X509_STORE_ADD_CERT(3ossl)

📦 version 3.5.0, in opensuse-leap 16.0

✨ X509_STORE, X509_STORE_add_cert, X509_STORE_add_crl, X509_STORE_set_depth, X509_STORE_set_flags, X509_STORE_set_purpose, X509_STORE_set_trust, X509_STORE_add_lookup, X509_STORE_load_file_ex, X509_STORE_load_file, X509_STORE_load_path, X509_STORE_load_store_ex, X509_STORE_load_store, X509_STORE_set_default_paths_ex, X509_STORE_set_default_paths, X509_STORE_load_locations_ex, X509_STORE_load_locations — X509_STORE manipulation ✨

okay bestie, this one's from the OpenSSL family 🎀 and it's literally all about manipulating an X509_STORE — like, the whole squad of functions that build up and configure your cert stash. no cap, it's a lot of names, but they all slay in their own way 💅

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

#include <openssl/x509_vfy.h>

typedef x509_store_st X509_STORE;

int X509_STORE_add_cert(X509_STORE *xs, X509 *x);
int X509_STORE_add_crl(X509_STORE *xs, X509_CRL *x);
int X509_STORE_set_depth(X509_STORE *store, int depth);
int X509_STORE_set_flags(X509_STORE *xs, unsigned long flags);
int X509_STORE_set_purpose(X509_STORE *xs, int purpose);
int X509_STORE_set_trust(X509_STORE *xs, int trust);

X509_LOOKUP *X509_STORE_add_lookup(X509_STORE *store,
                                   X509_LOOKUP_METHOD *meth);

int X509_STORE_set_default_paths_ex(X509_STORE *xs, OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx,
                                    const char *propq);
int X509_STORE_set_default_paths(X509_STORE *xs);
int X509_STORE_load_file_ex(X509_STORE *xs, const char *file,
                            OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, const char *propq);
int X509_STORE_load_file(X509_STORE *xs, const char *file);
int X509_STORE_load_path(X509_STORE *xs, const char *dir);
int X509_STORE_load_store_ex(X509_STORE *xs, const char *uri,
                             OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx, const char *propq);
int X509_STORE_load_store(X509_STORE *xs, const char *uri);
int X509_STORE_load_locations_ex(X509_STORE *xs, const char *file,
                                 const char *dir, OSSL_LIB_CTX *libctx,
                                 const char *propq);
int X509_STORE_load_locations(X509_STORE *xs,
                              const char *file, const char *dir);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the X509_STORE structure is basically the consolidated mechanism for holding all your info about X.509 certificates and CRLs 📚, and for constructing + validating chains of certificates that terminate in trusted roots. it admits multiple lookup mechanisms, it's got efficient scaling performance even with loads of certificates (main character energy fr fr), and it gives you a ton of flexibility in how validation and policy checks are performed ✨

the deets of the chain building and checking process live over in "Certification Path Building" in openssl-verification-options(1) and "Certification Path Validation" in openssl-verification-options(1) — go read those if you want the deep lore 👑

X509_STORE_new(3) creates an empty X509_STORE structure. and like… it contains no info about trusted certificates or where they live on disk, so it's generally not usable. think of it as a fresh account with zero mutuals 😭 normally you'd add trusted certs to the X509_STORE to prep it for use, via mechanisms such as X509_STORE_add_lookup() and X509_LOOKUP_file(), or PEM_read_bio_X509_AUX() and X509_STORE_add_cert(). CRLs can be added too, and you can configure basically all the behaviors you want 🎀

once your X509_STORE is suitably configured, X509_STORE_CTX_new() is used to instantiate a single-use X509_STORE_CTX for each chain-building and verification operation 💫 that process includes providing the end-entity certificate to be verified plus an additional set of untrusted certificates that may be used in chain-building. so as such, the expectation is that the certificates in the X509_STORE are the ones representing trusted entities, like root certificate authorities (CAs) 👑 OpenSSL represents these trusted certificates internally as X509 objects with an associated X509_CERT_AUX, as are produced by PEM_read_bio_X509_AUX() and similar routines that refer to X509_AUX. the public interfaces that operate on such trusted certificates still operate on pointers to X509 objects, though — iykyk 💅

X509_STORE_add_cert() and X509_STORE_add_crl() add the respective object to the X509_STORE's local storage 🗂️ untrusted objects should not be added in this way (not me warning you, it's literally in the docs 🙈). the added object's reference count is incremented by one, hence the caller retains ownership of the object and needs to free it when it's no longer needed. so like, yes you still gotta clean up after yourself 🧹

X509_STORE_set_depth(), X509_STORE_set_flags(), X509_STORE_set_purpose(), X509_STORE_set_trust(), and X509_STORE_set1_param() set the default values for the corresponding values used in certificate chain validation. their behavior is documented in the corresponding X509_VERIFY_PARAM manual pages, e.g. X509_VERIFY_PARAM_set_depth(3).

⚠️ the X509_STORE MUST NOT be NULL. like, that's a hard requirement bestie, don't test it 💀

X509_STORE_add_lookup() finds or creates a X509_LOOKUP(3) with the X509_LOOKUP_METHOD(3) meth and adds it to the X509_STORE store. this also associates the X509_STORE with the lookup, so X509_LOOKUP functions can look up objects in that store 🫶

X509_STORE_load_file_ex() loads trusted certificate(s) into an X509_STORE from a given file. the library context libctx and property query propq are used when fetching algorithms from providers 🌸

X509_STORE_load_file() is similar to X509_STORE_load_file_ex() but uses NULL for the library context libctx and property query propq.

X509_STORE_load_path() loads trusted certificate(s) into an X509_STORE from a given directory path. the certificates in the directory must be in hashed form, as documented in X509_LOOKUP_hash_dir(3) 🔑

X509_STORE_load_store_ex() loads trusted certificate(s) into an X509_STORE from a store at a given URI. the library context libctx and property query propq are used when fetching algorithms from providers 🌟

X509_STORE_load_store() is similar to X509_STORE_load_store_ex() but uses NULL for the library context libctx and property query propq.

X509_STORE_load_locations_ex() combines X509_STORE_load_file_ex() and X509_STORE_load_path() for a given file and/or directory path. it is permitted to specify just a file, just a directory, or both paths — dealer's choice, bestie 🎀

X509_STORE_load_locations() is similar to X509_STORE_load_locations_ex() but uses NULL for the library context libctx and property query propq.

X509_STORE_set_default_paths_ex() is somewhat misnamed, in that it does not set what default paths should be used for loading certificates 😭 instead, it loads certificates into the X509_STORE from the hardcoded default paths. the library context libctx and property query propq are used when fetching algorithms from providers. (yes the name is giving nothing, but the function is giving everything 💅)

X509_STORE_set_default_paths() is similar to X509_STORE_set_default_paths_ex() but uses NULL for the library context libctx and property query propq.

💖 RETURN VALUES 💖

X509_STORE_add_cert(), X509_STORE_add_crl(), X509_STORE_set_depth(), X509_STORE_set_flags(), X509_STORE_set_purpose(), X509_STORE_set_trust(), X509_STORE_load_file_ex(), X509_STORE_load_file(), X509_STORE_load_path(), X509_STORE_load_store_ex(), X509_STORE_load_store(), X509_STORE_load_locations_ex(), X509_STORE_load_locations(), X509_STORE_set_default_paths_ex() and X509_STORE_set_default_paths() return 1 on success or 0 on failure ⭐

X509_STORE_add_lookup() returns the found or created X509_LOOKUP(3), or NULL on error 🫠

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

X509_LOOKUP_hash_dir(3). X509_VERIFY_PARAM_set_depth(3). X509_STORE_new(3), X509_STORE_get0_param(3)

🕰️ HISTORY 🕰️

the functions X509_STORE_set_default_paths_ex(), X509_STORE_load_file_ex(), X509_STORE_load_store_ex() and X509_STORE_load_locations_ex() were added in OpenSSL 3.0 ✨ (yes, the _ex girlies are the new kids on the block 🎀)

Copyright 2017-2021 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>.

and that's the whole page bestie!! 🫶 this one's from OpenSSL 3.5.0, dated 2026-09-25 — go forth and configure your X509_STORE like the icon you are 👑💅🌸

📦 where this page comes from