openssl(1ssl) — Commands

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]

COMMAND SUMMARY

The openssl program provides a rich variety of commands, each of which often has a wealth of options and arguments.

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. (The no-XXX command is not able to detect pseudo-commands such as quit, list- ...−commands, or no-XXX itself.)

STANDARD COMMANDS

asn1parse
Parse an ASN.1 sequence.

caCertificate Authority (CA) Management.

ciphersCipher Suite Description Determination.

crlCertificate Revocation List (CRL) Management.

crl2pkcs7
CRL to PKCS#7 Conversion.

dgstMessage Digest Calculation.

dhDiffie-Hellman Parameter Management. Obsoleted by dhparam.

dsaDSA Data Management.

dsaparam
DSA Parameter Generation.

encEncoding with Ciphers.

errstrError Number to Error String Conversion.

dhparam
Generation and Management of Diffie-Hellman Parameters.

gendhGeneration of Diffie-Hellman Parameters. Obsoleted by dhparam.

gendsaGeneration of DSA Parameters.

genrsaGeneration of RSA Parameters.

passwdGeneration of hashed passwords.

pkcs12PKCS#12 Data Management.

pkcs7PKCS#7 Data Management.

randGenerate pseudo-random bytes.

reqX.509 Certificate Signing Request (CSR) Management.

rsaRSA Data Management.

rsautlRSA utility for signing, verification, encryption, and decryption.

s_client
Implements a generic SSL/TLS client which can establish a transparent connection to a remote server speaking SSL/TLS. It is 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 is 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_timeSSL Connection Timer.

sess_idSSL Session Data Management.

smimeS/MIME mail processing.

speedAlgorithm Speed Measurement.

verifyX.509 Certificate Verification.

versionOpenSSL Version Information.

x509X.509 Certificate Data Management.

MESSAGE DIGEST COMMANDS

md2MD2 Digest

md5MD5 Digest

mdc2MDC2 Digest

rmd160RMD-160 Digest

shaSHA Digest

sha1SHA-1 Digest

ENCODING AND CIPHER COMMANDS

base64Base64 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

rc4RC4 Cipher

rc5 rc5-cbc rc5-cfb rc5-ecb rc5-ofb
RC5 Cipher

PASSWORD PHRASE ARGUMENTS

Several commands accept password arguments, typically using the −passin and the −passout options 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 (such as ps under UNIX), this form should only be used where security is not important.

env:varObtains the password from the environment variable var. Since the environment of other processes is visible on certain platforms (e.g. ps under certain UNIX operating systems), 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. The pathname need not refer to a regular file. It could, for example, refer to a device or named pipe.

fd:number
Reads the password from the file descriptor number. This can be used, for example, to send the data via a pipe.

stdinReads the password from standard input.

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 the following:

•Creation of RSA, DH and DSA key parameters

•Creation of X.509 certificates, CSRs and CRLs

•Calculation of Message Digests

•Encryption and Decryption with Ciphers

•SSL/TLS Client and Server Tests

•Handling of S/MIME signed or encrypted mail

HISTORY

The openssl(1ssl) 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.

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