<-validity_period> option can be used to specify an acceptable error range in
284 seconds, the default value is 5 minutes.
285
286 If the B<notAfter> time is omitted from a response then this means that new
287 status information is immediately available. In this case the age of the
288 B<notBefore> field is checked to see it is not older than I<age> seconds old.
289 By default this additional check is not performed.
290
291 =item B<-rcid> I<digest>
292
293 This option sets the digest algorithm to use for certificate identification
294 in the OCSP response. Any digest supported by the L<openssl-dgst(1)> command can
295 be used. The default is the same digest algorithm used in the request.
296
297 =item B<-I<digest>>
298
299 This option sets digest algorithm to use for certificate identification in the
300 OCSP request. Any digest supported by the OpenSSL B<dgst> command can be used.
301 The default is SHA-1. This option may be used multiple times to specify the
302 digest used by subsequent certificate identifiers.
303
304 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_trust_item -}
305
306 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_v_item -}
307
308 {- $OpenSSL::safe::opt_provider_item -}
309
310 =back
311
312 =head2 OCSP Server Options
313
314 =over 4
315
316 =item B<-index> I<indexfile>
317
318 The I<indexfile> parameter is the name of a text index file in B<ca>
319 format containing certificate revocation information.
320
321 If the B<-index> option is specified then this command switches to
322 responder mode, otherwise it is in client mode. The request(s) the responder
323 processes can be either specified on the command line (using B<-issuer>
324 and B<-serial> options), supplied in a file (using the B<-reqin> option)
325 or via external OCSP clients (if B<-port> or B<-url> is specified).
326
327 If the B<-index> option is present then the B<-CA> and B<-rsigner> options
328 must also be present.
329
330 =item B<-CA> I<file>
331
332 CA certificate corresponding to the revocation information in the index
333 file given with B<-index>.
334 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
335
336 =item B<-rsigner> I<file>
337
338 The certificate to sign OCSP responses with.
339
340 =item B<-rkey> I<file>
341
342 The private key to sign OCSP responses with: if not present the file
343 specified in the B<-rsigner> option is used.
344
345 =item B<-passin> I<arg>
346
347 The private key password source. For more information about the format of I<arg>
348 see L<openssl-passphrase-options(1)>.
349
350 =item B<-rother> I<file>
351
352 Additional certificates to include in the OCSP response.
353 The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
354
355 =item B<-rsigopt> I<nm>:I<v>
356
357 Pass options to the signature algorithm when signing OCSP responses.
358 Names and values of these options are algorithm-specific.
359
360 =item B<-rmd> I<digest>
361
362 The digest to use when signing the response.
363
364 =item B<-badsig>
365
366 Corrupt the response signature before writing it; this can be useful
367 for testing.
368
369 =item B<-resp_no_certs>
370
371 Don't include any certificates in the OCSP response.
372
373 =item B<-resp_key_id>
374
375 Identify the signer certificate using the key ID, default is to use the
376 subject name.
377
378 =item B<-port> I<portnum>
379
380 Port to listen for OCSP requests on. Both IPv4 and IPv6 are possible.
381 The port may also be specified using the B<-url> option.
382 A C<0> argument indicates that any available port shall be chosen automatically.
383
384 =item B<-ignore_err>
385
386 Ignore malformed requests or responses: When acting as an OCSP client, retry if
387 a malformed response is received. When acting as an OCSP responder, continue
388 running instead of terminating upon receiving a malformed request.
389
390 =item B<-nrequest> I<number>
391
392 The OCSP server will exit after receiving I<number> requests, default unlimited.
393
394 =item B<-multi> I<process-count>
395
396 Run the specified number of OCSP responder child processes, with the parent
397 process respawning child processes as needed.
398 Child processes will detect changes in the CA index file and automatically
399 reload it.
400 When running as a responder B<-timeout> option is recommended to limit the time
401 each child is willing to wait for the client's OCSP response.
402 This option is available on POSIX systems (that support the fork() and other
403 required unix system-calls).
404
405 =item B<-nmin> I<minutes>, B<-ndays> I<days>
406
407 Number of minutes or days when fresh revocation information is available:
408 used in the B<nextUpdate> field. If neither option is present then the
409 B<nextUpdate> field is omitted meaning fresh revocation information is
410 immediately available.
411
412 =back
413
414 =head1 OCSP RESPONSE VERIFICATION
415
416 OCSP Response follows the rules specified in RFC2560.
417
418 Initially the OCSP responder certificate is located and the signature on
419 the OCSP request checked using the responder certificate's public key.
420
421 Then a normal certificate verify is performed on the OCSP responder certificate
422 building up a certificate chain in the process. The locations of the trusted
423 certificates used to build the chain can be specified by the B<-CAfile>,
424 B<-CApath> or B<-CAstore> options or they will be looked for in the
425 standard OpenSSL certificates directory.
426
427 If the initial verify fails then the OCSP verify process halts with an
428 error.
429
430 Otherwise the issuing CA certificate in the request is compared to the OCSP
431 responder certificate: if there is a match then the OCSP verify succeeds.
432
433 Otherwise the OCSP responder certificate's CA is checked against the issuing
434 CA certificate in the request. If there is a match and the OCSPSigning
435 extended key usage is present in the OCSP responder certificate then the
436 OCSP verify succeeds.
437
438 Otherwise, if B<-no_explicit> is B<not> set the root CA of the OCSP responders
439 CA is checked to see if it is trusted for OCSP signing. If it is the OCSP
440 verify succeeds.
441
442 If none of these checks is successful then the OCSP verify fails.
443
444 What this effectively means if that if the OCSP responder certificate is
445 authorised directly by the CA it is issuing revocation information about
446 (and it is correctly configured) then verification will succeed.
447
448 If the OCSP responder is a "global responder" which can give details about
449 multiple CAs and has its own separate certificate chain then its root
450 CA can be trusted for OCSP signing. For example:
451
452 openssl x509 -in ocspCA.pem -addtrust OCSPSigning -out trustedCA.pem
453
454 Alternatively the responder certificate itself can be explicitly trusted
455 with the B<-VAfile> option.
456
457 =head1 NOTES
458
459 As noted, most of the verify options are for testing or debugging purposes.
460 Normally only the B<-CApath>, B<-CAfile>, B<-CAstore> and (if the responder
461 is a 'global VA') B<-VAfile> options need to be used.
462
463 The OCSP server is only useful for test and demonstration purposes: it is
464 not really usable as a full OCSP responder. It contains only a very
465 simple HTTP request handling and can only handle the POST form of OCSP
466 queries. It also handles requests serially meaning it cannot respond to
467 new requests until it has processed the current one. The text index file
468 format of revocation is also inefficient for large quantities of revocation
469 data.
470
471 It is possible to run this command in responder mode via a CGI
472 script using the B<-reqin> and B<-respout> options.
473
474 =head1 EXAMPLES
475
476 Create an OCSP request and write it to a file:
477
478 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem -reqout req.der
479
480 Send a query to an OCSP responder with URL http://ocsp.myhost.com/ save the
481 response to a file, print it out in text form, and verify the response:
482
483 openssl ocsp -issuer issuer.pem -cert c1.pem -cert c2.pem \
484 -url http://ocsp.myhost.com/ -resp_text -respout resp.der
485
486 Read in an OCSP response and print out text form:
487
488 openssl ocsp -respin resp.der -text -noverify
489
490 OCSP server on port 8888 using a standard B<ca> configuration, and a separate
491 responder certificate. All requests and responses are printed to a file.
492
493 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
494 -text -out log.txt
495
496 As above but exit after processing one request:
497
498 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -port 8888 -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
499 -nrequest 1
500
501 Query status information using an internally generated request:
502
503 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
504 -issuer demoCA/cacert.pem -serial 1
505
506 Query status information using request read from a file, and write the response
507 to a second file.
508
509 openssl ocsp -index demoCA/index.txt -rsigner rcert.pem -CA demoCA/cacert.pem
510 -reqin req.der -respout resp.der
511
512 =head1 HISTORY
513
514 The -no_alt_chains option was added in OpenSSL 1.1.0.
515
516 =head1 COPYRIGHT
517
518 Copyright 2001-2021 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
519
520 Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
521 this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
522 in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
523 L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
524
525 =cut
526