SSL_CTX_SET1...Y_CERT_STORE(3ossl)

📦 version 3.5.0, in opensuse-leap 16.0

💖 NAME 💖

okay so bestie, this page is about the whole little family of functions that set and get the cert store used for certificate verification or chain building:

SSL_CTX_set0_verify_cert_store, SSL_CTX_set1_verify_cert_store, SSL_CTX_set0_chain_cert_store, SSL_CTX_set1_chain_cert_store, SSL_set0_verify_cert_store, SSL_set1_verify_cert_store, SSL_set0_chain_cert_store, SSL_set1_chain_cert_store, SSL_CTX_get0_verify_cert_store, SSL_CTX_get0_chain_cert_store, SSL_get0_verify_cert_store, SSL_get0_chain_cert_store — set certificate verification or chain store. that's the whole vibe 🎀

(this is all from the OpenSSL manual, section 3ossl, iykyk ✨)

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

like, here's the whole cast, bestie 👑

#include <openssl/ssl.h>

int SSL_CTX_set0_verify_cert_store(SSL_CTX *ctx, X509_STORE *st);
int SSL_CTX_set1_verify_cert_store(SSL_CTX *ctx, X509_STORE *st);
int SSL_CTX_set0_chain_cert_store(SSL_CTX *ctx, X509_STORE *st);
int SSL_CTX_set1_chain_cert_store(SSL_CTX *ctx, X509_STORE *st);
int SSL_CTX_get0_verify_cert_store(SSL_CTX *ctx, X509_STORE **st);
int SSL_CTX_get0_chain_cert_store(SSL_CTX *ctx, X509_STORE **st);

int SSL_set0_verify_cert_store(SSL *ctx, X509_STORE *st);
int SSL_set1_verify_cert_store(SSL *ctx, X509_STORE *st);
int SSL_set0_chain_cert_store(SSL *ctx, X509_STORE *st);
int SSL_set1_chain_cert_store(SSL *ctx, X509_STORE *st);
int SSL_get0_verify_cert_store(SSL *ctx, X509_STORE **st);
int SSL_get0_chain_cert_store(SSL *ctx, X509_STORE **st);

(also yes, the SSL ones literally take a parameter named ctx — it's giving SSL *ctx, that's canonical, don't come for me 💀)

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so like, two flavours: verify stores and chain stores, and two scopes: SSL_CTX and SSL. iconic separation, no notes 💅

  • SSL_CTX_set0_verify_cert_store() and SSL_CTX_set1_verify_cert_store() — they set the certificate store used for certificate verification to st. 🦋
  • SSL_CTX_set0_chain_cert_store() and SSL_CTX_set1_chain_cert_store() — they set the certificate store used for certificate chain building to st. 🧚
  • SSL_set0_verify_cert_store(), SSL_set1_verify_cert_store(), SSL_set0_chain_cert_store() and SSL_set1_chain_cert_store() — same energy, except they apply to the SSL structure ssl. lowkey identical but scoped differently 🫶
  • SSL_CTX_get0_verify_chain_store(), SSL_get0_verify_chain_store(), SSL_CTX_get0_chain_cert_store() and SSL_get0_chain_cert_store() — these ones retrieve the objects you previously set via the calls above. a pointer to the object (or NULL if no such object has been set) gets written to *st. get you a function that can do both 💖
⚠️ plot twist: all of these functions are implemented as macros. not kidding. so:
  • ones containing a 1 increment the reference count of the supplied store, so it must be freed at some point after the operation. you will be responsible for that cleanup, bestie, sorry 😭
  • ones containing a 0 do not increment reference counts, and the supplied store MUST NOT be freed after the operation. like, do not. periodt. 🔥

🎀 NOTES 🎀

  • the store pointers associated with an SSL_CTX structure are copied to any SSL structures when SSL_new() is called. so as a result, SSL structures will not be affected if the parent SSL_CTX store pointer is set to a new value. it's giving "you are your own person now" 🌈
  • the verification store is used to verify the certificate chain sent by the peer: that is, an SSL/TLS client will use the verification store to verify the server's certificate chain, and an SSL/TLS server will use it to verify any client certificate chain. mutual vibes check 💅
  • the chain store is used to build the certificate chain. the details of the chain building and checking process are described in "Certification Path Building" in openssl-verification-options(1) and "Certification Path Validation" in openssl-verification-options(1). (yes, same page, twice, it's fine, go read it 📖)
  • if the mode SSL_MODE_NO_AUTO_CHAIN is set or a certificate chain is configured already (for example using the functions such as SSL_CTX_add1_chain_cert(3) or SSL_CTX_add_extra_chain_cert(3)) then automatic chain building is disabled. ✋
  • if the mode SSL_MODE_NO_AUTO_CHAIN is set then automatic chain building is disabled. (yes this is literally listed again, the manpage said it twice, i don't make the rules 👑)
  • if the chain or the verification store is not set then the store associated with the parent SSL_CTX is used instead, to retain compatibility with previous versions of OpenSSL. legacy support slay ⭐

💀 RETURN VALUES 💀

all these functions return 1 for success and 0 for failure. binary queen, no in-between 💅

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

go read these next, bestie, they're all connected:

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

these functions were added in OpenSSL 1.0.2. vintage. still ate. 🙈

Copyright 2013-2022 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>.

okay that's the whole page, you're basically an expert now, go forth and manage those cert stores 🧚‍♀️✨

🌸 this has been OpenSSL 3.5.0, dated 2026-09-25, page SSL_CTX_SET1...Y_CERT_STORE(3ossl) — ty for coming to my ted talk, mwah 🫶💖
📦 where this page comes from