NAME App::sslmaker - Be your own SSL certificate authority VERSION 0.01 DESCRIPTION App::sslmaker is a module that provide methods for acting as your own CA (certificate authority). It can creating SSL keys, certificates and signing requests. The methods should have good defaults and "just work", so you don't have to worry about the details. "Just work" depends on safe defaults, which will change when new and more secure standards come along. The openssl commands are based on the instructions from . This module is used by the "sslmaker" command line application, but can also act as a standalone toolkit. From : Most websites, such as shopping, banking or email websites, need to let their customers know that the connection is secure. Thus, they need to pay a well-known and internationally trusted CA (eg, VeriSign) to issue an SSL certificate. However, this isn't always necessary. For example, if you're setting up a virtual private network (VPN) or an intranet website, it might make more sense to issue your own certificates. Being a CA means dealing with cryptographic pairs of private keys and public certificates. Ideally the cryptographic pairs should be generated in a secure environment, which means a personal laptop or computer that is disconnected from the Internet. It is not recommended to generate any certificates directly on your server. DISCLAIMER This module is based on tips and tricks from online resources, and has been reviewed by security experts. Even so, the "AUTHOR" of this application or any parts involved cannot be held responsible for the security of your server, application or other parts that use the files generated by this library. COMMAND LINE USAGE $ sslmaker [options] {action} {arg1,...} # Generate root CA key and certificate $ sslmaker --home /path/to/pki/CA root # Generate intermediate CA key and certificate $ sslmaker --root-home /path/to/pki/CA --home /path/to/pki/intermediate intermediate # Generate client or server key and certificate signing request $ sslmaker --home /path/to/pki/intermediate generate $ sslmaker --home /path/to/pki/intermediate generate www.example.com $ sslmaker --home /path/to/pki/intermediate nginx www.example.com # Sign a certificate signing request $ sslmaker --home /path/to/pki/intermediate sign www.example.com.csr.pem [outfile] SYNOPSIS my $sslmaker = App::sslmaker->new; my $asset = $sslmaker->make_csr({ key => "/path/to/private/input.key.pem", passphrase => "/path/to/passphrase.txt", subject => '/C=NO/ST=Oslo', }); # the content of the csr print $asset->slurp; # move to a non-temp location $asset->move("/path/to/certs/output.csr.pem"); All methods will throw an exception on error, unless otherwise noted. ATTRIBUTES subject $self = $self->subject('/C=NO/ST=Oslo/L=Oslo/O=Example/OU=Prime/emailAddress=admin@example.com'); $str = $self->subject; Holds the default subject field for the certificates. METHODS make_cert $asset = $self->make_cert({ key => "/path/to/private/input.key.pem", passphrase => "/path/to/passphrase.txt", days => $number_of_days, # default: 365 subject => '/C=NO/ST=Oslo', # optional }); This method will generate a SSL certificate using a "key" generated by "make_key". "passphrase" should match the argument given to "make_key". An optional "subject" can be provided. The subject string will be merged with the "subject" attribute. "days" can be used to set how many days the certificate should be valid. The returned $asset is a Path::Tiny object which holds the generated certificate file. It is possible to specify the location of this object by passing on "cert" to this method. make_csr $asset = $self->make_csr({ key => "/path/to/private/input.key.pem", passphrase => "/path/to/passphrase.txt", subject => '/C=NO/ST=Oslo', days => $number_of_days, # default: 365 }); This method will generate a SSL certificate signing request using a "key" generated by "make_key". "passphrase" is only required if the "key" was generated with a "passphrase". An optional "subject" can be provided. The subject string will be merged with the "subject" attribute. The returned $asset is a Path::Tiny object which holds the generated signing request file. It is possible to specify the location of this object by passing on "csr" to this method. make_directories $self->make_directories({ home => "/path/to/pki", templates => 1, # default: false }); Used to generate a suitable file structure, which reflect what "openssl.cnf" expects. Set $emplates to a true value to generate files. $home/ # need to be writable by current user $home/certs/ $home/crl/ $home/newcerts/ $home/private/ # will have mode 700 # optional templates $home/index.txt $home/serial make_key $asset = $self->make_key({ passphrase => "/path/to/passphrase.txt", # optional bits => 8192, # default: 4096 }); This method will generate a SSL key. The key will be protected with "passphrase" if given as input. In addition if "passphrase" does not exist, it will be created with a random passphrase. The returned $asset is a Path::Tiny object which holds the generated key. It is possible to specify the location of this object by passing on "key" to this method. From : The very first cryptographic pair we generate includes what is known as a root certificate. The root key (ca.key.pem) generated in this step should be kept extremely secure, otherwise an attacker can issue valid certificates for themselves. We'll therefore protect it with AES 256-bit encryption and a strong password just in case it falls into the wrong hands. new $self = App::sslmaker->new(%args); $self = App::sslmaker->new(\%args); Object constructor. render_to_file $asset = $self->render_to_file($template, \%stash); $asset = $self->render_to_file($template, $out_file, \%args); This method can render a $template to either a temp file or $out_file. The $template will have access to %stash and $self. See "TEMPLATES" for list of valid templates. sign_csr $asset = $self->sign_csr({ csr => "/path/to/certs/input.csr.pem", ca_key => "/path/to/private/ca.key.pem", ca_cert => "/path/to/certs/ca.cert.pem", passphrase => "/path/to/passphrase.txt", extensions => "v3_ca", # default: usr_cert }); This method will sign a "csr" file generated by "make_csr". "ca_key" and "passphrase" is the same values as you would provide "make_key" and "ca_cert" is the output from "make_cert". The returned $asset is a Path::Tiny object which holds the generated certificate. It is possible to specify the location of this object by passing on "cert" to this method. with_config $any = $self->with_config($method => \%args); Used to call a method with a temp "openssl.cnf" file. The %stash in the template will be constructed from the %args, which is also passed on to the next $method. Example: $asset = $self->with_config(make_key => { home => "/path/to/pki", passphrase => "/path/to/pki/private/passphrase.txt", bits => 8192, }); The config file will be removed when $self go out of scope. An alternative to this method is to set the "OPENSSL_CONF" environment variable before calling $method: local $ENV{OPENSSL_CONF} = "/path/to/openssl.cnf"; $asset = $self->make_key({...}); TEMPLATES "render_to_file" can render these templates, which is bundled with this module: * index.txt This is currently just an empty file. * nginx.config Used to render an example nginx config. %stash should contain "cert", "client_certificate", "crl", "key", "server_name" and "verify_client". * openssl.cnf Creates a config file for openssl. TODO: Descrive stash values. * serial Creates a file which stores the SSL serial number. If "n" is present in %stash, it will be used as the start number, which defaults to 1000. COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE Code Copyright (C) 2014, Jan Henning Thorsen The code is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Artistic License version 2.0. Documentation Documentation is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. The documentation is put together by Jan Henning Thorsen, with citations from Jamie Nguyen's website . AUTHOR Jan Henning Thorsen - "jhthorsen@cpan.org"