PKCS12_PARSE(3)

📦 version 4.4.0, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling

💅 NAME 💅

okay so this is PKCS12_PARSE(3), from the Library Functions Manual (that's the manual name, bestie), libcrypto edition. The function is PKCS12_parse — it parses a PKCS#12 structure. That's the whole assignment. Periodt. 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

the synopsis is giving:

library “libcrypto” #include <openssl/pkcs12.h>

int
PKCS12_parse(PKCS12 *p12, const char *pass, EVP_PKEY **pkey,
    X509 **cert, STACK_OF(X509) **ca);

🫶 DESCRIPTION 🫶

PKCS12_parse() parses a PKCS12 structure. Iconic. 💅

  • p12 — the PKCS12 structure you're parsing.
  • pass — the passphrase to use.

If everything goes off without a hitch, the private key gets written to *pkey, the corresponding certificate to *cert, and any additional certificates to *ca. ✨

⚠️ the parameters pkey and cert cannot be NULL — no cap, that's not allowed. ca can be NULL, and in that case additional certificates will be discarded. 🗑️

*ca can also be a valid STACK, and then additional certificates are appended to *ca. If *ca is NULL, a new STACK will be allocated. 🫶

The friendlyName and localKeyID attributes (if present) of each certificate will be stored in the alias and keyid attributes of the X509 structure. iykyk. 🎀

💖 RETURN VALUES 💖

PKCS12_parse() returns 1 for success and 0 if an error occurred. The error can be obtained from ERR_get_error(3). slay when it's 1, sad girl hours when it's 0. 😭

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

go read these too, bestie:

🌸 HISTORY 🌸

PKCS12_parse() first appeared in OpenSSL 0.9.3 and has been available since OpenBSD 2.6. she's been around, okay? 👑

💀 BUGS 💀

  • this function only returns a single private key and its corresponding certificate. if a more complex PKCS#12 file has multiple private keys, only the first match comes back. 💀
  • right now, only friendlyName and localKeyID attributes get stored in certificates. every other attribute is discarded. 🙈
  • attributes currently cannot be stored in the private key EVP_PKEY structure. 😭

mwah 💋 — this page is from Debian, dated June 8, 2025, and it's literally PKCS12_PARSE(3). bye bestie! 🫶

📦 where this page comes from