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keytool(1) - phpMan
keytool(1) General Commands Manual keytool(1)
Name
keytool - Key and Certificate Management Tool
Manages a keystore (database) of cryptographic keys, X.509 certificate chains, and trusted
certificates.
SYNOPSIS
keytool [ commands ]
The keytool command interface has changed in Java SE 6. See the Changes Section for a
detailed description. Note that previously defined commands are still supported.
DESCRIPTION
keytool is a key and certificate management utility. It allows users to administer their
own public/private key pairs and associated certificates for use in self-authentication
(where the user authenticates himself/herself to other users/services) or data integrity
and authentication services, using digital signatures. It also allows users to cache the
public keys (in the form of certificates) of their communicating peers.
A certificate is a digitally signed statement from one entity (person, company, etc.),
saying that the public key (and some other information) of some other entity has a partic‐
ular value. (See Certificates.) When data is digitally signed, the signature can be veri‐
fied to check the data integrity and authenticity. Integrity means that the data has not
been modified or tampered with, and authenticity means the data indeed comes from whoever
claims to have created and signed it.
keytool also enables users to administer secret keys used in symmetric encryption/decryp‐
tion (e.g. DES).
keytool stores the keys and certificates in a keystore.
COMMAND AND OPTION NOTES
The various commands and their options are listed and described below. Note:
o All command and option names are preceded by a minus sign (-).
o The options for each command may be provided in any order.
o All items not italicized or in braces or square brackets are required to appear as
is.
o Braces surrounding an option generally signify that a default value will be used if
the option is not specified on the command line. Braces are also used around the -v,
-rfc, and -J options, which only have meaning if they appear on the command line
(that is, they don't have any "default" values other than not existing).
o Brackets surrounding an option signify that the user is prompted for the value(s) if
the option is not specified on the command line. (For a -keypass option, if you do
not specify the option on the command line, keytool will first attempt to use the
keystore password to recover the private/secret key, and if this fails, will then
prompt you for the private/secret key password.)
o Items in italics (option values) represent the actual values that must be supplied.
For example, here is the format of the -printcert command:
keytool -printcert {-file cert_file} {-v}
When specifying a -printcert command, replace cert_file with the actual file name, as
in:
keytool -printcert -file VScert.cer
o Option values must be quoted if they contain a blank (space).
o The -help command is the default. Thus, the command line
keytool
is equivalent to
keytool -help
Option Defaults
Below are the defaults for various option values.
-alias "mykey"
-keyalg
"DSA" (when using -genkeypair)
"DES" (when using -genseckey)
-keysize
2048 (when using -genkeypair and -keyalg is "RSA")
1024 (when using -genkeypair and -keyalg is "DSA")
256 (when using -genkeypair and -keyalg is "EC")
56 (when using -genseckey and -keyalg is "DES")
168 (when using -genseckey and -keyalg is "DESede")
-validity 90
-keystore the file named .keystore in the user's home directory
-storetype the value of the "keystore.type" property in the security properties file,
which is returned by the static getDefaultType method in
java.security.KeyStore
-file stdin if reading, stdout if writing
-protected false
In generating a public/private key pair, the signature algorithm (-sigalg option) is
derived from the algorithm of the underlying private key:
o If the underlying private key is of type "DSA", the -sigalg option defaults to
"SHA1withDSA"
o If the underlying private key is of type "RSA", the -sigalg option defaults to
"SHA256withRSA".
o If the underlying private key is of type "EC", the -sigalg option defaults to
"SHA256withECDSA".
Please consult the Java Cryptography Architecture API Specification & Reference @
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/security/crypto/CryptoSpec.html#AppA
for a full list of -keyalg and -sigalg you can choose from.
Common Options
The -v option can appear for all commands except -help. If it appears, it signifies "ver‐
bose" mode; more information will be provided in the output.
There is also a -Jjavaoption option that may appear for any command. If it appears, the
specified javaoption string is passed through directly to the Java interpreter. This
option should not contain any spaces. It is useful for adjusting the execution environment
or memory usage. For a list of possible interpreter options, type java -h or java -X at
the command line.
These options may appear for all commands operating on a keystore:
-storetype storetype
This qualifier specifies the type of keystore to be instantiated.
-keystore keystore
The keystore location.
If the JKS storetype is used and a keystore file does not yet exist, then certain key‐
tool commands may result in a new keystore file being created. For example, if keytool
-genkeypair is invoked and the -keystore option is not specified, the default keystore
file named .keystore in the user's home directory will be created if it does not
already exist. Similarly, if the -keystore ks_file option is specified but ks_file does
not exist, then it will be created
Note that the input stream from the -keystore option is passed to the KeyStore.load
method. If NONE is specified as the URL, then a null stream is passed to the Key‐
Store.load method. NONE should be specified if the KeyStore is not file-based (for
example, if it resides on a hardware token device).
-storepass[:env|:file] argument
The password which is used to protect the integrity of the keystore.
If the modifier env or file is not specified, then the password has the value argument,
which must be at least 6 characters long. Otherwise, the password is retrieved as fol‐
lows:
o env: Retrieve the password from the environment variable named argument
o file: Retrieve the password from the file named argument
Note: All other options that require passwords, such as -keypass, -srckeypass,
-destkeypass -srcstorepass, and -deststorepass, accept the env and file modifiers.
(Remember to separate the password option and the modifier with a colon, (:).)
The password must be provided to all commands that access the keystore contents. For
such commands, if a -storepass option is not provided at the command line, the user is
prompted for it.
When retrieving information from the keystore, the password is optional; if no password
is given, the integrity of the retrieved information cannot be checked and a warning is
displayed.
-providerName provider_name
Used to identify a cryptographic service provider's name when listed in the security
properties file.
-providerClass provider_class_name
Used to specify the name of cryptographic service provider's master class file when the
service provider is not listed in the security properties file.
-providerArg provider_arg
Used in conjunction with -providerClass. Represents an optional string input argument
for the constructor of provider_class_name.
-protected
Either true or false. This value should be specified as true if a password must be
given via a protected authentication path such as a dedicated PIN reader.
Note: Since there are two keystores involved in -importkeystore command, two options,
namely, -srcprotected and -destprotected are provided for the source keystore and the
destination keystore respectively.
-ext {name{:critical}{=value}}
Denotes an X.509 certificate extension. The option can be used in -genkeypair and
-gencert to embed extensions into the certificate generated, or in -certreq to show
what extensions are requested in the certificate request. The option can appear multi‐
ple times. name can be a supported extension name (see below) or an arbitrary OID num‐
ber. value, if provided, denotes the parameter for the extension; if omitted, denotes
the default value (if defined) of the extension or the extension requires no parameter.
The :critical modifier, if provided, means the extension's isCritical attribute is
true; otherwise, false. You may use :c in place of :critical.
Currently keytool supports these named extensions (case-insensitive):
For name as OID, value is the HEX dumped DER encoding of the extnValue for the extension
excluding the OCTET STRING type and length bytes. Any extra character other than standard
HEX numbers (0-9, a-f, A-F) are ignored in the HEX string. Therefore, both "01:02:03:04"
and "01020304" are accepted as identical values. If there is no value, the extension has
an empty value field then.
A special name 'honored', used in -gencert only, denotes how the extensions included in
the certificate request should be honored. The value for this name is a comma separated
list of "all" (all requested extensions are honored), "name{:[critical|non-critical]}"
(the named extension is honored, but using a different isCritical attribute) and "-name"
(used with all, denotes an exception). Requested extensions are not honored by default.
If, besides the -ext honored option, another named or OID -ext option is provided, this
extension will be added to those already honored. However, if this name (or OID) also
appears in the honored value, its value and criticality overrides the one in the request.
The subjectKeyIdentifier extension is always created. For non self-signed certificates,
the authorityKeyIdentifier is always created.
Note: Users should be aware that some combinations of extensions (and other certificate
fields) may not conform to the Internet standard. See Warning Regarding Certificate Con‐
formance for details.
COMMANDS
Creating or Adding Data to the Keystore
-gencert {-rfc} {-infile infile} {-outfile outfile} {-alias alias} {-sigalg sigalg}
{-dname dname} {-startdate startdate {-ext ext}* {-validity valDays} [-keypass keypass]
{-keystore keystore} [-storepass storepass] {-storetype storetype} {-providername
provider_name} {-providerClass provider_class_name {-providerArg provider_arg}} {-v}
{-protected} {-Jjavaoption}
Generates a certificate as a response to a certificate request file (which can be cre‐
ated by the keytool -certreq command). The command reads the request from infile (if
omitted, from the standard input), signs it using alias's private key, and output the
X.509 certificate into outfile (if omitted, to the standard output). If -rfc is speci‐
fied, output format is BASE64-encoded PEM; otherwise, a binary DER is created.
sigalg specifies the algorithm that should be used to sign the certificate. startdate
is the start time/date that the certificate is valid. valDays tells the number of days
for which the certificate should be considered valid.
If dname is provided, it's used as the subject of the generated certificate. Otherwise,
the one from the certificate request is used.
ext shows what X.509 extensions will be embedded in the certificate. Read Common
Options for the grammar of -ext.
The -gencert command enables you to create certificate chains. The following example
creates a certificate, e1, that contains three certificates in its certificate chain.
The following commands creates four key pairs named ca, ca1, ca2, and e1:
keytool -alias ca -dname CN=CA -genkeypair
keytool -alias ca1 -dname CN=CA -genkeypair
keytool -alias ca2 -dname CN=CA -genkeypair
keytool -alias e1 -dname CN=E1 -genkeypair
The following two commands create a chain of signed certificates; ca signs ca1 and ca1
signs ca2, all of which are self-issued:
keytool -alias ca1 -certreq | keytool -alias ca -gencert -ext san=dns:ca1 | keytool -alias ca1 -importcert
keytool -alias ca2 -certreq | $KT -alias ca1 -gencert -ext san=dns:ca2 | $KT -alias ca2 -importcert
The following command creates the certificate e1 and stores it in the file e1.cert,
which is signed by ca2. As a result, e1 should contain ca, ca1, and ca2 in its certifi‐
cate chain:
keytool -alias e1 -certreq | keytool -alias ca2 -gencert > e1.cert
-genkeypair {-alias alias} {-keyalg keyalg} {-keysize keysize} {-sigalg sigalg} [-dname
dname] [-keypass keypass] {-startdate value} {-ext ext}* {-validity valDays} {-store‐
type storetype} {-keystore keystore} [-storepass storepass] {-providerClass
provider_class_name {-providerArg provider_arg}} {-v} {-protected} {-Jjavaoption}
Generates a key pair (a public key and associated private key). Wraps the public key
into an X.509 v3 self-signed certificate, which is stored as a single-element certifi‐
cate chain. This certificate chain and the private key are stored in a new keystore
entry identified by alias.
keyalg specifies the algorithm to be used to generate the key pair, and keysize speci‐
fies the size of each key to be generated. sigalg specifies the algorithm that should
be used to sign the self-signed certificate; this algorithm must be compatible with
keyalg.
dname specifies the X.500 Distinguished Name to be associated with alias, and is used
as the issuer and subject fields in the self-signed certificate. If no distinguished
name is provided at the command line, the user will be prompted for one.
keypass is a password used to protect the private key of the generated key pair. If no
password is provided, the user is prompted for it. If you press RETURN at the prompt,
the key password is set to the same password as that used for the keystore. keypass
must be at least 6 characters long.
startdate specifies the issue time of the certificate, also known as the "Not Before"
value of the X.509 certificate's Validity field.
The option value can be set in one of these two forms:
1. ([+-]nnn[ymdHMS])+
2. [yyyy/mm/dd] [HH:MM:SS]
With the first form, the issue time is shifted by the specified value from the current
time. The value is a concatenation of a sequence of sub values. Inside each sub value,
the plus sign ("+") means shifting forward, and the minus sign ("-") means shifting
backward. The time to be shifted is nnn units of years, months, days, hours, minutes,
or seconds (denoted by a single character of "y", "m", "d", "H", "M", or "S" respec‐
tively). The exact value of the issue time is calculated using the java.util.Gregorian‐
Calendar.add(int field, int amount) method on each sub value, from left to right. For
example, by specifying "-startdate -1y+1m-1d", the issue time will be:
Calendar c = new GregorianCalendar();
c.add(Calendar.YEAR, -1);
c.add(Calendar.MONTH, 1);
c.add(Calendar.DATE, -1);
return c.getTime()
With the second form, the user sets the exact issue time in two parts, year/month/day
and hour:minute:second (using the local time zone). The user may provide only one part,
which means the other part is the same as the current date (or time). User must provide
the exact number of digits as shown in the format definition (padding with 0 if
shorter). When both the date and time are provided, there is one (and only one) space
character between the two parts. The hour should always be provided in 24 hour format.
When the option is not provided, the start date is the current time. The option can be
provided at most once.
valDays specifies the number of days (starting at the date specified by -startdate, or
the current date if -startdate is not specified) for which the certificate should be
considered valid.
This command was named -genkey in previous releases. This old name is still supported
in this release and will be supported in future releases, but for clarity the new name,
-genkeypair, is preferred going forward.
-genseckey {-alias alias} {-keyalg keyalg} {-keysize keysize} [-keypass keypass]
{-storetype storetype} {-keystore keystore} [-storepass storepass] {-providerClass
provider_class_name {-providerArg provider_arg}} {-v} {-protected} {-Jjavaoption}
Generates a secret key and stores it in a new KeyStore.SecretKeyEntry identified by
alias.
keyalg specifies the algorithm to be used to generate the secret key, and keysize spec‐
ifies the size of the key to be generated. keypass is a password used to protect the
secret key. If no password is provided, the user is prompted for it. If you press
RETURN at the prompt, the key password is set to the same password as that used for the
keystore. keypass must be at least 6 characters long.
-importcert {-alias alias} {-file cert_file} [-keypass keypass] {-noprompt} {-trustcac‐
erts} {-storetype storetype} {-keystore keystore} [-storepass storepass] {-providerName
provider_name} {-providerClass provider_class_name {-providerArg provider_arg}} {-v}
{-protected} {-Jjavaoption}
Reads the certificate or certificate chain (where the latter is supplied in a PKCS#7
formatted reply or a sequence of X.509 certificates) from the file cert_file, and
stores it in the keystore entry identified by alias. If no file is given, the certifi‐
cate or certificate chain is read from stdin.
keytool can import X.509 v1, v2, and v3 certificates, and PKCS#7 formatted certificate
chains consisting of certificates of that type. The data to be imported must be pro‐
vided either in binary encoding format, or in printable encoding format (also known as
Base64 encoding) as defined by the Internet RFC 1421 standard. In the latter case, the
encoding must be bounded at the beginning by a string that starts with "-----BEGIN",
and bounded at the end by a string that starts with "-----END".
You import a certificate for two reasons:
1. to add it to the list of trusted certificates, or
2. to import a certificate reply received from a CA as the result of submitting a
Certificate Signing Request (see the -certreq command) to that CA.
Which type of import is intended is indicated by the value of the -alias option:
1. If the alias does not point to a key entry, then keytool assumes you are adding a
trusted certificate entry. In this case, the alias should not already exist in
the keystore. If the alias does already exist, then keytool outputs an error,
since there is already a trusted certificate for that alias, and does not import
the certificate.
2. If the alias points to a key entry, then keytool assumes you are importing a cer‐
tificate reply.
Importing a New Trusted Certificate
Before adding the certificate to the keystore, keytool tries to verify it by attempting
to construct a chain of trust from that certificate to a self-signed certificate
(belonging to a root CA), using trusted certificates that are already available in the
keystore.
If the -trustcacerts option has been specified, additional certificates are considered
for the chain of trust, namely the certificates in a file named "cacerts".
If keytool fails to establish a trust path from the certificate to be imported up to a
self-signed certificate (either from the keystore or the "cacerts" file), the certifi‐
cate information is printed out, and the user is prompted to verify it, e.g., by com‐
paring the displayed certificate fingerprints with the fingerprints obtained from some
other (trusted) source of information, which might be the certificate owner him‐
self/herself. Be very careful to ensure the certificate is valid prior to importing it
as a "trusted" certificate! -- see WARNING Regarding Importing Trusted Certificates.
The user then has the option of aborting the import operation. If the -noprompt option
is given, however, there will be no interaction with the user. Importing a Certificate
Reply
When importing a certificate reply, the certificate reply is validated using trusted
certificates from the keystore, and optionally using the certificates configured in the
"cacerts" keystore file (if the -trustcacerts option was specified).
The methods of determining whether the certificate reply is trusted are described in
the following:
o If the reply is a single X.509 certificate, keytool attempts to establish a trust
chain, starting at the certificate reply and ending at a self-signed certificate
(belonging to a root CA). The certificate reply and the hierarchy of certificates
used to authenticate the certificate reply form the new certificate chain of
alias. If a trust chain cannot be established, the certificate reply is not
imported. In this case, keytool does not print out the certificate and prompt the
user to verify it, because it is very hard (if not impossible) for a user to
determine the authenticity of the certificate reply.
o If the reply is a PKCS#7 formatted certificate chain or a sequence of X.509 cer‐
tificates, the chain is ordered with the user certificate first followed by zero
or more CA certificates. If the chain ends with a self-signed root CA certificate
and -trustcacerts option was specified, keytool will attempt to match it with any
of the trusted certificates in the keystore or the "cacerts" keystore file. If the
chain does not end with a self-signed root CA certificate and the -trustcacerts
option was specified, keytool will try to find one from the trusted certificates
in the keystore or the "cacerts" keystore file and add it to the end of the chain.
If the certificate is not found and -noprompt option is not specified, the infor‐
mation of the last certificate in the chain is printed out, and the user is
prompted to verify it.
If the public key in the certificate reply matches the user's public key already stored
with under alias, the old certificate chain is replaced with the new certificate chain
in the reply. The old chain can only be replaced if a valid keypass, the password used
to protect the private key of the entry, is supplied. If no password is provided, and
the private key password is different from the keystore password, the user is prompted
for it.
This command was named -import in previous releases. This old name is still supported
in this release and will be supported in future releases, but for clarify the new name,
-importcert, is preferred going forward.
-importkeystore -srckeystore srckeystore -destkeystore destkeystore {-srcstoretype src‐
storetype} {-deststoretype deststoretype} [-srcstorepass srcstorepass] [-deststorepass
deststorepass] {-srcprotected} {-destprotected} {-srcalias srcalias {-destalias destal‐
ias} [-srckeypass srckeypass] [-destkeypass destkeypass] } {-noprompt} {-srcProvider‐
Name src_provider_name} {-destProviderName dest_provider_name} {-providerClass
provider_class_name {-providerArg provider_arg}} {-v} {-protected} {-Jjavaoption}
Imports a single entry or all entries from a source keystore to a destination keystore.
When the srcalias option is provided, the command imports the single entry identified
by the alias to the destination keystore. If a destination alias is not provided with
destalias, then srcalias is used as the destination alias. If the source entry is pro‐
tected by a password, srckeypass will be used to recover the entry. If srckeypass is
not provided, then keytool will attempt to use srcstorepass to recover the entry. If
srcstorepass is either not provided or is incorrect, the user will be prompted for a
password. The destination entry will be protected using destkeypass. If destkeypass is
not provided, the destination entry will be protected with the source entry password.
If the srcalias option is not provided, then all entries in the source keystore are
imported into the destination keystore. Each destination entry will be stored under the
alias from the source entry. If the source entry is protected by a password, src‐
storepass will be used to recover the entry. If srcstorepass is either not provided or
is incorrect, the user will be prompted for a password. If a source keystore entry type
is not supported in the destination keystore, or if an error occurs while storing an
entry into the destination keystore, the user will be prompted whether to skip the
entry and continue, or to quit. The destination entry will be protected with the source
entry password.
If the destination alias already exists in the destination keystore, the user is
prompted to either overwrite the entry, or to create a new entry under a different
alias name.
Note that if -noprompt is provided, the user will not be prompted for a new destination
alias. Existing entries will automatically be overwritten with the destination alias
name. Finally, entries that can not be imported are automatically skipped and a warning
is output.
-printcertreq {-file file}
Prints the content of a PKCS #10 format certificate request, which can be generated by
the keytool -certreq command. The command reads the request from file; if omitted, from
the standard input.
Exporting Data
-certreq {-alias alias} {-dname dname} {-sigalg sigalg} {-file certreq_file} [-keypass
keypass] {-storetype storetype} {-keystore keystore} [-storepass storepass] {-provider‐
Name provider_name} {-providerClass provider_class_name {-providerArg provider_arg}}
{-v} {-protected} {-Jjavaoption}
Generates a Certificate Signing Request (CSR), using the PKCS#10 format.
A CSR is intended to be sent to a certificate authority (CA). The CA will authenticate
the certificate requestor (usually off-line) and will return a certificate or certifi‐
cate chain, used to replace the existing certificate chain (which initially consists of
a self-signed certificate) in the keystore.
The private key associated with alias is used to create the PKCS#10 certificate
request. In order to access the private key, the appropriate password must be provided,
since private keys are protected in the keystore with a password. If keypass is not
provided at the command line, and is different from the password used to protect the
integrity of the keystore, the user is prompted for it. If dname is provided, it's used
as the subject in the CSR. Otherwise, the X.500 Distinguished Name associated with
alias is used.
sigalg specifies the algorithm that should be used to sign the CSR.
The CSR is stored in the file certreq_file. If no file is given, the CSR is output to
stdout.
Use the importcert command to import the response from the CA.
-exportcert {-alias alias} {-file cert_file} {-storetype storetype} {-keystore key‐
store} [-storepass storepass] {-providerName provider_name} {-providerClass
provider_class_name {-providerArg provider_arg}} {-rfc} {-v} {-protected} {-Jjavaop‐
tion}
Reads (from the keystore) the certificate associated with alias, and stores it in the
file cert_file.
If no file is given, the certificate is output to stdout.
The certificate is by default output in binary encoding, but will instead be output in
the printable encoding format, as defined by the Internet RFC 1421 standard, if the
-rfc option is specified.
If alias refers to a trusted certificate, that certificate is output. Otherwise, alias
refers to a key entry with an associated certificate chain. In that case, the first
certificate in the chain is returned. This certificate authenticates the public key of
the entity addressed by alias.
This command was named -export in previous releases. This old name is still supported
in this release and will be supported in future releases, but for clarify the new name,
-exportcert, is preferred going forward.
Displaying Data
-list {-alias alias} {-storetype storetype} {-keystore keystore} [-storepass storepass]
{-providerName provider_name} {-providerClass provider_class_name {-providerArg
provider_arg}} {-v | -rfc} {-protected} {-Jjavaoption}
Prints (to stdout) the contents of the keystore entry identified by alias. If no alias
is specified, the contents of the entire keystore are printed.
This command by default prints the SHA1 fingerprint of a certificate. If the -v option
is specified, the certificate is printed in human-readable format, with additional
information such as the owner, issuer, serial number, and any extensions. If the -rfc
option is specified, certificate contents are printed using the printable encoding for‐
mat, as defined by the Internet RFC 1421 standard
You cannot specify both -v and -rfc.
-printcert {-file cert_file | -sslserver host[:port]} {-jarfile JAR_file {-rfc} {-v}
{-Jjavaoption}
Reads the certificate from the file cert_file, the SSL server located at host:port, or
the signed JAR file JAR_file (with the option -jarfile and prints its contents in a
human-readable format. When no port is specified, the standard HTTPS port 443 is
assumed. Note that -sslserver and -file options cannot be provided at the same time.
Otherwise, an error is reported. If neither option is given, the certificate is read
from stdin.
If -rfc is specified, keytool prints the certificate in PEM mode as defined by the
Internet RFC 1421 standard.
If the certificate is read from a file or stdin, it may be either binary encoded or in
printable encoding format, as defined by the Internet RFC 1421 standard
If the SSL server is behind a firewall, -J-Dhttps.proxyHost=proxyhost and
-J-Dhttps.proxyPort=proxyport can be specified on the command line for proxy tunneling.
See the JSSE Reference Guide @
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/security/jsse/JSSERefGuide.html
for more information.
Note: This option can be used independently of a keystore.
-printcrl -file crl_ {-v}
Reads the certificate revocation list (CRL) from the file crl_file.
A Certificate Revocation List (CRL) is a list of digital certificates which have been
revoked by the Certificate Authority (CA) that issued them. The CA generates crl_file.
Note: This option can be used independently of a keystore.
Managing the Keystore
-storepasswd [-new new_storepass] {-storetype storetype} {-keystore keystore}
[-storepass storepass] {-providerName provider_name} {-providerClass
provider_class_name {-providerArg provider_arg}} {-v} {-Jjavaoption}
Changes the password used to protect the integrity of the keystore contents. The new
password is new_storepass, which must be at least 6 characters long.
-keypasswd {-alias alias} [-keypass old_keypass] [-new new_keypass] {-storetype store‐
type} {-keystore keystore} [-storepass storepass] {-providerName provider_name}
{-providerClass provider_class_name {-providerArg provider_arg}} {-v} {-Jjavaoption}
Changes the password under which the private/secret key identified by alias is pro‐
tected, from old_keypass to new_keypass, which must be at least 6 characters long.
If the -keypass option is not provided at the command line, and the key password is
different from the keystore password, the user is prompted for it.
If the -new option is not provided at the command line, the user is prompted for it.
-delete [-alias alias] {-storetype storetype} {-keystore keystore} [-storepass
storepass] {-providerName provider_name} {-providerClass provider_class_name
{-providerArg provider_arg}} {-v} {-protected} {-Jjavaoption}
Deletes from the keystore the entry identified by alias. The user is prompted for the
alias, if no alias is provided at the command line.
-changealias {-alias alias} [-destalias destalias] [-keypass keypass] {-storetype
storetype} {-keystore keystore} [-storepass storepass] {-providerName provider_name}
{-providerClass provider_class_name {-providerArg provider_arg}} {-v} {-protected}
{-Jjavaoption}
Move an existing keystore entry from the specified alias to a new alias, destalias. If
no destination alias is provided, the command will prompt for one. If the original
entry is protected with an entry password, the password can be supplied via the "-key‐
pass" option. If no key password is provided, the storepass (if given) will be
attempted first. If that attempt fails, the user will be prompted for a password.
Getting Help
-help
Lists the basic commands and their options.
For more information about a specific command, enter the following, where command_name
is the name of the command:
keytool -command_name -help
EXAMPLES
Suppose you want to create a keystore for managing your public/private key pair and cer‐
tificates from entities you trust.
Generating Your Key Pair
The first thing you need to do is create a keystore and generate the key pair. You could
use a command such as the following:
keytool -genkeypair -dname "cn=Mark Jones, ou=Java, o=Oracle, c=US"
-alias business -keypass <new password for private key> -keystore /working/mykeystore
-storepass <new password for keystore> -validity 180
(Please note: This must be typed as a single line. Multiple lines are used in the examples
just for legibility purposes.)
This command creates the keystore named "mykeystore" in the "working" directory (assuming
it doesn't already exist), and assigns it the password specified by <new password for key‐
store>. It generates a public/private key pair for the entity whose "distinguished name"
has a common name of "Mark Jones", organizational unit of "Java", organization of "Oracle"
and two-letter country code of "US". It uses the default "DSA" key generation algorithm to
create the keys, both 1024 bits long.
It creates a self-signed certificate (using the default "SHA1withDSA" signature algorithm)
that includes the public key and the distinguished name information. This certificate will
be valid for 180 days, and is associated with the private key in a keystore entry referred
to by the alias "business". The private key is assigned the password specified by <new
password for private key>.
The command could be significantly shorter if option defaults were accepted. As a matter
of fact, no options are required; defaults are used for unspecified options that have
default values, and you are prompted for any required values. Thus, you could simply have
the following:
keytool -genkeypair
In this case, a keystore entry with alias "mykey" is created, with a newly-generated key
pair and a certificate that is valid for 90 days. This entry is placed in the keystore
named ".keystore" in your home directory. (The keystore is created if it doesn't already
exist.) You will be prompted for the distinguished name information, the keystore pass‐
word, and the private key password.
The rest of the examples assume you executed the -genkeypair command without options spec‐
ified, and that you responded to the prompts with values equal to those given in the first
-genkeypair command, above (for example, a distinguished name of "cn=Mark Jones, ou=Java,
o=Oracle, c=US").
Requesting a Signed Certificate from a Certification Authority
So far all we've got is a self-signed certificate. A certificate is more likely to be
trusted by others if it is signed by a Certification Authority (CA). To get such a signa‐
ture, you first generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR), via the following:
keytool -certreq -file MarkJ.csr
This creates a CSR (for the entity identified by the default alias "mykey") and puts the
request in the file named "MarkJ.csr". Submit this file to a CA, such as VeriSign, Inc.
The CA will authenticate you, the requestor (usually off-line), and then will return a
certificate, signed by them, authenticating your public key. (In some cases, they will
actually return a chain of certificates, each one authenticating the public key of the
signer of the previous certificate in the chain.)
Importing a Certificate for the CA
You need to replace your self-signed certificate with a certificate chain, where each cer‐
tificate in the chain authenticates the public key of the signer of the previous certifi‐
cate in the chain, up to a "root" CA.
Before you import the certificate reply from a CA, you need one or more "trusted certifi‐
cates" in your keystore or in the cacerts keystore file (which is described in importcert
command):
o If the certificate reply is a certificate chain, you just need the top certificate of
the chain (that is, the "root" CA certificate authenticating that CA's public key).
o If the certificate reply is a single certificate, you need a certificate for the
issuing CA (the one that signed it), and if that certificate is not self-signed, you
need a certificate for its signer, and so on, up to a self-signed "root" CA certifi‐
cate.
The "cacerts" keystore file ships with several VeriSign root CA certificates, so you prob‐
ably won't need to import a VeriSign certificate as a trusted certificate in your key‐
store. But if you request a signed certificate from a different CA, and a certificate
authenticating that CA's public key hasn't been added to "cacerts", you will need to
import a certificate from the CA as a "trusted certificate".
A certificate from a CA is usually either self-signed, or signed by another CA (in which
case you also need a certificate authenticating that CA's public key). Suppose company
ABC, Inc., is a CA, and you obtain a file named "ABCCA.cer" that is purportedly a
self-signed certificate from ABC, authenticating that CA's public key.
Be very careful to ensure the certificate is valid prior to importing it as a "trusted"
certificate! View it first (using the keytool -printcert command, or the keytool
-importcert command without the -noprompt option), and make sure that the displayed cer‐
tificate fingerprint(s) match the expected ones. You can call the person who sent the cer‐
tificate, and compare the fingerprint(s) that you see with the ones that they show (or
that a secure public key repository shows). Only if the fingerprints are equal is it guar‐
anteed that the certificate has not been replaced in transit with somebody else's (for
example, an attacker's) certificate. If such an attack took place, and you did not check
the certificate before you imported it, you would end up trusting anything the attacker
has signed.
If you trust that the certificate is valid, then you can add it to your keystore via the
following:
keytool -importcert -alias abc -file ABCCA.cer
This creates a "trusted certificate" entry in the keystore, with the data from the file
"ABCCA.cer", and assigns the alias "abc" to the entry.
Importing the Certificate Reply from the CA
Once you've imported a certificate authenticating the public key of the CA you submitted
your certificate signing request to (or there is already such a certificate in the "cac‐
erts" file), you can import the certificate reply and thereby replace your self-signed
certificate with a certificate chain. This chain is the one returned by the CA in response
to your request (if the CA reply is a chain), or one constructed (if the CA reply is a
single certificate) using the certificate reply and trusted certificates that are already
available in the keystore where you import the reply or in the "cacerts" keystore file.
For example, suppose you sent your certificate signing request to VeriSign. You can then
import the reply via the following, which assumes the returned certificate is named
"VSMarkJ.cer":
keytool -importcert -trustcacerts -file VSMarkJ.cer
Exporting a Certificate Authenticating Your Public Key
Suppose you have used the jarsigner(1) tool to sign a Java ARchive (JAR) file. Clients
that want to use the file will want to authenticate your signature.
One way they can do this is by first importing your public key certificate into their key‐
store as a "trusted" entry. You can export the certificate and supply it to your clients.
As an example, you can copy your certificate to a file named MJ.cer via the following,
assuming the entry is aliased by "mykey":
keytool -exportcert -alias mykey -file MJ.cer
Given that certificate, and the signed JAR file, a client can use the jarsigner tool to
authenticate your signature.
Importing Keystore
The command "importkeystore" is used to import an entire keystore into another keystore,
which means all entries from the source keystore, including keys and certificates, are all
imported to the destination keystore within a single command. You can use this command to
import entries from a different type of keystore. During the import, all new entries in
the destination keystore will have the same alias names and protection passwords (for
secret keys and private keys). If keytool has difficulties recover the private keys or
secret keys from the source keystore, it will prompt you for a password. If it detects
alias duplication, it will ask you for a new one, you can specify a new alias or simply
allow keytool to overwrite the existing one.
For example, to import entries from a normal JKS type keystore key.jks into a PKCS #11
type hardware based keystore, you can use the command:
keytool -importkeystore
-srckeystore key.jks -destkeystore NONE
-srcstoretype JKS -deststoretype PKCS11
-srcstorepass <source keystore password> -deststorepass <destination keystore password>
The importkeystore command can also be used to import a single entry from a source key‐
store to a destination keystore. In this case, besides the options you see in the above
example, you need to specify the alias you want to import. With the srcalias option given,
you can also specify the destination alias name in the command line, as well as protection
password for a secret/private key and the destination protection password you want. The
following command demonstrates this:
keytool -importkeystore
-srckeystore key.jks -destkeystore NONE
-srcstoretype JKS -deststoretype PKCS11
-srcstorepass <source keystore password> -deststorepass <destination keystore password>
-srcalias myprivatekey -destalias myoldprivatekey
-srckeypass <source entry password> -destkeypass <destination entry password>
-noprompt
Generating Certificates for a Typical SSL Server
The following are keytool commands to generate keypairs and certificates for three enti‐
ties, namely, Root CA (root), Intermediate CA (ca), and SSL server (server). Ensure that
you store all the certificates in the same keystore. In these examples, it is recommended
that you specify RSA as the key algorithm.
keytool -genkeypair -keystore root.jks -alias root -ext bc:c
keytool -genkeypair -keystore ca.jks -alias ca -ext bc:c
keytool -genkeypair -keystore server.jks -alias server
keytool -keystore root.jks -alias root -exportcert -rfc > root.pem
keytool -storepass <storepass> -keystore ca.jks -certreq -alias ca | keytool -storepass <storepass> -keystore root.jks -gencert -alias root -ext BC=0 -rfc > ca.pem
keytool -keystore ca.jks -importcert -alias ca -file ca.pem
keytool -storepass <storepass> -keystore server.jks -certreq -alias server | keytool -storepass <storepass> -keystore ca.jks -gencert -alias ca -ext ku:c=dig,kE -rfc > server.pem
cat root.pem ca.pem server.pem | keytool -keystore server.jks -importcert -alias server
TERMINOLOGY and WARNINGS
KeyStore
A keystore is a storage facility for cryptographic keys and certificates.
o KeyStore Entries
Keystores may have different types of entries. The two most applicable entry types for
keytool include:
1. key entries - each holds very sensitive cryptographic key information, which is
stored in a protected format to prevent unauthorized access. Typically, a key
stored in this type of entry is a secret key, or a private key accompanied by the
certificate "chain" for the corresponding public key. The keytool can handle both
types of entries, while the jarsigner tool only handle the latter type of entry,
that is private keys and their associated certificate chains.
2. trusted certificate entries - each contains a single public key certificate
belonging to another party. It is called a "trusted certificate" because the key‐
store owner trusts that the public key in the certificate indeed belongs to the
identity identified by the "subject" (owner) of the certificate. The issuer of
the certificate vouches for this, by signing the certificate.
o KeyStore Aliases
All keystore entries (key and trusted certificate entries) are accessed via unique
aliases.
An alias is specified when you add an entity to the keystore using the -genseckey com‐
mand to generate a secret key, -genkeypair command to generate a key pair (public and
private key) or the -importcert command to add a certificate or certificate chain to
the list of trusted certificates. Subsequent keytool commands must use this same alias
to refer to the entity.
For example, suppose you use the alias duke to generate a new public/private key pair
and wrap the public key into a self-signed certificate (see Certificate Chains) via the
following command:
keytool -genkeypair -alias duke -keypass dukekeypasswd
This specifies an initial password of "dukekeypasswd" required by subsequent commands
to access the private key associated with the alias duke. If you later want to change
duke's private key password, you use a command like the following:
keytool -keypasswd -alias duke -keypass dukekeypasswd -new newpass
This changes the password from "dukekeypasswd" to "newpass".
Please note: A password should not actually be specified on a command line or in a
script unless it is for testing purposes, or you are on a secure system. If you don't
specify a required password option on a command line, you will be prompted for it.
o KeyStore Implementation
The KeyStore class provided in the java.security package supplies well-defined inter‐
faces to access and modify the information in a keystore. It is possible for there to
be multiple different concrete implementations, where each implementation is that for a
particular type of keystore.
Currently, two command-line tools (keytool and jarsigner) and a GUI-based tool named
Policy Tool make use of keystore implementations. Since KeyStore is publicly available,
users can write additional security applications that use it.
There is a built-in default implementation, provided by Oracle. It implements the key‐
store as a file, utilizing a proprietary keystore type (format) named "JKS". It pro‐
tects each private key with its individual password, and also protects the integrity of
the entire keystore with a (possibly different) password.
Keystore implementations are provider-based. More specifically, the application inter‐
faces supplied by KeyStore are implemented in terms of a "Service Provider Interface"
(SPI). That is, there is a corresponding abstract KeystoreSpi class, also in the
java.security package, which defines the Service Provider Interface methods that
"providers" must implement. (The term "provider" refers to a package or a set of pack‐
ages that supply a concrete implementation of a subset of services that can be accessed
by the Java Security API.) Thus, to provide a keystore implementation, clients must
implement a "provider" and supply a KeystoreSpi subclass implementation, as described
in How to Implement a Provider for the Java Cryptography Architecture @
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/security/crypto/HowToIm‐
plAProvider.html.
Applications can choose different types of keystore implementations from different
providers, using the "getInstance" factory method supplied in the KeyStore class. A
keystore type defines the storage and data format of the keystore information, and the
algorithms used to protect private/secret keys in the keystore and the integrity of the
keystore itself. Keystore implementations of different types are not compatible.
keytool works on any file-based keystore implementation. (It treats the keystore loca‐
tion that is passed to it at the command line as a filename and converts it to a
FileInputStream, from which it loads the keystore information.) The jarsigner and poli‐
cytool tools, on the other hand, can read a keystore from any location that can be
specified using a URL.
For keytool and jarsigner, you can specify a keystore type at the command line, via the
-storetype option. For Policy Tool, you can specify a keystore type via the "Keystore"
menu.
If you don't explicitly specify a keystore type, the tools choose a keystore implemen‐
tation based simply on the value of the keystore.type property specified in the secu‐
rity properties file. The security properties file is called java.security, and it
resides in the security properties directory, java.home/lib/security, where java.home
is the runtime environment's directory (the jre directory in the SDK or the top-level
directory of the Java 2 Runtime Environment).
Each tool gets the keystore.type value and then examines all the currently-installed
providers until it finds one that implements keystores of that type. It then uses the
keystore implementation from that provider.
The KeyStore class defines a static method named getDefaultType that lets applications
and applets retrieve the value of the keystore.type property. The following line of
code creates an instance of the default keystore type (as specified in the key‐
store.type property):
KeyStore keyStore = KeyStore.getInstance(KeyStore.getDefaultType());
The default keystore type is "jks" (the proprietary type of the keystore implementation
provided by Oracle). This is specified by the following line in the security properties
file:
keystore.type=jks
To have the tools utilize a keystore implementation other than the default, you can
change that line to specify a different keystore type.
For example, if you have a provider package that supplies a keystore implementation for
a keystore type called "pkcs12", change the line to
keystore.type=pkcs12
Note: case doesn't matter in keystore type designations. For example, "JKS" would be
considered the same as "jks".
Certificate
A certificate (also known as a public-key certificate) is a digitally signed statement
from one entity (the issuer), saying that the public key (and some other information) of
another entity (the subject) has some specific value.
o Certificate Terms
Public Keys
These are numbers associated with a particular entity, and are intended to be known
to everyone who needs to have trusted interactions with that entity. Public keys are
used to verify signatures.
Digitally Signed
If some data is digitally signed it has been stored with the "identity" of an
entity, and a signature that proves that entity knows about the data. The data is
rendered unforgeable by signing with the entity's private key.
Identity
A known way of addressing an entity. In some systems the identity is the public key,
in others it can be anything from a Unix UID to an Email address to an X.509 Distin‐
guished Name.
Signature
A signature is computed over some data using the private key of an entity (the
signer, which in the case of a certificate is also known as the issuer).
Private Keys
These are numbers, each of which is supposed to be known only to the particular
entity whose private key it is (that is, it's supposed to be kept secret). Private
and public keys exist in pairs in all public key cryptography systems (also referred
to as "public key crypto systems"). In a typical public key crypto system, such as
DSA, a private key corresponds to exactly one public key. Private keys are used to
compute signatures.
Entity
An entity is a person, organization, program, computer, business, bank, or something
else you are trusting to some degree.
Basically, public key cryptography requires access to users' public keys. In a
large-scale networked environment it is impossible to guarantee that prior relation‐
ships between communicating entities have been established or that a trusted repository
exists with all used public keys. Certificates were invented as a solution to this pub‐
lic key distribution problem. Now a Certification Authority (CA) can act as a trusted
third party. CAs are entities (for example, businesses) that are trusted to sign
(issue) certificates for other entities. It is assumed that CAs will only create valid
and reliable certificates, as they are bound by legal agreements. There are many public
Certification Authorities, such as VeriSign @
http://www.verisign.com/, Thawte @
http://www.thawte.com/, Entrust @
http://www.entrust.com/, and so on. You can also run your own Certification Authority
using products such as Microsoft Certificate Server or the Entrust CA product for your
organization.
Using keytool, it is possible to display, import, and export certificates. It is also
possible to generate self-signed certificates.
keytool currently handles X.509 certificates.
o X.509 Certificates
The X.509 standard defines what information can go into a certificate, and describes
how to write it down (the data format). All the data in a certificate is encoded using
two related standards called ASN.1/DER. Abstract Syntax Notation 1 describes data. The
Definite Encoding Rules describe a single way to store and transfer that data.
All X.509 certificates have the following data, in addition to the signature:
Version
This identifies which version of the X.509 standard applies to this certificate,
which affects what information can be specified in it. Thus far, three versions are
defined. keytool can import and export v1, v2, and v3 certificates. It generates v3
certificates.
X.509 Version 1 has been available since 1988, is widely deployed, and is the most
generic.
X.509 Version 2 introduced the concept of subject and issuer unique identifiers to
handle the possibility of reuse of subject and/or issuer names over time. Most cer‐
tificate profile documents strongly recommend that names not be reused, and that
certificates should not make use of unique identifiers. Version 2 certificates are
not widely used.
X.509 Version 3 is the most recent (1996) and supports the notion of extensions,
whereby anyone can define an extension and include it in the certificate. Some com‐
mon extensions in use today are: KeyUsage (limits the use of the keys to particular
purposes such as "signing-only") and AlternativeNames (allows other identities to
also be associated with this public key, e.g. DNS names, Email addresses, IP
addresses). Extensions can be marked critical to indicate that the extension should
be checked and enforced/used. For example, if a certificate has the KeyUsage exten‐
sion marked critical and set to "keyCertSign" then if this certificate is presented
during SSL communication, it should be rejected, as the certificate extension indi‐
cates that the associated private key should only be used for signing certificates
and not for SSL use.
Serial Number
The entity that created the certificate is responsible for assigning it a serial
number to distinguish it from other certificates it issues. This information is used
in numerous ways, for example when a certificate is revoked its serial number is
placed in a Certificate Revocation List (CRL).
Signature Algorithm Identifier
This identifies the algorithm used by the CA to sign the certificate.
Issuer Name
The X.500 Distinguished Name of the entity that signed the certificate. This is nor‐
mally a CA. Using this certificate implies trusting the entity that signed this cer‐
tificate. (Note that in some cases, such as root or top-level CA certificates, the
issuer signs its own certificate.)
Validity Period
Each certificate is valid only for a limited amount of time. This period is
described by a start date and time and an end date and time, and can be as short as
a few seconds or almost as long as a century. The validity period chosen depends on
a number of factors, such as the strength of the private key used to sign the cer‐
tificate or the amount one is willing to pay for a certificate. This is the expected
period that entities can rely on the public value, if the associated private key has
not been compromised.
Subject Name
The name of the entity whose public key the certificate identifies. This name uses
the X.500 standard, so it is intended to be unique across the Internet. This is the
X.500 Distinguished Name (DN) of the entity, for example,
CN=Java Duke, OU=Java Software Division, O=Oracle Corporation, C=US
(These refer to the subject's Common Name, Organizational Unit, Organization, and
Country.)
Subject Public Key Information
This is the public key of the entity being named, together with an algorithm identi‐
fier which specifies which public key crypto system this key belongs to and any
associated key parameters.
o Certificate Chains
keytool can create and manage keystore "key" entries that each contain a private key
and an associated certificate "chain". The first certificate in the chain contains the
public key corresponding to the private key.
When keys are first generated (see the -genkeypair command), the chain starts off con‐
taining a single element, a self-signed certificate. A self-signed certificate is one
for which the issuer (signer) is the same as the subject (the entity whose public key
is being authenticated by the certificate). Whenever the -genkeypair command is called
to generate a new public/private key pair, it also wraps the public key into a
self-signed certificate.
Later, after a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) has been generated (see the -certreq
command) and sent to a Certification Authority (CA), the response from the CA is
imported (see -importcert), and the self-signed certificate is replaced by a chain of
certificates. At the bottom of the chain is the certificate (reply) issued by the CA
authenticating the subject's public key. The next certificate in the chain is one that
authenticates the CA's public key.
In many cases, this is a self-signed certificate (that is, a certificate from the CA
authenticating its own public key) and the last certificate in the chain. In other
cases, the CA may return a chain of certificates. In this case, the bottom certificate
in the chain is the same (a certificate signed by the CA, authenticating the public key
of the key entry), but the second certificate in the chain is a certificate signed by a
different CA, authenticating the public key of the CA you sent the CSR to. Then, the
next certificate in the chain will be a certificate authenticating the second CA's key,
and so on, until a self-signed "root" certificate is reached. Each certificate in the
chain (after the first) thus authenticates the public key of the signer of the previous
certificate in the chain.
Many CAs only return the issued certificate, with no supporting chain, especially when
there is a flat hierarchy (no intermediates CAs). In this case, the certificate chain
must be established from trusted certificate information already stored in the key‐
store.
A different reply format (defined by the PKCS#7 standard) also includes the supporting
certificate chain, in addition to the issued certificate. Both reply formats can be
handled by keytool.
The top-level (root) CA certificate is self-signed. However, the trust into the root's
public key does not come from the root certificate itself (anybody could generate a
self-signed certificate with the distinguished name of say, the VeriSign root CA!), but
from other sources like a newspaper. The root CA public key is widely known. The only
reason it is stored in a certificate is because this is the format understood by most
tools, so the certificate in this case is only used as a "vehicle" to transport the
root CA's public key. Before you add the root CA certificate to your keystore, you
should view it (using the -printcert option) and compare the displayed fingerprint with
the well-known fingerprint (obtained from a newspaper, the root CA's Web page, etc.).
o The cacerts Certificates File
A certificates file named "cacerts" resides in the security properties directory,
java.home/lib/security, where java.home is the runtime environment's directory (the jre
directory in the SDK or the top-level directory of the Java 2 Runtime Environment).
The "cacerts" file represents a system-wide keystore with CA certificates. System
administrators can configure and manage that file using keytool, specifying "jks" as
the keystore type. The "cacerts" keystore file ships with a default set of root CA cer‐
tificates; list them with the following command:
keytool -list -keystore java.home/lib/security/cacerts
The initial password of the "cacerts" keystore file is "changeit". System administra‐
tors should change that password and the default access permission of that file upon
installing the SDK.
IMPORTANT: Verify Your cacerts File: Since you trust the CAs in the cacerts file as
entities for signing and issuing certificates to other entities, you must manage the
cacerts file carefully. The cacerts file should contain only certificates of the CAs
you trust. It is your responsibility to verify the trusted root CA certificates bundled
in the cacerts file and make your own trust decisions. To remove an untrusted CA cer‐
tificate from the cacerts file, use the delete option of the keytool command. You can
find the cacerts file in the JRE installation directory. Contact your system adminis‐
trator if you do not have permission to edit this file.
o The Internet RFC 1421 Certificate Encoding Standard
Certificates are often stored using the printable encoding format defined by the Inter‐
net RFC 1421 standard, instead of their binary encoding. This certificate format, also
known as "Base 64 encoding", facilitates exporting certificates to other applications
by email or through some other mechanism.
Certificates read by the -importcert and -printcert commands can be in either this for‐
mat or binary encoded.
The -exportcert command by default outputs a certificate in binary encoding, but will
instead output a certificate in the printable encoding format, if the -rfc option is
specified.
The -list command by default prints the SHA1 fingerprint of a certificate. If the -v
option is specified, the certificate is printed in human-readable format, while if the
-rfc option is specified, the certificate is output in the printable encoding format.
In its printable encoding format, the encoded certificate is bounded at the beginning
by
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
and at the end by
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
X.500 Distinguished Names
X.500 Distinguished Names are used to identify entities, such as those which are named by
the subject and issuer (signer) fields of X.509 certificates. keytool supports the follow‐
ing subparts:
o commonName - common name of a person, e.g., "Susan Jones"
o organizationUnit - small organization (e.g., department or division) name, e.g.,
"Purchasing"
o organizationName - large organization name, e.g., "ABCSystems, Inc."
o localityName - locality (city) name, e.g., "Palo Alto"
o stateName - state or province name, e.g., "California"
o country - two-letter country code, e.g., "CH"
When supplying a distinguished name string as the value of a -dname option, as for the
-genkeypair command, the string must be in the following format:
CN=cName, OU=orgUnit, O=org, L=city, S=state, C=countryCode
where all the italicized items represent actual values and the above keywords are abbrevi‐
ations for the following:
CN=commonName
OU=organizationUnit
O=organizationName
L=localityName
S=stateName
C=country
A sample distinguished name string is
CN=Mark Smith, OU=Java, O=Oracle, L=Cupertino, S=California, C=US
and a sample command using such a string is
keytool -genkeypair -dname "CN=Mark Smith, OU=Java, O=Oracle, L=Cupertino,
S=California, C=US" -alias mark
Case does not matter for the keyword abbreviations. For example, "CN", "cn", and "Cn" are
all treated the same.
Order matters; each subcomponent must appear in the designated order. However, it is not
necessary to have all the subcomponents. You may use a subset, for example:
CN=Steve Meier, OU=Java, O=Oracle, C=US
If a distinguished name string value contains a comma, the comma must be escaped by a "\"
character when you specify the string on a command line, as in
cn=Peter Schuster, ou=Java\, Product Development, o=Oracle, c=US
It is never necessary to specify a distinguished name string on a command line. If it is
needed for a command, but not supplied on the command line, the user is prompted for each
of the subcomponents. In this case, a comma does not need to be escaped by a "\".
WARNING Regarding Importing Trusted Certificates
IMPORTANT: Be sure to check a certificate very carefully before importing it as a trusted
certificate!
View it first (using the -printcert command, or the -importcert command without the
-noprompt option), and make sure that the displayed certificate fingerprint(s) match the
expected ones. For example, suppose someone sends or emails you a certificate, and you put
it in a file named /tmp/cert. Before you consider adding the certificate to your list of
trusted certificates, you can execute a -printcert command to view its fingerprints, as in
keytool -printcert -file /tmp/cert
Owner: CN=ll, OU=ll, O=ll, L=ll, S=ll, C=ll
Issuer: CN=ll, OU=ll, O=ll, L=ll, S=ll, C=ll
Serial Number: 59092b34
Valid from: Thu Sep 25 18:01:13 PDT 1997 until: Wed Dec 24 17:01:13 PST 1997
Certificate Fingerprints:
MD5: 11:81:AD:92:C8:E5:0E:A2:01:2E:D4:7A:D7:5F:07:6F
SHA1: 20:B6:17:FA:EF:E5:55:8A:D0:71:1F:E8:D6:9D:C0:37:13:0E:5E:FE
SHA256: 90:7B:70:0A:EA:DC:16:79:92:99:41:FF:8A:FE:EB:90:
17:75:E0:90:B2:24:4D:3A:2A:16:A6:E4:11:0F:67:A4
Then call or otherwise contact the person who sent the certificate, and compare the fin‐
gerprint(s) that you see with the ones that they show. Only if the fingerprints are equal
is it guaranteed that the certificate has not been replaced in transit with somebody
else's (for example, an attacker's) certificate. If such an attack took place, and you did
not check the certificate before you imported it, you would end up trusting anything the
attacker has signed (for example, a JAR file with malicious class files inside).
Note: it is not required that you execute a -printcert command prior to importing a cer‐
tificate, since before adding a certificate to the list of trusted certificates in the
keystore, the -importcert command prints out the certificate information and prompts you
to verify it. You then have the option of aborting the import operation. Note, however,
this is only the case if you invoke the -importcert command without the -noprompt option.
If the -noprompt option is given, there is no interaction with the user.
Warning Regarding Passwords
Most commands operating on a keystore require the store password. Some commands require a
private/secret key password.
Passwords can be specified on the command line (in the -storepass and -keypass options,
respectively). However, a password should not be specified on a command line or in a
script unless it is for testing purposes, or you are on a secure system.
If you don't specify a required password option on a command line, you will be prompted
for it.
Warning Regarding Certificate Conformance
The Internet standard RFC 5280 @
http://tools.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5280.txt has defined a profile on conforming X.509 certifi‐
cates, which includes what values and value combinations are valid for certificate fields
and extensions. keytool has not enforced all these rules so it can generate certificates
which do not conform to the standard, and these certificates might be rejected by JRE or
other applications. Users should make sure that they provide the correct options for
-dname, -ext, etc.
SEE ALSO
o jar(1) tool documentation
o jarsigner(1) tool documentation
o the Security @
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/security/index.html trail of the Java Tutorial
@
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/ for examples of the use of keytool
CHANGES
The command interface for keytool changed in Java SE 6.
keytool no longer displays password input when entered by users. Since password input can
no longer be viewed when entered, users will be prompted to re-enter passwords any time a
password is being set or changed (for example, when setting the initial keystore password,
or when changing a key password).
Some commands have simply been renamed, and other commands deemed obsolete are no longer
listed in this document. All previous commands (both renamed and obsolete) are still sup‐
ported in this release and will continue to be supported in future releases. The following
summarizes all of the changes made to the keytool command interface:
Renamed commands:
o -export, renamed to -exportcert
o -genkey, renamed to -genkeypair
o -import, renamed to -importcert
Commands deemed obsolete and no longer documented:
o -keyclone @
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/tooldocs/windows/keytool.html#keycloneCmd
o -identitydb @
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/tooldocs/windows/keytool.html#identitydbCmd
o -selfcert @
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/tooldocs/windows/keytool.html#selfcertCmd
16 Mar 2012 keytool(1)
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