CERTMONGER(5)

💖 CERTMONGER(5) 💖

okay bestie, so this is certmonger.conf(5) — the File Formats Manual page for certmonger.conf, and yes it's giving very "I read the docs so you don't have to" energy. come sit with me 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

certmonger.conf — the configuration file for certmonger. that's it, that's the name, slay 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so certmonger.conf is where all the default settings that certmonger uses live. its format is more or less that of a typical INI-style file, which is honestly so cute and familiar of it.

the only sections currently of note are named defaults and selfsign. (yes there are more sections below, keep reading, I'm getting there 🦋)

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🎀 DEFAULTS 🎀

within the defaults section, these variables and values are recognized:

• notify_ttls — this is the list of times, given in seconds, before a certificate's not-after validity date (which everyone just calls its expiration time) when certmonger should warn that the certificate will soon no longer be valid. if this value isn't specified, certmonger will try to use the value of the ttls setting instead. the default list of values is "2419200, 604800, 259200, 172800, 86400, 43200, 21600, 7200, 3600". ⏰
• enroll_ttls — this is the list of times, given in seconds, before a certificate's not-after validity date (a.k.a. its expiration time) when certmonger should attempt to automatically renew the certificate, if it's configured to do so. if this value isn't specified, certmonger will try to use the value of the ttls setting instead. the default list of values is "2419200, 604800, 259200, 172800, 86400, 43200, 21600, 7200, 3600". 🔁
• notification_method — this is the method by which certmonger will notify the system administrator that a certificate will soon become invalid. the recognized values are syslog, mail, and command. the default is syslog. when sending mail, the notification message will be the mail message subject. when invoking a command, the notification message and type will be available in the "CERTMONGER_NOTIFICATION" and "CERTMONGER_NOTIFICATION_TYPE" environment variables, and the related request's nickname/ID will be available in the "CERTMONGER_NOTIFICATION_CERT_NICKNAME" environment variable. 📬
• notification_destination — this is the destination to which certmonger will send notifications. it can be a syslog priority and/or facility, separated by a period, it can be an email address, or it can be a command to run. the default value is daemon.notice. 📮
• key_type — this is the type of key pair which will be generated, used in certificate signing requests, and used when self-signing certificates. RSA is supported. EC (also known as ECDSA) is also supported. the default is RSA. 🔑
• rsa_key_size — this is the size of an RSA key if the value is not included in a certificate request. if this value is not set then the default is 2048. the minimum value allowed is 1024. 📏
• symmetric_cipher — this is the symmetric cipher which will be used to encrypt private keys stored in OpenSSL's PEM format. recognized values include aes128 and aes256. the default is aes128.

bestie, it is not recommended that this value be changed except in cases where the default is incompatible with other software. no cap. 💀

• digest — this is the digest algorithm which will be used when signing certificate signing requests and self-signed certificates. recognized values include sha1, sha256, sha384, and sha512. the default is sha256.

same warning, same vibe: it is not recommended that this value be changed except in cases where the default is incompatible with other software. 🙈

• nss_ca_trust — these are the trust attributes which are applied to CA certificates which should be trusted, when they are saved to NSS databases. the default is CT,C,C. 👑
• nss_other_trust — these are the trust attributes which are applied to certificates which are not necessarily to be trusted, when they are saved to NSS databases. the default is ,,. 🫥
• max_key_use_count — when attempting to replace a certificate, if certmonger has previously obtained at least this number of certificates using the current key pair, it will generate a new key pair to use before proceeding. there is effectively no default for this setting. 🔄
• max_key_lifetime — the amount of time after a key was first generated when certmonger will attempt to generate a new key pair to replace it, as part of the process of replacing a certificate. the value is specified as a combination of years (y), months (M), weeks (w), days (d), hours (h), minutes (m), and/or seconds (s). if no unit of time is specified, seconds are assumed. the date when a key was generated is not recorded if the key was not generated by certmonger, or if the key was generated with a version of certmonger older than 0.78, and for those cases, this option has no effect. there is effectively no default for this setting. 🗓️

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🧚 SELFSIGN 🧚

within the selfsign section, these variables and values are recognized:

• validity_period — this is the validity period given to self-signed certificates. the value is specified as a combination of years (y), months (M), weeks (w), days (d), hours (h), minutes (m), and/or seconds (s). if no unit of time is specified, seconds are assumed. the default value is 1y. ✨
• populate_unique_id — this controls whether or not self-signed certificates will have their subjectUniqueID and issuerUniqueID fields populated. while RFC5280 prohibits their use, they may be needed and/or used by older applications. the default value is no. 🧓

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🌈 LOCAL 🌈

within the local section, these variables and values are recognized:

• validity_period — this is the validity period given to the locally-signed CA's certificate when it is generated. the value is specified as a combination of years (y), months (M), weeks (w), days (d), hours (h), minutes (m), and/or seconds (s). if no unit of time is specified, seconds are assumed. if not set, the value of the validity_period setting from the selfsign section, if one is set there, will be used. the default value is 1y. 🌟

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⭐ SCEP ⭐

within the scep section, these variables and values are recognized:

• challenge_password_otp — this controls whether the SCEP challenge password is treated as a one-time password. if set to yes then the challenge password and/or challenge password file will be removed from the tracking request after the first certificate issuance, so will not be sent with renewal requests. the default is no. 🔐

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💀 BUGS 💀

found one? pls file tickets for any that you find at https://fedorahosted.org/certmonger/ — they want to hear about it fr fr 😭

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

certmonger(8) certmonger_selinux(8) — go read those too, iykyk 🦋

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one came from the certmonger Manual, dated May 12, 2015 — so if you're reading this, just know the certmonger girlies have been holding it down since then. periodt. 💅✨🎀