smime.pod revision 68651
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<-in file>]
21[B<-certfile file>]
22[B<-signer file>]
23[B<-recip  file>]
24[B<-in file>]
25[B<-inform SMIME|PEM|DER>]
26[B<-passin arg>]
27[B<-inkey file>]
28[B<-out file>]
29[B<-outform SMIME|PEM|DER>]
30[B<-content file>]
31[B<-to addr>]
32[B<-from ad>]
33[B<-subject s>]
34[B<-text>]
35[B<-rand file(s)>]
36[cert.pem]...
37
38=head1 DESCRIPTION
39
40The B<smime> command handles S/MIME mail. It can encrypt, decrypt, sign and
41verify S/MIME messages.
42
43=head1 COMMAND OPTIONS
44
45There are five operation options that set the type of operation to be performed.
46The meaning of the other options varies according to the operation type.
47
48=over 4
49
50=item B<-encrypt>
51
52encrypt mail for the given recipient certificates. Input file is the message
53to be encrypted. The output file is the encrypted mail in MIME format.
54
55=item B<-decrypt>
56
57decrypt mail using the supplied certificate and private key. Expects an
58encrypted mail message in MIME format for the input file. The decrypted mail
59is written to the output file.
60
61=item B<-sign>
62
63sign mail using the supplied certificate and private key. Input file is
64the message to be signed. The signed message in MIME format is written
65to the output file.
66
67=item B<-verify>
68
69verify signed mail. Expects a signed mail message on input and outputs
70the signed data. Both clear text and opaque signing is supported.
71
72=item B<-pk7out>
73
74takes an input message and writes out a PEM encoded PKCS#7 structure.
75
76=item B<-in filename>
77
78the input message to be encrypted or signed or the MIME message to
79be decrypted or verified.
80
81=item B<-inform SMIME|PEM|DER>
82
83this specifies the input format for the PKCS#7 structure. The default
84is B<SMIME> which reads an S/MIME format message. B<PEM> and B<DER>
85format change this to expect PEM and DER format PKCS#7 structures
86instead. This currently only affects the input format of the PKCS#7
87structure, if no PKCS#7 structure is being input (for example with
88B<-encrypt> or B<-sign>) this option has no effect.
89
90=item B<-out filename>
91
92the message text that has been decrypted or verified or the output MIME
93format message that has been signed or verified.
94
95=item B<-outform SMIME|PEM|DER>
96
97this specifies the output format for the PKCS#7 structure. The default
98is B<SMIME> which write an S/MIME format message. B<PEM> and B<DER>
99format change this to write PEM and DER format PKCS#7 structures
100instead. This currently only affects the output format of the PKCS#7
101structure, if no PKCS#7 structure is being output (for example with
102B<-verify> or B<-decrypt>) this option has no effect.
103
104=item B<-content filename>
105
106This specifies a file containing the detached content, this is only
107useful with the B<-verify> command. This is only usable if the PKCS#7
108structure is using the detached signature form where the content is
109not included. This option will override any content if the input format
110is S/MIME and it uses the multipart/signed MIME content type.
111
112=item B<-text>
113
114this option adds plain text (text/plain) MIME headers to the supplied
115message if encrypting or signing. If decrypting or verifying it strips
116off text headers: if the decrypted or verified message is not of MIME 
117type text/plain then an error occurs.
118
119=item B<-CAfile file>
120
121a file containing trusted CA certificates, only used with B<-verify>.
122
123=item B<-CApath dir>
124
125a directory containing trusted CA certificates, only used with
126B<-verify>. This directory must be a standard certificate directory: that
127is a hash of each subject name (using B<x509 -hash>) should be linked
128to each certificate.
129
130=item B<-des -des3 -rc2-40 -rc2-64 -rc2-128>
131
132the encryption algorithm to use. DES (56 bits), triple DES (168 bits)
133or 40, 64 or 128 bit RC2 respectively if not specified 40 bit RC2 is
134used. Only used with B<-encrypt>.
135
136=item B<-nointern>
137
138when verifying a message normally certificates (if any) included in
139the message are searched for the signing certificate. With this option
140only the certificates specified in the B<-certfile> option are used.
141The supplied certificates can still be used as untrusted CAs however.
142
143=item B<-noverify>
144
145do not verify the signers certificate of a signed message.
146
147=item B<-nochain>
148
149do not do chain verification of signers certificates: that is don't
150use the certificates in the signed message as untrusted CAs.
151
152=item B<-nosigs>
153
154don't try to verify the signatures on the message.
155
156=item B<-nocerts>
157
158when signing a message the signer's certificate is normally included
159with this option it is excluded. This will reduce the size of the
160signed message but the verifier must have a copy of the signers certificate
161available locally (passed using the B<-certfile> option for example).
162
163=item B<-noattr>
164
165normally when a message is signed a set of attributes are included which
166include the signing time and supported symmetric algorithms. With this
167option they are not included.
168
169=item B<-binary>
170
171normally the input message is converted to "canonical" format which is
172effectively using CR and LF as end of line: as required by the S/MIME
173specification. When this option is present no translation occurs. This
174is useful when handling binary data which may not be in MIME format.
175
176=item B<-nodetach>
177
178when signing a message use opaque signing: this form is more resistant
179to translation by mail relays but it cannot be read by mail agents that
180do not support S/MIME.  Without this option cleartext signing with
181the MIME type multipart/signed is used.
182
183=item B<-certfile file>
184
185allows additional certificates to be specified. When signing these will
186be included with the message. When verifying these will be searched for
187the signers certificates. The certificates should be in PEM format.
188
189=item B<-signer file>
190
191the signers certificate when signing a message. If a message is
192being verified then the signers certificates will be written to this
193file if the verification was successful.
194
195=item B<-recip file>
196
197the recipients certificate when decrypting a message. This certificate
198must match one of the recipients of the message or an error occurs.
199
200=item B<-inkey file>
201
202the private key to use when signing or decrypting. This must match the
203corresponding certificate. If this option is not specified then the
204private key must be included in the certificate file specified with
205the B<-recip> or B<-signer> file.
206
207=item B<-passin arg>
208
209the private key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
210see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
211
212=item B<-rand file(s)>
213
214a file or files containing random data used to seed the random number
215generator, or an EGD socket (see L<RAND_egd(3)|RAND_egd(3)>).
216Multiple files can be specified separated by a OS-dependent character.
217The separator is B<;> for MS-Windows, B<,> for OpenVMS, and B<:> for
218all others.
219
220=item B<cert.pem...>
221
222one or more certificates of message recipients: used when encrypting
223a message. 
224
225=item B<-to, -from, -subject>
226
227the relevant mail headers. These are included outside the signed
228portion of a message so they may be included manually. If signing
229then many S/MIME mail clients check the signers certificate's email
230address matches that specified in the From: address.
231
232=back
233
234=head1 NOTES
235
236The MIME message must be sent without any blank lines between the
237headers and the output. Some mail programs will automatically add
238a blank line. Piping the mail directly to sendmail is one way to
239achieve the correct format.
240
241The supplied message to be signed or encrypted must include the
242necessary MIME headers or many S/MIME clients wont display it
243properly (if at all). You can use the B<-text> option to automatically
244add plain text headers.
245
246A "signed and encrypted" message is one where a signed message is
247then encrypted. This can be produced by encrypting an already signed
248message: see the examples section.
249
250This version of the program only allows one signer per message but it
251will verify multiple signers on received messages. Some S/MIME clients
252choke if a message contains multiple signers. It is possible to sign
253messages "in parallel" by signing an already signed message.
254
255The options B<-encrypt> and B<-decrypt> reflect common usage in S/MIME
256clients. Strictly speaking these process PKCS#7 enveloped data: PKCS#7
257encrypted data is used for other purposes.
258
259=head1 EXIT CODES
260
261=over 4
262
263=item 0
264
265the operation was completely successfully.
266
267=item 1 
268
269an error occurred parsing the command options.
270
271=item 2
272
273one of the input files could not be read.
274
275=item 3
276
277an error occurred creating the PKCS#7 file or when reading the MIME
278message.
279
280=item 4
281
282an error occurred decrypting or verifying the message.
283
284=item 5
285
286the message was verified correctly but an error occurred writing out
287the signers certificates.
288
289=back
290
291=head1 EXAMPLES
292
293Create a cleartext signed message:
294
295 openssl smime -sign -in message.txt -text -out mail.msg \
296	-signer mycert.pem
297
298Create and opaque signed message
299
300 openssl smime -sign -in message.txt -text -out mail.msg -nodetach \
301	-signer mycert.pem
302
303Create a signed message, include some additional certificates and
304read the private key from another file:
305
306 openssl smime -sign -in in.txt -text -out mail.msg \
307	-signer mycert.pem -inkey mykey.pem -certfile mycerts.pem
308
309Send a signed message under Unix directly to sendmail, including headers:
310
311 openssl smime -sign -in in.txt -text -signer mycert.pem \
312	-from steve@openssl.org -to someone@somewhere \
313	-subject "Signed message" | sendmail someone@somewhere
314
315Verify a message and extract the signer's certificate if successful:
316
317 openssl smime -verify -in mail.msg -signer user.pem -out signedtext.txt
318
319Send encrypted mail using triple DES:
320
321 openssl smime -encrypt -in in.txt -from steve@openssl.org \
322	-to someone@somewhere -subject "Encrypted message" \
323	-des3 user.pem -out mail.msg
324
325Sign and encrypt mail:
326
327 openssl smime -sign -in ml.txt -signer my.pem -text \
328	| openssl smime -encrypt -out mail.msg \
329	-from steve@openssl.org -to someone@somewhere \
330	-subject "Signed and Encrypted message" -des3 user.pem
331
332Note: the encryption command does not include the B<-text> option because the message
333being encrypted already has MIME headers.
334
335Decrypt mail:
336
337 openssl smime -decrypt -in mail.msg -recip mycert.pem -inkey key.pem
338
339The output from Netscape form signing is a PKCS#7 structure with the
340detached signature format. You can use this program to verify the
341signature by line wrapping the base64 encoded structure and surrounding
342it with:
343
344 -----BEGIN PKCS7----
345 -----END PKCS7----
346
347and using the command, 
348
349 openssl smime -verify -inform PEM -in signature.pem -content content.txt
350
351alternatively you can base64 decode the signature and use
352
353 openssl smime -verify -inform DER -in signature.der -content content.txt
354
355=head1 BUGS
356
357The MIME parser isn't very clever: it seems to handle most messages that I've thrown
358at it but it may choke on others.
359
360The code currently will only write out the signer's certificate to a file: if the
361signer has a separate encryption certificate this must be manually extracted. There
362should be some heuristic that determines the correct encryption certificate.
363
364Ideally a database should be maintained of a certificates for each email address.
365
366The code doesn't currently take note of the permitted symmetric encryption
367algorithms as supplied in the SMIMECapabilities signed attribute. this means the
368user has to manually include the correct encryption algorithm. It should store
369the list of permitted ciphers in a database and only use those.
370
371No revocation checking is done on the signer's certificate.
372
373The current code can only handle S/MIME v2 messages, the more complex S/MIME v3
374structures may cause parsing errors.
375
376=cut
377