openssl_certificate - Generate and/or check OpenSSL certificates

New in version 2.4.

Synopsis

  • This module allows one to (re)generate OpenSSL certificates. It implements a notion of provider (ie. selfsigned, acme, assertonly) for your certificate. The ‘assertonly’ provider is intended for use cases where one is only interested in checking properties of a supplied certificate. Many properties that can be specified in this module are for validation of an existing or newly generated certificate. The proper place to specify them, if you want to receive a certificate with these properties is a CSR (Certificate Signing Request). It uses the pyOpenSSL python library to interact with OpenSSL.

Requirements (on host that executes module)

  • python-pyOpenSSL >= 0.15 (if using selfsigned or assertonly provider)
  • acme-tiny (if using the acme provider)

Options

parameter required default choices comments
acme_accountkey
no
Path to the accountkey for the acme provider
acme_challenge_path
no
Path to the ACME challenge directory that is served on http://<HOST>:80/.well-known/acme-challenge/
csr_path
no
Path to the Certificate Signing Request (CSR) used to generate this certificate. This is not required in assertonly mode.
extended_key_usage
no
The extended_key_usage extension field must contain all these values.
aliases: extendedKeyUsage
extended_key_usage_strict
no
  • yes
  • no
If set to True, the extended_key_usage extension field must contain only these values.
aliases: extendedKeyUsage_strict
force
no
  • yes
  • no
Generate the certificate, even if it already exists.
has_expired
no
  • yes
  • no
Checks if the certificate is expired/not expired at the time the module is executed.
invalid_at
no
The certificate must be invalid at this point in time. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME.
issuer
no
Key/value pairs that must be present in the issuer name field of the certificate
key_usage
no
The key_usage extension field must contain all these values.
aliases: keyUsage
key_usage_strict
no
  • yes
  • no
If set to True, the key_usage extension field must contain only these values.
aliases: keyUsage_strict
not_after
no
The certificate must expire at this point in time. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME.
aliases: notAfter
not_before
no
The certificate must start to become valid at this point in time. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME.
aliases: notBefore
path
yes
Remote absolute path where the generated certificate file should be created or is already located.
privatekey_passphrase
no
The passphrase for the privatekey_path.
privatekey_path
no
Path to the private key to use when signing the certificate.
provider
yes
  • selfsigned
  • assertonly
  • acme
Name of the provider to use to generate/retrieve the OpenSSL certificate. The assertonly provider will not generate files and fail if the certificate file is missing.
selfsigned_digest
no sha256
Digest algorithm to be used when self-signing the certificate
selfsigned_not_after
no
The timestamp at which the certificate stops being valid. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME. If this value is not specified, certificate will stop being valid 10 years from now.
aliases: selfsigned_notAfter
selfsigned_not_before
no
The timestamp at which the certificate starts being valid. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME. If this value is not specified, certificate will start being valid from now.
aliases: selfsigned_notBefore
signature_algorithms
no
list of algorithms that you would accept the certificate to be signed with (e.g. ['sha256WithRSAEncryption', 'sha512WithRSAEncryption']).
state
no present
  • present
  • absent
Whether the certificate should exist or not, taking action if the state is different from what is stated.
subject
no
Key/value pairs that must be present in the subject name field of the certificate
subject_alt_name
no
The subject_alt_name extension field must contain these values.
aliases: subjectAltName
subject_alt_name_strict
no
  • yes
  • no
If set to True, the subject_alt_name extension field must contain only these values.
aliases: subjectAltName_strict
valid_at
no
The certificate must be valid at this point in time. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME.
valid_in
no
The certificate must still be valid in valid_in seconds from now.
version
no
Version of the certificate. Nowadays it should almost always be 3.

Examples

- name: Generate a Self Signed OpenSSL certificate
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/ansible.com.crt
    privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    csr_path: /etc/ssl/csr/ansible.com.csr
    provider: selfsigned

- name: Generate a Let's Encrypt Certificate
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/ansible.com.crt
    csr_path: /etc/ssl/csr/ansible.com.csr
    provider: acme
    acme_accountkey: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    acme_challenge_path: /etc/ssl/challenges/ansible.com/

- name: Force (re-)generate a new Let's Encrypt Certificate
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/ansible.com.crt
    csr_path: /etc/ssl/csr/ansible.com.csr
    provider: acme
    acme_accountkey: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    acme_challenge_path: /etc/ssl/challenges/ansible.com/
    force: True

# Examples for some checks one could use the assertonly provider for:
- name: Verify that an existing certificate was issued by the Let's Encrypt CA and is currently still valid
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    issuer:
      O: Let's Encrypt
    has_expired: False

- name: Ensure that a certificate uses a modern signature algorithm (no SHA1, MD5 or DSA)
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    signature_algorithms:
      - sha224WithRSAEncryption
      - sha256WithRSAEncryption
      - sha384WithRSAEncryption
      - sha512WithRSAEncryption
      - sha224WithECDSAEncryption
      - sha256WithECDSAEncryption
      - sha384WithECDSAEncryption
      - sha512WithECDSAEncryption

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate belongs to the specified private key
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/example.com.pem
    provider: assertonly

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate is still valid at the winter solstice 2017
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    valid_at: 20171221162800Z

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate is still valid 2 weeks (1209600 seconds) from now
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    valid_in: 1209600

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate is only used for digital signatures and encrypting other keys
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    key_usage:
      - digitalSignature
      - keyEncipherment
    key_usage_strict: true

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate can be used for client authentication
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    extended_key_usage:
      - clientAuth

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate can only be used for client authentication and time stamping
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    extended_key_usage:
      - clientAuth
      - 1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.8
    extended_key_usage_strict: true

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate has a certain domain in its subjectAltName
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    subject_alt_name:
      - www.example.com
      - test.example.com

Return Values

Common return values are documented here Return Values, the following are the fields unique to this module:

name description returned type sample
filename
Path to the generated Certificate
changed or success string /etc/ssl/crt/www.ansible.com.crt

Notes

Note

  • All ASN.1 TIME values should be specified following the YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ pattern. Date specified should be UTC. Minutes and seconds are mandatory.

Status

This module is flagged as preview which means that it is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface.

For help in developing on modules, should you be so inclined, please read Community Information & Contributing, Testing Ansible and Developing Modules.

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.4/openssl_certificate_module.html