Question

I am working with O’Reilly’s book on SSL, which uses openSSL for its examples.

After creating a configuration file:

[ ca ]
default_ca = mobileCA

[ mobileCA ]
dir = /users/crodgers/src/sds2mobile/Server/CA
certificate = $dir/cacert.pem
database = $dir/index.txt
new_certs_dir = $dir/certs
private_key = $dir/private/key.pem
serial = $dir/serial

default_crl_days = 7
default_days = 365
default_md = md5

policy = mobile_CA_policy
x509_extensions = certificate_extensions

[ mobileCA_policy ]
commonName = SDS/2 Mobile Certificate
stateOrProvinceName = Nebraska
countryName = US
emailAddress = [e-mail]
organizationName = Design Data

[ certificate_extensions ]
basicConstraints = CA:false

[ req ]
default_bits = 2048
default_keyfile = /users/crodgers/src/sds2mobile/Server/CA/private/key.pem
default_md = md5

prompt = no
distinguished_name = root_ca_distinguished_name

x509_extensions = root_ca_extensions

[ root_ca_distinguished_name ]
commonName = Root Certificate
stateOrProvinceName = Nebraska
countryName = US
emailAddress = [e-mail]
organizationName = Design Data

[ root_ca_extensions ]
basicConstraints = CA:true

The user is instructed to enter the following command:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa -out cacert.pem -outform PEM

This is supposed to create a self-signed root certificate.

This command gives me the -help output. I’m assuming something in the command is incorrect, but have been unable to narrow down what.

Currently working in Ubuntu 10.04 and openSSL 0.9.8k

Answer 1

You’re missing the RSA key size, e.g. -newkey rsa:1024 for a 1024-bit key.