SSL_GET_CERTIFICATE(3)

📦 version 4.4.0, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling

💅 SSL_GET_CERTIFICATE(3) 💅

hiii bestie, welcome to the SSL_GET_CERTIFICATE(3) manual page — this is the one about pulling certificate + private-key data out of an SSL object, and it is very much giving “internal pointers, do not touch” energy. 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

SSL_get_certificate, SSL_get_privatekey — get SSL certificate and private key

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

okay so the signatures are literally right here, no cap:

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

X509 *
SSL_get_certificate(const SSL *ssl);

EVP_PKEY *
SSL_get_privatekey(const SSL *ssl);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

These functions retrieve certificate and key data from an SSL object, bestie. They hand you back internal pointers — and those pointers must not be freed by the application program.

⚠️ girlies please listen: internal pointers are not yours to free. the application program must not free them. periodt. 💀

🎀 RETURN VALUES 🎀

  • SSL_get_certificate() — returns the active X.509 certificate currently used by ssl, or NULL if none is active. 🎀
  • SSL_get_privatekey() — returns the active private key currently used by ssl, or NULL if none is active. 🔑

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

go check out these other icons too:

💜 HISTORY 💜

SSL_get_certificate() first appeared in SSLeay 0.5.2a. SSL_get_privatekey() first appeared in SSLeay 0.8.0. Both functions have been available since OpenBSD 2.4. ⭐

okay that’s the whole vibe check, bestie — mwah! 💋 this page is from Debian, dated June 8, 2025, and you just read SSL_GET_CERTIFICATE(3). 🦋

📦 where this page comes from