openssl

 

NAME

openssl − OpenSSL command line tool

SYNOPSIS

openssl command [ command_opts ] [ command_args ]

openssl [ list-standard-commands | list-message-digest-commands | list-cipher-commands ]

openssl no− XXX [ arbitrary options ]

DESCRIPTION

OpenSSL is a cryptography toolkit implementing the Secure Sockets Layer ( SSL v2/v3) and Transport Layer Security ( TLS v1) network protocols and related cryptography standards required by them.

The openssl program is a command line tool for using the various cryptography functions of OpenSSL’s crypto library from the shell. It can be used for

 o  Creation of RSA, DH and DSA key parameters
 o  Creation of X.509 certificates, CSRs and CRLs
 o  Calculation of Message Digests
 o  Encryption and Decryption with Ciphers
 o  SSL/TLS Client and Server Tests
 o  Handling of S/MIME signed or encrypted mail

COMMAND SUMMARY

The openssl program provides a rich variety of commands (command in the SYNOPSIS above), each of which often has a wealth of options and arguments (command_opts and command_args in the SYNOPSIS ).

The pseudo-commands list-standard-commands, list-message-digest-commands, and list-cipher-commands output a list (one entry per line) of the names of all standard commands, message digest commands, or cipher commands, respectively, that are available in the present openssl utility.

The pseudo-command no− XXX tests whether a command of the specified name is available. If no command named XXX exists, it returns 0 (success) and prints no− XXX ; otherwise it returns 1 and prints XXX . In both cases, the output goes to stdout and nothing is printed to stderr. Additional command line arguments are always ignored. Since for each cipher there is a command of the same name, this provides an easy way for shell scripts to test for the availability of ciphers in the openssl program. (no− XXX is not able to detect pseudo-commands such as quit, list−...−commands, or no− XXX itself.)

STANDARD COMMANDS

	asn1parse		Parse an ASN .1 sequence.
	ca		Certificate Authority ( CA ) Management.
	ciphers		Cipher Suite Description Determination.
	crl		Certificate Revocation List ( CRL ) Management.
	crl2pkcs7		CRL to PKCS#7 Conversion.
	dgst		Message Digest Calculation.
	dh		Diffie-Hellman Parameter Management. Obsoleted by dhparam.
	dsa		DSA Data Management.
	dsaparam		DSA Parameter Generation.
	enc		Encoding with Ciphers.
	errstr		Error Number to Error String Conversion.
	dhparam		Generation and Management of Diffie-Hellman Parameters.
	gendh		Generation of Diffie-Hellman Parameters. Obsoleted by dhparam.
	gendsa		Generation of DSA Parameters.
	genrsa		Generation of RSA Parameters.
	ocsp		Online Certificate Status Protocol utility.
	passwd		Generation of hashed passwords.
	pkcs12		PKCS#12 Data Management.
	pkcs7		PKCS#7 Data Management.
	rand		Generate pseudo-random bytes.
	req		X.509 Certificate Signing Request ( CSR ) Management.
	rsa		RSA Data Management.
	rsautl		RSA utility for signing, verification, encryption, and decryption.
	s_client		This implements a generic SSL/TLS client which can establish a transparent connection to a remote server speaking SSL/TLS . It’s intended for testing purposes only and provides only rudimentary interface functionality but internally uses mostly all functionality of the OpenSSL ssl library.
	s_server		This implements a generic SSL/TLS server which accepts connections from remote clients speaking SSL/TLS . It’s intended for testing purposes only and provides only rudimentary interface functionality but internally uses mostly all functionality of the OpenSSL ssl library. It provides both an own command line oriented protocol for testing SSL functions and a simple HTTP response facility to emulate an SSL/TLS−aware webserver.
	s_time		SSL Connection Timer.
	sess_id		SSL Session Data Management.
	smime		S/MIME mail processing.
	speed		Algorithm Speed Measurement.
	verify		X.509 Certificate Verification.
	version		OpenSSL Version Information.
	x509		X.509 Certificate Data Management.

MESSAGE DIGEST COMMANDS

	md2		MD2 Digest
	md5		MD5 Digest
	mdc2		MDC2 Digest
	rmd160		RMD−160 Digest
	sha		SHA Digest
	sha1		SHA−1 Digest

ENCODING AND CIPHER COMMANDS

base64

Base64 Encoding

bf bf-cbc bf-cfb bf-ecb bf-ofb

Blowfish Cipher

cast cast-cbc

CAST Cipher

cast5−cbc cast5−cfb cast5−ecb cast5−ofb

CAST5 Cipher

des des-cbc des-cfb des-ecb des-ede des-ede-cbc des-ede-cfb des-ede-ofb
des-ofb

DES Cipher

des3 desx des−ede3 des−ede3−cbc des−ede3−cfb des−ede3−ofb

Triple-DES Cipher

idea idea-cbc idea-cfb idea-ecb idea-ofb

IDEA Cipher

rc2 rc2−cbc rc2−cfb rc2−ecb rc2−ofb

RC2 Cipher

rc4

RC4 Cipher

rc5 rc5−cbc rc5−cfb rc5−ecb rc5−ofb

RC5 Cipher

PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS

Several commands accept password arguments, typically using −passin and −passout for input and output passwords respectively. These allow the password to be obtained from a variety of sources. Both of these options take a single argument whose format is described below. If no password argument is given and a password is required then the user is prompted to enter one: this will typically be read from the current terminal with echoing turned off.
pass:password

the actual password is password. Since the password is visible to utilities (like ’ps’ under Unix) this form should only be used where security is not important.

env:var

obtain the password from the environment variable var. Since the environment of other processes is visible on certain platforms (e.g. ps under certain Unix OSes) this option should be used with caution.

file:pathname

the first line of pathname is the password. If the same pathname argument is supplied to −passin and −passout arguments then the first line will be used for the input password and the next line for the output password. pathname need not refer to a regular file: it could for example refer to a device or named pipe.

	fd:number		read the password from the file descriptor number. This can be used to send the data via a pipe for example.
	stdin		read the password from standard input.

SEE ALSO

asn1parse(1), ca(1), config(5), crl(1), crl2pkcs7(1), dgst(1), dhparam(1), dsa(1), dsaparam(1), enc(1), gendsa(1), genrsa(1), nseq(1), openssl(1), passwd(1), pkcs12(1), pkcs7(1), pkcs8(1), rand(1), req(1), rsa(1), rsautl(1), s_client(1), s_server(1), s_time(1), smime(1), spkac(1), verify(1), version(1), x509(1), crypto(3), ssl(3)

HISTORY

The openssl(1) document appeared in OpenSSL 0.9.2. The list− XXX −commands pseudo-commands were added in OpenSSL 0.9.3; the no− XXX pseudo-commands were added in OpenSSL 0.9.5a. For notes on the availability of other commands, see their individual manual pages.