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step certificate sign

Name

step certificate sign -- sign a certificate signing request (CSR)

Usage

step certificate sign <csr-file> <crt-file> <key-file>
[--profile=<profile>] [--template=<file>] 
[--set=<key=value>] [--set-file=<file>]
[--password-file=<file>] [--path-len=<maximum>]
[--not-before=<time|duration>] [--not-after=<time|duration>]
[--bundle]

Description

step certificate sign generates a signed certificate from a certificate signing request (CSR).

Positional arguments

csr-file The path to a certificate signing request (CSR) to be signed.

crt-file The path to an issuing certificate.

key-file The path to a private key for signing the CSR.

Options

--kms=uri The uri to configure a Cloud KMS or an HSM.

--profile=profile The certificate profile sets various certificate details such as certificate use and expiration. The default profile is 'leaf' which is suitable for a client or server using TLS.

profile is a case-sensitive string and must be one of:

  • leaf: Signs a leaf x.509 certificate suitable for use with TLS.

  • intermediate-ca: Signs a certificate that can be used to sign additional leaf certificates.

  • csr: Signs a x.509 certificate without modifying the CSR.

--template=file The certificate template file, a JSON representation of the certificate to create.

--set=key=value The key=value pair with template data variables. Use the --set flag multiple times to add multiple variables.

--set-file=file The JSON file with the template data variables.

--password-file=file The path to the file containing the password to encrypt or decrypt the private key.

--not-before=time|duration The time|duration set in the NotBefore property of the certificate. If a time is used it is expected to be in RFC 3339 format. If a duration is used, it is a sequence of decimal numbers, each with optional fraction and a unit suffix, such as "300ms", "-1.5h" or "2h45m". Valid time units are "ns", "us" (or "µs"), "ms", "s", "m", "h".

--not-after=time|duration The time|duration set in the NotAfter property of the certificate. If a time is used it is expected to be in RFC 3339 format. If a duration is used, it is a sequence of decimal numbers, each with optional fraction and a unit suffix, such as "300ms", "-1.5h" or "2h45m". Valid time units are "ns", "us" (or "µs"), "ms", "s", "m", "h".

--path-len=maximum The maximum path length to set in the pathLenConstraint of an intermediate-ca. Defaults to 0. If it's set to -1 no path length limit is imposed.

--bundle Bundle the new leaf certificate with the signing certificate.

Exit codes

This command returns 0 on success and >0 if any error occurs.

Examples

Sign a certificate signing request using the leaf profile:

$ step certificate sign leaf.csr issuer.crt issuer.key
# or
$ step certificate sign --profile leaf leaf.csr issuer.crt issuer.key

Sign a CSR and bundle the new certificate with the issuer:

$ step certificate sign --bundle leaf.csr issuer.crt issuer.key

Sign a CSR with custom validity and bundle the new certificate with the issuer:

$ step certificate sign --bundle --not-before -1m --not-after 16h leaf.csr issuer.crt issuer.key

Sign an intermediate ca:

$ step certificate sign --profile intermediate-ca intermediate.csr issuer.crt issuer.key

Sign an intermediate ca that can sign other intermediates; in this example, the issuer must set the pathLenConstraint at least to 2 or without a limit:

$ step certificate sign --profile intermediate-ca --path-len 1 intermediate.csr issuer.crt issuer.key

Sign a CSR but only use information present in it, it doesn't add any key or extended key usages if they are not in the CSR.

$ step certificate sign --profile csr test.csr issuer.crt issuer.key

Sign a CSR with only clientAuth as key usage using a template:

$ cat coyote.tpl
{
  "subject": {
    "country": "US",
        "organization": "Coyote Corporation",
        "commonName": "{{ .Subject.CommonName }}"
  },
  "emailAddresses": {{ toJson .Insecure.CR.EmailAddresses }},
  "keyUsage": ["digitalSignature"],
  "extKeyUsage": ["clientAuth"]
}
$ step certificate create --csr coyote@acme.corp coyote.csr coyote.key
$ step certificate sign --template coyote.tpl coyote.csr issuer.crt issuer.key

Sign a CSR using a template and allow configuring the subject using the --set and --set-file flags.

$ cat rocket.tpl
{
  "subject": {
    "country": {{ toJson .Insecure.User.country }},
    "organization": {{ toJson .Insecure.User.organization }},
    "organizationalUnit": {{ toJson .Insecure.User.organizationUnit }},
    "commonName": {{toJson .Subject.CommonName }}
  },
  "sans": {{ toJson .SANs }},
{{- if typeIs "*rsa.PublicKey" .Insecure.CR.PublicKey }}
  "keyUsage": ["keyEncipherment", "digitalSignature"],
{{- else }}
  "keyUsage": ["digitalSignature"],
{{- end }}
  "extKeyUsage": ["serverAuth", "clientAuth"]
}
$ cat organization.json
{
  "country": "US",
  "organization": "Acme Corporation",
  "organizationUnit": "HQ"
}
$ step certificate create --csr rocket.acme.corp rocket.csr rocket.key
$ step certificate sign --template rocket.tpl \
  --set-file organization.json --set organizationUnit=Engineering \
  rocket.csr issuer.crt issuer.key

Sign a CSR using step-kms-plugin:

$ step certificate sign \
  --kms 'pkcs11:module-path=/usr/local/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep?pin-value=password' \
  leaf.csr issuer.crt 'pkcs11:id=4001'