SSL_SET_ASYNC_CALLBACK(3ossl)

💅 SSL_SET_ASYNC_CALLBACK — manage asynchronous operations

okay bestie, welcome to the 3ossl manual page where we talk about async callbacks 🔥 this one's for all my girlies doing asynchronous crypto with engines, and yes it's giving main character energy. Let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

So, the whole fam of functions here is:

• SSL_CTX_set_async_callback
• SSL_CTX_set_async_callback_arg
• SSL_set_async_callback
• SSL_set_async_callback_arg
• SSL_get_async_status
• SSL_async_callback_fn

and their collective vibe is literally just manage asynchronous operations ✨

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <openssl/ssl.h>

typedef int (*SSL_async_callback_fn)(SSL *s, void *arg);
int SSL_CTX_set_async_callback(SSL_CTX *ctx, SSL_async_callback_fn callback);
int SSL_CTX_set_async_callback_arg(SSL_CTX *ctx, void *arg);
int SSL_set_async_callback(SSL *s, SSL_async_callback_fn callback);
int SSL_set_async_callback_arg(SSL *s, void *arg);
int SSL_get_async_status(SSL *s, int *status);

copy these exactly, bestie, no typos, i'm begging 🙈

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

the ctx-level girlies 💜

• SSL_CTX_set_async_callback() — this sets an asynchronous callback function. every single SSL object generated based on this SSL_CTX will get this callback, no cap. and if an engine supports the callback mechanism? it gets automatically called if SSL_MODE_ASYNC has been set, and an asynchronous capable engine completes a cryptography operation. its whole job is to notify the application to resume the paused work flow ⭐
• SSL_CTX_set_async_callback_arg() — sets the callback argument. that's it, that's the function 💅

the per-SSL girlies 🦋

• SSL_set_async_callback() — this lets an application set a callback in an asynchronous SSL object, so that when an engine completes a cryptography operation, the callback gets called to notify the application to resume the paused work flow ✨
• SSL_set_async_callback_arg() — sets an argument for the SSL object when the above callback is called. matching set, iconic 🎀

the status checker 👑

• SSL_get_async_status() — returns the engine status. this function facilitates the communication from the engine to the application. during an SSL session, cryptographic operations are dispatched to an engine. the engine status is very useful for an application to know if the operation has been successfully dispatched. and if the engine does not support this additional callback method, ASYNC_STATUS_UNSUPPORTED will be returned. see ASYNC_WAIT_CTX_set_status() for a description of all of the status values 📖

the example bestie 🌈

an example of the above functions would be the following, and honestly? it ate:

1. application sets the async callback and callback data on an SSL connection by calling SSL_set_async_callback().
2. application sets SSL_MODE_ASYNC and makes an asynchronous SSL call.
3. OpenSSL submits the asynchronous request to the engine. if a retry occurs at this point then the status within the ASYNC_WAIT_CTX would be set and the async callback function would be called (goto Step 7).
4. the OpenSSL engine pauses the current job and returns, so that the application can continue processing other connections.
5. at a future point in time (probably via a polling mechanism or via an interrupt) the engine will become aware that the asynchronous request has finished processing.
6. the engine will call the application's callback passing the callback data as a parameter.
7. the callback function should then run. note: it is a requirement that the callback function is small and nonblocking as it will be run in the context of a polling mechanism or an interrupt. ⚠️ like fr fr, keep it tiny and don't block!!
8. it is the application's responsibility via the callback function to schedule recalling the OpenSSL asynchronous function and to continue processing.
9. the callback function has the option to check the status returned via SSL_get_async_status() to determine whether a retry happened instead of the request being submitted, allowing different processing if required.

🫶 reminder: step 7 is not a suggestion. small. nonblocking. periodt.

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⭐ RETURN VALUES ⭐

SSL_CTX_set_async_callback(), SSL_set_async_callback(), SSL_CTX_set_async_callback_arg(), SSL_set_async_callback_arg() and SSL_get_async_status() return 1 on success or 0 on error. that's the whole vibe check — 1 good, 0 not good 💀

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🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

ssl(7)

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💖 HISTORY 💖

SSL_CTX_set_async_callback(), SSL_CTX_set_async_callback_arg(), SSL_set_async_callback(), SSL_set_async_callback_arg() and SSL_get_async_status() were first added to OpenSSL 3.0. so yes, they're relatively new, they're fresh, they're serving 👑

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🔥 COPYRIGHT 🔥

Copyright 2019-2020 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>.

📜 like, actually read the license bestie, it's not decorative 🙈

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and that's the whole page!! 💜 this was SSL_SET_ASYNC_CALLBACK(3ossl), brought to you by OpenSSL 3.5.6, dated 2026-04-07. go forth and async responsibly, mwah 🎀✨💅