community.crypto.x509_certificate_convert module – Convert X.509 certificates

Note

This module is part of the community.crypto collection (version 2.26.5).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.crypto. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.crypto.x509_certificate_convert.

New in community.crypto 2.19.0

Synopsis

  • This module allows to convert X.509 certificates between different formats.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

attributes

aliases: attr

string

The attributes the resulting filesystem object should have.

To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system.

This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr.

The = operator is assumed as default, otherwise + or - operators need to be included in the string.

backup

boolean

Create a backup file including a timestamp so you can get the original X.509 certificate back if you overwrote it with a new one by accident.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

dest_path

path / required

Name of the file in which the generated TLS/SSL X.509 certificate will be written.

format

string / required

Determines which format the destination X.509 certificate should be written in.

Please note that not every key can be exported in any format, and that not every format supports encryption.

Choices:

  • "pem"

  • "der"

group

string

Name of the group that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown.

When left unspecified, it uses the current group of the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership.

mode

any

The permissions the resulting filesystem object should have.

For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must give Ansible enough information to parse them correctly. For consistent results, quote octal numbers (for example, '644' or '1777') so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number. Adding a leading zero (for example, 0755) works sometimes, but can fail in loops and some other circumstances.

Giving Ansible a number without following either of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results.

As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, u+rwx or u=rw,g=r,o=r).

If mode is not specified and the destination filesystem object does not exist, the default umask on the system will be used when setting the mode for the newly created filesystem object.

If mode is not specified and the destination filesystem object does exist, the mode of the existing filesystem object will be used.

Specifying mode is the best way to ensure filesystem objects are created with the correct permissions. See CVE-2020-1736 for further details.

owner

string

Name of the user that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown.

When left unspecified, it uses the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership.

Specifying a numeric username will be assumed to be a user ID and not a username. Avoid numeric usernames to avoid this confusion.

selevel

string

The level part of the SELinux filesystem object context.

This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the range.

When set to _default, it will use the level portion of the policy if available.

serole

string

The role part of the SELinux filesystem object context.

When set to _default, it will use the role portion of the policy if available.

setype

string

The type part of the SELinux filesystem object context.

When set to _default, it will use the type portion of the policy if available.

seuser

string

The user part of the SELinux filesystem object context.

By default it uses the system policy, where applicable.

When set to _default, it will use the user portion of the policy if available.

src_content

string

The content of the file containing the X.509 certificate to convert.

This must be text. If you are not sure that the input file is PEM, you must Base64 encode the value and set src_content_base64=true. You can use the ansible.builtin.b64encode filter plugin for this.

Exactly one of src_path or src_content must be specified.

src_content_base64

boolean

If set to true when src_content is provided, the module assumes that the value of src_content is Base64 encoded.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

src_path

path

Name of the file containing the X.509 certificate to convert.

Exactly one of src_path or src_content must be specified.

strict

boolean

If the input is a PEM file, ensure that it contains a single PEM object, that the header and footer match, and are of type CERTIFICATE or X509 CERTIFICATE.

See also the verify_cert_parsable option, which checks whether the certificate is parsable.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

unsafe_writes

boolean

Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem object.

By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem objects, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted filesystem objects, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner.

This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating filesystem objects when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn’t force Ansible to perform unsafe writes).

IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

verify_cert_parsable

boolean

added in community.crypto 2.23.0

If set to true, ensures that the certificate can be parsed.

To ensure that a PEM file does not contain multiple certificates, use the strict option.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

Attributes

Attribute

Support

Description

check_mode

Support: full

Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target.

diff_mode

Support: none

Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode.

idempotent

Support: full

When run twice in a row outside check mode, with the same arguments, the second invocation indicates no change.

This assumes that the system controlled/queried by the module has not changed in a relevant way.

safe_file_operations

Support: full

Uses Ansible’s strict file operation functions to ensure proper permissions and avoid data corruption.

See Also

See also

ansible.builtin.b64encode filter plugin

Encode a string as Base64.

community.crypto.x509_certificate

Generate and/or check OpenSSL certificates.

community.crypto.x509_certificate_pipe

Generate and/or check OpenSSL certificates.

community.crypto.x509_certificate_info

Provide information of OpenSSL X.509 certificates.

Examples

---
- name: Convert PEM X.509 certificate to DER format
  community.crypto.x509_certificate_convert:
    src_path: /etc/ssl/cert/ansible.com.pem
    dest_path: /etc/ssl/cert/ansible.com.der
    format: der

Return Values

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

Key

Description

backup_file

string

Name of backup file created.

Returned: changed and if backup is true

Sample: "/path/to/cert.pem.2019-03-09@11:22~"

Authors

  • Felix Fontein (@felixfontein)