OPENSSL-S_SERVER(1ossl)

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay so this is OPENSSL-S_SERVER(1ossl), and the actual name is openssl-s_server — the SSL/TLS server program. bestie, it's literally the server side of your TLS group chat, and it has so many options. 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

here's the whole vibe in one synopsis, no cap — yes, it's giving "my options list is a personality":

openssl s_server [-help] [-port +int] [-accept val] [-unix val] [-4]
[-6] [-unlink] [-context val] [-verify int] [-Verify int] [-cert infile]
[-cert2 infile] [-certform DER|PEM|P12] [-cert_chain infile]
[-build_chain] [-serverinfo val] [-key filename|uri] [-key2
filename|uri] [-keyform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE] [-pass val] [-dcert infile]
[-dcertform DER|PEM|P12] [-dcert_chain infile] [-dkey filename|uri]
[-dkeyform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE] [-dpass val] [-nbio_test] [-crlf]
[-debug] [-msg] [-msgfile outfile] [-state] [-nocert] [-quiet]
[-no_resume_ephemeral] [-www] [-WWW] [-http_server_binmode]
[-no_ca_names] [-ignore_unexpected_eof] [-servername]
[-servername_fatal] [-tlsextdebug] [-HTTP] [-id_prefix val]
[-keymatexport val] [-keymatexportlen +int] [-CRL infile] [-CRLform
DER|PEM] [-crl_download] [-chainCAfile infile] [-chainCApath dir]
[-chainCAstore uri] [-verifyCAfile infile] [-verifyCApath dir]
[-verifyCAstore uri] [-no_cache] [-ext_cache] [-verify_return_error]
[-verify_quiet] [-ign_eof] [-no_ign_eof] [-no_ems] [-status]
[-status_verbose] [-status_timeout int] [-proxy
[http[s]://][userinfo@]host[:port][/path][?query][#fragment]] [-no_proxy
addresses] [-status_url val] [-status_file infile] [-ssl_config val]
[-trace] [-security_debug] [-security_debug_verbose] [-brief] [-rev]
[-async] [-max_send_frag +int] [-split_send_frag +int] [-max_pipelines
+int] [-naccept +int] [-read_buf +int] [-no_tx_cert_comp]
[-no_rx_cert_comp] [-dhparam infile] [-nbio] [-psk_identity val]
[-psk_hint val] [-psk val] [-psk_session file] [-srpvfile infile]
[-srpuserseed val] [-timeout] [-mtu +int] [-listen] [-sctp]
[-sctp_label_bug] [-use_srtp val] [-no_dhe] [-nextprotoneg val] [-alpn
val] [-ktls] [-sendfile] [-zerocopy_sendfile] [-keylogfile outfile]
[-recv_max_early_data int] [-max_early_data int] [-early_data]
[-stateless] [-anti_replay] [-no_anti_replay] [-num_tickets] [-tfo]
[-cert_comp] [-nameopt option] [-no_ssl3] [-no_tls1] [-no_tls1_1]
[-no_tls1_2] [-no_tls1_3] [-ssl3] [-tls1] [-tls1_1] [-tls1_2] [-tls1_3]
[-dtls] [-dtls1] [-dtls1_2] [-allow_proxy_certs] [-attime timestamp]
[-no_check_time] [-check_ss_sig] [-crl_check] [-crl_check_all]
[-explicit_policy] [-extended_crl] [-ignore_critical] [-inhibit_any]
[-inhibit_map] [-partial_chain] [-policy arg] [-policy_check]
[-policy_print] [-purpose purpose] [-suiteB_128] [-suiteB_128_only]
[-suiteB_192] [-trusted_first] [-no_alt_chains] [-use_deltas]
[-auth_level num] [-verify_depth num] [-verify_email email]
[-verify_hostname hostname] [-verify_ip ip] [-verify_name name]
[-x509_strict] [-issuer_checks] [-bugs] [-no_comp] [-comp] [-no_ticket]
[-serverpref] [-client_renegotiation] [-legacy_renegotiation]
[-no_renegotiation] [-no_resumption_on_reneg] [-legacy_server_connect]
[-no_legacy_server_connect] [-no_etm] [-allow_no_dhe_kex]
[-prefer_no_dhe_kex] [-prioritize_chacha] [-strict] [-sigalgs algs]
[-client_sigalgs algs] [-groups groups] [-curves curves] [-named_curve
curve] [-cipher ciphers] [-ciphersuites 1.3ciphers] [-min_protocol
minprot] [-max_protocol maxprot] [-record_padding padding]
[-debug_broken_protocol] [-no_middlebox] [-xkey infile] [-xcert file]
[-xchain file] [-xchain_build file] [-xcertform DER|PEM|P12]> [-xkeyform
DER|PEM]> [-CAfile file] [-no-CAfile] [-CApath dir] [-no-CApath]
[-CAstore uri] [-no-CAstore] [-rand files] [-writerand file] [-engine
id] [-provider name] [-provider-path path] [-provparam [name:]key=value]
[-propquery propq] [-enable_server_rpk] [-enable_client_rpk]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

This command implements a generic SSL/TLS server which listens for connections on a given port using SSL/TLS. that's the whole mood: generic server, listens on a port, speaks SSL/TLS. iconic. ✨

💅 OPTIONS 💅

so many options, bestie. In addition to the options below, this command also supports the common and server only options documented in "Supported Command Line Commands" in SSL_CONF_cmd(3) — yes, that's a real sentence, not me being extra.

• -help — Print out a usage message. a help flag that helps, we love to see it. 🫶
• -port +int — The TCP port to listen on for connections. If not specified 4433 is used. so if you don't pick a port, it's 4433 by default, periodt.
• -accept val — The optional TCP host and port to listen on for connections. If not specified, *:4433 is used. very "choose your own adventure" of it.
• -unix val — Unix domain socket to accept on. lowkey niche but iconic. 🎀
• -4 — Use IPv4 only.
• -6 — Use IPv6 only.
• -unlink — For -unix, unlink any existing socket first. yes, it's the "clean up your mess" flag. 💅
• -context val — Sets the SSL context id. It can be given any string value. If this option is not present a default value will be used.
• -verify int, -Verify int — The verify depth to use. This specifies the maximum length of the client certificate chain and makes the server request a certificate from the client. With the -verify option a certificate is requested but the client does not have to send one, with the -Verify option the client must supply a certificate or an error occurs. If the cipher suite cannot request a client certificate (for example an anonymous cipher suite or PSK) this option has no effect. By default, validation of any supplied client certificate and its chain is done w.r.t. the (D)TLS Client ("sslclient") purpose. For details see "Certificate Extensions" in openssl-verification-options(1). 💀 the difference is literally must vs may.
• -cert infile — The certificate to use. most server cipher suites require the use of a certificate and some require a certificate with a certain public key type: for example the DSS cipher suites require a certificate containing a DSS (DSA) key. If not specified then the filename server.pem will be used.
• -cert2 infile — The certificate file to use for servername; default is server2.pem.
• -certform DER|PEM|P12 — The server certificate file format; unspecified by default. See openssl-format-options(1) for details.
• -cert_chain — A file or URI of untrusted certificates to use when attempting to build the certificate chain related to the certificate specified via the -cert option. These untrusted certificates are sent to clients and used for generating certificate status (aka OCSP stapling) requests. The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
• -build_chain — Specify whether the application should build the server certificate chain to be provided to the client.
• -serverinfo val — A file containing one or more blocks of PEM data. Each PEM block must encode a TLS ServerHello extension (2 bytes type, 2 bytes length, followed by length bytes of extension data). If the client sends an empty TLS ClientHello extension matching the type, the corresponding ServerHello extension will be returned.
• -key filename|uri — The private key to use. If not specified then the certificate file will be used.
• -key2 filename|uri — The private Key file to use for servername if not given via -cert2.
• -keyform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE — The key format; unspecified by default. See openssl-format-options(1) for details.
• -pass val — The private key and certificate file password source. For more information about the format of val, see openssl-passphrase-options(1).
• -dcert infile, -dkey filename|uri — Specify an additional certificate and private key, these behave in the same manner as the -cert and -key options except there is no default if they are not specified (no additional certificate and key is used). As noted above some cipher suites require a certificate containing a key of a certain type. Some cipher suites need a certificate carrying an RSA key and some a DSS (DSA) key. By using RSA and DSS certificates and keys a server can support clients which only support RSA or DSS cipher suites by using an appropriate certificate.
• -dcert_chain — A file or URI of untrusted certificates to use when attempting to build the server certificate chain when a certificate specified via the -dcert option is in use. The input can be in PEM, DER, or PKCS#12 format.
• -dcertform DER|PEM|P12 — The format of the additional certificate file; unspecified by default. See openssl-format-options(1) for details.
• -dkeyform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE — The format of the additional private key; unspecified by default. See openssl-format-options(1) for details.
• -dpass val — The passphrase for the additional private key and certificate. For more information about the format of val, see openssl-passphrase-options(1).
• -nbio_test — Tests non blocking I/O. ngl, the name is kinda self-explanatory. 🙈
• -crlf — This option translated a line feed from the terminal into CR+LF.
• -debug — Print extensive debugging information including a hex dump of all traffic.
• -security_debug — Print output from SSL/TLS security framework.
• -security_debug_verbose — Print more output from SSL/TLS security framework.
• -msg — Show all protocol messages with hex dump.
• -msgfile outfile — File to send output of -msg or -trace to, default standard output.
• -state — Prints the SSL session states.
• -CRL infile — The CRL file to use.
• -CRLform DER|PEM — The CRL file format; unspecified by default. See openssl-format-options(1) for details.
• -crl_download — Download CRLs from distribution points given in CDP extensions of certificates.
• -verifyCAfile filename — A file in PEM format CA containing trusted certificates to use for verifying client certificates.
• -verifyCApath dir — A directory containing trusted certificates to use for verifying client certificates. This directory must be in "hash format", see openssl-verify(1) for more information.
• -verifyCAstore uri — The URI of a store containing trusted certificates to use for verifying client certificates.
• -chainCAfile file — A file in PEM format containing trusted certificates to use when attempting to build the server certificate chain.
• -chainCApath dir — A directory containing trusted certificates to use for building the server certificate chain provided to the client. This directory must be in "hash format", see openssl-verify(1) for more information.
• -chainCAstore uri — The URI of a store containing trusted certificates to use for building the server certificate chain provided to the client. The URI may indicate a single certificate, as well as a collection of them. With URIs in the "file:" scheme, this acts as -chainCAfile or -chainCApath, depending on if the URI indicates a directory or a single file. See ossl_store-file(7) for more information on the "file:" scheme.
• -nocert — bestie, if this is set then no certificate is used at all. That restricts the cipher suites available to the anonymous ones (currently just anonymous DH). 🫶
• -quiet — inhibit printing of session and certificate information. Shhh, no extra chatter. 🤫
• -no_resume_ephemeral — disable caching and tickets if ephemeral (EC)DH is used. 😌
• -tlsextdebug — print a hex dump of any TLS extensions received from the server. Hex dump moment. 🔍
• -www — sends a status message back to the client when it connects. This includes information about the ciphers used and various session parameters. The output is in HTML format, so this option can be used with a web browser. The special URL "/renegcert" turns on client cert validation, and "/reneg" tells the server to request renegotiation. 🌐
• -WWW, -HTTP — emulates a simple web server. Pages will be resolved relative to the current directory, for example if the URL https://myhost/page.html is requested the file ./page.html will be sent. If the -HTTP flag is used, the files are sent directly, and should contain any HTTP response headers (including status response line). If the -WWW option is used, the response headers are generated by the server, and the file extension is examined to determine the Content-Type header. Extensions of "html", "htm", and "php" are "text/html" and all others are "text/plain". In addition, the special URL "/stats" will return status information like the -www option. 🕸️
• -http_server_binmode — when acting as web-server (using option -WWW or -HTTP) open files requested by the client in binary mode. 🧬
• -no_ca_names — disable TLS Extension CA Names. You may want to disable it for security reasons or for compatibility with some Windows TLS implementations crashing when this extension is larger than 1024 bytes. 😬
• -ignore_unexpected_eof — some TLS implementations do not send the mandatory close_notify alert on shutdown. If the application tries to wait for the close_notify alert but the peer closes the connection without sending it, an error is generated. When this option is enabled the peer does not need to send the close_notify alert and a closed connection will be treated as if the close_notify alert was received. For more information on shutting down a connection, see SSL_shutdown(3). 🚪
• -servername — servername for HostName TLS extension. 🏷️
• -servername_fatal — on servername mismatch send fatal alert (default: warning alert). ⚠️
• -id_prefix val — generate SSL/TLS session IDs prefixed by val. This is mostly useful for testing any SSL/TLS code (e.g. proxies) that wish to deal with multiple servers, when each of which might be generating a unique range of session IDs (e.g. with a certain prefix). 🆔
• -keymatexport — export keying material using label. 🔑
• -keymatexportlen — export the given number of bytes of keying material; default 20. 📏
• -no_cache — disable session cache. 🚫
• -ext_cache. — disable internal cache, set up and use external cache. 🗄️
• -verify_return_error — verification errors normally just print a message but allow the connection to continue, for debugging purposes. If this option is used, then verification errors close the connection. 🛑
• -verify_quiet — no verify output except verify errors. 🤐
• -ign_eof — ignore input EOF (default: when -quiet). 🙉
• -no_ign_eof — do not ignore input EOF. 🚫
• -no_ems — disable Extended master secret negotiation. 🔒
• -status — enables certificate status request support (aka OCSP stapling). 📜
• -status_verbose — enables certificate status request support (aka OCSP stapling) and gives a verbose printout of the OCSP response. Use the -cert_chain option to specify the certificate of the server's certificate signer that is required for certificate status requests. 🗂️
• -status_timeout int — sets the timeout for OCSP response to int seconds. ⏱️
• -proxy [http[s]://][userinfo@]host[:port][/path][?query][#fragment] — the HTTP(S) proxy server to use for reaching the OCSP server unless -no_proxy applies, see below. If the host string is an IPv6 address, it must be enclosed in "[" and "]". The proxy port defaults to 80 or 443 if the scheme is "https"; apart from that the optional "http://" or "https://" prefix is ignored, as well as any userinfo, path, query, and fragment components. Defaults to the environment variable "http_proxy" if set, else "HTTP_PROXY" in case no TLS is used, otherwise "https_proxy" if set, else "HTTPS_PROXY". 🌉
• -no_proxy addresses — list of IP addresses and/or DNS names of servers not to use an HTTP(S) proxy for, separated by commas and/or whitespace (where in the latter case the whole argument must be enclosed in "..."). Default is from the environment variable "no_proxy" if set, else "NO_PROXY". 🚫🌐
• -status_url val — sets a fallback responder URL to use if no responder URL is present in the server certificate. Without this option an error is returned if the server certificate does not contain a responder address. The optional userinfo and fragment URL components are ignored. Any given query component is handled as part of the path component. 🔗
• -status_file infile — overrides any OCSP responder URLs from the certificate and always provides the OCSP Response stored in the file. The file must be in DER format. 📄
• -ssl_config val — configure SSL_CTX using the given configuration value. ⚙️
• -trace — show verbose trace output of protocol messages. 🧵
• -brief — provide a brief summary of connection parameters instead of the normal verbose output. ✨
• -rev — simple echo server that sends back received text reversed. Also sets -brief. Cannot be used in conjunction with -early_data. 🔁
• -async — switch on asynchronous mode. Cryptographic operations will be performed asynchronously. This will only have an effect if an asynchronous capable engine is also used via the -engine option. For test purposes the dummy async engine (dasync) can be used (if available). ⚡
• -max_send_frag +int — the maximum size of data fragment to send. See SSL_CTX_set_max_send_fragment(3) for further information. 📦
• -split_send_frag +int — the size used to split data for encrypt pipelines. If more data is written in one go than this value then it will be split into multiple pipelines, up to the maximum number of pipelines defined by max_pipelines. This only has an effect if a suitable cipher suite has been negotiated, an engine that supports pipelining has been loaded, and max_pipelines is greater than 1. See SSL_CTX_set_split_send_fragment(3) for further information. 🧩
• -max_pipelines +int — the maximum number of encrypt/decrypt pipelines to be used. This will only have an effect if an engine has been loaded that supports pipelining (e.g. the dasync engine) and a suitable cipher suite has been negotiated. The default value is 1. See SSL_CTX_set_max_pipelines(3) for further information. 🛠️
• -naccept +int — the server will exit after receiving the specified number of connections, default unlimited. 🔚
• -read_buf +int — the default read buffer size to be used for connections. This will only have an effect if the buffer size is larger than the size that would otherwise be used and pipelining is in use (see SSL_CTX_set_default_read_buffer_len(3) for further information). 📚
• -no_tx_cert_comp — disables support for sending TLSv1.3 compressed certificates. 📤
• -no_rx_cert_comp — disables support for receiving TLSv1.3 compressed certificates. 📥
• -no_comp — disable negotiation of TLS compression. TLS compression is not recommended and is off by default as of OpenSSL 1.1.0. 🚫🗜️
• -num_tickets — control the number of tickets that will be sent to the client after a full handshake in TLSv1.3. The default number of tickets is 2. This option does not affect the number of tickets sent after a resumption handshake. 🎟️
• -dhparam infile — the DH parameter file to use. The ephemeral DH cipher suites generate keys using a set of DH parameters. If not specified then an attempt is made to load the parameters from the server certificate file. If this fails then a static set of parameters hard coded into this command will be used. 🔢
• -nbio — turns on non blocking I/O. 🚦
• -timeout — enable timeouts. ⏳
• -mtu — set link-layer MTU. 📶
• -psk_identity val — expect the client to send PSK identity val when using a PSK cipher suite, and warn if they do not. By default, the expected PSK identity is the string "Client_identity". 🪪
• -psk_hint val — use the PSK identity hint val when using a PSK cipher suite. 💡
• -psk val — use the PSK key val when using a PSK cipher suite. The key is given as a hexadecimal number without leading 0x, for example -psk 1a2b3c4d. This option must be provided in order to use a PSK cipher. 🔐
• -psk_session file — use the PEM encoded SSL_SESSION data stored in file as the basis of a PSK. Note that this will only work if TLSv1.3 is negotiated. 📁
• -srpvfile — the verifier file for SRP. This option is deprecated. ⚠️
• -srpuserseed — a seed string for a default user salt. This option is deprecated. ⚠️
• -listen — this option can only be used in conjunction with one of the DTLS options above. With this option, this command will listen on a UDP port for incoming connections. Any ClientHellos that arrive will be checked to see if they have a cookie in them or not. Any without a cookie will be responded to with a HelloVerifyRequest. If a ClientHello with a cookie is received then this command will connect to that peer and complete the handshake. 👂
• -sctp — use SCTP for the transport protocol instead of UDP in DTLS. Must be used in conjunction with -dtls, -dtls1 or -dtls1_2. This option is only available where OpenSSL has support for SCTP enabled. 🛰️
• -sctp_label_bug — use the incorrect behaviour of older OpenSSL implementations when computing endpoint-pair shared secrets for DTLS/SCTP. This allows communication with older broken implementations but breaks interoperability with correct implementations. Must be used in conjunction with -sctp. This option is only available where OpenSSL has support for SCTP enabled. 💀
• -use_srtp — offer SRTP key management with a colon-separated profile list. 🎧
• -no_dhe — If you set this, no DH parameters get loaded at all, which effectively disables the ephemeral DH cipher suites. 💅
• -alpn val, -nextprotoneg val — These flags turn on the Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation or Next Protocol Negotiation (NPN) extension, respectively. ALPN is the IETF standard and replaces NPN. The val list is a comma-separated list of supported protocol names — put the most desirable protocols first. Protocol names are printable ASCII strings, for example "http/1.1" or "spdy/3". The flag -nextprotoneg cannot be specified if -tls1_3 is used. 🦋
• -ktls — Enable Kernel TLS for sending and receiving. This option was introduced in OpenSSL 3.2.0. Kernel TLS is off by default as of OpenSSL 3.2.0. 🔥
• -sendfile — If this option is set and KTLS is enabled, SSL_sendfile() will be used instead of BIO_write() to send the HTTP response requested by a client. This option is only valid when -ktls along with -WWW or -HTTP are specified. ✨
• -zerocopy_sendfile — If this option is set, SSL_sendfile() will use the zerocopy TX mode, which gives a performance boost when used with KTLS hardware offload. Note that invalid TLS records might be transmitted if the file is changed while being sent. This option depends on -sendfile; when used alone, -sendfile is implied, and a warning is shown. Note that KTLS sendfile on FreeBSD always runs in the zerocopy mode. 🫶
• -keylogfile outfile — Appends TLS secrets to the specified keylog file such that external programs (like Wireshark) can decrypt TLS connections. 🔍
• -max_early_data int — Change the default maximum early data bytes that are specified for new sessions and any incoming early data (when used in conjunction with the -early_data flag). The default value is approximately 16k. The argument must be an integer greater than or equal to 0. 💖
• -recv_max_early_data int — Specify the hard limit on the maximum number of early data bytes that will be accepted. 🛑
• -early_data — Accept early data where possible. Cannot be used in conjunction with -www, -WWW, -HTTP or -rev. 🌸
• -stateless — Require TLSv1.3 cookies. 🍪
• -anti_replay, -no_anti_replay — Switches replay protection on or off, respectively. Replay protection is on by default unless overridden by a configuration file. When it is on, OpenSSL will automatically detect if a session ticket has been used more than once, TLSv1.3 has been negotiated, and early data is enabled on the server. A full handshake is forced if a session ticket is used a second or subsequent time. Any early data that was sent will be rejected. 👑
• -tfo — Enable acceptance of TCP Fast Open (RFC7413) connections. ⚡
• -cert_comp — Pre-compresses certificates (RFC8879) that will be sent during the handshake. 🎀
• -nameopt option — This specifies how the subject or issuer names are displayed. See openssl-namedisplay-options(1) for details. 🖼️
• -no_ssl3, -no_tls1, -no_tls1_1, -no_tls1_2, -no_tls1_3, -ssl3, -tls1, -tls1_1, -tls1_2, -tls1_3 — See "TLS Version Options" in openssl(1). 🌈
• -dtls, -dtls1, -dtls1_2 — These specify the use of DTLS instead of TLS. See "TLS Version Options" in openssl(1). 🛰️
• -bugs, -comp, -no_comp, -no_ticket, -serverpref, -client_renegotiation, -legacy_renegotiation, -no_renegotiation, -no_resumption_on_reneg, -legacy_server_connect, -no_legacy_server_connect, -no_etm, -allow_no_dhe_kex, -prefer_no_dhe_kex, -prioritize_chacha, -strict, -sigalgs algs, -client_sigalgs algs, -groups groups, -curves curves, -named_curve curve, -cipher ciphers, -ciphersuites 1.3ciphers, -min_protocol minprot, -max_protocol maxprot, -record_padding padding, -debug_broken_protocol, -no_middlebox — See "SUPPORTED COMMAND LINE COMMANDS" in SSL_CONF_cmd(3) for details. 🧚
• -xkey infile, -xcert file, -xchain file, -xchain_build file, -xcertform DER|PEM, -xkeyform DER|PEM — Set extended certificate verification options. See "Extended Verification Options" in openssl-verification-options(1) for details. 🔐
• -CAfile file, -no-CAfile, -CApath dir, -no-CApath, -CAstore uri, -no-CAstore — See "Trusted Certificate Options" in openssl-verification-options(1) for details. 📁
• -rand files, -writerand file — See "Random State Options" in openssl(1) for details. 🎲
• -engine id — See "Engine Options" in openssl(1). This option is deprecated. ⚠️
• -provider name, -provider-path path, -provparam [name:]key=value, -propquery propq — See "Provider Options" in openssl(1), provider(7), and property(7). 🧩
• -allow_proxy_certs, -attime, -no_check_time, -check_ss_sig, -crl_check, -crl_check_all, -explicit_policy, -extended_crl, -ignore_critical, -inhibit_any, -inhibit_map, -no_alt_chains, -partial_chain, -policy, -policy_check, -policy_print, -purpose, -suiteB_128, -suiteB_128_only, -suiteB_192, -trusted_first, -use_deltas, -auth_level, -verify_depth, -verify_email, -verify_hostname, -verify_ip, -verify_name, -x509_strict, -issuer_checks — Set various options of certificate chain verification. See "Verification Options" in openssl-verification-options(1) for details.

If the server requests a client certificate, then verification errors are displayed, for debugging, but the command will proceed unless the -verify_return_error option is used. 👀

• -enable_server_rpk — Enable support for sending raw public keys (RFC7250) to the client. A raw public key will be sent by the server, if solicited by the client, provided a suitable key and public certificate pair is configured. Clients that don't support raw public keys or prefer to use X.509 certificates can still elect to receive X.509 certificates as usual. Raw public keys are extracted from the configured certificate/private key. 🔑
• -enable_client_rpk — Enable support for receiving raw public keys (RFC7250) from the client. Use of X.509 certificates by the client becomes optional, and clients that support raw public keys may elect to use them. Clients that don't support raw public keys or prefer to use X.509 certificates can still elect to send X.509 certificates as usual. Raw public keys are extracted from the configured certificate/private key. 🗝️

✨ CONNECTED COMMANDS ✨

If a connection request is established with an SSL client and neither the -www nor the -WWW option has been used then normally any data received from the client is displayed and any key presses will be sent to the client. 💬

Certain commands are also recognized which perform special operations. These commands are a letter which must appear at the start of a line. They are listed below. 👇

• q — End the current SSL connection but still accept new connections. 🎀
• Q — End the current SSL connection and exit. 💀
• r — Renegotiate the SSL session (TLSv1.2 and below only). 🔁
• R — Renegotiate the SSL session and request a client certificate (TLSv1.2 and below only). 📜
• P — Send some plain text down the underlying TCP connection: this should cause the client to disconnect due to a protocol violation. 😈
• S — Print out some session cache status information. 📊
• k — Send a key update message to the client (TLSv1.3 only). 🔐
• K — Send a key update message to the client and request one back (TLSv1.3 only). 🔄
• c — Send a certificate request to the client (TLSv1.3 only). 📩

🌟 NOTES 🌟

This command can be used to debug SSL clients. To accept connections from a web browser the command:

openssl s_server -accept 443 -www

can be used for example. 🌐

Although specifying an empty list of CAs when requesting a client certificate is strictly speaking a protocol violation, some SSL clients interpret this to mean any CA is acceptable. This is useful for debugging purposes. 🐞

The session parameters can be printed out using the openssl-sess_id(1) command. 🧾

💀 BUGS 💀

Because this program has a lot of options and also because some of the techniques used are rather old, the C source for this command is rather hard to read and not a model of how things should be done. A typical SSL server program would be much simpler. 😭

The output of common ciphers is wrong: it just gives the list of ciphers that OpenSSL recognizes and the client supports. 🫠

There should be a way for this command to print out details of any unknown cipher suites a client says it supports. 🙈

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

openssl(1), openssl-sess_id(1), openssl-s_client(1), openssl-ciphers(1), SSL_CONF_cmd(3), SSL_CTX_set_max_send_fragment(3), SSL_CTX_set_split_send_fragment(3), SSL_CTX_set_max_pipelines(3), ossl_store-file(7)

🕰️ HISTORY 🕰️

• The -no_alt_chains option was added in OpenSSL 1.1.0. 🌱
• The -allow-no-dhe-kex and -prioritize_chacha options were added in OpenSSL 1.1.1. 🌿
• The -srpvfile, -srpuserseed, and -engine option were deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0. ⚠️
• The -enable_client_rpk, -enable_server_rpk, -no_rx_cert_comp, -no_tx_cert_comp, and -tfo options were added in OpenSSL 3.2. 🌟

👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright 2000-2025 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved. 💖

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (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. 📜

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That's the whole page, bestie — source/version 3.5.6, dated 2026-04-07, and it's the OPENSSL-S_SERVER(1ossl) man page. 💖✨