openssl_certificate - Generate and/or check OpenSSL certificates¶

New in version 2.4.

Synopsis
- Requirements
Parameters
Notes
Examples
Return Values
Status
Maintenance
- Author

Synopsis ¶

This module allows one to (re)generate OpenSSL certificates. It implements a notion of provider (ie. selfsigned, ownca, acme, assertonly) for your certificate. The ‘assertonly’ provider is intended for use cases where one is only interested in checking properties of a supplied certificate. The ‘ownca’ provider is intended for generate OpenSSL certificate signed with your own CA (Certificate Authority) certificate (self-signed certificate). Many properties that can be specified in this module are for validation of an existing or newly generated certificate. The proper place to specify them, if you want to receive a certificate with these properties is a CSR (Certificate Signing Request). It uses the pyOpenSSL python library to interact with OpenSSL.

Requirements ¶

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

python-pyOpenSSL >= 0.15 (if using selfsigned or assertonly provider)
acme-tiny (if using the acme provider)

Parameters ¶

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Comments
acme_accountkey_path		Path to the accountkey for the `acme` provider
acme_chain (added in 2.5)	Default: yes	Include the intermediate certificate to the generated certificate
acme_challenge_path		Path to the ACME challenge directory that is served on http://<HOST>:80/.well-known/acme-challenge/
attributes (added in 2.3)		Attributes the file or directory 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. `=` operator is assumed as default, otherwise `+` or `-` operators need to be included in the string. aliases: attr
csr_path		Path to the Certificate Signing Request (CSR) used to generate this certificate. This is not required in `assertonly` mode.
extended_key_usage		The extended_key_usage extension field must contain all these values. aliases: extendedKeyUsage
extended_key_usage_strict bool	Choices: no ← yes	If set to True, the extended_key_usage extension field must contain only these values. aliases: extendedKeyUsage_strict
force bool	Choices: no ← yes	Generate the certificate, even if it already exists.
group		Name of the group that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.
has_expired bool	Choices: no ← yes	Checks if the certificate is expired/not expired at the time the module is executed.
invalid_at		The certificate must be invalid at this point in time. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME.
issuer		Key/value pairs that must be present in the issuer name field of the certificate. If you need to specify more than one value with the same key, use a list as value.
issuer_strict bool (added in 2.5)	Choices: no ← yes	If set to True, the issuer field must contain only these values.
key_usage		The key_usage extension field must contain all these values. aliases: keyUsage
key_usage_strict bool	Choices: no ← yes	If set to True, the key_usage extension field must contain only these values. aliases: keyUsage_strict
mode		Mode the file or directory should be. For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must either add a leading zero so that Ansible's YAML parser knows it is an octal number (like `0644` or `01777`) or quote it (like `'644'` or `'1777'`) so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number. Giving Ansible a number without following one of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results. As of version 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, `u+rwx` or `u=rw,g=r,o=r`).
not_after		The certificate must expire at this point in time. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME. aliases: notAfter
not_before		The certificate must start to become valid at this point in time. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME. aliases: notBefore
ownca_digest (added in 2.7)	Default: sha256	Digest algorithm to be used for the `ownca` certificate.
ownca_not_after (added in 2.7)		The timestamp at which the certificate stops being valid. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME. If this value is not specified, certificate will stop being valid 10 years from now.
ownca_not_before (added in 2.7)		The timestamp at which the certificate starts being valid. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME. If this value is not specified, certificate will start being valid from now.
ownca_path (added in 2.7)		Remote absolute path of the CA (Certificate Authority) certificate.
ownca_privatekey_passphrase (added in 2.7)		The passphrase for the ownca_privatekey_path.
ownca_privatekey_path (added in 2.7)		Path to the CA (Certificate Authority) private key to use when signing the certificate.
ownca_version (added in 2.7)	Default: 3	Version of the `ownca` certificate. Nowadays it should almost always be `3`.
owner		Name of the user that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.
path required		Remote absolute path where the generated certificate file should be created or is already located.
privatekey_passphrase		The passphrase for the privatekey_path.
privatekey_path		Path to the private key to use when signing the certificate.
provider required	Choices: selfsigned ownca assertonly acme	Name of the provider to use to generate/retrieve the OpenSSL certificate. The `assertonly` provider will not generate files and fail if the certificate file is missing.
selevel	Default: s0	Level part of the SELinux file context. This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the `range`. `_default` feature works as for seuser.
selfsigned_digest	Default: sha256	Digest algorithm to be used when self-signing the certificate
selfsigned_not_after		The timestamp at which the certificate stops being valid. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME. If this value is not specified, certificate will stop being valid 10 years from now. aliases: selfsigned_notAfter
selfsigned_not_before		The timestamp at which the certificate starts being valid. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME. If this value is not specified, certificate will start being valid from now. aliases: selfsigned_notBefore
selfsigned_version (added in 2.5)	Default: 3	Version of the `selfsigned` certificate. Nowadays it should almost always be `3`.
serole		Role part of SELinux file context, `_default` feature works as for seuser.
setype		Type part of SELinux file context, `_default` feature works as for seuser.
seuser		User part of SELinux file context. Will default to system policy, if applicable. If set to `_default`, it will use the `user` portion of the policy if available.
signature_algorithms		list of algorithms that you would accept the certificate to be signed with (e.g. ['sha256WithRSAEncryption', 'sha512WithRSAEncryption']).
state	Choices: present ← absent	Whether the certificate should exist or not, taking action if the state is different from what is stated.
subject		Key/value pairs that must be present in the subject name field of the certificate. If you need to specify more than one value with the same key, use a list as value.
subject_alt_name		The subject_alt_name extension field must contain these values. aliases: subjectAltName
subject_alt_name_strict bool	Choices: no ← yes	If set to True, the subject_alt_name extension field must contain only these values. aliases: subjectAltName_strict
subject_strict bool (added in 2.5)	Choices: no ← yes	If set to True, the subject field must contain only these values.
unsafe_writes bool (added in 2.2)	Choices: no ← yes	By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target files, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted files, 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 files 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.
valid_at		The certificate must be valid at this point in time. The timestamp is formatted as an ASN.1 TIME.
valid_in		The certificate must still be valid in valid_in seconds from now.
version		Version of the certificate. Nowadays it should almost always be 3.

Notes ¶

Note

All ASN.1 TIME values should be specified following the YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ pattern. Date specified should be UTC. Minutes and seconds are mandatory.
For security reason, when you use ownca provider, you should NOT run openssl_certificate on a target machine, but on a dedicated CA machine. It is recommended not to store the CA private key on the target machine. Once signed, the certificate can be moved to the target machine.

Examples ¶

- name: Generate a Self Signed OpenSSL certificate
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/ansible.com.crt
    privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    csr_path: /etc/ssl/csr/ansible.com.csr
    provider: selfsigned

- name: Generate an OpenSSL certificate signed with your own CA certificate
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/ansible.com.crt
    csr_path: /etc/ssl/csr/ansible.com.csr
    ownca_path: /etc/ssl/crt/ansible_CA.crt
    ownca_privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible_CA.pem
    provider: ownca

- name: Generate a Let's Encrypt Certificate
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/ansible.com.crt
    csr_path: /etc/ssl/csr/ansible.com.csr
    provider: acme
    acme_accountkey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    acme_challenge_path: /etc/ssl/challenges/ansible.com/

- name: Force (re-)generate a new Let's Encrypt Certificate
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/ansible.com.crt
    csr_path: /etc/ssl/csr/ansible.com.csr
    provider: acme
    acme_accountkey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    acme_challenge_path: /etc/ssl/challenges/ansible.com/
    force: True

# Examples for some checks one could use the assertonly provider for:

# How to use the assertonly provider to implement and trigger your own custom certificate generation workflow:
- name: Check if a certificate is currently still valid, ignoring failures
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    has_expired: False
  ignore_errors: True
  register: validity_check

- name: Run custom task(s) to get a new, valid certificate in case the initial check failed
  command: superspecialSSL recreate /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
  when: validity_check.failed

- name: Check the new certificate again for validity with the same parameters, this time failing the play if it is still invalid
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    has_expired: False
  when: validity_check.failed

# Some other checks that assertonly could be used for:
- name: Verify that an existing certificate was issued by the Let's Encrypt CA and is currently still valid
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    issuer:
      O: Let's Encrypt
    has_expired: False

- name: Ensure that a certificate uses a modern signature algorithm (no SHA1, MD5 or DSA)
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    signature_algorithms:
      - sha224WithRSAEncryption
      - sha256WithRSAEncryption
      - sha384WithRSAEncryption
      - sha512WithRSAEncryption
      - sha224WithECDSAEncryption
      - sha256WithECDSAEncryption
      - sha384WithECDSAEncryption
      - sha512WithECDSAEncryption

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate belongs to the specified private key
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/example.com.pem
    provider: assertonly

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate is still valid at the winter solstice 2017
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    valid_at: 20171221162800Z

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate is still valid 2 weeks (1209600 seconds) from now
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    valid_in: 1209600

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate is only used for digital signatures and encrypting other keys
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    key_usage:
      - digitalSignature
      - keyEncipherment
    key_usage_strict: true

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate can be used for client authentication
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    extended_key_usage:
      - clientAuth

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate can only be used for client authentication and time stamping
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    extended_key_usage:
      - clientAuth
      - 1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.8
    extended_key_usage_strict: true

- name: Ensure that the existing certificate has a certain domain in its subjectAltName
  openssl_certificate:
    path: /etc/ssl/crt/example.com.crt
    provider: assertonly
    subject_alt_name:
      - www.example.com
      - test.example.com

Return Values ¶

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

Key	Returned	Description
filename string	changed or success	Path to the generated Certificate Sample: /etc/ssl/crt/www.ansible.com.crt

Status ¶

This module is flagged as preview which means that it is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface.

Maintenance ¶

This module is flagged as community which means that it is maintained by the Ansible Community. See Module Maintenance & Support for more info.

For a list of other modules that are also maintained by the Ansible Community, see here.

Author ¶

Yanis Guenane (@Spredzy)
Markus Teufelberger (@MarkusTeufelberger)

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