List all available templates from CA certutil or certreq

certificatecertificate-authorityrequest

I need to request a certificate via command line I have investigated that certreq is the tool that can request the certificate.

I am used to the gui to request the certificate by selecting one of the available templates, but I need to do the same via command line.

Any ideas about how to achieve this?

Best Answer

If you want to display a list (in the command line) of certificate templates that are on offer by your friendly Active Directory Certificate Services CA, use certutil -CATemplates.

C:\Windows\system32>certutil -CATemplates
DirectoryEmailReplication: Directory Email Replication -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
DomainControllerAuthentication: Domain Controller Authentication -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
KerberosAuthentication: Kerberos Authentication -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
EFSRecovery: EFS Recovery Agent -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
EFS: Basic EFS -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
DomainController: Domain Controller -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
WebServer: Web Server -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
Machine: Computer -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
User: User -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
SubCA: Subordinate Certification Authority -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
Administrator: Administrator -- Auto-Enroll: Access is denied.
CertUtil: -CATemplates command completed successfully.

Bonus, it also tells you whether you currently have the right to enroll for each particular template.

To enroll in one of the certificate templates, use:

certreq -enroll -q WebServer

The -q parameter suppresses all interactive dialog boxes, making it a purely command-line-only experience.

Related Solutions

Change the expiration date on self-signed certificates

There is a Microsoft Knowledge Base article about this question:

How to change the expiration date of certificates that are issued by a Windows Server 2003 or a Windows 2000 Server Certificate Authority

You can't change the expiration date of an existing certificate. But you can change the default validity period for the Certificate Authority.

This article describes how to change the validity period of a certificate that is issued by a Windows Server 2003 or a Windows 2000 Server Certificate Authority (CA).

By default, the lifetime of a certificate that is issued by a Stand-alone Certificate Authority CA is one year. After one year, the certificate expires and is not trusted for use. There may be situations when you have to override the default expiration date for certificates that are issued by an intermediate or an issuing CA.

and:

A CA cannot issue a certificate with a longer validity period than its own CA certificate.

OpenSSL – Certification Authority Root Certificate Expiry and Renewal

Keeping the same private key on your root CA allows for all certificates to continue to validate successfully against the new root; all that's required of you is to trust the new root.

The certificate signing relationship is based on a signature from the private key; keeping the same private key (and, implicitly, the same public key) while generating a new public certificate, with a new validity period and any other new attributes changed as needed, keeps the trust relationship in place. CRLs, too, can continue over from the old cert to the new, as they are, like certificates, signed by the private key.

So, let's verify!

Make a root CA:

openssl req -new -x509 -keyout root.key -out origroot.pem -days 3650 -nodes

Generate a child certificate from it:

openssl genrsa -out cert.key 1024
openssl req -new -key cert.key -out cert.csr

Sign the child cert:

openssl x509 -req -in cert.csr -CA origroot.pem -CAkey root.key -create_serial -out cert.pem
rm cert.csr

All set there, normal certificate relationship. Let's verify the trust:

# openssl verify -CAfile origroot.pem -verbose cert.pem
cert.pem: OK

Ok, so, now let's say 10 years passed. Let's generate a new public certificate from the same root private key.

openssl req -new -key root.key -out newcsr.csr
openssl x509 -req -days 3650 -in newcsr.csr -signkey root.key -out newroot.pem
rm newcsr.csr

And.. did it work?

# openssl verify -CAfile newroot.pem -verbose cert.pem
cert.pem: OK

But.. why? They're different files, right?

# sha1sum newroot.pem
62577e00309e5eacf210d0538cd79c3cdc834020  newroot.pem
# sha1sum origroot.pem
c1d65a6cdfa6fc0e0a800be5edd3ab3b603e1899  origroot.pem

Yes, but, that doesn't mean that the new public key doesn't cryptographically match the signature on the certificate. Different serial numbers, same modulus:

# openssl x509 -noout -text -in origroot.pem
        Serial Number:
            c0:67:16:c0:8a:6b:59:1d
...
            RSA Public Key: (1024 bit)
                Modulus (1024 bit):
                    00:bd:56:b5:26:06:c1:f6:4c:f4:7c:14:2c:0d:dd:
                    3c:eb:8f:0a:c0:9d:d8:b4:8c:b5:d9:c7:87:4e:25:
                    8f:7c:92:4d:8f:b3:cc:e9:56:8d:db:f7:fd:d3:57:
                    1f:17:13:25:e7:3f:79:68:9f:b5:20:c9:ef:2f:3d:
                    4b:8d:23:fe:52:98:15:53:3a:91:e1:14:05:a7:7a:
                    9b:20:a9:b2:98:6e:67:36:04:dd:a6:cb:6c:3e:23:
                    6b:73:5b:f1:dd:9e:70:2b:f7:6e:bd:dc:d1:39:98:
                    1f:84:2a:ca:6c:ad:99:8a:fa:05:41:68:f8:e4:10:
                    d7:a3:66:0a:45:bd:0e:cd:9d
# openssl x509 -noout -text -in newroot.pem
        Serial Number:
            9a:a4:7b:e9:2b:0e:2c:32
...
            RSA Public Key: (1024 bit)
                Modulus (1024 bit):
                    00:bd:56:b5:26:06:c1:f6:4c:f4:7c:14:2c:0d:dd:
                    3c:eb:8f:0a:c0:9d:d8:b4:8c:b5:d9:c7:87:4e:25:
                    8f:7c:92:4d:8f:b3:cc:e9:56:8d:db:f7:fd:d3:57:
                    1f:17:13:25:e7:3f:79:68:9f:b5:20:c9:ef:2f:3d:
                    4b:8d:23:fe:52:98:15:53:3a:91:e1:14:05:a7:7a:
                    9b:20:a9:b2:98:6e:67:36:04:dd:a6:cb:6c:3e:23:
                    6b:73:5b:f1:dd:9e:70:2b:f7:6e:bd:dc:d1:39:98:
                    1f:84:2a:ca:6c:ad:99:8a:fa:05:41:68:f8:e4:10:
                    d7:a3:66:0a:45:bd:0e:cd:9d

Let's go a little further to verify that it's working in real world certificate validation.

Fire up an Apache instance, and let's give it a go (debian file structure, adjust as needed):

# cp cert.pem /etc/ssl/certs/
# cp origroot.pem /etc/ssl/certs/
# cp newroot.pem /etc/ssl/certs/
# cp cert.key /etc/ssl/private/

We'll set these directives on a VirtualHost listening on 443 - remember, the newroot.pem root certificate didn't even exist when cert.pem was generated and signed.

SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/cert.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/cert.key
SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/ssl/certs/newroot.pem

Let's check out how openssl sees it:

# openssl s_client -showcerts -CAfile newroot.pem -connect localhost:443

Certificate chain
 0 s:/C=AU/ST=Some-State/O=Internet Widgits Pty Ltd/CN=server.lan
   i:/C=AU/ST=Some-State/O=Internet Widgits Pty Ltd/CN=root
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
 1 s:/C=AU/ST=Some-State/O=Internet Widgits Pty Ltd/CN=root
   i:/C=AU/ST=Some-State/O=Internet Widgits Pty Ltd/CN=root
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIICHzCCAYgCCQCapHvpKw4sMjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQUFADBUMQswCQYDVQQGEwJB
...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
(this should match the actual contents of newroot.pem)
...
Verify return code: 0 (ok)

Ok, and how about a browser using MS's crypto API? Gotta trust the root, first, then it's all good, with the new root's serial number:

newroot

And, we should still be working with the old root, too. Switch Apache's config around:

SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/cert.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/cert.key
SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/ssl/certs/origroot.pem

Do a full restart on Apache, a reload won't switch the certs properly.

# openssl s_client -showcerts -CAfile origroot.pem -connect localhost:443

Certificate chain
 0 s:/C=AU/ST=Some-State/O=Internet Widgits Pty Ltd/CN=server.lan
   i:/C=AU/ST=Some-State/O=Internet Widgits Pty Ltd/CN=root
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
 1 s:/C=AU/ST=Some-State/O=Internet Widgits Pty Ltd/CN=root
   i:/C=AU/ST=Some-State/O=Internet Widgits Pty Ltd/CN=root
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIC3jCCAkegAwIBAgIJAMBnFsCKa1kdMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBQUAMFQxCzAJBgNV
...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
(this should match the actual contents of origroot.pem)
...
Verify return code: 0 (ok)

And, with the MS crypto API browser, Apache's presenting the old root, but the new root's still in the computer's trusted root store. It'll automatically find it and validate the cert against the trusted (new) root, despite Apache presenting a different chain (the old root). After stripping the new root from trusted roots and adding the original root cert, all is well:

oldroot

So, that's it! Keep the same private key when you renew, swap in the new trusted root, and it pretty much all just works. Good luck!

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Change the expiration date on self-signed certificates

OpenSSL – Certification Authority Root Certificate Expiry and Renewal

Related Topic