ts - Time Stamping Authority tool (client/server)
openssl ts -query
[-rand file:file...] [-config configfile]
[-data file_to_hash] [-digest digest_bytes]
[-md2|-md4|-md5|-sha|-sha1|-mdc2|-ripemd160]
[-policy object_id] [-no_nonce]
[-cert] [-in request.tsq]
[-out request.tsq] [-text]
openssl ts -reply
[-config configfile] [-section tsa_section]
[-queryfile request.tsq] [-passin
password_src] [-signer tsa_cert.pem] [-inkey
private.pem] [-chain certs_file.pem] [-policy
object_id] [-in response.tsr] [-token_in]
[-out response.tsr] [-token_out]
[-text]
openssl ts -verify
[-data file_to_hash] [-digest digest_bytes]
[-queryfile request.tsq] [-in response.tsr]
[-token_in] [-CApath trusted_cert_path]
[-CAfile trusted_certs.pem] [-untrusted
cert_file.pem]
The ts command is a basic Time Stamping Authority (TSA)
client and server application as specified in RFC 3161 (Time-Stamp Protocol,
TSP). A TSA can be part of a PKI deployment and its role is to provide long term
proof of the existence of a certain datum before a particular time. Here is a
brief description of the protocol:
- The TSA client computes a one-way hash value for a data file and sends the
hash to the TSA.
- The TSA attaches the current date and time to the received hash value,
signs them and sends the time stamp token back to the client. By creating this
token the TSA certifies the existence of the original data file at the time of
response generation.
- The TSA client receives the time stamp token and verifies the signature on
it. It also checks if the token contains the same hash value that it had sent
to the TSA.
There is one DER encoded protocol data unit defined for transporting a time
stamp request to the TSA and one for sending the time stamp response back to the
client. The ts command has three main functions: creating a
time stamp request based on a data file, creating a time stamp response based on
a request, verifying if a response corresponds to a particular request or a data
file.
There is no support for sending the requests/responses automatically over
HTTP or TCP yet as suggested in RFC 3161. The users must send the requests
either by ftp or e-mail.
The -query switch can be used for creating and printing a
time stamp request with the following options:
- -rand
file:file...
- The files containing random data for seeding the random number generator.
Multiple files can be specified, the separator is ; for
MS-Windows, , for VMS and : for all other
platforms. (Optional)
- -config
configfile
- The configuration file to use, this option overrides the
OPENSSL_CONF environment variable. Only the OID section of
the config file is used with the -query command. (Optional)
- -data
file_to_hash
- The data file for which the time stamp request needs to be created. stdin
is the default if neither the -data nor the
-digest parameter is specified. (Optional)
- [-digest
digest_bytes]
- It is possible to specify the message imprint explicitly without the data
file. The imprint must be specified in a hexadecimal format, two characters
per byte, the bytes optionally separated by colons (e.g. 1A:F6:01:... or
1AF601...). The number of bytes must match the message digest algorithm in
use. (Optional)
- -md2|-md4|-md5|-sha|-sha1|-mdc2|-ripemd160
- The message digest to apply to the data file. The default is SHA-1.
(Optional)
- -policy
object_id
- The policy that the client expects the TSA to use for creating the time
stamp token. Either the dotted OID notation or OID names defined in the config
file can be used. If no policy is requested the TSA will use its own default
policy. (Optional)
- -no_nonce
- No nonce is specified in the request if this option is given. Otherwise a
64 bit long pseudo-random none is included in the request. It is recommended
to use nonce to protect against replay-attacks. (Optional)
- -cert
- The TSA is expected to include its signing certificate in the response.
(Optional)
- -in
request.tsq
- This option specifies a previously created time stamp request in DER
format that will be printed into the output file. Useful when you need to
examine the content of a request in human-readable
format. (Optional)
- -out
request.tsq
- Name of the output file to which the request will be written. Default is
stdout. (Optional)
- -text
- If this option is specified the output is human-readable text format
instead of DER. (Optional)
A time stamp response (TimeStampResp) consists of a response status and the
time stamp token itself (ContentInfo), if the token generation was successful.
The -reply command is for creating a time stamp response or
time stamp token based on a request and printing the response/token in
human-readable format. If -token_out is not specified the
output is always a time stamp response (TimeStampResp), otherwise it is a time
stamp token (ContentInfo).
- [-config
configfile]
- The configuration file to use, this option overrides the
OPENSSL_CONF environment variable. See CONFIGURATION
FILE OPTIONS for configurable variables. (Optional)
- [-section
tsa_section]
- The name of the config file section conatining the settings for the
response generation. If not specified the default TSA section is used, see
CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS for details. (Optional)
- [-queryfile
request.tsq]
- The name of the file containing a DER encoded time stamp request.
(Optional)
- [-passin
password_src]
- Specifies the password source for the private key of the TSA. See
PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS in openssl(1).
(Optional)
- [-signer
tsa_cert.pem]
- The signer certificate of the TSA in PEM format. The TSA signing
certificate must have exactly one extended key usage assigned to it:
timeStamping. Overrides the signer_cert variable of the
config file. (Optional)
- [-inkey
private.pem]
- The signer private key of the TSA in PEM format. Overrides the
signer_key config file option. (Optional)
- [-chain
certs_file.pem]
- The collection of certificates in PEM format that will all be included in
the response in addition to the signer certificate if the
-cert option was used for the request. This file is supposed
to contain the certificate chain for the signer certificate from its issuer
upwards. The -reply command does not build a certificate
chain automatically. (Optional)
- [-policy
object_id]
- The default policy to use for the response unless the client explicitly
requires a particular TSA policy. The OID can be specified either in dotted
notation or with its name. Overrides the default_policy
config file option. (Optional)
- [-in
response.tsr]
- Specifies a previously created time stamp response or time stamp token (if
-token_in is also specified) in DER format that will be
written to the output file. This option does not require a request, it is
useful e.g. when you need to examine the content of a response or token or you
want to extract the time stamp token from a response. If the input is a token
and the output is a time stamp response a default 'granted' status info is
added to the token. (Optional)
- [-token_in]
- This flag can be used together with the -in option and
indicates that the input is a DER encoded time stamp token (ContentInfo)
instead of a time stamp response (TimeStampResp). (Optional)
- [-out
response.tsr]
- The response is written to this file. The format and content of the file
depends on other options (see -text,
-token_out). The default is stdout. (Optional)
- [-token_out]
- The output is a time stamp token (ContentInfo) instead of time stamp
response (TimeStampResp). (Optional)
- [-text]
- If this option is specified the output is human-readable text format
instead of DER. (Optional)
The -verify command is for verifying if a time stamp
response or time stamp token is valid and matches a particular time stamp
request or data file. The -verify command does not use the
configuration file.
- [-data
file_to_hash]
- The response or token must be verified against file_to_hash. The file is
hashed with the message digest algorithm specified in the token. The
-digest and -queryfile options must not be
specified with this one. (Optional)
- [-digest digest_bytes]
- The response or token must be verified against the message digest
specified with this option. The number of bytes must match the message digest
algorithm specified in the token. The -data and
-queryfile options must not be specified with this one.
(Optional)
- [-queryfile request.tsq]
- The original time stamp request in DER format. The -data
and -digest options must not be specified with this one.
(Optional)
- [-in response.tsr]
- The time stamp response that needs to be verified in DER format.
(Mandatory)
- [-token_in]
- This flag can be used together with the -in option and
indicates that the input is a DER encoded time stamp token (ContentInfo)
instead of a time stamp response (TimeStampResp). (Optional)
- [-CApath
trusted_cert_path]
- The name of the directory containing the trused CA certificates of the
client. See the similar option of verify(1) for additional details.
Either this option or -CAfile must be specified. (Optional)
- [-CAfile
trusted_certs.pem]
- The name of the file containing a set of trusted self-signed CA
certificates in PEM format. See the similar option of verify(1) for
additional details. Either this option or -CApath must be
specified. (Optional)
- [-untrusted
cert_file.pem]
- Set of additional untrusted certificates in PEM format which may be needed
when building the certificate chain for the TSA's signing certificate. This
file must contain the TSA signing certificate and all intermediate CA
certificates unless the response includes them. (Optional)
The -query and -reply commands make use of
a configuration file defined by the OPENSSL_CONF environment
variable. See config(5) for a general description of the syntax of the
config file. The -query command uses only the symbolic OID
names section and it can work without it. However, the -reply
command needs the config file for its operation.
When there is a command line switch equivalent of a variable the switch
always overrides the settings in the config file.
- tsa
section, default_tsa
- This is the main section and it specifies the name of another section that
contains all the options for the -reply command. This default
section can be overriden with the -section command line
switch. (Optional)
- oid_file
- See ca(1) for description. (Optional)
- oid_section
- See ca(1) for description. (Optional)
- RANDFILE
- See ca(1) for description. (Optional)
- serial
- The name of the file containing the hexadecimal serial number of the last
time stamp response created. This number is incremented by 1 for each
response. If the file does not exit at the time of response generation a new
file is created with serial number 1. (Mandatory)
- signer_cert
- TSA signing certificate in PEM format. The same as the
-signer command line option. (Optional)
- certs
- A file containing a set of PEM encoded certificates that need to be
included in the response. The same as the -chain command line
option. (Optional)
- signer_key
- The private key of the TSA in PEM format. The same as the
-inkey command line option. (Optional)
- default_policy
- The default policy to use when the request does not mandate any policy.
The same as the -policy command line option. (Optional)
- other_policies
- Comma separated list of policies that are also acceptable by the TSA and
used only if the request explicitly specifies one of them. (Optional)
- digests
- The list of message digest algorithms that the TSA accepts. At least one
algorithm must be specified. (Mandatory)
- accuracy
- The accuracy of the time source of the TSA in seconds, milliseconds and
microseconds. E.g. secs:1, millisecs:500, microsecs:100. If any of the
components is missing zero is assumed for that field. (Optional)
- clock_precision_digits
- Specifies the maximum number of digits, which represent the fraction of
seconds, that need to be included in the time field. The trailing zeroes must
be removed from the time, so there might actually be fewer digits, or no
fraction of seconds at all. The maximum value is 6, default is 0. (Optional)
- ordering
- If this option is yes the responses generated by this TSA can always be
ordered, even if the time difference between two responses is less than the
sum of their accuracies. Default is no. (Optional)
- tsa_name
- Set this option to yes if the subject name of the TSA must be included in
the TSA name field of the response. Default is no. (Optional)
- ess_cert_id_chain
- The SignedData objects created by the TSA always contain the certificate
identifier of the signing certificate in a signed attribute (see RFC 2634,
Enhanced Security Services). If this option is set to yes and either the
certs variable or the -chain option is
specified then the certificate identifiers of the chain will also be included
in the SigningCertificate signed attribute. If this variable is set to no,
only the signing certificate identifier is included. Default is no. (Optional)
OPENSSL_CONF contains the path of the configuration file and
can be overriden by the -config command line option.
All the examples below presume that OPENSSL_CONF is set to a
proper configuration file, e.g. the example configuration file
openssl/apps/openssl.cnf will do.
To create a time stamp request for design1.txt with SHA-1 without nonce and
policy and no certificate is required in the response:
openssl ts -query -data design1.txt -no_nonce \
-out design1.tsq
To create a similar time stamp request with specifying the message imprint
explicitly:
openssl ts -query -digest b7e5d3f93198b38379852f2c04e78d73abdd0f4b \
-no_nonce -out design1.tsq
To print the content of the previous request in human readable format:
openssl ts -query -in design1.tsq -text
To create a time stamp request which includes the MD-5 digest of design2.txt,
requests the signer certificate and nonce, specifies a policy id (assuming the
tsa_policy1 name is defined in the OID section of the config file):
openssl ts -query -data design2.txt -md5 \
-policy tsa_policy1 -cert -out design2.tsq
Before generating a response a signing certificate must be created for the
TSA that contains the timeStamping extended key usage extension
without any other key usage extensions. You can add the 'extendedKeyUsage =
timeStamping' line to the user certificate section of the config file to
generate a proper certificate. See req(1), ca(1),
x509(1) for instructions. The examples below assume that cacert.pem
contains the certificate of the CA, tsacert.pem is the signing certificate
issued by cacert.pem and tsakey.pem is the private key of the TSA.
To create a time stamp response for a request:
openssl ts -reply -queryfile design1.tsq -inkey tsakey.pem \
-signer tsacert.pem -out design1.tsr
If you want to use the settings in the config file you could just write:
openssl ts -reply -queryfile design1.tsq -out design1.tsr
To print a time stamp reply to stdout in human readable format:
openssl ts -reply -in design1.tsr -text
To create a time stamp token instead of time stamp response:
openssl ts -reply -queryfile design1.tsq -out design1_token.der -token_out
To print a time stamp token to stdout in human readable format:
openssl ts -reply -in design1_token.der -token_in -text -token_out
To extract the time stamp token from a response:
openssl ts -reply -in design1.tsr -out design1_token.der -token_out
To add 'granted' status info to a time stamp token thereby creating a valid
response:
openssl ts -reply -in design1_token.der -token_in -out design1.tsr
To verify a time stamp reply against a request:
openssl ts -verify -queryfile design1.tsq -in design1.tsr \
-CAfile cacert.pem -untrusted tsacert.pem
To verify a time stamp reply that includes the certificate chain:
openssl ts -verify -queryfile design2.tsq -in design2.tsr \
-CAfile cacert.pem
To verify a time stamp token against the original data file: openssl ts
-verify -data design2.txt -in design2.tsr \ -CAfile cacert.pem
To verify a time stamp token against a message imprint: openssl ts -verify
-digest b7e5d3f93198b38379852f2c04e78d73abdd0f4b \ -in design2.tsr -CAfile
cacert.pem
You could also look at the 'test' directory for more examples.
If you find any bugs or you have suggestions please write to Zoltan Glozik
<zglozik@stones.com>. Known
issues:
openssl(1),
req(1), x509(1), ca(1), genrsa(1),
config(5)