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Installing CA with Random Serial Numbers v3

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Endi S. Dewata edited this page Feb 10, 2022 · 17 revisions

Overview (Under Construction)

This page describes the process to install a CA subsystem with Random Certificate Serial Numbers v3.

Installation Procedure

To install CA with random serial numbers v3, follow the normal CA installation procedure, then specify the parameters below.

To use random certificate serial numbers, add the following parameters in the [CA] section:

pki_cert_id_generator=random
pki_cert_id_length=159

The key certificate ID length (in bits) can be specified in the pki_cert_id_length parameter. By default it will be 160 bits.

Note: Currently NSS/JSS is only able to handle up to 159-bit serial numbers.

To use random certificate request IDs, add the following parameters in the [CA] section:

pki_request_id_generator=random

The certificate request ID length (in bits) can be specified in the pki_cert_request_id_length parameter. By default it will be 160 bits.

After installation the certificates will have random serial numbers, for example:

$ pki ca-cert-find
---------------
6 entries found
---------------
  Serial Number: 0x492def152c08aa04
  Subject DN: CN=CA Audit Signing Certificate,OU=pki-tomcat,O=EXAMPLE
  ...

  Serial Number: 0x92b092a77078824b
  Subject DN: CN=Subsystem Certificate,OU=pki-tomcat,O=EXAMPLE
  ...

  Serial Number: 0x9bacecd931a6af3a
  Subject DN: CN=CA Signing Certificate,OU=pki-tomcat,O=EXAMPLE
  ...

  Serial Number: 0x9dc4940abdf1ff1c
  Subject DN: CN=pki.example.com,OU=pki-tomcat,O=EXAMPLE
  ...

  Serial Number: 0xe0ff3db3b558df66
  Subject DN: CN=CA OCSP Signing Certificate,OU=pki-tomcat,O=EXAMPLE
  ...

  Serial Number: 0xe29c6e419c9454b6
  Subject DN: CN=PKI Administrator,E=caadmin@example.com,OU=pki-tomcat,O=EXAMPLE
  ...
----------------------------
Number of entries returned 6
----------------------------

The certificate requests will also use random IDs, for example:

$ pki -n caadmin ca-cert-request-find
-----------------
6 entries matched
-----------------
  Request ID: 0x1b201c63214ddc28
  ...

  Request ID: 0x2058a767dc1639d7
  ...

  Request ID: 0x399ef0fb529b5fad
  ...

  Request ID: 0x6c524421dde25ee6
  ...

  Request ID: 0xa9fcd098a224880f
  ...

  Request ID: 0xd6072b757fa9964d
  ...
----------------------------
Number of entries returned 6
----------------------------
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