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GSK CapiCmd UserGuide

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IBM Global Security Kit

GSKit version 8

GSKCapiCmd Users Guide

Edition 28 November 2011

IBM Global Security Kit
GSKit version 8

GSKCapiCmd Users Guide

Edition 28 November 2011

Note
Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in Appendix D, “Notices,” on page 89.

This edition applies to GSKCapiCmd version 8.0.14 and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise
indicated in new editions.
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2005, 2011.
US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract
with IBM Corp.
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v List the certificates stored in a keystore (-list) . . . 35
Who should read this book . . . . . . . . . v Modify a certificate in a keystore (-modify) . . . . 37
Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Sign a certificate (-sign) . . . . . . . . . . 38
IBM and accessibility . . . . . . . . . . v Validate a certificate (-validate) . . . . . . . . 40
Contacting software support . . . . . . . . . v
Conventions used in this book . . . . . . . . vi Chapter 4. Certificate request
Typeface conventions . . . . . . . . . . vi commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Operating system differences . . . . . . . vi Create a certificate request (-create) . . . . . . 43
Delete certificate request (-delete) . . . . . . . 45
Chapter 1. Using the GSKCapiCmd List certificate request details (-details) . . . . . 46
program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Extract certificate request (-extract) . . . . . . 48
Language support overview . . . . . . . . . 1 List all certificate requests (-list) . . . . . . . 49
Locale environment variables . . . . . . . . 1 Re-create certificate requests (-recreate) . . . . . 50
LANG variable on UNIX or Linux systems . . . 1
Forcing output to a different locale . . . . . . 2 Chapter 5. Random commands . . . . 53
Using locale variants . . . . . . . . . . 2 Create a random password of a specified length
Text encoding (code set) support. . . . . . . 3 (-create) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
KeyStore Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
GSKCapiCmd command-line syntax . . . . . . 4 Chapter 6. Help commands . . . . . . 55
Chapter 2. Key database commands . . 7 Chapter 7. Version command . . . . . 57
Keystore access control . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Create a key database (-create) . . . . . . . . 8
Delete a key database (-delete) . . . . . . . . 10
Chapter 8. Runtime messages. . . . . 59
Change the password of an existing key database
(-changepw) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Chapter 9. Error codes and messages 73
Stash the password of an existing key database
(-stashpw) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Appendix A. CMS key databases . . . 79
List the supported key databases (-list) . . . . . 12 What is a CMS key database? . . . . . . . . 79
Convert a key database (-convert) . . . . . . . 13 How is a CMS key database organized? . . . . . 79
Display the expiry date associated with a key How is a CMS key database protected . . . . . 79
database (-expiry) [deprecated] . . . . . . . . 14 What can I put in a CMS key database? . . . . . 80
What is a label? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter 3. Certificate commands . . . 17 How can I manipulate certificates in a CMS
Signature algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . 17 keystore? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Information about key sizes . . . . . . . . . 18
Information about elliptic curves . . . . . . . 18 Appendix B. A Simple Example . . . . 83
Suite B algorithm and key size selection . . . . . 18 The requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Create a self-signed certificate in a keystore (-create) 19 Considerations for the administrator . . . . . . 83
Add a certificate to a keystore (-add) . . . . . . 21 Step 1 – Obtain a company-wide intermediate
Delete a certificate from a keystore (-delete) . . . 23 certificate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Display details of a certificate (-details) . . . . . 24 Step 2 – Sign all employee certificates using the
Export a certificate (-export) . . . . . . . . . 26 ACME intermediate . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Receive a certificate into a keystore (-receive) . . . 27 Step 3. Create the web server certificate . . . . . 85
Import a certificate (-import) . . . . . . . . 28 So do we meet the requirements? . . . . . . . 86
Extract a certificate from a keystore (-extract) . . . 30
List details of the default certificate (-getdefault) Appendix C. Resources . . . . . . . 87
[deprecated] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Set default certificate in a keystore (-setdefault)
[deprecated] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Appendix D. Notices . . . . . . . . . 89
Rename a certificate in a keystore (-rename) . . . 34 Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005, 2011 iii

iv
Preface
This guide describes how to use the GSKCapiCmd utility to manage keys,
certificates, and certificate requests within a key database.

This document assumes that Global Security Kit (GSKit) is installed, configured,
and running on your network.

Who should read this book

This manual is intended for network or system security administrators who have
installed GSKit and want to use the GSKCapiCmd program to modify Certificate
Management System (CMS) or PKCS#11 key databases. This manual assumes that
the reader is familiar with the GSKit product range and the functionality of the
CMS key database.

Before continuing to read this manual, ensure that you have read and understood
the following prerequisite readings. This will ensure that you understand the
required concepts and terms used throughout the manual:
v Appendix A, “CMS key databases,” on page 79.
v Appendix B, “A Simple Example,” on page 83.

Accessibility
Accessibility features help users with a physical disability, such as restricted
mobility or limited vision, to use software products successfully. Standard shortcut
and accelerator keys are used by the product and are documented by the operating
system. See the documentation provided by your operating system for more
information.

IBM and accessibility

See the IBM® Human Ability and Accessibility Center (http://www.ibm.com/able)
for more information about the commitment that IBM has to accessibility.

Contacting software support

Before contacting IBM Tivoli® Software Support with a problem, see the IBM Tivoli
Software Support portal http://www.ibm.com/software/sysmgmt/products/
support/.

If you need additional help, contact software support by using the methods
described in the Software Support Handbook http://www14.software.ibm.com/
webapp/set2/sas/f/handbook/home.html.

The guide provides the following information:

v Registration and eligibility requirements for receiving support.
v Telephone numbers, depending on the country in which you are located.
v A list of information you should gather before contacting customer support.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005, 2011 v

Conventions used in this book
This reference uses several conventions for special terms and actions and for
operating system-dependent commands and paths.

Typeface conventions
The following typeface conventions are used in this reference:
Bold Lowercase commands or mixed case commands that are difficult to
distinguish from surrounding text, keywords, parameters, options, names
of Java™ classes, and objects are in bold.
Italic Variables, non-specific command-line options or identifiers, and special
words are in italic.
Monospace
Code examples, command lines, screen output, file and directory names
that are difficult to distinguish from surrounding text, system messages,
text that the user must type, and values for arguments or command
options are in monospace.

Symbol conventions
[ ] - Identifies an option that is optional, if an option is not surrounded by this
style of brackets the option is required.

| - Indicates an “OR” relationship between the options on either side of it.

{} – Identifies mutually exclusive set of options.

Operating system differences

This book uses the UNIX™ convention for specifying environment variables and for
directory notation. When using the Windows™ command line, replace $variable
with %variable% for environment variables and replace each forward slash (/) with
a backslash (\) in directory paths. If you are using the bash shell on a Windows
system, you can use the UNIX conventions.

vi
Chapter 1. Using the GSKCapiCmd program
GSKCapiCmd is a tool that can be used to manage keys, certificates, and certificate
requests within a key database. The following chapters go into detail for each of
the functions supported by GSKCapiCmd.

GSKCapiCmd uses some encoding rules, and implements aspects of certain RFCs
and standards. It is not strictly necessary for users to have a full understanding of
these items in order to use this utility. However, if you want to learn more then
you can examine the resources contained in: Appendix C, “Resources,” on page 87.

Language support overview

IBM Global Security Kit (GSKit) software is built using the International
Components For Unicode toolkit (ICU) to provide Internationalization support.

Notwithstanding the lack of translated message catalogs, ICU provides other

localization functions that are independent of translation, notably the formatting of
date and time strings.

Locale environment variables

For most current operating systems, localized behavior is obtained by specifying
the desired locale in the user environment. For gsk8capicmd on UNIX like
systems, you can set the LANG environment variable to the desired locale name as
specified by POSIX, X/Open, or other open systems standards.

If you are in a Windows environment, you can modify the language setting in the
Regional Settings of the Control Panel.

LANG variable on UNIX or Linux systems

Most UNIX or Linux systems use the LANG variable to specify the desired locale.
However, different UNIX and Linux operating systems require different locale
name values to specify the same language. Always use a value for LANG that is
supported by the UNIX or Linux operating system you are using. To obtain the
locale names for your UNIX or Linux system, enter the following command:
locale –a.

If you specify the LANG environment variable and also modify the regional
settings then the LANG environment variable will override the regional setting. As
specified by open systems standards, other environment variables override LANG
for some or all locale categories. These variables include the following:
v LC_COLLATE
v LC_CTYPE
v LC_MONETARY
v LC_NUMERIC
v LC_TIME
v LC_MESSAGES
v LC_ALL

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005, 2011 1

If any of the previous variables are set, you must remove their setting for the
LANG variable to have full effect.

Forcing output to a different locale

You can use the -locale command-line option to select the desired display language
if:
v The operating system does not support the LANG environment variable, or
v You want to display messages in a different locale to the current environment
settings.

To do this, set the locale option to the appropriate canonical name, based on the
ISO language or territory codes.

For example, to display the help message in German issue the command:
gsk8capicmd –help –locale de

Some example ISO language codes are:

Table 1. ISO Language Codes
ISO Language Code Language
de German
en English
es Spanish
fr French
it Italian
ja Japanese
ko Korean
pt_BR Portuguese (Brazil)
zh_CN Simplified Chinese
zh_TW Traditional Chinese

Using locale variants

Although gsk8capicmd currently provides only one translated version for each
language, you can specify a preferred locale variant to find the corresponding
language translation if it is available.

If a message catalog is not found for the desired language, the English message
catalogs are used. For example, suppose you specify the AIX® locale for German in
Switzerland as follows:
LANG=De_CH.IBM-850

In this example, the catalogs are searched in the following order to locate the
specified locale:
1. de_CH
2. de
3. en

2
Since gsk8capicmd does not provide a German in Switzerland language pack,
de_CH is not found. If the German language package is available, de is used.
Otherwise, the default locale en is used, causing text to be displayed in English.

Text encoding (code set) support

Different operating systems encode text in different ways. For example, Windows
systems use SJIS (code page 932) for Japanese text, but UNIX or Linux systems
often use eucJP.

In addition, you can provide multiple locales for the same language so that
different code sets are used for the same language on the same machine. Message
catalogs are encoded using UTF-8, and the text is converted to the locale encoding
before being presented to the user. In this way, the same French message catalog
files can be used to support a variety of Latin 1 code sets, such as ISO8859-1,
Microsoft 1252, IBM PC 850, and IBM MVS™ 1047.

Interoperability across your domain depends on code set files, which are used to
perform UTF-8 conversion and other types of encoding-specific text processing.

For messages to display correctly on some platforms, you might need to specify
the correct code set that supports your locale.

KeyStore Overview
KeyStores are databases used to store Private Keys and Public Keys contained in
X.509 Certificates. The database may exist as a file or Hardware storage device e.g.
Smart Card. The database may also be used to store certificate requests. The
KeyStore used maybe one of a number of supported formats. The following table
lists the format and relevant capabilities:

CMS1 P122 P113 MSCAPI4

Private Key Storage Yes Yes Yes Yes
Trust Anchor Source Yes Yes Yes Yes
5
Default Attribute Yes No No No
6
Trusted Attribute Yes No No No
7
Support Secondary No No Yes No
CMS/P12 KeyStore for
Trust Anchors
Stash File Support Yes Yes No No
8 9
Password Expiry Yes No No No
GSKCapiCmd Supported Yes Yes Yes No10
Vendor Tools Supported N/A N/A No11 Yes

Footnotes:
v 1IBM Proprietary Format
v 2PKCS#12 Format transparently supported and interchanged with CMS format
by GSKit
v 3PKCS#11 Format
v 4Microsoft Key Store
v 5Deprecated

Chapter 1. Using the GSKCapiCmd program 3

6
v Deprecated
7
v Secondary KeyStore must be CMS or P12
8
v Password does not apply/exist when P12 KeyStore is empty
9
v Deprecated
10
v Must use Vendor Tools
11
v Must Not use Vendor Tools

GSKCapiCmd command-line syntax

The syntax for the GSKCapiCmd program is as follows:
gsk8capicmd <modifiers> <object> <action> <options>

where:
modifiers
May include the following:
-fips [<true>|<false>]
Enable or disable forced Federal Information Processing Standards
(FIPS) mode.
In FIPS mode, gsk8capicmd initializes the underlaying
cryptographic provider in FIPS mode so that it only uses
algorithms that have been FIPS 140-2 validated.
The program runs in FIPS mode by default. If however the -fips
true is set and the provider cannot be initialized in FIPS mode then
the gsk8capicmd operation will fail. If FIPS mode is not forced and
the provider cannot be initialized in FIPS mode then the utility will
fall back to a non-fips mode of operation.
-locale <language>
Set the display language preference.
-trace <pathname>
Enable trace logging to the named file.
object Is one of the following:
-keydb
Actions acted on a key database.
-cert Actions acted on a certificate stored within an identified key
database.
-certreq
Actions acted on a certificate request stored within an identified
key database.
-random
Generates a random string of characters that can be used as a
password for other commands.
-version
Displays version information for GSKCapiCmd.
-help Displays help for the GSKCapiCmd commands.
action Is the specific action to be taken on the object.
options Are the options associated with the specified object and task.

4
The following chapters of this manual describe each particular object, its associated
actions, and what options are available.

Chapter 1. Using the GSKCapiCmd program 5

6
Chapter 2. Key database commands
The key database commands are associated with the -keydb object. This object
supports the following actions:
v “Create a key database (-create)” on page 8.
v “Delete a key database (-delete)” on page 10.
v “Change the password of an existing key database (-changepw)” on page 10.
v “Stash the password of an existing key database (-stashpw)” on page 12.
v “List the supported key databases (-list)” on page 12.
v “Convert a key database (-convert)” on page 13.
v “Display the expiry date associated with a key database (-expiry) [deprecated]”
on page 14.
Note: This feature is deprecated as CMS keystores no longer have this capability.
Keystore password lifetime management must be done outside of the
gskcapicmd utility.

Each of the following sections details the key database commands and the options
available for each command.

After creating a key database (or keystore), it is the user's responsibility to

maintain the contents of the keystore in order to maintain security of any
application using that keystore. The trusted default CA certificates are particularly
important as they are the trust anchors for all user certificates. The presence of a
CA certificate in the keystore is enough to make it, and all valid certificates that it
signs, trusted by the application using the keystore.

Specifically, the user must:

1. Monitor certificates for expiry and remove any expired certificates. The
presence of expired CA certificates does not compromise security as they will
fail validation if used.
2. Review the default CA certificates and remove any unnecessary ones. If a CA
certificate does not need to be trusted by the application using the keystore
then it should be removed.

Keystore access control

The keystore content is protected by encryption and MAC by using keys derived
from a password that is chosen for each keystore. The keystore owner is
responsible for this password. The password must be managed with respect to its
purpose of protecting the keystore contents from unauthorized use or disclosure.

The access control settings of the keystore file default to those settings of the user
running the create operation. The user can change the access control settings to
provide additional protection to the default encryption by using the appropriate
operating system services. That is, services such as "calcs" on Windows or "chmod"
on UNIX operating systems.

You can stash the keystore password in a file that can automatically provide the
password when required. Stashing the password removes the need for an
administrator to manually enter the password to open a keystore. When accessing

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005, 2011 7

a key database, the system first checks for the existence of a stash file. If one exists,
the contents of the file is decrypted and used as input for the password.

If you elect to create a stash file when creating a key database, the password is
stashed into a file named as follows: <key_database_name>.sth. The access control
settings for the stash file are set so that the stash file is readable only by the owner
of the file. It is not recommended that multiple users be given access to the stash
file. However, it is possible to change the access control settings on the stash file by
using the appropriate operating system services. That is, services such as "calcs" on
Windows or "chmod" on UNIX operating systems.

Create a key database (-create)

The create command creates a new CMS or PKCS#12 key database.

The syntax for creating a key database with GSKCapiCmd is as follows:

gsk8capicmd -keydb -create -db <name> [-pw <passwd>]
[-type <cms|kdb|pkcs12|p12>] [-expire <days>] [-stash]
[-strong] [-empty | -populate] [-f]

where:
object -keydb
action -create
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

8
example, key.kdb). This extension is not required, but it is a
good idea as it makes it easy to identify the file as a key
database.
v The second file created is used to store certificate requests
associated with the key database. This file is created with the
same name as given to the key database, but with a .rdb
extension.
v The third file is used to hold the certificate revocation list used
by the key database. This file has become obsolete and is no
longer used. This file is created with the same name as the key
database, but with a .crl extension.
A PKCS#12 keystore is a single file, which by convention is created
with the .p12 extension.
-expire <days>
(Deprecated). The number of days before the password for the key
database is to expire. If this tag is not used then the key database
password will never expire. If specified, the duration must be from
1 to 7300 days (20 years).

Note: This parameter is ignored for PKCS#12 keystores.

-stash Stash the password for the key database after creation. See
“Keystore access control” on page 7 for further details.
-strong
Check that the password entered satisfies the following minimum
requirements for password strength:
v The minimum password length is 14 characters.
v A password must have at least one lower case character, one
uppercase character, and one digit or special character (for
example, *$#% etc.). A space is classified as a special character.
v Each character must not occur more than three times in a
password.
v No more than two consecutive characters of the password can be
identical.
v All characters are in the standard ASCII printable character set
within the range from 0x20 to 0x7E inclusive.
-empty | -populate
The –empty option has no action and is deprecated. A keystore is
empty when created.
The keystore can optionally be populated with a number of
predefined trusted certificate authority (CA) certificates. To load
the default CA certificates the –populate option must be given.
The CA certificates loaded should be reviewed by inspecting the
output of the list certificates command. Any or all of these CA
certificates can be removed from the key database. If you want to
remove any of the certificates, use the delete certificate command
in this manual.
-f The gsk8capicmd utility will not normally let you overwrite an
existing database. Use this option to force the removal of an
existing keystore before creating a new one of the same name.

Chapter 2. Key database commands 9

Delete a key database (-delete)
The delete key database command simply deletes the identified key database. To
identify the key database, simply specify the correct file name of the key database.
The request database (.rdb) and certificate revocation list (.crl) files are removed
automatically during the process. If a stash file was created, it is not removed.

If a password was provided for this command, it is used to ensure that the user is
actually allowed to delete the key database. If the password is not correct, the key
database is not deleted.

The syntax for deleting a key database with GSKCapiCmd is as follows:

gsk8capicmd -keydb -delete -db <name> [-pw <passwd>]

where:
object -keydb
action -delete
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

Change the password of an existing key database (-changepw)

The change password command allows the user to change the password
associated with the specified key database. When changing the password for a key
database, all key records containing encrypted private key information have the
private key data re-encrypted. The new password is used as input to create the
encryption key that will be used during the encryption process.

Note: This command has no effect on an empty PKCS#12 type keystore.

The syntax for changing the password of an existing key database with
GSKCapiCmd is as follows:

10
gsk8capicmd -keydb -changepw {-db <name>|-crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel
<token_label>} [-type <cms|kdb|pkcs12|p12>] [-pw <passwd>] -new_pw
<new_passwd> [-expire <days>] [-stash] [-strong]

where:
object -keydb
action -changepw
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

Note: This parameter is ignored for PKCS#12 type keystores.

-stash Stash the password for the key database. See “Keystore access
control” on page 7 for further details.
-strong
Check that the password entered satisfies the following minimum
requirements for password strength:
v The minimum password length is 14 characters.
v A password must have at least one lower case character, one
uppercase character, and one digit or special character (for
example, *$#% etc.). A space is classified as a special character.
v Each character must not occur more than three times in a
password.

Chapter 2. Key database commands 11

v No more than two consecutive characters of the password can be
identical.
v All characters are in the standard ASCII printable character set
within the range from 0x20 to 0x7E inclusive.

Stash the password of an existing key database (-stashpw)

The stash password command takes an existing key databases password and
stashes it to a specified file. Stashing the password for a key database allows the
password to be recovered from the file when automatic login is required. See
“Keystore access control” on page 7 for further details regarding the stash file.

The syntax for stashing the password of an existing key database with
GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -keydb -stashpw -db <name> [-pw <passwd>]

where:
object -keydb
action -stashpw
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

List the supported key databases (-list)

The list supported key databases command performs one of the following
functions depending on the options that you specify:
v Lists all of the key database types that the GSKCapiCmd supports. For example,
CMS and PKCS#11.
v Lists the token labels associated with a specified PKCS#11 cryptographic driver.
v Verifies that a specified keystore is in a usable format.

The syntax for listing the key databases supported by GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -keydb –list [-crypto <driver_name> | -db <name>]

where:
object -keydb
action -list

12
options
-crypto <driver_name>
Lists the token labels for the named PKCS#11 cryptographic device.
-db <name>
Keystore name for format validation. The program checks that the
named keystore is usable.

Convert a key database (-convert)

The convert key database command converts an old version CMS key database to
the new version of CMS key database. The latest version of CMS is more secure
because it uses more secure algorithms to protect the contents of the key databases
during creation.

This command requires that you assign a name to the new key database that is
different to the existing old key database. That is, the name cannot be the same as
the existing one. This requirement is to ensure that the old key database is not
destroyed until the user destroys it. Once all testing of the new version key
database has been completed, the user can remove the old key database and
rename the new key database to the old key databases name (if required).

The syntax for converting a key database to the latest CMS version by
GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -keydb –convert –db <name> [-pw <passwd>] [{-type|-old_format}
<cms|kdb|pkcs12|p12>] [{–new_db|-target} <name>][-new_pw <passwd>]
[-new_format <cms|kdb|pkcs12|p12>] [-preserve|-populate] [-expire <days>]
[-strong] [-stash]

where:
object -keydb
action -convert
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

Chapter 2. Key database commands 13

-new_db | -target <filename>
Fully qualified path name of a new key database to be created
during the conversion.
-new_pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –new_db tag.
-new_format <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The type of the new keystore. If this option is not specified, the
program uses the file name suffix of the new database path name
to determine the keystore type.
-preserve | -populate
The preserve option has no action and is deprecated. The newly
created key database will include the same certificates as the old
key database, unless the populate option is selected.
The populate option adds a number of predefined trusted
certificate authority (CA) certificates to the newly created key
database. The CA certificates loaded should be reviewed by
inspecting the output of the list certificates command. Any or all of
the added CA certificates can be removed from the key database. If
you want to remove any of the certificates, use the delete certificate
command in this manual.
-expire <days>
(Deprecated.) The number of days before the password is to
expire. If this tag is not specified the key databases password never
expires. If specified the duration must be within the range of 1 to
7300 days (20 years).

Note: This parameter is ignored when converting to PKCS#12 type

keystores.
-strong
Check that the password entered satisfies the following minimum
requirements for the password strength:
v The minimum password length is 14 characters.
v A password must have at least one lower case character, one
uppercase character, and one digit or special character (for
example, *$#% etc.). A space is classified as a special character.
v Each character must not occur more than three times in a
password.
v No more than two consecutive characters of the password can be
identical.
v All characters are in the standard ASCII printable character set
within the range from 0x20 to 0x7E inclusive.
-stash Stash the password for the new key database. See “Keystore access
control” on page 7 for further details regarding the stash file.

Display the expiry date associated with a key database (-expiry)

[deprecated]
This command is deprecated. The expiry key database command simply displays
the date that the password associated with the identified key database will expire.
When identifying the key database you need to specify the file name of the key
database.

14
The syntax for displaying the expiry of the password associated with a key
database with GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -keydb -expiry -db <name> -type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
[-pw <passwd>]

where:
object -keydb
action -expiry (Deprecated.)
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

IMPORTANT: An expiry of 0 means that the password associated with the key
database does not expire.

Chapter 2. Key database commands 15

16
Chapter 3. Certificate commands
The certificate commands are associated with the -cert object. This object supports
the following actions:
v “Create a self-signed certificate in a keystore (-create)” on page 19
v “Add a certificate to a keystore (-add)” on page 21
v “Delete a certificate from a keystore (-delete)” on page 23
v “Display details of a certificate (-details)” on page 24
v “Export a certificate (-export)” on page 26
v “Receive a certificate into a keystore (-receive)” on page 27
v “Import a certificate (-import)” on page 28
v “Extract a certificate from a keystore (-extract)” on page 30
v “List details of the default certificate (-getdefault) [deprecated]” on page 32
v “Set default certificate in a keystore (-setdefault) [deprecated]” on page 33
v “Rename a certificate in a keystore (-rename)” on page 34
v “List the certificates stored in a keystore (-list)” on page 35
v “Modify a certificate in a keystore (-modify)” on page 37
v “Sign a certificate (-sign)” on page 38
v “Validate a certificate (-validate)” on page 40

The following sections describe how to use each of the identified certificate actions
and what options are available. Supporting information to assist with generating
and manipulating certificates is also included:

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005, 2011 17

Information about key sizes

The following table indicates the key sizes that are available for each of the
supported algorithms. If a key size is not specified in the API calls to generate keys
then a default key size is used.
Table 3. Key sizes
Algorithm Size (bits) Default value (bits)
RSA 512-4096; key sizes in this range 1024
should be selected as per NIST
SP800-131; 8192 is supported for
validation only.
EC 224 - 512 256 (SHA256); 384 (SHA384); 512
(SHA512)

Information about elliptic curves

GSKit uses the elliptic curves P-256, P-384, and P-521 as defined by FIPS186-3 for
EC signature algorithms. For clarity the RFC4492-equivalent names are also shown:
Table 4. Elliptic curves
EC Key Size (bits) FIPS186-3 curve name RFC4492 curve name
224 P-256 secp256r1
256 P-256 secp256r1
384 P-384 secp384r1
512 P-521 secp521r1

Suite B algorithm and key size selection

GSKit might optionally operate in Suite B mode. Suite B Mode is an NSA/NIST
mode of operation that has specific key length, hash size, and cipher suite
requirements as specified by RFC 5430. Suite B is a subset of FIPS-Approved mode.

To operate in Suite B Mode, certificates must be created with specific key and
algorithm choices as specified in RFC 5430. Refer to 4.1 and 4.2 of RFC 5430 for
specific details on the available choices. The following table provides a mapping of
the security levels to signing algorithms:
Table 5. Suite B algorithm security levels
Suite B security level Signing algorithm
128 bit EC_ecdsa_with_SHA256 | SHA256WithECDSA
192 bit EC_ecdsa_with_SHA384 | SHA384WithECDSA

18
Create a self-signed certificate in a keystore (-create)
A self-signed certificate provides a certificate that can be used for testing while
waiting for the officially signed certificate to be returned from the CA. Both a
private and public key are created during this process.

The create self-signed certificate command creates a self-signed X509 certificate in

the identified key database. A self-signed certificate has the same issuer name as its
subject name.

The syntax for creating a certificate in an existing key database with GSKCapiCmd
is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -create {-db <name> [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>] |
-crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel <token_label> [-secondarydb <name>]
[-secondarydbpw <passwd>] [-secondarydbtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]}
[-pw <passwd> | -stashed] -label <label> -dn <dist_name> [-size <key_size>]
[-x509version <1 | 2 | 3>] [-default_cert <yes | no>] [-expire <days>]
[-ca <true | false>] [{-sigalg | -sig_alg} <algorithm_name>] [-ca_label
<label>] [-san_dns_name <name>] [-san_emailaddr <address>] [-san_ipaddr
<address>] [-certpolicy <policy>] [-eku <name>]

where:
object -cert
action -create
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 19

-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate. The label is used to uniquely
identify the certificate by a human user.
-dn <dist_name>
The X.500 distinguished name that uniquely identifies the
certificate. The input must be a quoted string of the following
format (only CN is required):
CN=common name
O=organization
OU=organization unit
L=location
ST=state, province
C=country
DC=domain component
EMAIL=email address

For Example: “CN=weblinux.Raleigh.ibm.com,O=ibm,OU=IBM HTTP

Server,L=RTP,ST=NC,C=US”

Multiple OU values are now supported. Simply add additional OU

key\value pairs to the specified distinguished name. If the OU
value requires a comma (‘,’) then you must escape it with ‘\\’
For Example: “CN=weblinux.Raleigh.ibm.com,O=ibm,OU=IBM HTTP
Server,OU=GSKit\\, Gold Coast,L=RTP,ST=NC,C=US”
-size <key_size>
The size of the new key pair to be created. This size ranges in
value depending on the key type. Consult Table 3 on page 18 for
valid values.

Note: For some algorithms, you can specify a zero (0) value to use
the default key size. This is typically the minimum size that
is considered secure.
-x509version <1 | 2 | 3>
The version of X.509 certificate to create, default is 3.
-default_cert <yes | no>
(Deprecated.). Sets the newly created certificate as the default
certificate for the key database. By default the newly created
self-signed certificate is not set as the default (no). A default
certificate in the key database is used when a specific certificate is
not specified for an operation.
-expire <days>
Expiration time of the certificate in days, default 365 days. The
duration is 1 to 7300 days (20 years).

Note: To avoid possible timezone issues, the actual valid-from

time for the certificate will be set one day in the past.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space

20
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
The type of the secondary key database.
-ca <true | false>
This tag adds the Basic Constraint extension to the self-signed
certificate. The Basic Constraint extension value is set to true or
false depending on what value is associated with the tag.
-san_dns_name <name>
The SAN DNS name(s) for the entry being created.
-san_emailaddr <address>
The SAN email address(es) for the entry being created.
-san_ipaddr <address>
The SAN IP address(es) for the entry being created.
-certpolicy <policy>
The certificate policy. A named set of rules limiting the
applicability of the certificate.
-eku <list>
Extended key usage property list. Specifies the valid uses for the
certificate.
-sigalg | -sig_alg <signature_algorithm>
The signing algorithm used during the creation of the self-signed
certificate. This algorithm is used to create the signature associated
with the new self-signed certificate. The generated key type is
chosen to match this signing algorithm. See “Signature algorithms”
on page 17 for the allowed values.
-ca_label <label>
The label of the CA key to use to sign the certificate.

Add a certificate to a keystore (-add)

The add certificate command stores a CA certificate in the identified key database.
The CA certificate is received as a file with the data encoded as either Base64
(ASCII) or binary. It is important to identify the correct format of the file otherwise
the operation will fail.

The syntax for adding a certificate in an existing key database with GSKCapiCmd
is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -add {-db <name> -type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12> |
-crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel <token_label>} [-pw <passwd> |
-stashed] -label <label> -file <name> [-format <ascii | binary>]
[-trust <enable | disable>] [-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw
<password> -secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -cert

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 21

action -add
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

characters within these values. For example: gsk8capicmd –keydb –create
–db “/tmp/key.kdb” –pw “j\!jj”. When prompted by gsk8capicmd for a
value (for example, a password) do not quote the string and add the
escape characters, as the shell is no longer influencing this input.
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a key database.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
Type of the key database. If this option is not present, the type is
implied by the file extension of database path name.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db or
–tokenlabel tags. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate.
-file <name>
File name of the certificate to add. If the extension is “.p7”,
“.smime” or “.eml” then it is assumed to be a PKCS#7 encoding.
The first certificate will take the ‘label’ given and all other
certificates that are present, will be labeled with their subject name.
-format <ascii | binary>
Format of a certificate The default is Base64 encoded ASCII.
Additional information about Base64 encoding can be found in
RFC 2045 and RFC 3548. The binary format is a binary dump of
the DER encoded certificate structure. For additional information,
see ITU-T Rec. X.690 (2002) | ISO/IEC 8825-1:2002.
-trust <enable | disable>
(Deprecated). Trust status of a CA certificate, where the default is
‘enable’. When a CAs certificate trust status is enabled then that
CA certificate is permitted to be involved in a certificate chain
validation. If the CAs certificate trust status is disabled then it

22
cannot be used to validate any certificates. For example if
certificate “ABC” is signed by the CA certificate “VeriSign CA” and
“VeriSign CA” is not marked as trusted then the validation of
“ABC” will fail.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

Delete a certificate from a keystore (-delete)

The delete certificate command removes the certificate with the identified label.
Once the delete operation is complete, there is no way of recovering the certificate
unless you add the certificate back into the key database.

The syntax for deleting a certificate in an existing key database with GSKCapiCmd
is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -delete {-db <name> -type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12> |
-crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel <token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed]
-label <label> [-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw <password>
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -cert
action -delete
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 23

-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db or
–tokenlabel tags. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate that is to be deleted.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

Display details of a certificate (-details)

The display certificate details command displays the different details associated
with the identified certificate. The details displayed include:
v The label of the certificate.
v The size of the key associated with the certificate.
v The X509 version that the certificate was created.
v The serial number for the certificate.
v The issuer and subject distinguished names.
v The certificates validity period.
v The fingerprint of the certificate.
v The signature of the algorithm used during creation of the certificate.
v An indication of the certificates trust status.

If more details for the certificate are required, use the –showOID option. This
option displays a more detailed listing of the certificate details.

The syntax for displaying the details for a certificate in an existing key database
with GSKCapiCmd is as follows:

24
gsk8capicmd -cert -details [-showOID] {-db <name> -type
<cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel
<token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] -label <label>
[-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw <password>
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -cert
action -details
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

characters within these values. For example: gsk8capicmd –keydb –create
–db “/tmp/key.kdb” –pw “j\!jj”. When prompted by gsk8capicmd for a
value (for example, a password) do not quote the string and add the
escape characters, as the shell is no longer influencing this input.
-showOID
Display a more in-depth listing of the certificate.
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a key database.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12 | pkcs7>
Type of the key database. If this option is not present, the type is
implied by the file extension of the database path name.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db or
–tokenlabel tags. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate that is to be displayed.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 25

-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

Export a certificate (-export)

The export certificate command exports a single certificate and its private key (if
one exists) from one key database to another key database. Use the label to
identify the certificate that you want to export.

During this process no key generation occurs. On successful completion, the

identified certificate will be in both the source and destination key databases.

where:
object -cert
action -export
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

26
-type <cms |kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The type of the key database that contains the certificate to export.
The default is cms.
-target <name>
Destination key database or file where the certificate is to be
exported. If the supplied file name has an extension of either
“.p12” or .pfx” then it is assumed that it is in PKCS#12 format. If
the target keystore does not exist, it will be created.
-target_pw <passwd>
The password of the destination key database or file.
-target_type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
The type of the destination key database or file where the
certificate is to be exported. The default is cms.
-encryption <strong | weak>
The strength of encryption used during the export. The default is
strong. This tag is no longer used as the export restrictions in the
USA have eased. This tag is simply added to this command-line
tool for backward compatibility reasons. It has no effect on the
operation. Strong is always used.

Receive a certificate into a keystore (-receive)

The receive certificate command stores a certificate received from a CA that was
requested to sign a certificate request. The certificate being received can be in
either binary or Base64 encoded ASCII. Additional information about base64
encoding can be found in RFC 2045 and RFC 3548. The binary format is a binary
dump of the DER encoded certificate structure. For additional information, see
ITU-T Rec. X.690 (2002) | ISO/IEC 8825-1:2002. During the receive process, the
certificate is matched to its corresponding certificate request. This certificate request
is removed from the key database as it is no longer needed.

If the certificate request is required after receiving the certificate, you will need to
use the recreate certificate request command: “Re-create certificate requests
(-recreate)” on page 50.

The syntax for receiving a certificate to an existing key database with

GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -receive -file <name> [-format <ascii | binary>] { -db <name>
-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel <token_label>}
[-pw <passwd> | -stashed] [-default_cert <yes | no>] [-t61]

where:
object -cert
action -receive
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 27

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific
characters within these values. For example: gsk8capicmd –keydb –create
–db “/tmp/key.kdb” –pw “j\!jj”. When prompted by gsk8capicmd for a
value (for example, a password) do not quote the string and add the
escape characters, as the shell is no longer influencing this input.
-file <name>
The file name of the certificate that is to be received. This file can
be either binary or base64 encoded.
-format <ascii | binary>
Format of a certificate. The default is Base64 encoded ASCII.
Additional information about base64 encoding can be found in
RFC 2045 and RFC 3548. The binary format is a binary dump of
the DER encoded certificate structure. For additional information,
see ITU-T Rec. X.690 (2002) | ISO/IEC 8825-1:2002
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a key database.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The keystore type. If this option is not specified, the program will
use the database path name extension to determine the keystore
type.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db or
–tokenlabel tags. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-default_cert <yes|no>
(Deprecated). Sets the newly created certificate as the default
certificate for the key database. By default the newly created
self-signed certificate is not set as the default (no). A default
certificate in a key database is used during operations where a
specific certificate is not specified.
-t61 Substitute ISO8859-1 character set encodings for malformed
TELETEX strings.

Import a certificate (-import)

The import certificate command imports certificates from either one key database
(CMS or PKCS#12) to another key database (CMS, PKCS#12 or PKCS#11). During
this process no key generation occurs. On successful completion, the identified
certificates will be in both the source and destination key databases.

28
The syntax for importing a certificate from an existing key database to another key
database with GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -import { -db <name> | -file <name> } [-pw <passwd> | -stashed]
[-label <label>] [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs7 | pkcs12 | p12>] [-pfx ]
{ -target <name> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel <token_label>} [-secondaryDB
<filename> -secondaryDBpw <password> -secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]
[-target_pw <passwd>] [-target_type <cms | kdb| pkcs11 | pkcs12 | p12>]
[-new_label <label>] [-t61]

where:
object -cert
action -import
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

characters within these values. For example: gsk8capicmd –keydb –create
–db “/tmp/key.kdb” –pw “j\!jj”. When prompted by gsk8capicmd for a
value (for example, a password) do not quote the string and add the
escape characters, as the shell is no longer influencing this input.
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of the source key database that
contains the certificate to be imported. If the supplied file name
has an extension of either “.p12” or .pfx” then it is assumed that it
is in PKCS#12 format. If it is “.p7”, “.smime” or “.eml” then it is
assumed to be a PKCS#7 encoding.
-file <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a PKCS#12, PKCS#7 or PFX
format file of:
v The certificate to be imported, or
v An import script (.txt file).
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database or PKCS#11 cryptographic
device identified by either the -db or -crypto tags respectively.
Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the program to read
the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate that is to be imported. If the label
tag is missing from the command line then the operation will
transfer all certificates from the source key database to the target
key database. If a certificate in the source key database already
exists in the target key database then that certificate is not
imported.

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 29

-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12 | pkcs7>
The type of the source key database. The default is cms.
-pfx A switch indicating whether the import file is a .pfx file. Use of
this option is unnecessary if the file extension of the file name is
.pfx.
-target <name>
Destination key database to which the certificate is to be imported.
If the supplied file name has an extension of either “.p12” or .pfx”
then it is assumed that it is in PKCS#12 format.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.
-target_pw <passwd>
The password of the destination key database.
-target_type <cms | kdb| pkcs11 | pkcs12 | p12>
The type of the destination key database. The default is cms.
-new_label <label>
The label to be used in the destination key database to identify the
imported certificate.
-t61 Substitute ISO8859-1 character set encodings for malformed
TELETEX strings.

Extract a certificate from a keystore (-extract)

The extract certificate command simply extracts the certificate data from the key
database and places it into the identified file. If the file does not exist then it will
be created. If the file already exists, an error indicating this will be returned. The
data will be saved as either base64 encoding or binary. No private key components
are extracted.

The syntax to extract a certificate from an existing key database with GSKCapiCmd
is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -extract {-db <name> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel
<token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] -label <label> -target <name> [-format
<ascii | binary>] [-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw <password>
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

30
where:
object -cert
action -extract
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

characters within these values. For example: gsk8capicmd –keydb –create
–db “/tmp/key.kdb” –pw “j\!jj”. When prompted by gsk8capicmd for a
value (for example, a password) do not quote the string and add the
escape characters, as the shell is no longer influencing this input.
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a key database.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db or
–tokenlabel tags. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate that is to be extracted.
-target <name>
Destination file to which the certificate is to be extracted.
-format <ascii | binary>
Format of a certificate. The default is Base64 encoded ASCII.
Additional information about base64 encoding can be found in
RFC 2045 and RFC 3548. The binary format is a binary dump of
the DER encoded certificate structure. For additional information,
see ITU-T Rec. X.690 (2002) | ISO/IEC 8825-1:2002
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 31

-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

List details of the default certificate (-getdefault) [deprecated]

This feature is deprecated. Use the explicit label of the desired certificate/key
instead.

The list default certificate details command lists the following details for the
default certificate of the identified key database:
v The label of the default certificate.
v The size of the key associated with the default certificate.
v The X509 version that the default certificate was created.
v The serial number for the default certificate.
v The issuer and subject distinguished names.
v The default certificates validity period.
v The fingerprint of the default certificate.
v The signature of the algorithm used during creation of the default certificate.
v An indication of the default certificates trust status.

The syntax for listing the details for the default certificate in an existing key
database with GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -getdefault -db <name> [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]
[-pw <passwd> | -stashed]

where:
object -cert
action -getdefault (deprecated)
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

32
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The keystore type. If this option is not specified, the program uses
the file extension of the database file name to determine the
keystore type.

Set default certificate in a keystore (-setdefault) [deprecated]

This feature is deprecated. Use the explicit label of the desired certificate/key
instead.

The set default certificate command sets a certificate to be used as the default
certificate for the identified key database. During this command the current default
certificate, if there is one, has its default setting removed. The new certificate is
then set as the default certificate. There can only ever be one default certificate in a
key database.

The syntax for setting the default certificate in an existing key database with
GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -setdefault -db <name> [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] -label
<label> [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -cert
action -setdefault (deprecated)
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 33

-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The keystore type. If this option is not specified, the program uses
the file extension of the database file name to determine the
keystore type.

Rename a certificate in a keystore (-rename)

The rename certificate command changes the label attached to a certificate
contained in a CMS keystore.

The syntax for changing a certificate label name in an existing key database with
GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -rename {-db <filename> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel
<token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]
-label <label> -new_label <name> [-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw
<password> -secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -cert
action -rename
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

34
-new_label <new_name>
A new label name to uniquely identify the certificate in the key
database.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The keystore type. If this option is not specified, the program uses
the file extension of the database file name to determine the
keystore type.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

List the certificates stored in a keystore (-list)

The list certificate command lists all of the certificates stored within the identified
key database.

The syntax to list the certificates in an existing key database is as follows:

gsk8capicmd -cert -list [<all | personal | CA>] [-expiry [<number of days>]
{-db <name> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel <token_label>}[-pw <passwd> |
-stashed] [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>] [-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw
<password> secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -cert
action -list
The list command has optional special tags that can be associated with it.
These tags are used to identify what type of certificates you are requesting
to be displayed. The tags are not required. By default all certificate stored
within the key database will be displayed. The following list describes
these tags:
all List the labels of all certificates in the identified key database. This
is the default for the list command.
personal
List all personal certificates in the identified key database.
CA List all of the certificate authority (CA) certificates in the identified
key database.
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 35

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific
characters within these values. For example: gsk8capicmd –keydb –create
–db “/tmp/key.kdb” –pw “j\!jj”. When prompted by gsk8capicmd for a
value (for example, a password) do not quote the string and add the
escape characters, as the shell is no longer influencing this input.
-expiry <number of days>
The expiry tag identifies the number of days from today that a
certificate remains valid. If the certificates validity falls within this
time then it is displayed. To list certificates that have already
expired, enter the value 0. If you do not specify this tag it is not
applied during the execution of the command.
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a key database. If the supplied
file name has an extension of either “.p12” or .pfx” then it is
assumed that it is in PKCS#12 format. If it is “.p7”, “.smime” or
“.eml” then it is assumed to be a PKCS#7 encoding.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db or
–tokenlabel tags. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The key database type. The default is cms.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.
As an example, the following certificate list is displayed for a new key
database created with the GSKCapiCmd program. The command used to
create this list is as follows:
gsk8capicmd –cert –list –db <database name> [-pw <password>]
Certificates found:
* default, - has private key, ! trusted
Entrust.net Global Secure Server Certification Authority
Entrust.net Global Client Certification Authority

36
Entrust.net Client Certification Authority
Entrust.net Certification Authority (2048)
Entrust.net Secure Server Certification Authority
VeriSign Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority
VeriSign Class 2 Public Primary Certification Authority
VeriSign Class 1 Public Primary Certification Authority
VeriSign Class 4 Public Primary Certification Authority - G2
VeriSign Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority - G2
VeriSign Class 2 Public Primary Certification Authority - G2
VeriSign Class 1 Public Primary Certification Authority - G2
VeriSign Class 4 Public Primary Certification Authority - G3
VeriSign Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority - G3
VeriSign Class 2 Public Primary Certification Authority - G3
VeriSign Class 1 Public Primary Certification Authority - G3
Thawte Personal Premium CA
Thawte Personal Freemail CA
Thawte Personal Basic CA
Thawte Premium Server CA
Thawte Server CA
RSA Secure Server Certification Authority

The default key is marked with the ‘*’ symbol (deprecated) and all trusted
self-signed (root) certs are listed with a ‘!’ symbol. (deprecated) The ‘-‘
symbol is used to show where a private key is present.

Modify a certificate in a keystore (-modify)

The modify certificate command allows a CAs certificate trust status to be enabled
or disabled. When a CAs certificate trust status is enabled then that CA certificate
is permitted to be involved in a certificate chain validation. If the CAs certificate
trust status is disabled then it cannot be used to validate any certificates. For
example if certificate “ABC” is signed by the CA certificate “VeriSign CA” and
“VeriSign CA” is not marked as trusted then the validation of “ABC” will fail. You
are able to have any number of trusted CA certificates in the single key database.

The syntax for modifying the trust status of a certificate in an existing key
database with GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -modify -db <name> [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] -label <label>
-trust <enable | disable>

where:
object -cert
action -modify
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 37

-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db tag.
Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the program to read
the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate.
-trust <enable | disable>
(Deprecated). Trust status of a CA certificate. The default is enable.
When a CAs certificate trust status is enabled then that CA
certificate is permitted to be involved in a certificate chain
validation. If the CAs certificate trust status is disabled then it
cannot be used to validate any certificates. For example if
certificate “ABC” is signed by the CA certificate “VeriSign CA” and
“VeriSign CA” is not marked as trusted then the validation of
“ABC” will fail.

Sign a certificate (-sign)

The sign certificate command allows the signing of a certificate request by an
existing certificate stored within a key database. The command accepts a certificate
request in a specified file format and details of the certificate that contains the
private key to be used during the signing process.

If a certificate is not identified, the private key of the default certificate in the key
database is used during the signing process. (deprecated)

The syntax for signing a certificate with GSKCapiCmd is as follows:

gsk8capicmd -cert -sign {-db <name> -type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12> |
-crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel <label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed]
-label <label> -target <name> [-format <ascii | binary>] [-expire
<number of days>] -file <name> [-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw
<password> -secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]
[-ca <true | false>] [-san_dns_name <name>] [-san_emailaddr <address>]
[-san_ipaddr <address>] [-certpolicy <policy>] [-eku <name>] -preserve
[{-sigalg | -sig_alg} <algorithm>] [-sernum <serial_number>]

where:
object -cert
action -sign
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

38
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a key database.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The keystore type. If this option is not specified, the program uses
the file name extension to determine the keystore type.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db tag.
Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the program to read
the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-label <label>
Label of the certificate that has the private key to use for the
signing operation.
-target <name>
The name of the file that will contain the signed certificate.
-format <acsii | binary>
The format of the signed certificate. The default is Base64 encoded
ASCII. Additional information about base64 encoding can be found
in RFC 2045 and RFC 3548. The binary format is a binary dump of
the DER encoded certificate structure. For additional information,
see ITU-T Rec. X.690 (2002) | ISO/IEC 8825-1:2002
-expire <number of days>
The expiry tag identifies the number of days from today that a
certificate is valid. The default is 365 days.

Note: To avoid possible timezone issues the actual valid-from time

for the certificate will be set one day in the past.
-file <name>
The name and location of the certificate request to be signed.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 39

-ca <true | false>
This tag adds the Basic Constraint extension to the self-signed
certificate. The Basic Constraint extension value is set to true or
false depending on what value is associated with the tag.
-san_dns_name <name>
The SAN DNS name(s) for the entry being created.
-san_emailaddr <address>
The SAN email address(es) for the entry being created.
-san_ipaddr <address>
The SAN IP address(es) for the entry being created.
-certpolicy <policy>
The certificate policy. A named set of rules limiting the
applicability of the certificate.
-eku <list>
Extended key usage property list. Specifies the valid uses for the
certificate.
-preserve
Preserve/merge the certificate request attributes in the final
certificate extensions.
-sigalg | -sig_alg <signature_algorithm>
The signing algorithm to be used during the signing of the
certificate. This algorithm is used to create the signature associated
with the new signed certificate. This algorithm must match the
keytype of the key being used for signing. That is, the key
contained in the certificate that is specified by the –label parameter.
See “Signature algorithms” on page 17 for the allowed values.
-sernum
The serial number in conjunction with the issuers name uniquely
identifies a certificate. A serial number is normally assigned to a
certificate by the certificate authority (CA) that signed the
certificate request. This tag has been included to allow the
emulation of this process. The -sernum tag accepts two types of
values:
1. Hexadecimal - A hexadecimal value can be passed as the
-sernum tags value by prepending a “0x” to the front of the
serial number.
2. String - A string representation of the serial number. The string
representation of the serial number is normally displayed in
ASCII format.
If the –sernum tag is not passed, a random serial number is
assigned to the signed certificate.

Validate a certificate (-validate)

The validate certificate command is used to validate a certificate held in the
keystore. The validation includes ensuring that:
v All necessary intermediate and root certificates used to validate the certificate
are present, and
v These certificates have not expired.

40
The syntax for validating a certificate in an existing key database with
GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -cert -validate {-db <filename> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel
<token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]
-label <label> -ldap <location> [-secondaryDB <filename>
-secondaryDBpw <password> -secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -cert
action -validate
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

Chapter 3. Certificate commands 41

available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

42
Chapter 4. Certificate request commands
The certificate request commands are associated with the -certreq object. This object
supports the following actions:
v “Create a certificate request (-create)”
v “Delete certificate request (-delete)” on page 45
v “List certificate request details (-details)” on page 46
v “Extract certificate request (-extract)” on page 48
v “List all certificate requests (-list)” on page 49
v “Re-create certificate requests (-recreate)” on page 50

The following sections provide details on how to use each of the identified
certificate request actions and what options are available.

Create a certificate request (-create)

The create certificate request command creates a new RSA private-public key pair
and a PKCS10 certificate request in the specified key database. For CMS key
databases, the certificate request information is stored in the file with the “.rdb”
extension that is associated with the key database. During the creation process, the
certificate request is also extracted to a file that can be used to send the certificate
request to a CA for signing.

The syntax for creating a certificate request in an existing key database with
GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -certreq -create {-db <name> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel
<token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]
-label <label> -dn <dist_name> [-size <key_size>] {-target | -file} <name>
[{-sigalg | -sig_alg} <algorithm>] [-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw
<password> -secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>] [-san_dns_name <name>]
[-san_emailaddr <address>] [-san_ipaddr <address>] [-certpolicy <policy>]
[-eku <name>]

where:
object -certreq
action -create
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005, 2011 43

-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db or
–tokenlabel tags. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The keystore type. If this option is not specified, the program will
use the database path name suffix to determine the keystore type.
-label <label>
Label to be attached to the certificate request on creation. The user
uses this label to uniquely identify the certificate request.
-dn <dist_name>
The X.500 distinguished name that will uniquely identify the
certificate. The input must be a quoted string of the following
format (only CN is required):
CN=common name
O=organization
OU=organization unit
L=location
ST=state, province
C=country
DC=domain component
EMAIL=email address

For example: “CN=weblinux.Raleigh.ibm.com,O=ibm,OU=IBM HTTP

Server,L=RTP,ST=NC,C=US”

Multiple OU values are now supported. Simply add additional OU

key\value pairs to the specified distinguished name. If the OU
value requires a comma (‘,’) then you must escape it with ‘\\’.
For example: “CN=weblinux.Raleigh.ibm.com,O=ibm,OU=IBM HTTP
Server,OU=GSKit\\, Gold Coast,L=RTP,ST=NC,C=US”
-size <key_size>
The size of the new key pair to be created. This size ranges in
value depending on the key type. Consult Table 3 on page 18 for
valid values.

Note: For some algorithms, you can specify a zero (0) value to use
the default key size. This is typically the minimum size that
is considered secure.
-target | -file <name>
The file name that the certificate request will be extracted to during
the certificate request creation process.

44
Note: "-file <name> continues to operate for this command for
backwards compatibility.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.
-san_dns_name <name>
The SAN DNS name(s) for the entry being created.
-san_emailaddr <address>
The SAN email address(es) for the entry being created.
-san_ipaddr <address>
The SAN IP address(es) for the entry being created.
-certpolicy <policy>
The certificate policy. A named set of rules limiting the
applicability of the certificate.
-eku <list>
Extended key usage property list. Specifies the valid uses for the
certificate.
-sigalg | -sig_alg <signature_algorithm>
The signing algorithm to be used during the creation of the
certificate request. This algorithm is used to create the signature
associated with the new certificate request. The generated key type
will be chosen to match this signing algorithm. See “Signature
algorithms” on page 17 for the allowed values.

Delete certificate request (-delete)

The delete certificate request removes the certificate request from the identified
key database. This means that the entry in the “.rdb” associated with the certificate
request is deleted.

The syntax for deleting a certificate request in an existing key database with
GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -certreq -delete {-db <name> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel
<token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]
-label <label> [-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw <password>
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -certreq
action -delete
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string

Chapter 4. Certificate request commands 45

values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

characters within these values. For example: gsk8capicmd –keydb –create
–db “/tmp/key.kdb” –pw “j\!jj”. When prompted by gsk8capicmd for a
value (for example, a password) do not quote the string and add the
escape characters, as the shell is no longer influencing this input.
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a key database.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db or
–tokenlabel tags. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The keystore type. If this option is not specified, the program will
use the database path name suffix to determine the keystore type.
-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate request that is to be deleted.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

List certificate request details (-details)

The list certificate request details command simple lists the identified certificate
requests details. These details include:
v The label of the certificate request.
v The size of the key associated with the certificate request.
v The subject distinguished name.

46
v The fingerprint of the certificate.
v The signature of the algorithm used during creation of the certificate.

For a more detailed listing of the certificate request details use the -showOID
option in the command.

The syntax for listing a certificate requests details in an existing key database with
GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -certreq -details [-showOID] {-db <name> | -crypto <module_name>
-tokenlabel <token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] [-type
<cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>] -label <label> [-secondaryDB <filename>
-secondaryDBpw <password> -secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -certreq
action -details
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

Chapter 4. Certificate request commands 47

-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate request that is to be displayed.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

Extract certificate request (-extract)

The extract certificate request command extracts an existing certificate request
stored in the specified key database to the identified file in base64 format. The
certificate request will still exist within the key database so you are able to extract
it as many times as needed. The file that is extracted is the file that is dispatched
to a CA for signing.

The syntax for extracting a certificate request from an existing key database with
GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -certreq -extract {-db <name> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel
<token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]
-label <label> -target <name> [-secondaryDB <filename>
-secondaryDBpw <password> -secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -certreq
action -extract
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

characters within these values. For example: gsk8capicmd –keydb –create
–db “/tmp/key.kdb” –pw “j\!jj”. When prompted by gsk8capicmd for a
value (for example, a password) do not quote the string and add the
escape characters, as the shell is no longer influencing this input.
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a key database.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-token_label <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
48
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db or
–tokenlabel tags. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The keystore type. If this option is not specified, the program will
use the database path name suffix to determine the keystore type.
-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate request that is to be extracted.
-target <name>
Destination file to which the certificate request is to be extracted.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

List all certificate requests (-list)

The list certificate request command lists all of the certificate request labels stored
within the identified key database.

The syntax for listing the certificate requests stored within an existing key database
with GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -certreq -list { -db <name> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel
<token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]
[-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw <password> -secondaryDBtype
<cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>]

where:
object -certreq
action -list
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

characters within these values. For example: gsk8capicmd –keydb –create

Chapter 4. Certificate request commands 49

–db “/tmp/key.kdb” –pw “j\!jj”. When prompted by gsk8capicmd for a
value (for example, a password) do not quote the string and add the
escape characters, as the shell is no longer influencing this input.
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a key database.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db tag or the
-crypto tag. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The keystore type. If this option is not specified, the program will
use the database path name suffix to determine the keystore type.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.

Re-create certificate requests (-recreate)

The re-create certificate request command recreates a certificate request from an
existing certificate stored within the specified key database. The recreation of a
certificate may be required to allow a certificate to be signed by another CA if
there was a problem with the CA that originally signed it.

The syntax to recreate a certificate request in an existing key database with

GSKCapiCmd is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -certreq -recreate { -db <name> | -crypto <module_name> -tokenlabel
<token_label>} [-pw <passwd> | -stashed] [-type <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>] -label
<label> -target <name> [-secondaryDB <filename> -secondaryDBpw <password>
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>] [-san_dns_name <name>] [-san_emailaddr
<address>] [-san_ipaddr <address>] [-certpolicy <policy>] [-eku <list>]
[-sigalg | -sig_alg <signature_algorithm>]

where:
object -certreq
50
action -recreate
options
IMPORTANT: On UNIX operating systems, always encapsulate string
values associated with all tags in double quotation marks (“”). You must
also use a backslash (‘\’) character to escape the following characters if
they appear in the string values:
'!’, '\’, '”’, '’’

This will prevent some command-line shells from interpreting specific

characters within these values. For example: gsk8capicmd –keydb –create
–db “/tmp/key.kdb” –pw “j\!jj”. When prompted by gsk8capicmd for a
value (for example, a password) do not quote the string and add the
escape characters, as the shell is no longer influencing this input.
-db <filename>
The fully qualified path name of a key database.
-crypto <module_name>
Indicates a PKCS#11 cryptographic device operation, where
<module_name> is the path to the module to manage the crypto
device.
-tokenlabel <token_label>
The PKCS#11 cryptographic device token label.
-type <cms | kdb | pkcs12 | p12>
The keystore type. If this option is not specified, the program will
use the database path name suffix to determine the keystore type.
-pw <passwd>
The password for the key database identified by the –db tag or the
-crypto tag. Specify a hyphen (-) as the password to cause the
program to read the password from stdin. This allows you to pipe
in the password.
-stashed
The password for the key database will be recovered from the
stash file.
-label <label>
Label attached to the certificate request that is to be recreated.
-target <name>
Destination file to which the certificate request is to be recreated.
-secondaryDB <filename>
A CMS key database used to support the PKCS#11 device. A
PKCS#11 device does not normally have a large amount of space
available to store a lot of signer certificates. The signer certificates
are used for the validation of certificates when they are added to
the PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBpw <password>
Password for the secondary CMS key database supporting the
PKCS#11 device.
-secondaryDBtype <cms | kdb| pkcs12 | p12>
Keystore type of the secondary key database.
-san_dns_name <name>
The SAN DNS name(s) for the entry being created.

Chapter 4. Certificate request commands 51

-san_emailaddr <address>
The SAN email address(es) for the entry being created.
-san_ipaddr <address>
The SAN IP address(es) for the entry being created.
-certpolicy <policy>
The certificate policy. A named set of rules limiting the
applicability of the certificate.
-eku <list>
Extended key usage property list. Specifies the valid uses for the
certificate.
-sigalg | -sig_alg <signature_algorithm>
The signing algorithm to be used during the creation of the
self-signed certificate. This algorithm is used to create the signature
associated with the new self-signed certificate. The key type must
match this signing algorithm. See “Signature algorithms” on page
17 for the allowed values.

52
Chapter 5. Random commands
The GSKCapiCmd program provides its users with the ability to generate random
passwords. Users can specify the password length and whether the generated
password is required to conform to GSKits minimum password requirements.

The random commands are associated with the -random object. This object
supports the following action:

“Create a random password of a specified length (-create)”

The following section describes how to use and what options are available for this
random action.

Create a random password of a specified length (-create)

The create random password command creates a random string of characters that
can be used with other GSKCapiCmd commands that require a password. This
command can be used if the user is looking for a truly random password.

The syntax for creating a random password with GSKCapiCmd is as follows:

gsk8capicmd -random -create -length <password_length> -strong

where:
object -random
action -create
options
-length <password_length>
The length of the random password. There is a maximum length
when the -strong tag is used for this command. The maximum
length is 125 character.
-strong
Check that the password entered satisfies the minimum
requirements for the passwords strength. The minimum
requirements for a password are as follows:
v The minimum password length is 14 characters.
v A password must have at least one lower case character, one
uppercase character, and one digit or special character (for
example, *$#% etc). A space is classified as a special character.
v Each character must not occur more than three times in a
password.
v No more than two consecutive characters of the password can be
identical.
v All characters are in the standard ASCII printable character set
within the range from 0x20 to 0x7E inclusive.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005, 2011 53

54
Chapter 6. Help commands
GSKCapiCmd has an extensive help command system. You are able to get help on
what objects are available, what actions are associated with a particular object, and
how to use each of the actions.

The help commands are associated with the -help object. The syntax for the help
commands is as follows:
gsk8capicmd -help <object> <action>

where:
<object>
The object you want to find out information about.
<action>
The action you are wanting to find out information about. This action must
be associated with the identified object. If it is not the system will display
the help associated with the requested object.

Examples:
v Listing all of the objects and their associated actions: gsk8capicmd -help
v Listing the actions for the -keybd object: gsk8capicmd -help -keydb
v Listing the specific help for the -create action associated with the -keydb object.
gsk8capicmd -help -keydb -create

To find out the different objects and their associated actions see:
v Chapter 2, “Key database commands,” on page 7
v Chapter 3, “Certificate commands,” on page 17
v Chapter 4, “Certificate request commands,” on page 43

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005, 2011 55

56
Chapter 7. Version command
The version command displays version information associated with the currently
installed GSKCapiCmd program.

The version command is associated with the -version object. The syntax is as
follows:
gsk8capicmd -version

The version command has no associated actions or objects.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005, 2011 57

58
Chapter 8. Runtime messages
This chapter describes the messages displayed by GSKCapiCmd.
Table 6. Runtime Messages
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK2000W The task completed successfully. See message.
CTGSK2001W Unknown error occurred See message.
CTGSK2002W An ASN.1 encoding/decoding error See message.
occurred.
CTGSK2003W An error occurred while initializing See message.
ASN.1 encoder/decoder.
CTGSK2004W An ASN.1 encoding/decoding error See message.
occurred because of an out-of-range
index or non-existent optional field.
CTGSK2005W A database error occurred. See message.
CTGSK2006W An error occurred while opening the See message.
database file, check for file existence and
permission.
CTGSK2007W An error occurred while re-opening the See message.
database file.
CTGSK2008W Database creation failed. See message.
CTGSK2009W The database already exists. See message.
CTGSK2010W An error occurred while deleting the See message.
database file.
CTGSK2011W The database could not be opened. See message.
CTGSK2012W An error occurred while reading the See message.
database file.
CTGSK2013W An error occurred while writing data to See message.
the database file.
CTGSK2014W A database validation error occurred. See message.
CTGSK2015W An invalid database version was See message.
encountered.
CTGSK2016W An invalid database password was See message.
encountered.
CTGSK2017W An invalid database file type was See message.
encountered.
CTGSK2018W The specified database has been See message.
corrupted.
CTGSK2019W An invalid password was provided or See message.
the key database has been tampered or
corrupted.
CTGSK2020W A database key entry integrity error See message.
occurred.
CTGSK2021W A duplicate certificate already exists in See message.
the database.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005, 2011 59

Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK2022W A duplicate key already exists in the See message.
database (Record ID).
CTGSK2023W A certificate with the same label already See message.
existed in the key database.
CTGSK2024W A duplicate key already exists in the See message.
database (Signature).
CTGSK2025W A duplicate key already exists in the See message.
database (Unsigned Certificate).
CTGSK2026W A duplicate key already exists in the See message.
database (Issuer and Serial Number).
CTGSK2027W A duplicate key already exists in the See message.
database (Subject Public Key Info).
CTGSK2028W A duplicate key already exists in the See message.
database (Unsigned Certificate
Revocation List (CRL)).
CTGSK2029W The label has been used in the database. See message.
CTGSK2030W A password encryption error occurred. See message.
CTGSK2031W An LDAP related error occurred. Reserved for future use.
CTGSK2032W A cryptographic error occurred. See message.
CTGSK2033W An encryption/decryption error See message.
occurred.
CTGSK2034W An invalid cryptographic algorithm was See message.
found.
CTGSK2035W An error occurred while signing data. See message.
CTGSK2036W An error occurred while verifying data. See message.
CTGSK2037W An error occurred while computing See message.
digest of data.
CTGSK2038W An invalid cryptographic parameter was See message.
found.
CTGSK2039W An unsupported cryptographic See message.
algorithm was encountered.
CTGSK2040W The specified input size is greater than See message.
the supported modulus size.
CTGSK2041W An unsupported modulus size was See message.
found.
CTGSK2042W A database validation error occurred. See message.
CTGSK2043W Key entry validation failed. See message.
CTGSK2044W A duplicate extension field exists. See message.
CTGSK2045W The version of the key is wrong. See message.
CTGSK2046W A required extension field does not See message.
exist.
CTGSK2047W The validity period does not include See message.
today or does not fall within its issuer's
validity period.

60
Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK2048W The validity period does not include See message.
today or does not fall within its issuer's
validity period.
CTGSK2049W An error occurred while validating See message.
validity private key usage extension.
CTGSK2050W The issuer of the key was not found. See message.
CTGSK2051W A required certificate extension is See message.
missing.
CTGSK2052W An invalid basic constraint extension See message.
was found.
CTGSK2053W The key signature validation failed. See message.
CTGSK2054W The root key of the key is not trusted. See message.
CTGSK2055W The key has been revoked. See message.
CTGSK2056W An error occurred while validating See message.
authority key identifier extension.
CTGSK2057W An error occurred while validating See message.
private key usage extension.
CTGSK2058W An error occurred while validating See message.
subject alternative name extension.
CTGSK2059W An error occurred while validating See message.
issuer alternative name extension.
CTGSK2060W An error occurred while validating key See message.
usage extension.
CTGSK2061W An unknown critical extension was See message.
found.
CTGSK2062W An error occurred while validating key See message.
pair entries.
CTGSK2063W An error occurred while validating CRL. See message.
CTGSK2064W A mutex error occurred. See message.
CTGSK2065W An invalid parameter was found. See message.
CTGSK2066W A null parameter or memory allocation See message.
error was encountered.
CTGSK2067W Number or size is too large or too small. See message.
CTGSK2068W The old password is invalid. See message.
CTGSK2069W The new password is invalid. See message.
CTGSK2070W The password has expired. See message.
CTGSK2071W A thread related error occurred. See message.
CTGSK2072W An error occurred while creating See message.
threads.
CTGSK2073W An error occurred while a thread was See message.
waiting to exit.
CTGSK2074W An I/O error occurred. See message.
CTGSK2075W An error occurred while loading CMS. See message.
CTGSK2076W A cryptography hardware related error See message.
occurred.

Chapter 8. Runtime messages 61

Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK2077W The library initialization routine was not See message.
successfully called.
CTGSK2078W The internal database handle table is See message.
corrupted.
CTGSK2079W A memory allocation error occurred. See message.
CTGSK2080W An unrecognized option was found. See message.
CTGSK2081W An error occurred while getting time See message.
information.
CTGSK2082W Mutex creation error occurred. See message.
CTGSK2083W An error occurred while opening See message.
message catalog.
CTGSK2084W An error occurred while opening error See message.
message catalog.
CTGSK2085W An null file name was found. See message.
CTGSK2086W An error occurred while opening files, See message.
check for file existence and permissions.
CTGSK2087W An error occurred while opening files to See message.
read.
CTGSK2088W An error occurred while opening files to See message.
write.
CTGSK2089W There is no such file. See message.
CTGSK2090W The file cannot be opened because of its See message.
permission setting.
CTGSK2091W An error occurred while writing data to See message.
files.
CTGSK2092W An error occurred while deleting files. See message.
CTGSK2093W Invalid Base64-encoded data was found. See message.
CTGSK2094W An invalid Base64 message type was See message.
found.
CTGSK2095W An error occurred while encoding data See message.
with Base64 encoding rule.
CTGSK2096W An error occurred while decoding See message.
Base64-encoded data.
CTGSK2097W An error occurred while getting a See message.
distinguished name tag.
CTGSK2098W The required common name field is See message.
empty.
CTGSK2099W The required country or region name See message.
field is empty.
CTGSK2100W An invalid database handle was found. See message.
CTGSK2101W The key database does not exist. See message.
CTGSK2102W The request key pair database does not See message.
exist.
CTGSK2103W The password file does not exist. See message.

62
Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK2104W The new password is identical to the old See message.
one.
CTGSK2105W No key was found in the key database. See message.
CTGSK2106W No request key was found. See message.
CTGSK2107W No trusted CA was found See message.
CTGSK2108W No request key was found for the See message.
certificate.
CTGSK2109W There is no private key in the key See message.
database
CTGSK2110W There is no default key in the key See message.
database.
CTGSK2111W There is no private key in the key See message.
record.
CTGSK2112W There is no certificate in the key record. See message.
CTGSK2113W There is no CRL entry. See message.
CTGSK2114W An invalid key database file name was See message.
found.
CTGSK2115W An unrecognized private key type was See message.
found.
CTGSK2116W An invalid distinguished name input See message.
was found.
CTGSK2117W No key entry was found that has the See message.
specified key label.
CTGSK2118W The key label list has been corrupted. See message.
CTGSK2119W The input data is not valid PKCS#12 See message.
data.
CTGSK2120W The password is invalid or the PKCS#12 See message.
data has been corrupted or been created
with a later version of PKCS#12.
CTGSK2121W An unrecognized key export type was See message.
found.
CTGSK2122W An unsupported password-based See message.
encryption algorithm was found.
CTGSK2123W An error occurred while converting the See message.
key ring file to a CMS key database.
CTGSK2124W An error occurred while converting the See message.
CMS key database to a keyring file.
CTGSK2125W An error occurred while creating a See message.
certificate for the certificate request.
CTGSK2126W A complete issuer chain cannot be built. See message.
CTGSK2127W Invalid WEBDB data was found. See message.
CTGSK2128W There is no data to be written to the key See message.
ring file.
CTGSK2129W The number of days that you entered See message.
extends beyond the permitted validity
period.

Chapter 8. Runtime messages 63

Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK2130W The password is too short. See message.
CTGSK2131W A password must contain at least one See message.
numeric digit.
CTGSK2132W All characters in the password are either See message.
alphabetic or numeric characters.
CTGSK2133W An unrecognized or unsupported See message.
signature algorithm was specified.
CTGSK2134W An invalid database type was See message.
encountered.
CTGSK2135W The specified secondary key database is See message.
in use by another PKCS#11 device.
CTGSK2136W No secondary key database was See message.
specified.
CTGSK2137W The label does not exist on the PKCS#11 See message.
device.
CTGSK2138W Password required to access the See message.
PKCS#11 device.
CTGSK2139W Password not required to access the See message.
PKCS#11 device.
CTGSK2140W Unable to load the cryptographic library. See message.
CTGSK2141W PKCS#11 is not supported for this See message.
operation.
CTGSK2142W An operation on a PKCS#11 device has See message.
failed.
CTGSK2143W The LDAP user is not a valid user. See message.
CTGSK2144W The LDAP user password is not valid. See message.
CTGSK2145W The LDAP query failed. See message.
CTGSK2146W An invalid certificate chain was found. See message.
CTGSK2147W The root certificate is not trusted. See message.
CTGSK2148W A revoked certificate was encountered. See message.
CTGSK2149W A cryptographic object function failed. See message.
CTGSK2150W There is no certificate revocation list See message.
data source available.
CTGSK2151W There is no cryptographic token See message.
available.
CTGSK2152W FIPS mode is not available. See message.
CTGSK2153W There is a conflict with the FIPS mode See message.
settings.
CTGSK2154W The password entered does not meet the See message.
minimum required strength.
CTGSK3000W An action must be specified for this An expected command line
object. option was missing.

Operator response: Reissue the

command and include all of the
required options.

64
Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK3001W Cannot load keystore: filename The nominated keystore cannot
be opened.

Operator response: Ensure that

the keystore is valid and of the
correct type.
CTGSK3002W Error creating certificate. An error occurred while trying
to create a certificate with the
selected options.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3003W A certificate error has occurred. An error occurred trying to set
the trust state of the certificate.

Operator response: Review the

details of the certificate and
ensure the attempted action
matches the certificate details.
CTGSK3004W Error decoding certificate request for The certificate request file may
label name. have been corrupted.

Operator response: Ensure the

certificate request file is valid
and readable.
CTGSK3005W Error storing one or more certificates. The certificate could not be
stored.

Operator response:Ensure the

certificate data is valid and
readable.
CTGSK3006W The private key for entry "filename" There is no private key in the
cannot be decrypted. It may have been key record.
corrupted.
Operator response: Ensure the
certificate data is valid and
readable.
CTGSK3007W The database password has expired. The password of the key
database has expired or the
database cannot be accessed.

Operator response:The
password must be reset before
the keystore can be opened.
CTGSK3008W The entry for label "name" could not be An attempt to delete an object
deleted. from a database failed.

Operator response:Ensure the

database is accessible and the
correct object has been
nominated for deletion.

Chapter 8. Runtime messages 65

Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK3009W One or more certificates in the keystore An attempt to load or renew a
could not be loaded. certificate failed.

Operator response: Ensure the

key database is accessible and
the certificate has not been
corrupted.
CTGSK3010W Error loading entry "name" Cannot load the named
certificate from the keystore.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3011W Failed to delete file "name" Cannot delete the specified file.

Operator response: Check the

file name and file permissions
are correct.
CTGSK3012W The input file "name" could not be Cannot find the specified file.
found.
Operator response: Check the
database path.
CTGSK3013W "other" is not a valid action for this The specified action does not
object. apply to the selected object.

Operator response:Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3014W An invalid parameter was specified: An unknown or invalid
name algorithm was specified.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3015W Invalid certificate details: name The certificate inspected was
not valid.

Operator response: No action

is required.
CTGSK3016W Cannot parse certificates in file "name". It The wrong file has been
is not a valid certificate file. specified or it has been
corrupted.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3017W The database type "name" is not The database type is not
recognized. known or not supported for
this command.

Operator response: Change the

database type and try again.

66
Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK3018W The action "name" is not supported for The attempted action was not
database type "other". supported for the database.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3019W Invalid DN. The DN was not complete or
contained errors.

Operator response: A valid DN

consists of a comma delimited
list of attribute value pairs; e.g.
"CN=John Smith, OU=Tivoli,
O=IBM, C=US"
CTGSK3020W Invalid object: other An unknown command line
option was specified.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3021W Invalid parameter: name An illegal value was specified
for a command line parameter.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3022W An invalid parameter was provided for An invalid value was specified
the command: name for a command line parameter.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3023W An invalid password was provided, the The supplied password did not
key database has been corrupted or it is unlock the selected database.
of the wrong type.
Operator response: Ensure that
the database is of the correct
type and that the correct
password was given.
CTGSK3024W Invalid value for parameter "other" The supplied value is not valid
(other). for the named parameter.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.

Chapter 8. Runtime messages 67

Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK3025W An invalid version was provided for The X509 version is not valid.
certificate "name". Some features are not
supported by all X509 versions.
For example, SAN extensions
are only supported by version
3 and above.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3026W The key file "name" does not exist or The specified key file could not
cannot be read. be opened.

Operator response: Check that

the file exists and that you
have read permissions.
CTGSK3027W An error has occurred while closing the An error occurred accessing the
keystore. keystore file.

Operator response: Check that

the directory and file
permissions allow access to the
file.
CTGSK3028W An error has occurred while accessing An unknown error occurred
the keystore. while accessing the keystore
file.

Operator response: Check that

the directory and file
permissions allow access to the
file.
CTGSK3029W The database does not contain a No certificate exists with that
certificate with label "name" name.

Operator response: Check the

label and try again.
CTGSK3030W The database does not contain an entry No certificate exists with that
with label "name" name.

Operator response: Check the

label and try again.
CTGSK3031W The file name cannot be null. A legal file name must be
supplied.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3032W The database does not contain a key No certificate exists with that
entry with label "name" name.

Operator response: Check the

label and try again.

68
Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK3033W No read permissions for file "name" The file cannot be accessed.

Operator response: Check the

file path and ensure that you
have read/write permissions to
the directory and file.
CTGSK3034W The certificate request created for the No request exists for the
certificate is not in the key database. named certificate.

Operator response: Check that

you are using the correct
keystore.
CTGSK3035W The database does not contain a No request exists for the
certificate request with label "name" named certificate.

Operator response: Check the

label and try again.
CTGSK3036W The output file "name" already exists. An existing file will not be over
written.

Operator response:Choose a
different name or delete the file
if it is no longer required.
CTGSK3037W The output file "name" could not be A file could not be created.
created.
Operator response: Check the
file path and ensure that you
have read/write permissions to
the directory.
CTGSK3038W An error occurred while trying to The changed password could
change the password of the request not be written to the password
database. stash file.

Operator response: Check the

file path to the key database
and stash files and ensure that
you have appropriate
read/write permissions to the
directory.
CTGSK3039W Certificate request "name" could not be The certificate request could
created. not be created.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3040W A required value for the command was The request action is missing a
not specified: name required option.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.

Chapter 8. Runtime messages 69

Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK3041W A signature error has occurred while A problem occurred while
signing item "name" attempting to issue a signed
certificate.

Operator response: Review the

command line options to
ensure the selected options are
valid and compatible. Retry the
operation.
CTGSK3042W Invalid value for parameter "name" was An invalid value was supplied
specified: other for an option.

Operator response: Replace the

parameters that are not valid
and try again.
CTGSK3043W Unknown parameter "name" An unknown parameter was
supplied for an option.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3044W No value for parameter "name" was A value was expected but none
provided. was found.

Operator response: Add a

valid value for the parameter
and re-run the command.
CTGSK3045W An error has occurred while reading the The keystore cannot be read.
keystore.
Operator response: Check the
path to the key database and
ensure that you have
read/write permissions to the
file.
CTGSK3046W The key file "name" could not be An error occurred reading the
imported. keystore.

Operator response: Check the

path to the key database and
ensure that you have
read/write permissions to the
file.
CTGSK3047W Option "name" is not supported in FIPS The operation is not supported
mode. in FIPS mode.

Operator response: Review the

command line options selected,
correct any problems and retry
the operation.
CTGSK3048W The password is weak. The supplied password is too
weak.

Operator response: Try a

different password.

70
Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK3049W An attempted operation has failed: name An unexpected internal error
other : detail occurred.

Operator response: Contact

your support team.
CTGSK3050W An internal error occurred while An unexpected internal error
attempting to work with an ASN occurred. The first parameter is
extension: error the reported GSK error code.

Operator response: Contact

your support team.
CTGSK3051W The current codepage "id" is not No ICU converter exists for the
supported, encoding for codepage codepage the console has been
"name" instead. set to.

Operator response:Set the

console codepage to something
else compatible with the
locale's output.
CTGSK3052W "name" is not a supported signature The chosen signature algorithm
algorithm. is not supported for this
operation.

Operator response: Retry the

operation using a different
signature algorithm.
CTGSK3053W The database already contains a A certificate exists with that
certificate with label "name" name.

Operator response: Check the

label and try again.
CTGSK3054W An error occurred while trying to stash The changed password could
the password for the database "name". not be written to the password
stash file.

Operator response: Check the

file path to the key database
and stash files and ensure that
you have appropriate
read/write permissions to the
directory.
CTGSK3055W A "error" error occurred while formatting An error occurred formatting
the date and time information for locale the date and time information
"name". for the locale. This is an error
reported from the ICU package.

Operator response: Retry the

command specifying a different
locale. Contact your support
team.
CTGSK3056W The file is not of the correct type. The file type is not known or
not supported for this
command.

Operator response: Change the

file type and try again.

Chapter 8. Runtime messages 71

Table 6. Runtime Messages (continued)
Message ID Message Details Explanation
CTGSK3057W Too many choices were selected, "name" Conflicting options have been
is not valid in this context. selected on the command line.

Operator response: Review the

command line options, correct
any problems and retry the
operation.
CTGSK3058W There is no data to write to file "name". There is no data to write to the
An empty file will not be created. file and an empty file is not
valid.

Operator response: No action

is required.

72
Chapter 9. Error codes and messages
GSKCapiCmd, returns GSKKM_OK (0) on success or a positive number indicating
the error that has occurred. The following table lists all of the error codes and their
associated error messages.
Table 7. Error Messages
Error Code Error Message
1 Unknown error occurred
2 An asn.1 encoding/decoding error occurred.
3 An error occurred while initializing asn.1 encoder/decoder.
4 An asn.1 encoding/decoding error occurred because of an out-of-range index
or non-existent optional field.
5 A database error occurred.
6 An error occurred while opening the database file, check for file existence and
permission.
7 An error occurred while re-opening the database file.
8 Database creation failed.
9 The database already exists.
10 An error occurred while deleting the database file.
11 The database could not be opened.
12 An error occurred while reading the database file.
13 An error occurred while writing data to the database file.
14 A database validation error occurred.
15 An invalid database version was encountered.
16 An invalid database password was encountered.
17 An invalid database file type was encountered.
18 The specified database has been corrupted.
19 An invalid password was provided or the key database has been tampered or
corrupted.
20 A database key entry integrity error occurred.
21 A duplicate certificate already exists in the database.
22 A duplicate key already exists in the database (Record ID).
23 A certificate with the same label already existed in the key database.
24 A duplicate key already exists in the database (Signature).
25 A duplicate key already exists in the database (Unsigned Certificate).
26 A duplicate key already exists in the database (Issuer and Serial Number).
27 A duplicate key already exists in the database (Subject Public Key Info).
28 A duplicate key already exists in the database (Unsigned CRL).
29 The label has been used in the database.
30 A password encryption error occurred.
31 An LDAP related error occurred.

Table 7. Error Messages (continued)
Error Code Error Message
32 A cryptographic error occurred.
33 An encryption/decryption error occurred.
34 An invalid cryptographic algorithm was found.
35 An error occurred while signing data.
36 An error occurred while verifying data.
37 An error occurred while computing digest of data.
38 An invalid cryptographic parameter was found.
39 An unsupported cryptographic algorithm was encountered.
40 The specified input size is greater than the supported modulus size.
41 An unsupported modulus size was found.
42 A database validation error occurred.
43 Key entry validation failed.
44 A duplicate extension field exists.
45 The version of the key is wrong.
46 A required extension field does not exist.
47 The validity period does not include today or does not fall within its issuer's
validity period.
48 The validity period does not include today or does not fall within its issuer's
validity period.
49 An error occurred while validating validity private key usage extension.
50 The issuer of the key was not found.
51 A required certificate extension is missing.
52 An invalid basic constraint extension was found.
53 The key signature validation failed.
54 The root key of the key is not trusted.
55 The key has been revoked.
56 An error occurred while validating authority key identifier extension.
57 An error occurred while validating private key usage extension.
58 An error occurred while validating subject alternative name extension.
59 An error occurred while validating issuer alternative name extension.
60 An error occurred while validating key usage extension.
61 An unknown critical extension was found.
62 An error occurred while validating key pair entries.
63 An error occurred while validating CRL.
64 A mutex error occurred.
65 An invalid parameter was found.
66 A null parameter or memory allocation error was encountered.
67 Number or size is too large or too small.
68 The old password is invalid.
69 The new password is invalid.

74
Table 7. Error Messages (continued)
Error Code Error Message
70 The password has expired. (deprecated)
71 A thread related error occurred.
72 An error occurred while creating threads.
73 An error occurred while a thread was waiting to exit.
74 An I/O error occurred.
75 An error occurred while loading CMS.
76 A cryptography hardware related error occurred.
77 The library initialization routine was not successfully called.
78 The internal database handle table is corrupted.
79 A memory allocation error occurred.
80 An unrecognized option was found.
81 An error occurred while getting time information.
82 Mutex creation error occurred.
83 An error occurred while opening message catalog.
84 An error occurred while opening error message catalog.
85 A null file name was found.
86 An error occurred while opening files, check for file existence and
permissions.
87 An error occurred while opening files to read.
88 An error occurred while opening files to write.
89 There is no such file.
90 The file cannot be opened because of its permission setting.
91 An error occurred while writing data to files.
92 An error occurred while deleting files.
93 Invalid Base64-encoded data was found.
94 An invalid Base64 message type was found.
95 An error occurred while encoding data with Base64 encoding rule.
96 An error occurred while decoding Base64-encoded data.
97 An error occurred while getting a distinguished name tag.
98 The required common name field is empty.
99 The required country or region name field is empty.
100 An invalid database handle was found.
101 The key database does not exist.
102 The request key pair database does not exist.
103 The password file does not exist.
104 The new password is identical to the old one.
105 No key was found in the key database.
106 No request key was found.
107 No trusted CA was found
108 No request key was found for the certificate.

Chapter 9. Error codes and messages 75

Table 7. Error Messages (continued)
Error Code Error Message
109 There is no private key in the key database
110 There is no default key in the key database. (deprecated)
111 There is no private key in the key record.
112 There is no certificate in the key record.
113 There is no CRL entry.
114 An invalid key database file name was found.
115 An unrecognized private key type was found.
116 An invalid distinguished name input was found.
117 No key entry was found that has the specified key label.
118 The key label list has been corrupted.
119 The input data is not valid PKCS#12 data.
120 The password is invalid or the PKCS#12 data has been corrupted or been
created with later version of PKCS#12.
121 An unrecognized key export type was found.
122 An unsupported password-based encryption algorithm was found.
123 An error occurred while converting the key ring file to a CMS key database.
124 An error occurred while converting the CMS key database to a key ring file.
125 An error occurred while creating a certificate for the certificate request.
126 A complete issuer chain cannot be built.
127 Invalid WEBDB data was found.
128 There is no data to be written to the key ring file.
129 The number of days that you entered extends beyond the permitted validity
period.
130 The password is too short; it must consist of at least {0} characters.
131 A password must contain at least one numeric digit.
132 All characters in the password are either alphabetic or numeric characters.
133 An unrecognized or unsupported signature algorithm was specified.
134 An invalid database type was encountered.
135 The specified secondary key database is in use by another PKCS#11 device.
136 No secondary key database was specified.
137 The label does not exist on the PKCS#11 device.
138 Password required to access the PKCS#11 device.
139 Password not required to access the PKCS#11 device.
140 Unable to load the cryptographic library.
141 PKCS#11 is not supported for this operation.
142 An operation on a PKCS#11 device has failed.
143 The LDAP user is not a valid user.
144 The LDAP user password is not valid.
145 The LDAP query failed.
146 An invalid certificate chain was found.

76
Table 7. Error Messages (continued)
Error Code Error Message
147 The root certificate is not trusted.
148 A revoked certificate was encountered.
149 A cryptographic object function failed.
150 There is no certificate revocation list data source available.
151 There is no cryptographic token available.
152 FIPS mode is not available.
153 There is a conflict with the FIPS mode settings.
154 The password entered does not meet the minimum required strength.
200 There was a failure during initialization of the program.
201 Tokenization of the arguments passed to the GSKCapiCmd Program failed.
202 The object identified in the command is not a recognized object.
203 The action passed is not a known -keydb action.
204 The action passed is not a known -cert action.
205 The action passed is not a known -certreq action.
206 There is a tag missing for the requested command.
207 The value passed with the –version tag is not a recognized value.
208 The value passed with the –size tag is not a recognized value.
209 The value passed in with the –dn tag is not in the correct format.
210 The value passed in with the –format tag is not a recognized value.
211 There was an error associated with opening the file.
212 PKCS#12 is not supported at this stage.
213 The cryptographic token you are trying to change the password for is not
password protected.
214 PKCS#12 is not supported at this stage.
215 The password entered does not meet the minimum required strength.
216 FIPS mode is not available.
217 The number of days you have entered as the expiry date is out of the allowed
range.
218 Password strength failed the minimum requirements.
219 No Default certificate was found in the requested key database. (deprecated)
220 An invalid trust status was encountered.
221 An unsupported signature algorithm was encountered. At this stage only MD5
and SHA1 are supported.
222 PKCS#11 not supported for that particular operation.
223 The action passed is not a known –random action.
224 A length than less than zero is not allowed.
225 When using the –strong tag the minimum length password is 14 characters.
226 When using the –strong tag the maximum length password is 300 characters.
227 The MD5 algorithm is not supported when in FIPS mode.
228 The site tag is not supported for the –cert –list command. This attribute is
simply added for backward compatibility and potential future enhancement.

Chapter 9. Error codes and messages 77

Table 7. Error Messages (continued)
Error Code Error Message
229 The value associated with the -ca tag is not recognized. The value must be
either ‘true’ or ‘false’.
230 The value passed in with the –type tag is not valid.
231 The value passed in with the –expire tag is below the allowed range.
232 The encryption algorithm used or requested is not supported.
233 The target already exists.

78
Appendix A. CMS key databases
What is a CMS key database?
Certificate Management System (CMS) is the native GSKit key database (keystore)
containing:
v X.509 certificates
v Certificate requests (ones pending signing by an authority), and
v Private keys for the stored certificates where applicable.
Typically, only personal certificates contain private keys. If a certificate has an
associated private key, it is stored encrypted in the keystore with its associated
certificate. Private keys cannot be stored without an associated certificate.

How is a CMS key database organized?

A CMS keystore consists of a file with extension .kdb and optionally two other
files with extension .rdb and .crl respectively.

A key record in a .kdb file is either a certificate on its own or a certificate plus its
encrypted private key information. Private keys cannot be stored in a CMS
keystore without a corresponding certificate.

When a certificate request is created, a .rdb file with the same file stem as the key
database file is created. This file is used to store the requested key pair, along with
the PKCS#10 certificate request data. The request entry is only deleted from the
request key database when a signed certificate is obtained from a signing authority
and received into the key database. The signed certificate is matched up with the
private key in the .rdb file and together they are added to the .kdb file as a
certificate with private key information.

A .crl file is also created, purely for legacy reasons (in the past it contained
Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs)). This file is no longer used and is always
empty.

How is a CMS key database protected

GSKit implements password protection for access control, confidentiality, and
integrity of the CMS key database. The password must be provided before any
access to the keystore database.

The access control does not limit unauthorized users from reading and writing the
file. GSKit relies on the OS for these protections, but access to sensitive data is
effectively controlled because all sensitive data in the keystore is encrypted, all
records hashed, and the index to all records is hashed. This ensures that any
modification to the file is detectable. If tampering is detected, GSKit will deny
access to the keystore (the behaviour is similar to receipt of an incorrect password).

What can I put in a CMS key database?
The CMS keystore contains X.509 certificates along with any associated private key
information. For example when using the GSKCapiCmd tool to maintain a CMS
keystore the following items may typically end up in the keystore:
v CA Certificates.
Each valid X.509 certificate needs to be signed. Typically, this is done by a
trusted Certificate Authority (CA). To validate a certificate signed by a CA, the
public certificate for that CA must be in the CMS keystore. The GSKCapiCmd
tool automatically populates a new CMS keystore with a number of CA
certificates. If the CMS keystore does not already contain a required CA
certificate, an administrator uses GSKCapiCmd to add it . Any valid X.509
certificate can be imported into a CMS keystore. For the import or add operation
to succeed, the incoming certificate must be validated. For this reason, the
certificate needed for the validation chain must already exist in the keystore.
v Intermediate Certificates.
A valid certificate does not necessarily need to be signed by a CA. Instead it can
be signed by what is known as an intermediate certificate that has itself been
signed by a CA. If this is the case then both the CA certificate and the
intermediate certificate must be in the CMS keystore in order to validate that
certificate. This is known as a certificate validation chain. An administrator
typically uses GSKCapiCmd to add their intermediate certificate. The keystore
treats intermediate certificates in the same way as CA certificates.
v Personal Certificates.
In a client-server relationship, the server may ask the client for its certificate.
When acting as a client, GSKit attempts to use a personal certificate from the
keystore to present to the server. Typically, GSKit picks the certificate that is
marked as the default, or another certificate indicated by the client application.
A personal certificate can also be used for signing other certificates. For example,
an Intermediate certificate together with its private key may be in a CMS
keystore and used to sign other certificates. An extracted version (without the
private key) of the intermediate certificate is then added to other CMS keystores,
to be used in a validation chain. An administrator typically uses GSKCapiCmd
to add and extract their personal certificate(s). The final use for a personal
certificate is for a server application. The server may present a personal
certificate to the client during an SSL handshake.

GSKCapiCmd supports two certificate transfer formats (for commands such as

add, import, extract, and so forth). These are referred to as ASCII and binary
throughout this document. The default is Base64 encoded ASCII. Additional
information about base64 encoding can be found in RFC 2045 and RFC 3548. The
binary format is a binary dump of the DER encoded certificate structure. For
additional information refer to ITU-T Rec. X.690 (2002) | ISO/IEC 8825-1:2002.

What is a label?
A label is a friendly name that an administrator can attach to a certificate that is
contained in a CMS keystore. It is simply a convenient, human readable way to
reference a certificate.

How can I manipulate certificates in a CMS keystore?

Certificates in a CMS keystore are standard X.509 certificates. X.509 entities can be:
v imported (for personal certificates),

80
v added (for a certificate needed in a validation chain such as a CA or
intermediate certificate),
v exported (from one CMS keystore to another - this takes the private key with it
if one exists), or
v extracted (extract the public certificate – the private key is not extracted).

An administrator can also change the trust status of a certificate. When a

certificates trust status is enabled, it is permitted to be involved in a certificate
chain validation. If the certificates trust status is disabled then it cannot be used to
validate any other certificates. For example, if certificate “ABC” is signed by the
CA certificate “VeriSign CA”, but “VeriSign CA” is not marked as trusted, the
validation of “ABC” will fail.

Appendix A. CMS key databases 81

82
Appendix B. A Simple Example
The example below offers an example scenario for a company setting up a web site
for its employees to access business-sensitive information. It is assumed that the
web server chosen by the company uses GSKit as its SSL provider. The example
does not cover all issues for such a scenario, but instead concentrates on what an
administrator would typically need to do to set up a CMS keystore in such an
environment.

The requirement
The ACME company wishes to set up a web site for its employees to access certain
sensitive business information across a wide geographical area. Some employees
are more senior than others and therefore will be allowed access to more resources
on the server than the junior employees. It is expected that employees can be
assured they are connecting to their company web site (not some fraudulent site
pretending to be their company site). Employees use a customized web browser
that can read CMS keystores to access certificates contained in them.

The CEO of ACME has asked the system administrator to implement this system
in a manner that is secure and cost conscious.

Considerations for the administrator

The administrator makes the following decisions based on the requirements:
v As the employees are located at different geographical locations, a secure
channel for the web traffic must be used. The administrator decides to use SSL.
v As employees will have different levels of access to web content, the
administrator decides that the server will operate in client authentication mode
where each connecting client must present a valid certificate in order to gain
access. Information from this presented certificate will be used to limit access to
authorized areas of the web server only. (This is outside the scope of this
scenario).
v As cost is an issue, the administrator decides that it is too costly to have every
employee certificate signed by a CA. The administrator decides to use a
company wide intermediate certificate to sign all employee certificates.
v Employees must be able to validate the servers certificate thereby proving the
authenticity of the web server.
v The administrator notes that it is bad practice to use a certificate for more than
one purpose so decides that another certificate must be produced and signed by
the CA. This certificate will be the server certificate used for the web site. Using
the Intermediate Certificate for this purpose would be poor practice.

Step 1 – Obtain a company-wide intermediate certificate

The administrator needs to create a certificate that can be used to sign each
employee's certificate. This intermediate certificate itself may be publicly published
so it needs to be signed by a trusted CA. To achieve this, the administrator
performs the following actions:
1. The administrator creates a new CMS keystore in the default FIPS mode using
the “Create a Key Database” command:

gsk8capicmd -keydb -create -db acme.kdb -pw offs64b
2. The administrator notices that the new keystore, while containing a number of
CA certificates, does not contain the certificate of the CA he would like to use
to sign his Intermediate Certificate. He obtains the CA certificate (this is usually
done by visiting a well know site that publishes these) and adds it to his CMS
keystore via the “Add a Certificate” command:
gsk8capicmd -cert -add -db acme.kdb -pw offs64b -label OurCA -file CACert.arm
-format ascii
3. The administrator then creates a new certificate request to be sent to the CA
that he has chosen to sign our Intermediate Certificate using the “Create a
Certificate Request” command:
gsk8capicmd -certreq -create -db acme.kdb –pw offs64b -label OurIntermediate
-dn “CN=acme.com,O=acme,C=US” -file certreq.arm -sigalg sha1
4. The administrator takes the request file (certreq.arm in this case) and sends it
to the CA for signing. Sometime later the signed certificate is returned by the
CA. The administrator then receives the certificate into the CMS keystore using
the “Receive a Certificate” command:
gsk8capicmd -cert -receive -file signedCert.arm -db acme.kdb -pw offs64b
5. Make the new certificate the default one. This means that it will be used by
default to sign other certificate request if no other certificate label is given. The
administrator makes it the default certificate using the following command:
gsk8capicmd -cert -setdefault -db acme.kdb -pw offs64b -label OurIntermediate

Step 2 – Sign all employee certificates using the ACME intermediate

The administrator now has a CMS keystore containing ACMEs intermediate
certificate and the CA certificate that signed that intermediate certificate. The
administrator now needs to use ACMEs intermediate certificate to sign all the
employee certificates. To achieve this, the administrator performs the following
actions:
1. The administrator asks each employee to obtain the CA certificate and add it to
their respective CMS keystores. Note that employees may first need to create
their own CMS keystore in the same manner as the administrator did in item 1
of step 1. The employee adds the CA certificate using the “Add a Certificate”
command:
gsk8capicmd -cert -add -db Dave.kdb -pw Davepwd -label OurCA -file CACert.arm
-format ascii
2. The administrator extracts the Intermediate Certificate (note that this does not
extract the private key of the certificate) using the “Extract a Certificate”
command:
gsk8capicmd -cert -extract -db acme.kdb -pw offs64b -label acmeCert -target
acmeCert.arm
3. The administrator sends the ACME intermediate certificate to each employee
asking them to add it to their keystore. Employees do this via the “Add a
Certificate” command:
gsk8capicmd -cert -add -db Dave.kdb -pw Davepwd -label acmeCert -file
acmeCert.arm –format ascii
4. The administrator asks each employee to create a certificate request putting
their employee email address in the CN field. The employees use the “Create a
Certificate Request” command:
gsk8capicmd -certreq -create -db Dave.kdb –pw Davepwd -label myCert -dn
“[email protected],O=acme,C=US” -file DavesCertReq.arm -sigalg sha1

84
5. Upon receipt of each employee's certificate request the administrator signs it
and returns the signed certificate to the employee. The administrator uses the
“Sign a Certificate” command to achieve this:
gsk8capicmd -cert -sign -db acme.kdb -pw offs64b -label acmeCert -target
DavesCertReq.arm -expire 365 -file DavesSignedCert.arm -sigalg sha1
6. As each employee obtains their signed certificate they receive it into their CMS
keystore. Employees use the “Receive a Certificate” command:
gsk8capicmd -cert -receive -file DavesSignedCert.arm -db Dave.kdb -pw Davepwd
7. Make the new certificate the default one. This means that it will be the
certificate sent to the web server when it requests one via SSL for client
authentication purposes. The employee makes it the default certificate using the
following command:
gsk8capicmd -cert -setdefault -db Dave.kdb -pw Davepwd -label myCert

Step 3. Create the web server certificate

At this stage the administrator has a CMS database containing the CA certificate
and the ACME Intermediate certificate (with its corresponding private key). The
administrator puts this CMS keystore in a safe place using it only to sign new
employee certificates.

Each employee has a CMS keystore containing the CA certificate, the ACME
Intermediate Certificate (minus the corresponding private key), and their own
certificate that has been signed by the ACME Intermediate Certificate.

The remaining task for the administrator is to create a CMS keystore with a
certificate to be used by the web server. Although the administrator could have
used the ACME Intermediate Certificate for this purpose, as stated previously, it is
considered bad practice to use a certificate for more than one purpose. The
intermediate certificate is already being used to sign employees' certificates. To
create a keystore and server certificate the administrator performs the following
actions:
1. The administrator creates a new CMS keystore using the “Create a Key
Database” command:
gsk8capicmd -keydb -create -db acmeWebServer.kdb -pw ejed43dA
2. The administrator adds the CA certificate to the keystore using the “Add a
Certificate command:
gsk8capicmd -cert -add -db acmeWebServer.kdb -pw ejed43dA -label OurCA -file
CACert.arm –format ascii
3. The administrator creates a new certificate request to be sent to the CA that he
has chosen to sign our web server certificate using the “Create a Certificate
Request” command:
gsk8capicmd -certreq -create -db acmeWebServer.kdb –pw ejed43dA -label
OurServerCert -dn “CN=web.acme.com,O=acme,C=US” -file serverCertReq.arm
-sigalg sha1
4. The administrator takes the request file (serverCertReq.arm in this case) and
sends it to the CA for signing. Sometime later the signed certificate is returned
by the CA. The administrator then receives the certificate into the CMS
keystore using the “Receive a Certificate command:
gsk8capicmd -cert -receive -file signedServerCert.arm -db acmeWebServer.kdb
-pw ejed43dA
5. Make the new certificate the default one. This means that when a client
connects to the web server the server will offer this certificate to the client. The
administrator makes it the default certificate using the following command:

Appendix B. A Simple Example 85

gsk8capicmd -cert -setdefault -db acmeWebServer.kdb -pw ejed43dA -label
OurServerCert
6. The administrator now has a CMS keystore with a server certificate ready for
use by the web server application.

So do we meet the requirements?

Lets look at each requirement in turn:
v As the employees are located at different geographical locations a secure channel
for the web traffic must be used. The administrator decides to use SSL.
– For a web server to make use of SSL it must have a server side certificate to
offer to clients during the SSL handshake. The certificate labeled
"OurServerCert" in the keystore acmeWebServer.kdb can be used for this
purpose.
v As employees will have different levels of access to web content the
administrator decides that the server will operate in client authentication mode
where each connecting client must present a valid certificate to gain access.
Information from this presented certificate will be used to limit access to
authorized areas of the web server only. (This is outside the scope of this
scenario).
– Each employee has their own certificate to offer to the server when it requests
one during the SSL handshake. The server can first validate the client
certificate as it has the signer chain, that is, the client certificate is signed by
the ACME Intermediate Certificate, and the ACME intermediate certificate is
in turn signed by the CA certificate. The server keystore (acmeWebServer.kdb)
contains both of these certificates. Once the client certificate has been
validated the application can inspect the CN of the certificate and extract the
employee email address from it. The application can then use the employee
email address to determine the level of access allowed for the connection.
v As cost is an issue the administrator decides that it so too costly to have every
employee certificate signed by a CA. The administrator decides to use a
company wide intermediate certificate to sign all employee certificates.
– The administrator only incurred the expense of two CA signing operations.
One for the Intermediate Certificate and one for the signer certificate.
v Employees must be able to validate the servers certificate to prove the
authenticity of the web server.
– When the client application receives (as part of the SSL handshake) the server
certificate it can verify the validity of that certificate as it has the CA
certificate that signed it.
v The administrator notes that it is bad practice to use a certificate for more than
one purpose so decides that another certificate must be produced and signed by
the CA. This certificate will be the server certificate used for the web site. Using
the Intermediate Certificate for this purpose would be poor practice.
– Two certificates have been created. “OurServerCert” for use by the ACME
web server and “OurIntermediate” for the administrator to use to sign
employee certificates.

86
Appendix C. Resources
ASN.1 Project

ASN.1 and OID project website http://asn1.elibel.tm.fr/en/standards/index.htm.

Basic Encoding Rules (BER)

BER encoding is defined in the specification ITU-T Rec. X.690 (2002).

Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER)

DER encoding is defined in the specification ITU-T Rec. X.690 (2002). See the
Internet RFC/STD/FYI/BCP Archives http://www.faqs.org/rfcs.

X.509

RFC 3280: Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure - Certificate and Certificate
Revocation List (CRL), obsoletes RFC 2459, April 2002. See RSA Security
http://www.rsasecurity.com/rsalabs/.

PKCS#7

PKCS 7 v1.5: Cryptographic Message Syntax, RSA Laboratories, March 1998.

PKCS#10

RFC 2986: PKCS #10: Certification Request Syntax Specification, Version 1.7,
November 2000.

PKCS#11

Cryptographic Token Interface Standard.

PKCS#12

PKCS 12 v1.0: Personal Information Exchange Syntax, RSA Laboratories, June 24,
1999.

Certificate Management System (CMS)

Appendix A, “CMS key databases,” on page 79 offers additional information

concerning the format and use of a CMS keystore.

Appendix B, “A Simple Example,” on page 83 provides a simple example of how

CMS keystores can be used to enable SSL communication between a server and
client application.

88
Appendix D. Notices
This information was developed for products and services offered in the U.S.A.
IBM may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in
other countries. Consult your local IBM representative for information on the
products and services currently available in your area. Any functionally equivalent
product, program, or service that does not infringe any IBM intellectual property
right may be used instead. Any reference to an IBM product, program, or service is
not intended to state or imply that only that IBM product, program, or service may
be used. However, it is the user responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation
of any non-IBM product, program, or service.

IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter
described in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you
any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in writing, to:

IBM Director of Licensing

IBM Corporation
North Castle Drive
Armonk, NY 10504-1785 U.S.A.

For license inquiries regarding double-byte (DBCS) information, contact the IBM
Intellectual Property Department in your country or send inquiries, in writing, to:

Intellectual Property Licensing

Legal and Intellectual Property Law
IBM Japan, Ltd.
1623-14, Shimotsuruma, Yamato-shi
Kanagawa 242-8502 Japan

The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any other
country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law:

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS

PUBLICATION "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain

transactions, therefore, this statement might not apply to you.

This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.

Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be
incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make improvements
and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this
publication at any time without notice.

Any references in this information to non-IBM Web sites are provided for
convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those Web
sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the materials for this IBM
product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk.

IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it
believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.

Licensees of this program who wish to have information about it for the purpose
of enabling: (i) the exchange of information between independently created
programs and other programs (including this one) and (ii) the mutual use of the
information which has been exchanged, should contact:

IBM Corporation
2Z4A/101
11400 Burnet Road
Austin, TX 78758 U.S.A.

Such information may be available, subject to appropriate terms and conditions,

including in some cases payment of a fee.

The licensed program described in this document and all licensed material
available for it are provided by IBM under terms of the IBM Customer Agreement,
IBM International Program License Agreement or any equivalent agreement
between us.

Any performance data contained herein was determined in a controlled

environment. Therefore, the results obtained in other operating environments may
vary significantly. Some measurements may have been made on development-level
systems and there is no guarantee that these measurements will be the same on
generally available systems. Furthermore, some measurement may have been
estimated through extrapolation. Actual results may vary. Users of this document
should verify the applicable data for their specific environment.

Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of

those products, their published announcements, or other publicly available sources.
IBM has not tested those products and cannot confirm the accuracy of
performance, compatibility, or any other claims related to non-IBM products.
Questions on the capabilities of non-IBM products should be addressed to the
suppliers of those products.

All statements regarding IBMs future direction or intent are subject to change or
withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.

This information is for planning purposes only. The information herein is subject to
change before the products described become available.

This information contains examples of data and reports used in daily business
operations. To illustrate them as completely as possible, the examples include the
names of individuals, companies, brands, and products. All of these names are
fictitious and any similarity to the names and addresses used by an actual business
enterprise is entirely coincidental.

This information contains sample application programs in source language, which

illustrate programming techniques on various operating platforms. You may copy,
modify, and distribute these sample programs in any form without payment to
IBM, for the purposes of developing, using, marketing or distributing application
programs conforming to the application programming interface for the operating
platform for which the sample programs are written. These examples have not

90
been thoroughly tested under all conditions. IBM, therefore, cannot guarantee or
imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs. You may copy,
modify, and distribute these sample programs in any form without payment to
IBM for the purposes of developing, using, marketing, or distributing application
programs conforming to IBMs application programming interfaces.

Each copy or any portion of these sample programs or any derivative work, must
include a copyright notice as follows:

If you are viewing this information in softcopy form, the photographs and color
illustrations might not be displayed.

Trademarks
IBM, the IBM logo, AIX, DB2®, IBMLink, Tivoli, Tivoli Enterprise Console®, and
TME are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, PostScript and all Adobe-based trademarks are
either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the
United States, other countries, or both.

Cell Broadband Engine is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc., in

the United States, other countries, or both and is used under license therefrom.

Intel, Intel logo, Intel Inside, Intel Inside logo, Intel Centrino, Intel Centrino logo,
Celeron, Intel Xeon, Intel SpeedStep, Itanium, and Pentium are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States
and other countries.

IT Infrastructure Library is a registered trademark of the Central Computer and

Telecommunications Agency which is now part of the Office of Government
Commerce.

IT Infrastructure Library is a registered trademark, and a registered community

trademark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is registered in the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office.

Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or

registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or

both.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Appendix D. Notices 91
UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other
countries.

Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks
of others.

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