How do I specify subjectAltName in the openssl cli?

Question

I'm generating a self-signed SSL cert:

$ openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -subj 'CN=example.com'

I'd like to specify a subjectAltName also at creation time, but I cannot find info in the openssl manpage on how to do this.

Answer 1

Try to write the subjectAltName to a temporary file (I'll name it hostextfile) like

basicConstraints=CA:FALSE
extendedKeyUsage=serverAuth
subjectAltName=email:my@other.address,RID:1.2.3.4

and link to it in openssl command via "-extfile" option, for example:

openssl ca -days 730 -in hostreq.pem -out -hostcert.pem -extfile hostextfile

Answer 2

The openssl command doesn’t provide a way to include extensions like the subjectAltName without writing a config file first. I have written a simple utility that does it all automatically. It's available on github: https://github.com/rtts/certify

Example use:

./certify example.com www.example.com mail.example.com

This will create a file named example.com.crt that contains a certificate with the Subject Alternative Names of example.com, www.example.com, and mail.example.com.

Answer 3

Create self-signed certificate with SubjectAltName

cd /etc/ssl

cat > my.conf <<- "EOF"
[req]
default_bits = 2048
prompt = no
default_md = sha256
req_extensions = req_ext
distinguished_name = dn

[ dn ]
C=UA
ST=Dnepropetrovskaya
L=Kamyanske
O=DMK
OU=OASUP
emailAddress=webmaster@localhost
CN = www.dmkd.dp.ua

[ req_ext ]
basicConstraints = CA:FALSE
keyUsage = nonRepudiation, digitalSignature, keyEncipherment
subjectAltName = @alt_names

[ alt_names ]
DNS.0 = www.dmkd.dp.ua
DNS.1 = dmkd.dp.ua

EOF

# Create key
openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key.secure 2048
# Disable secret phrase for key
openssl rsa -in server.key.secure -out server.insecure.key
# Create request certificate file with params from file my.conf
openssl req -new -key server.insecure.key -out server.csr -config my.conf
# Create certificate with params from file my.conf
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.insecure.key -out server.crt -extensions req_ext -extfile my.conf
# Check request file and certificate for SubjectAltName precense
openssl req -text -noout -in server.csr
openssl x509 -in server.crt -text -noout

Answer 4

I used info here, but thinned it out to just the info needed to satisfy the browswer..

x509 v3 extensions option file:

echo "subjectAltName = @alt_names

[alt_names]
DNS.1 = www.example.com" > v3.ext

External Keyfile:

openssl genrsa -out www.example.com.key 2048

CA Signing Request:(Assumes you have the CA key and cert)

openssl req -new -key www.example.com.key -subj "/CN=www.example.com" -out www.example.com.csr

Sign the request to create the cert, and include the x509 Extension data:

openssl x509 -req -in www.example.com.csr -CA ca.example.com.crt -CAkey ca.example.com.key -CAcreateserial -out www.example.com.crt -days 500 -sha256 -extfile v3.ext