smime.pod revision 127128
1=pod
2
3=head1 NAME
4
5smime - S/MIME utility
6
7=head1 SYNOPSIS
8
9B<openssl> B<smime>
10[B<-encrypt>]
11[B<-decrypt>]
12[B<-sign>]
13[B<-verify>]
14[B<-pk7out>]
15[B<-des>]
16[B<-des3>]
17[B<-rc2-40>]
18[B<-rc2-64>]
19[B<-rc2-128>]
20[B<-aes128>]
21[B<-aes192>]
22[B<-aes256>]
23[B<-in file>]
24[B<-certfile file>]
25[B<-signer file>]
26[B<-recip  file>]
27[B<-inform SMIME|PEM|DER>]
28[B<-passin arg>]
29[B<-inkey file>]
30[B<-out file>]
31[B<-outform SMIME|PEM|DER>]
32[B<-content file>]
33[B<-to addr>]
34[B<-from ad>]
35[B<-subject s>]
36[B<-text>]
37[B<-rand file(s)>]
38[cert.pem]...
39
40=head1 DESCRIPTION
41
42The B<smime> command handles S/MIME mail. It can encrypt, decrypt, sign and
43verify S/MIME messages.
44
45=head1 COMMAND OPTIONS
46
47There are five operation options that set the type of operation to be performed.
48The meaning of the other options varies according to the operation type.
49
50=over 4
51
52=item B<-encrypt>
53
54encrypt mail for the given recipient certificates. Input file is the message
55to be encrypted. The output file is the encrypted mail in MIME format.
56
57=item B<-decrypt>
58
59decrypt mail using the supplied certificate and private key. Expects an
60encrypted mail message in MIME format for the input file. The decrypted mail
61is written to the output file.
62
63=item B<-sign>
64
65sign mail using the supplied certificate and private key. Input file is
66the message to be signed. The signed message in MIME format is written
67to the output file.
68
69=item B<-verify>
70
71verify signed mail. Expects a signed mail message on input and outputs
72the signed data. Both clear text and opaque signing is supported.
73
74=item B<-pk7out>
75
76takes an input message and writes out a PEM encoded PKCS#7 structure.
77
78=item B<-in filename>
79
80the input message to be encrypted or signed or the MIME message to
81be decrypted or verified.
82
83=item B<-inform SMIME|PEM|DER>
84
85this specifies the input format for the PKCS#7 structure. The default
86is B<SMIME> which reads an S/MIME format message. B<PEM> and B<DER>
87format change this to expect PEM and DER format PKCS#7 structures
88instead. This currently only affects the input format of the PKCS#7
89structure, if no PKCS#7 structure is being input (for example with
90B<-encrypt> or B<-sign>) this option has no effect.
91
92=item B<-out filename>
93
94the message text that has been decrypted or verified or the output MIME
95format message that has been signed or verified.
96
97=item B<-outform SMIME|PEM|DER>
98
99this specifies the output format for the PKCS#7 structure. The default
100is B<SMIME> which write an S/MIME format message. B<PEM> and B<DER>
101format change this to write PEM and DER format PKCS#7 structures
102instead. This currently only affects the output format of the PKCS#7
103structure, if no PKCS#7 structure is being output (for example with
104B<-verify> or B<-decrypt>) this option has no effect.
105
106=item B<-content filename>
107
108This specifies a file containing the detached content, this is only
109useful with the B<-verify> command. This is only usable if the PKCS#7
110structure is using the detached signature form where the content is
111not included. This option will override any content if the input format
112is S/MIME and it uses the multipart/signed MIME content type.
113
114=item B<-text>
115
116this option adds plain text (text/plain) MIME headers to the supplied
117message if encrypting or signing. If decrypting or verifying it strips
118off text headers: if the decrypted or verified message is not of MIME 
119type text/plain then an error occurs.
120
121=item B<-CAfile file>
122
123a file containing trusted CA certificates, only used with B<-verify>.
124
125=item B<-CApath dir>
126
127a directory containing trusted CA certificates, only used with
128B<-verify>. This directory must be a standard certificate directory: that
129is a hash of each subject name (using B<x509 -hash>) should be linked
130to each certificate.
131
132=item B<-des -des3 -rc2-40 -rc2-64 -rc2-128 -aes128 -aes192 -aes256>
133
134the encryption algorithm to use. DES (56 bits), triple DES (168 bits),
13540, 64 or 128 bit RC2 or 128, 192 or 256 bit AES respectively.  If not
136specified 40 bit RC2 is used. Only used with B<-encrypt>.
137
138=item B<-nointern>
139
140when verifying a message normally certificates (if any) included in
141the message are searched for the signing certificate. With this option
142only the certificates specified in the B<-certfile> option are used.
143The supplied certificates can still be used as untrusted CAs however.
144
145=item B<-noverify>
146
147do not verify the signers certificate of a signed message.
148
149=item B<-nochain>
150
151do not do chain verification of signers certificates: that is don't
152use the certificates in the signed message as untrusted CAs.
153
154=item B<-nosigs>
155
156don't try to verify the signatures on the message.
157
158=item B<-nocerts>
159
160when signing a message the signer's certificate is normally included
161with this option it is excluded. This will reduce the size of the
162signed message but the verifier must have a copy of the signers certificate
163available locally (passed using the B<-certfile> option for example).
164
165=item B<-noattr>
166
167normally when a message is signed a set of attributes are included which
168include the signing time and supported symmetric algorithms. With this
169option they are not included.
170
171=item B<-binary>
172
173normally the input message is converted to "canonical" format which is
174effectively using CR and LF as end of line: as required by the S/MIME
175specification. When this option is present no translation occurs. This
176is useful when handling binary data which may not be in MIME format.
177
178=item B<-nodetach>
179
180when signing a message use opaque signing: this form is more resistant
181to translation by mail relays but it cannot be read by mail agents that
182do not support S/MIME.  Without this option cleartext signing with
183the MIME type multipart/signed is used.
184
185=item B<-certfile file>
186
187allows additional certificates to be specified. When signing these will
188be included with the message. When verifying these will be searched for
189the signers certificates. The certificates should be in PEM format.
190
191=item B<-signer file>
192
193the signers certificate when signing a message. If a message is
194being verified then the signers certificates will be written to this
195file if the verification was successful.
196
197=item B<-recip file>
198
199the recipients certificate when decrypting a message. This certificate
200must match one of the recipients of the message or an error occurs.
201
202=item B<-inkey file>
203
204the private key to use when signing or decrypting. This must match the
205corresponding certificate. If this option is not specified then the
206private key must be included in the certificate file specified with
207the B<-recip> or B<-signer> file.
208
209=item B<-passin arg>
210
211the private key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
212see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
213
214=item B<-rand file(s)>
215
216a file or files containing random data used to seed the random number
217generator, or an EGD socket (see L<RAND_egd(3)|RAND_egd(3)>).
218Multiple files can be specified separated by a OS-dependent character.
219The separator is B<;> for MS-Windows, B<,> for OpenVMS, and B<:> for
220all others.
221
222=item B<cert.pem...>
223
224one or more certificates of message recipients: used when encrypting
225a message. 
226
227=item B<-to, -from, -subject>
228
229the relevant mail headers. These are included outside the signed
230portion of a message so they may be included manually. If signing
231then many S/MIME mail clients check the signers certificate's email
232address matches that specified in the From: address.
233
234=back
235
236=head1 NOTES
237
238The MIME message must be sent without any blank lines between the
239headers and the output. Some mail programs will automatically add
240a blank line. Piping the mail directly to sendmail is one way to
241achieve the correct format.
242
243The supplied message to be signed or encrypted must include the
244necessary MIME headers or many S/MIME clients wont display it
245properly (if at all). You can use the B<-text> option to automatically
246add plain text headers.
247
248A "signed and encrypted" message is one where a signed message is
249then encrypted. This can be produced by encrypting an already signed
250message: see the examples section.
251
252This version of the program only allows one signer per message but it
253will verify multiple signers on received messages. Some S/MIME clients
254choke if a message contains multiple signers. It is possible to sign
255messages "in parallel" by signing an already signed message.
256
257The options B<-encrypt> and B<-decrypt> reflect common usage in S/MIME
258clients. Strictly speaking these process PKCS#7 enveloped data: PKCS#7
259encrypted data is used for other purposes.
260
261=head1 EXIT CODES
262
263=over 4
264
265=item 0
266
267the operation was completely successfully.
268
269=item 1 
270
271an error occurred parsing the command options.
272
273=item 2
274
275one of the input files could not be read.
276
277=item 3
278
279an error occurred creating the PKCS#7 file or when reading the MIME
280message.
281
282=item 4
283
284an error occurred decrypting or verifying the message.
285
286=item 5
287
288the message was verified correctly but an error occurred writing out
289the signers certificates.
290
291=back
292
293=head1 EXAMPLES
294
295Create a cleartext signed message:
296
297 openssl smime -sign -in message.txt -text -out mail.msg \
298	-signer mycert.pem
299
300Create and opaque signed message
301
302 openssl smime -sign -in message.txt -text -out mail.msg -nodetach \
303	-signer mycert.pem
304
305Create a signed message, include some additional certificates and
306read the private key from another file:
307
308 openssl smime -sign -in in.txt -text -out mail.msg \
309	-signer mycert.pem -inkey mykey.pem -certfile mycerts.pem
310
311Send a signed message under Unix directly to sendmail, including headers:
312
313 openssl smime -sign -in in.txt -text -signer mycert.pem \
314	-from steve@openssl.org -to someone@somewhere \
315	-subject "Signed message" | sendmail someone@somewhere
316
317Verify a message and extract the signer's certificate if successful:
318
319 openssl smime -verify -in mail.msg -signer user.pem -out signedtext.txt
320
321Send encrypted mail using triple DES:
322
323 openssl smime -encrypt -in in.txt -from steve@openssl.org \
324	-to someone@somewhere -subject "Encrypted message" \
325	-des3 user.pem -out mail.msg
326
327Sign and encrypt mail:
328
329 openssl smime -sign -in ml.txt -signer my.pem -text \
330	| openssl smime -encrypt -out mail.msg \
331	-from steve@openssl.org -to someone@somewhere \
332	-subject "Signed and Encrypted message" -des3 user.pem
333
334Note: the encryption command does not include the B<-text> option because the message
335being encrypted already has MIME headers.
336
337Decrypt mail:
338
339 openssl smime -decrypt -in mail.msg -recip mycert.pem -inkey key.pem
340
341The output from Netscape form signing is a PKCS#7 structure with the
342detached signature format. You can use this program to verify the
343signature by line wrapping the base64 encoded structure and surrounding
344it with:
345
346 -----BEGIN PKCS7-----
347 -----END PKCS7-----
348
349and using the command, 
350
351 openssl smime -verify -inform PEM -in signature.pem -content content.txt
352
353alternatively you can base64 decode the signature and use
354
355 openssl smime -verify -inform DER -in signature.der -content content.txt
356
357=head1 BUGS
358
359The MIME parser isn't very clever: it seems to handle most messages that I've thrown
360at it but it may choke on others.
361
362The code currently will only write out the signer's certificate to a file: if the
363signer has a separate encryption certificate this must be manually extracted. There
364should be some heuristic that determines the correct encryption certificate.
365
366Ideally a database should be maintained of a certificates for each email address.
367
368The code doesn't currently take note of the permitted symmetric encryption
369algorithms as supplied in the SMIMECapabilities signed attribute. this means the
370user has to manually include the correct encryption algorithm. It should store
371the list of permitted ciphers in a database and only use those.
372
373No revocation checking is done on the signer's certificate.
374
375The current code can only handle S/MIME v2 messages, the more complex S/MIME v3
376structures may cause parsing errors.
377
378=cut
379