OPENSSL-CRL2PKCS7(1ossl)

💅 OPENSSL-CRL2PKCS7 (that's the 1ossl manual, bestie) ✨

Okay so real talk: this page lives in the OpenSSL manual set, and its whole personality is "take a CRL, take some certs, shove 'em into a PKCS#7 blob." It's giving packaging-girlie energy and honestly? Iconic.

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🎀 NAME

openssl-crl2pkcs7 — build a PKCS#7 structure out of a CRL plus certificates. That's the whole job. No cap.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS

openssl crl2pkcs7 [-help] [-inform DER|PEM] [-outform DER|PEM] [-in
filename] [-out filename] [-certfile filename] [-nocrl] [-provider name]
[-provider-path path] [-provparam [name:]key=value] [-propquery propq]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION

So the way this works: you hand it an optional CRL and one or more certificates, and it converts the whole little friend group into a PKCS#7 degenerate "certificates only" structure. Yes, "degenerate" is the actual technical term, don't come for me. 💀

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -help — prints a usage message. The classic "wait what were the flags again" button. 🙈
• -inform DER|PEM — sets the input format of the CRL. Default is PEM. Peep openssl-format-options(1) for the deets.
• -outform DER|PEM — sets the output format of the PKCS#7 object. Default is PEM. Again, openssl-format-options(1) has your back.
• -in filename — tells it which file to read the CRL from. Skip this and it just reads from standard input, casual.
• -out filename — where the PKCS#7 structure gets written. If you don't say, it goes to standard output by default.
• -certfile filename — points at a file holding one or more certificates in PEM format, and every certificate in that file gets added to the PKCS#7 structure. The main character move: you can use this option more than once to pull certs from multiple files. 🫶
• -nocrl — normally a CRL is included in the output file. With this option, no CRL goes in the output and no CRL is read from the input file. It's a clean break, periodt.
• -provider name
• -provider-path path
• -provparam [name:]key=value
• -propquery propq — these four are the provider squad. Check "Provider Options" in openssl(1), provider(7), and property(7) for the full tea. 🔥

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🌈 EXAMPLES

Create a PKCS#7 structure from a certificate and CRL:

 openssl crl2pkcs7 -in crl.pem -certfile cert.pem -out p7.pem

Creates a PKCS#7 structure in DER format with no CRL from several different certificates:

 openssl crl2pkcs7 -nocrl -certfile newcert.pem
        -certfile demoCA/cacert.pem -outform DER -out p7.der

See how -certfile shows up twice? Told you it stacks. 💅

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💜 NOTES

The output file is a PKCS#7 signed data structure containing no signers and just certificates and an optional CRL. So it's a signed-data structure with literally zero signers — it's giving "invited to the party but not on the guest list."

This command can be used to send certificates and CAs to Netscape as part of the certificate enrollment process. That involves sending the DER encoded output as MIME type application/x-x509-user-cert. Yes, Netscape. We're honoring the elders. 👑

The PEM encoded form with the header and footer lines removed can be used to install user certificates and CAs in MSIE using the Xenroll control. Very retro, very "my dad's browser," but it's in the docs so it stays. ⭐

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🍓 SEE ALSO

openssl(1), openssl-pkcs7(1)

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💖 COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2000-2021 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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ngl the license text is the one part you actually have to read carefully — it's legally load-bearing, bestie. 🎀

Okay that's the whole page, mwah. This was OpenSSL 3.5.9, dated 2026-09-29, filed under OPENSSL-CRL2PKCS7(1ossl) — go forth and package those certs. 🧚‍♀️✨