OPENSSL-REQ(1ossl)

📦 version 3.5.0, in opensuse-leap 16.0

💖 OPENSSL-REQ(1ossl) 💖

okay so bestie, this is the openssl-req manual page. it's giving “CSR central” and honestly? iconic. periodt. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

openssl-req — PKCS#10 certificate request and certificate generating command.

that's the whole name, no cap. 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

here's the summoning circle, exactly as written:

openssl req [-help] [-cipher] [-inform DER|PEM] [-outform DER|PEM] [-in
     filename] [-passin arg] [-out filename] [-passout arg] [-text] [-pubkey]
     [-noout] [-verify] [-modulus] [-new] [-newkey arg] [-pkeyopt opt:value]
     [-noenc] [-nodes] [-key filename|uri] [-keyform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE]
     [-keyout filename] [-keygen_engine id] [-digest] [-config filename]
     [-section name] [-x509] [-x509v1] [-CA filename|uri] [-CAkey
     filename|uri] [-not_before date] [-not_after date] [-days n]
     [-set_serial n] [-newhdr] [-copy_extensions arg] [-extensions section]
     [-reqexts section] [-addext ext] [-precert] [-utf8] [-reqopt] [-subject]
     [-subj arg] [-multivalue-rdn] [-sigopt nm:v] [-vfyopt nm:v] [-batch]
     [-verbose] [-quiet] [-nameopt option] [-rand files] [-writerand file]
     [-engine id] [-provider name] [-provider-path path] [-provparam
     [name:]key=value] [-propquery propq]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the short version: this command is mainly your CSR girlie — it creates and processes certificate requests (CSRs) in PKCS#10 format. plus it can additionally create self-signed certificates, like for use as root CAs for example. slay. 💅

💅 OPTIONS 💅

okay, option-by-option, no skipping, i promise. 🫶

  • -help — prints out a usage message. simple, helpful, iconic. ✨
  • -inform DER|PEM — the CSR input file format to use. by default, PEM is tried first. for details, see openssl-format-options(1). 💖
  • -outform DER|PEM — the output format; unspecified by default. see openssl-format-options(1) for details. the data is a PKCS#10 object. 🎀
  • -cipher name — specify the cipher to be used for encrypting the private key. if no cipher is specified, AES-256-CBC will be used by default. you can override this by providing any valid OpenSSL cipher name. 🔥
  • -in filename — specifies the input filename to read a request from. this defaults to standard input unless -x509 or -CA is specified. a request is only read if the creation options (-new or -newkey or -precert) are not specified. 💀
  • -sigopt nm:v — pass options to the signature algorithm during sign operations. names and values of these options are algorithm-specific. 🎀
  • -vfyopt nm:v — pass options to the signature algorithm during verify operations. names and values of these options are algorithm-specific. 🦋
  • -passin arg — the password source for private key and certificate input. for more information about the format of arg, see openssl-passphrase-options(1). 🌸
  • -passout arg — the password source for the output file. for more information about the format of arg, see openssl-passphrase-options(1). 🌸
  • -out filename — specifies the output filename to write to, or standard output by default. 💖
  • -text — prints out the certificate request in text form. 🎀
  • -subject — prints out the certificate request subject (or the certificate subject if -x509 is in use). 👑
  • -pubkey — prints out the public key. 🔑
  • -noout — prevents output of the encoded version of the certificate request. 🙈
  • -modulus — prints out the value of the modulus of the public key contained in the request. 🧮
  • -verify — verifies the self-signature on the request. if the verification fails, the program will immediately exit, i.e. further option processing (e.g. -text) is skipped. so yeah, it's serious. 💀
  • -new — generates a new certificate request. it will prompt the user for the relevant field values. the actual fields prompted for, and their maximum and minimum sizes, are specified in the configuration file and any requested extensions. if the -key option is not given, it will generate a new private key using information specified in the configuration file or given with the -newkey and -pkeyopt options; else, by default, an RSA key with 2048 bits length. 🫶
  • -newkey arg — used to generate a new private key unless -key is given. it is subsequently used as if it was given using the -key option.

this option implies the -new flag to create a new certificate request or a new certificate in case -x509 is used.

the argument takes one of several forms.

  • [rsa:]nbits — generates an RSA key nbits in size. if nbits is omitted, i.e. -newkey rsa is specified, the default key size specified in the configuration file with the default_bits option is used if present, else 2048. 💅

all other algorithms support the -newkey algname:file form, where file is an algorithm parameter file, created with openssl genpkey -genparam, or an X.509 certificate for a key with appropriate algorithm.

  • param:file — generates a key using the parameter file or certificate file; the algorithm is determined by the parameters.
  • algname[:file] — generates a key using the given algorithm algname. if a parameter file file is given, then the parameters specified there are used, where the algorithm parameters must match algname. if algorithm parameters are not given, any necessary parameters should be specified via the -pkeyopt option.
  • dsa:filename — generates a DSA key using the parameters in the file filename. ec:filename generates an EC key (usable both with ECDSA or ECDH algorithms). gost2001:filename generates a GOST R 34.10-2001 key (requires gost engine configured in the configuration file). if just gost2001 is specified, a parameter set should be specified by -pkeyopt paramset:X. 🌈
  • -pkeyopt opt:value — sets the public key algorithm option opt to value. the precise set of options supported depends on the public key algorithm used and its implementation. see “KEY GENERATION OPTIONS” in openssl-genpkey(1) for more details. 🎀
  • -key filename|uri — provides the private key for signing a new certificate or certificate request. unless -in is given, the corresponding public key is placed in the new certificate or certificate request, resulting in a self-signature.

for certificate signing, this option is overridden by the -CA option.

this option also accepts PKCS#8 format private keys for PEM format files. 🔑

  • -keyform DER|PEM|P12|ENGINE — the format of the private key; unspecified by default. see openssl-format-options(1) for details. 💖
  • -keyout filename — gives the filename to write any private key to that has been newly created or read from -key. if neither the -keyout option nor the -key option are given, then the filename specified in the configuration file with the default_keyfile option is used, if present. so if you want to write the private key and the -key option is provided, you should provide the -keyout option explicitly. if a new key is generated and no filename is specified, the key is written to standard output. 🫶
  • -noenc — if this option is specified, then if a private key is created it will not be encrypted. 💅
  • -nodes — deprecated since OpenSSL 3.0; use -noenc instead. so maybe don't use this one, bestie. 💀
  • -digest — specifies the message digest to sign the request. any digest supported by the OpenSSL dgst command can be used. this overrides the digest algorithm specified in the configuration file.

some public key algorithms may override this choice. for instance, DSA signatures always use SHA1, GOST R 34.10 signatures always use GOST R 34.11-94 (-md_gost94), and Ed25519 and Ed448 never use any digest. 🧚

  • -config filename — allows an alternative configuration file to be specified. optional; for a description of the default value, see “COMMAND SUMMARY” in openssl(1). 🌸
  • -section name — specifies the name of the section to use; the default is req. 🎀
  • -subj arg — sets the subject name for a new request or supersedes the subject name when processing a certificate request.

the arg must be formatted as "/type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=...". special characters may be escaped by \ (backslash); whitespace is retained. empty values are permitted, but the corresponding type will not be included in the request. giving a single / will lead to an empty sequence of RDNs (a NULL-DN). multi-valued RDNs can be formed by placing a + character instead of a / between the AttributeValueAssertions (AVAs) that specify the members of the set. example:

"/DC=org/DC=OpenSSL/DC=users/UID=123456+CN=John Doe"
  • -multivalue-rdn — this option has been deprecated and has no effect. 💀
  • -x509 — outputs a certificate instead of a certificate request. this is typically used to generate test certificates. it is implied by the -CA option.

this option implies the -new flag if -in is not given.

if an existing request is specified with the -in option, it is converted to a certificate; otherwise, a request is created from scratch.

unless specified using the -set_serial option, a large random number will be used for the serial number.

unless the -copy_extensions option is used, X.509 extensions are not copied from any provided request input file.

X.509 extensions to be added can be specified in the configuration file, possibly using the -config and -extensions options, and/or using the -addext option.

unless -x509v1 is given, generated certificates bear X.509 version 3. unless specified otherwise, key identifier extensions are included as described in x509v3_config(5). 👑

  • -x509v1 — requests generation of certificates with X.509 version 1. this implies -x509. if X.509 extensions are given, anyway X.509 version 3 is set. 🎀
  • -CA filename|uri — specifies the “CA” certificate to be used for signing a new certificate and implies use of -x509. when present, this behaves like a “micro CA” as follows: the subject name of the “CA” certificate is placed as issuer name in the new certificate, which is then signed using the “CA” key given as specified below. 👑
  • -CAkey filename|uri — sets the “CA” private key to sign a certificate with. the private key must match the public key of the certificate given with -CA. if this option is not provided, then the key must be present in the -CA input. 🔑
  • -not_before date — when -x509 is in use, this allows the start date to be explicitly set; otherwise it is ignored. the format of date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure), or YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). in both formats, seconds SS and timezone Z must be present. alternatively, you can also use "today". 🌸
  • -not_after date — okay so when you've got -x509 going, this lets you hard-set the expiry date yourself ✨ otherwise it just gets ignored, no cap. The date format is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (same energy as an ASN1 UTCTime structure) or YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ (same as an ASN1 GeneralizedTime structure). In both formats the seconds SS and the timezone Z have to be present — no skipping them 💅 Or honestly you can just use "today". This overrides the -days option, periodt.
  • -days n — when -x509 is in use, this says how many days from today the certificate is certified for 🗓️ otherwise... ignored. n should be a positive integer. Default is 30 days.

Heads up bestie: regardless of the -not_before option, the days are always counted from today. And if you use it together with -not_after, that explicit expiry date wins. 👑

  • -set_serial n — the serial number to use when you're outputting a self-signed certificate 🔢 You can write it as a decimal value, or as hex if you slap 0x in front. If you don't give one at all, a big random number gets used instead (slay, randomness).
  • -copy_extensions arg — controls how X.509 extensions in certificate requests get handled when -x509 is in use 🎀 If arg is none, or you just don't pass the option, then extensions are ignored. If arg is copy or copyall, then all extensions in the request get copied over to the certificate.

The main character use case here? Letting a certificate request supply values for certain extensions like subjectAltName. iconic.

  • -extensions section, -reqexts section — these let you override the name of the configuration file section that X.509 extensions get pulled from — for the certificate (when -x509 is in use) or for the certificate request. Why? So you can have several different sections in the same config file specifying requests for a whole variety of purposes 🌈 multitasking queen.
  • -addext ext — adds a specific extension to the certificate (if -x509 is in use) or to the certificate request. The argument has to have the form of a "key=value" pair, exactly like it would appear in a config file 🧚

If you add an extension this way and it has the same OID as one defined in the extension section of the config file, this one overrides that one. Sorry config file, the command line ate. 💅

You can give this option multiple times — but if you do, the same key must not be given more than once. fr fr, don't do it.

  • -precert — a poison extension gets added to the certificate, making it a "pre-certificate" (see RFC6962) ☠️ This can be submitted to Certificate Transparency logs to obtain signed certificate timestamps (SCTs). Those SCTs can then be embedded into the pre-certificate as an extension, before the poison gets removed and the certificate gets signed. Whole little glow-up ritual tbh.

This implies the -new flag.

  • -utf8 — makes field values get interpreted as UTF8 strings; by default they're interpreted as ASCII. Which means the field values — whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a configuration file — must be valid UTF8 strings. No funny business 🔥
  • -reqopt option — customises the printing format used with -text. The option argument can be a single option, or multiple options separated by commas 🎀

See the discussion of the -certopt parameter in the openssl-x509(1) command.

  • -newhdr — adds the word NEW to the PEM file header and footer lines on the outputted request 🙈 Some software (Netscape certificate server) and some CAs need this. retro, but okay.
  • -batch — non-interactive mode. that's it, that's the whole vibe 🫶
  • -verbose — print extra details about the operations being performed. give me all the lore 🔍
  • -quiet — print fewer details about the operations being performed, which may be handy during batch scripts or pipelines (specifically, the "progress dots" during key generation get suppressed) 🤫
  • -keygen_engine id — specifies an engine (by its unique id string) that would be used for key generation operations.
  • -nameopt option — specifies how the subject or issuer names are displayed. See openssl-namedisplay-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). ⚠️ Heads up: 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).

🎀 CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT 🎀

The configuration options go in the req section of the configuration file 📝 An alternate name can be specified using the -section option. And just like with all configuration files, if no value is specified in that specific section, then the initial unnamed or default section gets searched too. iykyk.

The options available are described in detail below 👇

  • input_password, output_password — the passwords for the input private key file (if present) and the output private key file (if one's gonna be created) 🔐 The command line options passin and passout override the configuration file values. command line stays winning.
  • default_bits — specifies the default key size in bits 🔢

This option is used together with the -new option to generate a new key. It can be overridden by specifying an explicit key size in the -newkey option. The smallest accepted key size is 512 bits. If no key size is specified, then 2048 bits is used.

  • default_keyfile — the default filename to write a private key to. If it's not specified, the key gets written to standard output. This can be overridden by the -keyout option 💖
  • oid_file — specifies a file containing additional OBJECT IDENTIFIERS. Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the object identifier, followed by whitespace, then the short name, followed by whitespace, and finally the long name. Order matters, bestie 🎀
  • oid_section — specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the object identifier followed by = and the numerical form. The short and long names are the same when this option is used ✨
  • RANDFILE — at startup, the specified file gets loaded into the random number generator, and at exit 256 bytes get written to it 🌀 It's used for private key generation.
  • encrypt_key — if this is set to no, then if a private key is generated it is not encrypted. This is equivalent to the -noenc command line option. For compatibility, encrypt_rsa_key is an equivalent option. legacy but she's still here 💅
  • default_md — specifies the digest algorithm to use. Any digest supported by the OpenSSL dgst command can be used. This option can be overridden on the command line. Certain signing algorithms (i.e. Ed25519 and Ed448) will ignore any digest that has been set 🙈 they simply do not care.
  • string_mask — masks out the use of certain string types in certain fields. Most users will not need to change this option. It can be set to several values:
    • utf8only — only UTF8Strings are used (this is the default value)
    • pkix — any string type except T61Strings
    • nombstr — any string type except BMPStrings and UTF8Strings
    • default — any kind of string type

Note that utf8only is the PKIX recommendation in RFC2459 after 2003, and it's the default string_mask; default is not the default option (yes, it's giving confusing naming, we know 😭). The nombstr value is a workaround for some software that has problems with variable-sized BMPStrings and UTF8Strings.

  • req_extensions — specifies the configuration file section containing a list of extensions to add to the certificate request 🦋 It can be overridden by the -reqexts (or -extensions) command line switch. See the x509v3_config(5) manual page for details of the extension section format.
  • x509_extensions — specifies the configuration file section containing a list of extensions to add to the certificate generated when -x509 is in use 👑 It can be overridden by the -extensions command line switch.
  • prompt — if set to the value no, this disables prompting of certificate fields and just takes values from the config file directly 🤫 It also changes the expected format of the distinguished_name and attributes sections.
  • utf8 — if set to the value yes, then field values get interpreted as UTF8 strings; by default they're interpreted as ASCII. Which means the field values — whether prompted from a terminal or obtained from a configuration file — must be valid UTF8 strings ✨
  • attributes — specifies the section containing any request attributes: its format is the same as distinguished_name. Typically these may contain the challengePassword or unstructuredName types. They're currently ignored by OpenSSL's request signing utilities, but some CAs might want them 👀 so like, keep them around anyway.
  • distinguished_name — specifies the section containing the distinguished name fields to prompt for when generating a certificate or certificate request. The format is described in the next section 📖

💅 DISTINGUISHED NAME AND ATTRIBUTE SECTION FORMAT 💅

Okay so there are literally two separate formats for the distinguished name and attribute sections, and which one you get depends on the prompt option. If prompt is set to no, these sections are just field names and values, like:

CN=My Name
OU=My Organization
emailAddress=someone@somewhere.org

This is giving “let an external program (like a GUI, bestie) generate a template file with all the field names and values and just pass it to this command” energy ✨. There’s an example of this kind of configuration file down in EXAMPLES. 🫶

Alternatively, if prompt is absent or not set to no, the file contains field prompting information. It consists of lines of the form:

fieldName="prompt"
fieldName_default="default field value"
fieldName_min= 2
fieldName_max= 4

"fieldName" is the field name being used, for example commonName (or CN). The "prompt" string is used to ask the user to enter the relevant details. If the user enters nothing then the default value is used; if no default value is present then the field is omitted. A field can still be omitted if a default value is present if the user just enters the . character. 💡

The number of characters entered must be between the fieldName_min and fieldName_max limits: there may be additional restrictions based on the field being used (for example countryName can only ever be two characters long and must fit in a PrintableString). No cap, that’s just how it is.

Some fields (such as organizationName) can be used more than once in a DN. This presents a problem because configuration files will not recognize the same name occurring twice. To avoid this problem, if the fieldName contains some characters followed by a full stop they will be ignored. So for example a second organizationName can be input by calling it "1.organizationName". Slay, loophole acquired. 💅

The actual permitted field names are any object identifier short or long names. These are compiled into OpenSSL and include the usual values such as commonName, countryName, localityName, organizationName, organizationalUnitName, stateOrProvinceName. Additionally emailAddress is included as well as name, surname, givenName, initials, and dnQualifier. 👑

Additional object identifiers can be defined with the oid_file or oid_section options in the configuration file. Any additional fields will be treated as though they were a DirectoryString. 🦋

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

Examine and verify certificate request:

openssl req -in req.pem -text -verify -noout

Specify the cipher to be used for encrypting the private key:

openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout privatekey.pem -out request.csr -cipher aes-256-cbc

Create a private key and then generate a certificate request from it:

openssl genrsa -out key.pem 2048
openssl req -new -key key.pem -out req.pem

The same but just using req:

openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem

Generate a self-signed root certificate:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem

Create an SM2 private key and then generate a certificate request from it:

openssl ecparam -genkey -name SM2 -out sm2.key
openssl req -new -key sm2.key -out sm2.csr -sm3 -sigopt "distid:1234567812345678"

Examine and verify an SM2 certificate request:

openssl req -verify -in sm2.csr -sm3 -vfyopt "distid:1234567812345678"

Example of a file pointed to by the oid_file option:

1.2.3.4        shortName       A longer Name
1.2.3.6        otherName       Other longer Name

Example of a section pointed to by oid_section making use of variable expansion:

testoid1=1.2.3.5
testoid2=${testoid1}.6

Sample configuration file prompting for field values:

[ req ]
default_bits           = 2048
default_keyfile        = privkey.pem
distinguished_name     = req_distinguished_name
attributes             = req_attributes
req_extensions         = v3_ca

dirstring_type = nombstr

[ req_distinguished_name ]
countryName                    = Country Name (2 letter code)
countryName_default            = AU
countryName_min                = 2
countryName_max                = 2

localityName                   = Locality Name (eg, city)

organizationalUnitName         = Organizational Unit Name (eg, section)

commonName                     = Common Name (eg, YOUR name)
commonName_max                 = 64

emailAddress                   = Email Address
emailAddress_max               = 40

[ req_attributes ]
challengePassword              = A challenge password
challengePassword_min          = 4
challengePassword_max          = 20

[ v3_ca ]

subjectKeyIdentifier=hash
authorityKeyIdentifier=keyid:always,issuer:always
basicConstraints = critical, CA:true

Sample configuration containing all field values:

[ req ]
default_bits           = 2048
default_keyfile        = keyfile.pem
distinguished_name     = req_distinguished_name
attributes             = req_attributes
prompt                 = no
output_password        = mypass

[ req_distinguished_name ]
C                      = GB
ST                     = Test State or Province
L                      = Test Locality
O                      = Organization Name
OU                     = Organizational Unit Name
CN                     = Common Name
emailAddress           = test@email.address

[ req_attributes ]
challengePassword              = A challenge password

Example of giving the most common attributes (subject and extensions) on the command line:

openssl req -new -subj "/C=GB/CN=foo" \
                 -addext "subjectAltName = DNS:foo.co.uk" \
                 -addext "certificatePolicies = 1.2.3.4" \
                 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem

🌸 NOTES 🌸

The certificate requests generated by Xenroll with MSIE have extensions added. It includes the keyUsage extension which determines the type of key (signature only or general purpose) and any additional OIDs entered by the script in an extendedKeyUsage extension. Lowkey ancient lore, but we keep it. 🧚

🔥 DIAGNOSTICS 🔥

The following messages are frequently asked about:

Using configuration from /some/path/openssl.cnf
Unable to load config info

This is followed some time later by:

unable to find 'distinguished_name' in config
problems making Certificate Request

The first error message is the clue: it can’t find the configuration file! Certain operations (like examining a certificate request) don’t need a configuration file so its use isn’t enforced. Generation of certificates or requests however does need a configuration file. This could be regarded as a bug. 😭

Another puzzling message is this:

Attributes:
    a0:00

this is displayed when no attributes are present and the request includes the correct empty SET OF structure (the DER encoding of which is 0xa0 0x00). If you just see:

Attributes:

then the SET OF is missing and the encoding is technically invalid (but it is tolerated). See the description of the command line option -asn1-kludge for more information. 💀

💜 BUGS 💜

OpenSSL’s handling of T61Strings (aka TeletexStrings) is broken: it effectively treats them as ISO-8859-1 (Latin 1), Netscape and MSIE have similar behaviour. This can cause problems if you need characters that aren’t available in PrintableStrings and you don’t want to or can’t use BMPStrings. 🙈

As a consequence of the T61String handling the only correct way to represent accented characters in OpenSSL is to use a BMPString: unfortunately Netscape currently chokes on these. If you have to use accented characters with Netscape and MSIE then you currently need to use the invalid T61String form. Not iconic, but facts are facts. 💅

The current prompting is not very friendly. It doesn’t allow you to confirm what you’ve just entered. Other things like extensions in certificate requests are statically defined in the configuration file. Some of these: like an email address in subjectAltName should be input by the user. 🫠

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

📜 HISTORY 📜

  • The default encryption cipher was changed from 3DES to AES-256 in OpenSSL 3.5. 🔐
  • The -section option was added in OpenSSL 3.0.0.
  • The -multivalue-rdn option has become obsolete in OpenSSL 3.0.0 and has no effect.
  • The -engine option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0. The <-nodes> option was deprecated in OpenSSL 3.0, too; use -noenc instead.
  • The -reqexts option has been made an alias of -extensions in OpenSSL 3.2.
  • Since OpenSSL 3.2, generated certificates bear X.509 version 3 unless -x509v1 is given, and key identifier extensions are included by default.
  • Since OpenSSL 3.3, the -verify option will exit with 1 on failure.

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>.

This gem is from OpenSSL 3.5.0, dated 2026-09-25, and it’s the OPENSSL-REQ(1ossl) page. Mwah 💋✨

📦 where this page comes from