community.crypto.openssl_csr_pipe module – Generate OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

Note

This module is part of the community.crypto collection (version 2.22.3).

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.openssl_csr_pipe.

New in community.crypto 1.3.0

Synopsis

  • Please note that the module regenerates an existing CSR if it does not match the module’s options, or if it seems to be corrupt.

  • This module allows one to (re)generate OpenSSL certificate signing requests.

  • This module supports the subjectAltName, keyUsage, extendedKeyUsage, basicConstraints and OCSP Must Staple extensions.

Requirements

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

  • cryptography >= 1.3

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

authority_cert_issuer

list / elements=string

Names that will be present in the authority cert issuer field of the certificate signing request.

Values must be prefixed by their options. (That is, email, URI, DNS, RID, IP, dirName, otherName, and the ones specific to your CA)

Example: DNS:ca.example.org

If specified, authority_cert_serial_number must also be specified.

Please note that commercial CAs ignore this value, respectively use a value of their own choice. Specifying this option is mostly useful for self-signed certificates or for own CAs.

Note that this is only supported if the cryptography backend is used!

The AuthorityKeyIdentifier extension will only be added if at least one of authority_key_identifier, authority_cert_issuer and authority_cert_serial_number is specified.

authority_cert_serial_number

integer

The authority cert serial number.

If specified, authority_cert_issuer must also be specified.

Note that this is only supported if the cryptography backend is used!

Please note that commercial CAs ignore this value, respectively use a value of their own choice. Specifying this option is mostly useful for self-signed certificates or for own CAs.

The AuthorityKeyIdentifier extension will only be added if at least one of authority_key_identifier, authority_cert_issuer and authority_cert_serial_number is specified.

This option accepts an integer. If you want to provide serial numbers as colon-separated hex strings, such as 11:22:33, you need to convert them to an integer with community.crypto.parse_serial.

authority_key_identifier

string

The authority key identifier as a hex string, where two bytes are separated by colons.

Example: 00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff:00:11:22:33

Please note that commercial CAs ignore this value, respectively use a value of their own choice. Specifying this option is mostly useful for self-signed certificates or for own CAs.

Note that this is only supported if the cryptography backend is used!

The AuthorityKeyIdentifier extension will only be added if at least one of authority_key_identifier, authority_cert_issuer and authority_cert_serial_number is specified.

basic_constraints

aliases: basicConstraints

list / elements=string

Indicates basic constraints, such as if the certificate is a CA.

basic_constraints_critical

aliases: basicConstraints_critical

boolean

Should the basicConstraints extension be considered as critical.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

common_name

aliases: CN, commonName

string

The commonName field of the certificate signing request subject.

content

string

The existing CSR.

country_name

aliases: C, countryName

string

The countryName field of the certificate signing request subject.

create_subject_key_identifier

boolean

Create the Subject Key Identifier from the public key.

Please note that commercial CAs can ignore the value, respectively use a value of their own choice instead. Specifying this option is mostly useful for self-signed certificates or for own CAs.

Note that this is only supported if the cryptography backend is used!

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

crl_distribution_points

list / elements=dictionary

added in community.crypto 1.4.0

Allows to specify one or multiple CRL distribution points.

Only supported by the cryptography backend.

crl_issuer

list / elements=string

Information about the issuer of the CRL.

full_name

list / elements=string

Describes how the CRL can be retrieved.

Mutually exclusive with crl_distribution_points[].relative_name.

Example: URI:https://ca.example.com/revocations.crl.

reasons

list / elements=string

List of reasons that this distribution point can be used for when performing revocation checks.

Choices:

  • "key_compromise"

  • "ca_compromise"

  • "affiliation_changed"

  • "superseded"

  • "cessation_of_operation"

  • "certificate_hold"

  • "privilege_withdrawn"

  • "aa_compromise"

relative_name

list / elements=string

Describes how the CRL can be retrieved relative to the CRL issuer.

Mutually exclusive with crl_distribution_points[].full_name.

Example: /CN=example.com.

Can only be used when cryptography >= 1.6 is installed.

digest

string

The digest used when signing the certificate signing request with the private key.

Default: "sha256"

email_address

aliases: E, emailAddress

string

The emailAddress field of the certificate signing request subject.

extended_key_usage

aliases: extKeyUsage, extendedKeyUsage

list / elements=string

Additional restrictions (for example client authentication, server authentication) on the allowed purposes for which the public key may be used.

extended_key_usage_critical

aliases: extKeyUsage_critical, extendedKeyUsage_critical

boolean

Should the extkeyUsage extension be considered as critical.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

key_usage

aliases: keyUsage

list / elements=string

This defines the purpose (for example encipherment, signature, certificate signing) of the key contained in the certificate.

key_usage_critical

aliases: keyUsage_critical

boolean

Should the keyUsage extension be considered as critical.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

locality_name

aliases: L, localityName

string

The localityName field of the certificate signing request subject.

name_constraints_critical

boolean

Should the Name Constraints extension be considered as critical.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

name_constraints_excluded

list / elements=string

For CA certificates, this specifies a list of identifiers which describe subtrees of names that this CA is not allowed to issue certificates for.

Values must be prefixed by their options. (That is, email, URI, DNS, RID, IP, dirName, otherName, and the ones specific to your CA).

name_constraints_permitted

list / elements=string

For CA certificates, this specifies a list of identifiers which describe subtrees of names that this CA is allowed to issue certificates for.

Values must be prefixed by their options. (That is, email, URI, DNS, RID, IP, dirName, otherName, and the ones specific to your CA).

ocsp_must_staple

aliases: ocspMustStaple

boolean

Indicates that the certificate should contain the OCSP Must Staple extension (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7633).

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

ocsp_must_staple_critical

aliases: ocspMustStaple_critical

boolean

Should the OCSP Must Staple extension be considered as critical.

Note that according to the RFC, this extension should not be marked as critical, as old clients not knowing about OCSP Must Staple are required to reject such certificates (see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7633#section-4).

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

organization_name

aliases: O, organizationName

string

The organizationName field of the certificate signing request subject.

organizational_unit_name

aliases: OU, organizationalUnitName

string

The organizationalUnitName field of the certificate signing request subject.

privatekey_content

string

The content of the private key to use when signing the certificate signing request.

Either privatekey_path or privatekey_content must be specified, but not both.

privatekey_passphrase

string

The passphrase for the private key.

This is required if the private key is password protected.

privatekey_path

path

The path to the private key to use when signing the certificate signing request.

Either privatekey_path or privatekey_content must be specified, but not both.

select_crypto_backend

string

Determines which crypto backend to use.

The default choice is auto, which tries to use cryptography if available.

If set to cryptography, will try to use the cryptography library.

Choices:

  • "auto" ← (default)

  • "cryptography"

state_or_province_name

aliases: ST, stateOrProvinceName

string

The stateOrProvinceName field of the certificate signing request subject.

subject

dictionary

Key/value pairs that will be present in the subject name field of the certificate signing request.

If you need to specify more than one value with the same key, use a list as value.

If the order of the components is important, use subject_ordered.

Mutually exclusive with subject_ordered.

subject_alt_name

aliases: subjectAltName

list / elements=string

Subject Alternative Name (SAN) extension to attach to the certificate signing request.

Values must be prefixed by their options. (These are email, URI, DNS, RID, IP, dirName, otherName, and the ones specific to your CA).

Note that if no SAN is specified, but a common name, the common name will be added as a SAN except if use_common_name_for_san is set to false.

More at https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5280#section-4.2.1.6.

subject_alt_name_critical

aliases: subjectAltName_critical

boolean

Should the subjectAltName extension be considered as critical.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

subject_key_identifier

string

The subject key identifier as a hex string, where two bytes are separated by colons.

Example: 00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff:00:11:22:33

Please note that commercial CAs ignore this value, respectively use a value of their own choice. Specifying this option is mostly useful for self-signed certificates or for own CAs.

Note that this option can only be used if create_subject_key_identifier is false.

Note that this is only supported if the cryptography backend is used!

subject_ordered

list / elements=dictionary

added in community.crypto 2.0.0

A list of dictionaries, where every dictionary must contain one key/value pair. This key/value pair will be present in the subject name field of the certificate signing request.

If you want to specify more than one value with the same key in a row, you can use a list as value.

Mutually exclusive with subject, and any other subject field option, such as country_name, state_or_province_name, locality_name, organization_name, organizational_unit_name, common_name, or email_address.

use_common_name_for_san

aliases: useCommonNameForSAN

boolean

If set to true, the module will fill the common name in for subject_alt_name with DNS: prefix if no SAN is specified.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

version

integer

The version of the certificate signing request.

The only allowed value according to RFC 2986 is 1.

This option no longer accepts unsupported values since community.crypto 2.0.0.

Choices:

  • 1 ← (default)

Attributes

Attribute

Support

Description

check_mode

Support: full

Currently in check mode, private keys will not be (re-)generated, only the changed status is set. This will change in community.crypto 3.0.0.

From community.crypto 3.0.0 on, the module will ignore check mode and always behave as if check mode is not active. If you think this breaks your use-case of this module, please create an issue in the community.crypto repository.

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

diff_mode

Support: full

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

Notes

Note

  • If the certificate signing request already exists it will be checked whether subjectAltName, keyUsage, extendedKeyUsage and basicConstraints only contain the requested values, whether OCSP Must Staple is as requested, and if the request was signed by the given private key.

See Also

See also

community.crypto.openssl_csr

Generate OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request (CSR).

community.crypto.x509_certificate

Generate and/or check OpenSSL certificates.

community.crypto.x509_certificate_pipe

Generate and/or check OpenSSL certificates.

community.crypto.openssl_dhparam

Generate OpenSSL Diffie-Hellman Parameters.

community.crypto.openssl_pkcs12

Generate OpenSSL PKCS#12 archive.

community.crypto.openssl_privatekey

Generate OpenSSL private keys.

community.crypto.openssl_privatekey_pipe

Generate OpenSSL private keys without disk access.

community.crypto.openssl_publickey

Generate an OpenSSL public key from its private key.

community.crypto.openssl_csr_info

Provide information of OpenSSL Certificate Signing Requests (CSR).

community.crypto.parse_serial filter plugin

Convert a serial number as a colon-separated list of hex numbers to an integer.

Examples

- name: Generate an OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request
  community.crypto.openssl_csr_pipe:
    privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    common_name: www.ansible.com
  register: result
- name: Print CSR
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: result.csr

- name: Generate an OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request with an inline CSR
  community.crypto.openssl_csr:
    content: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.file', '/etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr') }}"
    privatekey_content: "{{ private_key_content }}"
    common_name: www.ansible.com
  register: result
- name: Store CSR
  ansible.builtin.copy:
    dest: /etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr
    content: "{{ result.csr }}"
  when: result is changed

Return Values

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

Key

Description

basicConstraints

list / elements=string

Indicates if the certificate belongs to a CA

Returned: changed or success

Sample: ["CA:TRUE", "pathLenConstraint:0"]

csr

string

The (current or generated) CSR’s content.

Returned: changed or success

extendedKeyUsage

list / elements=string

Additional restriction on the public key purposes

Returned: changed or success

Sample: ["clientAuth"]

keyUsage

list / elements=string

Purpose for which the public key may be used

Returned: changed or success

Sample: ["digitalSignature", "keyAgreement"]

name_constraints_excluded

list / elements=string

List of excluded subtrees the CA cannot sign certificates for.

Returned: changed or success

Sample: ["email:.com"]

name_constraints_permitted

list / elements=string

List of permitted subtrees to sign certificates for.

Returned: changed or success

Sample: ["email:.somedomain.com"]

ocsp_must_staple

boolean

Indicates whether the certificate has the OCSP Must Staple feature enabled

Returned: changed or success

Sample: false

privatekey

string

Path to the TLS/SSL private key the CSR was generated for

Will be none if the private key has been provided in privatekey_content.

Returned: changed or success

Sample: "/etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem"

subject

list / elements=list

A list of the subject tuples attached to the CSR

Returned: changed or success

Sample: [["CN", "www.ansible.com"], ["O", "Ansible"]]

subjectAltName

list / elements=string

The alternative names this CSR is valid for

Returned: changed or success

Sample: ["DNS:www.ansible.com", "DNS:m.ansible.com"]

Authors

  • Yanis Guenane (@Spredzy)

  • Felix Fontein (@felixfontein)