focal (5) x509v3_config.5ssl.gz
NAME
x509v3_config - X509 V3 certificate extension configuration format
DESCRIPTION
Several of the OpenSSL utilities can add extensions to a certificate or certificate request based on the
contents of a configuration file.
Typically the application will contain an option to point to an extension section. Each line of the
extension section takes the form:
extension_name=[critical,] extension_options
If critical is present then the extension will be critical.
The format of extension_options depends on the value of extension_name.
There are four main types of extension: string extensions, multi-valued extensions, raw and arbitrary
extensions.
String extensions simply have a string which contains either the value itself or how it is obtained.
For example:
nsComment="This is a Comment"
Multi-valued extensions have a short form and a long form. The short form is a list of names and values:
basicConstraints=critical,CA:true,pathlen:1
The long form allows the values to be placed in a separate section:
basicConstraints=critical,@bs_section
[bs_section]
CA=true
pathlen=1
Both forms are equivalent.
The syntax of raw extensions is governed by the extension code: it can for example contain data in
multiple sections. The correct syntax to use is defined by the extension code itself: check out the
certificate policies extension for an example.
If an extension type is unsupported then the arbitrary extension syntax must be used, see the ARBITRARY
EXTENSIONS section for more details.
STANDARD EXTENSIONS
The following sections describe each supported extension in detail.
Basic Constraints.
This is a multi valued extension which indicates whether a certificate is a CA certificate. The first
(mandatory) name is CA followed by TRUE or FALSE. If CA is TRUE then an optional pathlen name followed by
an non-negative value can be included.
For example:
basicConstraints=CA:TRUE
basicConstraints=CA:FALSE
basicConstraints=critical,CA:TRUE, pathlen:0
A CA certificate must include the basicConstraints value with the CA field set to TRUE. An end user
certificate must either set CA to FALSE or exclude the extension entirely. Some software may require the
inclusion of basicConstraints with CA set to FALSE for end entity certificates.
The pathlen parameter indicates the maximum number of CAs that can appear below this one in a chain. So
if you have a CA with a pathlen of zero it can only be used to sign end user certificates and not further
CAs.
Key Usage.
Key usage is a multi valued extension consisting of a list of names of the permitted key usages.
The supported names are: digitalSignature, nonRepudiation, keyEncipherment, dataEncipherment,
keyAgreement, keyCertSign, cRLSign, encipherOnly and decipherOnly.
Examples:
keyUsage=digitalSignature, nonRepudiation
keyUsage=critical, keyCertSign
Extended Key Usage.
This extensions consists of a list of usages indicating purposes for which the certificate public key can
be used for,
These can either be object short names or the dotted numerical form of OIDs. While any OID can be used
only certain values make sense. In particular the following PKIX, NS and MS values are meaningful:
Value Meaning
----- -------
serverAuth SSL/TLS Web Server Authentication.
clientAuth SSL/TLS Web Client Authentication.
codeSigning Code signing.
emailProtection E-mail Protection (S/MIME).
timeStamping Trusted Timestamping
OCSPSigning OCSP Signing
ipsecIKE ipsec Internet Key Exchange
msCodeInd Microsoft Individual Code Signing (authenticode)
msCodeCom Microsoft Commercial Code Signing (authenticode)
msCTLSign Microsoft Trust List Signing
msEFS Microsoft Encrypted File System
Examples:
extendedKeyUsage=critical,codeSigning,1.2.3.4
extendedKeyUsage=serverAuth,clientAuth
Subject Key Identifier.
This is really a string extension and can take two possible values. Either the word hash which will
automatically follow the guidelines in RFC3280 or a hex string giving the extension value to include. The
use of the hex string is strongly discouraged.
Example:
subjectKeyIdentifier=hash
Authority Key Identifier.
The authority key identifier extension permits two options. keyid and issuer: both can take the optional
value "always".
If the keyid option is present an attempt is made to copy the subject key identifier from the parent
certificate. If the value "always" is present then an error is returned if the option fails.
The issuer option copies the issuer and serial number from the issuer certificate. This will only be done
if the keyid option fails or is not included unless the "always" flag will always include the value.
Example:
authorityKeyIdentifier=keyid,issuer
Subject Alternative Name.
The subject alternative name extension allows various literal values to be included in the configuration
file. These include email (an email address) URI a uniform resource indicator, DNS (a DNS domain name),
RID (a registered ID: OBJECT IDENTIFIER), IP (an IP address), dirName (a distinguished name) and
otherName.
The email option include a special 'copy' value. This will automatically include any email addresses
contained in the certificate subject name in the extension.
The IP address used in the IP options can be in either IPv4 or IPv6 format.
The value of dirName should point to a section containing the distinguished name to use as a set of name
value pairs. Multi values AVAs can be formed by prefacing the name with a + character.
otherName can include arbitrary data associated with an OID: the value should be the OID followed by a
semicolon and the content in standard ASN1_generate_nconf(3) format.
Examples:
subjectAltName=email:copy,email:my@other.address,URI:http://my.url.here/
subjectAltName=IP:192.168.7.1
subjectAltName=IP:13::17
subjectAltName=email:my@other.address,RID:1.2.3.4
subjectAltName=otherName:1.2.3.4;UTF8:some other identifier
subjectAltName=dirName:dir_sect
[dir_sect]
C=UK
O=My Organization
OU=My Unit
CN=My Name
Issuer Alternative Name.
The issuer alternative name option supports all the literal options of subject alternative name. It does
not support the email:copy option because that would not make sense. It does support an additional
issuer:copy option that will copy all the subject alternative name values from the issuer certificate (if
possible).
Example:
issuerAltName = issuer:copy
Authority Info Access.
The authority information access extension gives details about how to access certain information relating
to the CA. Its syntax is accessOID;location where location has the same syntax as subject alternative
name (except that email:copy is not supported). accessOID can be any valid OID but only certain values
are meaningful, for example OCSP and caIssuers.
Example:
authorityInfoAccess = OCSP;URI:http://ocsp.my.host/
authorityInfoAccess = caIssuers;URI:http://my.ca/ca.html
CRL distribution points
This is a multi-valued extension whose options can be either in name:value pair using the same form as
subject alternative name or a single value representing a section name containing all the distribution
point fields.
For a name:value pair a new DistributionPoint with the fullName field set to the given value both the
cRLissuer and reasons fields are omitted in this case.
In the single option case the section indicated contains values for each field. In this section:
If the name is "fullname" the value field should contain the full name of the distribution point in the
same format as subject alternative name.
If the name is "relativename" then the value field should contain a section name whose contents represent
a DN fragment to be placed in this field.
The name "CRLIssuer" if present should contain a value for this field in subject alternative name format.
If the name is "reasons" the value field should consist of a comma separated field containing the
reasons. Valid reasons are: "keyCompromise", "CACompromise", "affiliationChanged", "superseded",
"cessationOfOperation", "certificateHold", "privilegeWithdrawn" and "AACompromise".
Simple examples:
crlDistributionPoints=URI:http://myhost.com/myca.crl
crlDistributionPoints=URI:http://my.com/my.crl,URI:http://oth.com/my.crl
Full distribution point example:
crlDistributionPoints=crldp1_section
[crldp1_section]
fullname=URI:http://myhost.com/myca.crl
CRLissuer=dirName:issuer_sect
reasons=keyCompromise, CACompromise
[issuer_sect]
C=UK
O=Organisation
CN=Some Name
Issuing Distribution Point
This extension should only appear in CRLs. It is a multi valued extension whose syntax is similar to the
"section" pointed to by the CRL distribution points extension with a few differences.
The names "reasons" and "CRLissuer" are not recognized.
The name "onlysomereasons" is accepted which sets this field. The value is in the same format as the CRL
distribution point "reasons" field.
The names "onlyuser", "onlyCA", "onlyAA" and "indirectCRL" are also accepted the values should be a
boolean value (TRUE or FALSE) to indicate the value of the corresponding field.
Example:
issuingDistributionPoint=critical, @idp_section
[idp_section]
fullname=URI:http://myhost.com/myca.crl
indirectCRL=TRUE
onlysomereasons=keyCompromise, CACompromise
[issuer_sect]
C=UK
O=Organisation
CN=Some Name
Certificate Policies.
This is a raw extension. All the fields of this extension can be set by using the appropriate syntax.
If you follow the PKIX recommendations and just using one OID then you just include the value of that
OID. Multiple OIDs can be set separated by commas, for example:
certificatePolicies= 1.2.4.5, 1.1.3.4
If you wish to include qualifiers then the policy OID and qualifiers need to be specified in a separate
section: this is done by using the @section syntax instead of a literal OID value.
The section referred to must include the policy OID using the name policyIdentifier, cPSuri qualifiers
can be included using the syntax:
CPS.nnn=value
userNotice qualifiers can be set using the syntax:
userNotice.nnn=@notice
The value of the userNotice qualifier is specified in the relevant section. This section can include
explicitText, organization and noticeNumbers options. explicitText and organization are text strings,
noticeNumbers is a comma separated list of numbers. The organization and noticeNumbers options (if
included) must BOTH be present. If you use the userNotice option with IE5 then you need the 'ia5org'
option at the top level to modify the encoding: otherwise it will not be interpreted properly.
Example:
certificatePolicies=ia5org,1.2.3.4,1.5.6.7.8,@polsect
[polsect]
policyIdentifier = 1.3.5.8
CPS.1="http://my.host.name/"
CPS.2="http://my.your.name/"
userNotice.1=@notice
[notice]
explicitText="Explicit Text Here"
organization="Organisation Name"
noticeNumbers=1,2,3,4
The ia5org option changes the type of the organization field. In RFC2459 it can only be of type
DisplayText. In RFC3280 IA5String is also permissible. Some software (for example some versions of MSIE)
may require ia5org.
ASN1 type of explicitText can be specified by prepending UTF8, BMP or VISIBLE prefix followed by colon.
For example:
[notice]
explicitText="UTF8:Explicit Text Here"
Policy Constraints
This is a multi-valued extension which consisting of the names requireExplicitPolicy or
inhibitPolicyMapping and a non negative integer value. At least one component must be present.
Example:
policyConstraints = requireExplicitPolicy:3
Inhibit Any Policy
This is a string extension whose value must be a non negative integer.
Example:
inhibitAnyPolicy = 2
Name Constraints
The name constraints extension is a multi-valued extension. The name should begin with the word permitted
or excluded followed by a ;. The rest of the name and the value follows the syntax of subjectAltName
except email:copy is not supported and the IP form should consist of an IP addresses and subnet mask
separated by a /.
Examples:
nameConstraints=permitted;IP:192.168.0.0/255.255.0.0
nameConstraints=permitted;email:.somedomain.com
nameConstraints=excluded;email:.com
OCSP No Check
The OCSP No Check extension is a string extension but its value is ignored.
Example:
noCheck = ignored
TLS Feature (aka Must Staple)
This is a multi-valued extension consisting of a list of TLS extension identifiers. Each identifier may
be a number (0..65535) or a supported name. When a TLS client sends a listed extension, the TLS server
is expected to include that extension in its reply.
The supported names are: status_request and status_request_v2.
Example:
tlsfeature = status_request
DEPRECATED EXTENSIONS
The following extensions are non standard, Netscape specific and largely obsolete. Their use in new
applications is discouraged.
Netscape String extensions.
Netscape Comment (nsComment) is a string extension containing a comment which will be displayed when the
certificate is viewed in some browsers.
Example:
nsComment = "Some Random Comment"
Other supported extensions in this category are: nsBaseUrl, nsRevocationUrl, nsCaRevocationUrl,
nsRenewalUrl, nsCaPolicyUrl and nsSslServerName.
Netscape Certificate Type
This is a multi-valued extensions which consists of a list of flags to be included. It was used to
indicate the purposes for which a certificate could be used. The basicConstraints, keyUsage and extended
key usage extensions are now used instead.
Acceptable values for nsCertType are: client, server, email, objsign, reserved, sslCA, emailCA, objCA.
ARBITRARY EXTENSIONS
If an extension is not supported by the OpenSSL code then it must be encoded using the arbitrary
extension format. It is also possible to use the arbitrary format for supported extensions. Extreme care
should be taken to ensure that the data is formatted correctly for the given extension type.
There are two ways to encode arbitrary extensions.
The first way is to use the word ASN1 followed by the extension content using the same syntax as
ASN1_generate_nconf(3). For example:
1.2.3.4=critical,ASN1:UTF8String:Some random data
1.2.3.4=ASN1:SEQUENCE:seq_sect
[seq_sect]
field1 = UTF8:field1
field2 = UTF8:field2
It is also possible to use the word DER to include the raw encoded data in any extension.
1.2.3.4=critical,DER:01:02:03:04
1.2.3.4=DER:01020304
The value following DER is a hex dump of the DER encoding of the extension Any extension can be placed in
this form to override the default behaviour. For example:
basicConstraints=critical,DER:00:01:02:03
WARNINGS
There is no guarantee that a specific implementation will process a given extension. It may therefore be
sometimes possible to use certificates for purposes prohibited by their extensions because a specific
application does not recognize or honour the values of the relevant extensions.
The DER and ASN1 options should be used with caution. It is possible to create totally invalid extensions
if they are not used carefully.
NOTES
If an extension is multi-value and a field value must contain a comma the long form must be used
otherwise the comma would be misinterpreted as a field separator. For example:
subjectAltName=URI:ldap://somehost.com/CN=foo,OU=bar
will produce an error but the equivalent form:
subjectAltName=@subject_alt_section
[subject_alt_section]
subjectAltName=URI:ldap://somehost.com/CN=foo,OU=bar
is valid.
Due to the behaviour of the OpenSSL conf library the same field name can only occur once in a section.
This means that:
subjectAltName=@alt_section
[alt_section]
email=steve@here
email=steve@there
will only recognize the last value. This can be worked around by using the form:
[alt_section]
email.1=steve@here
email.2=steve@there
SEE ALSO
req(1), ca(1), x509(1), ASN1_generate_nconf(3)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2004-2019 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
Licensed under the OpenSSL license (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with
the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.