p11tool(1) User Commands p11tool(1)
NAME
p11tool - GnuTLS PKCS #11 tool
SYNOPSIS
p11tool [-flags] [-flag [value]] [--option-name[[=| ]value]] [url]
Operands and options may be intermixed. They will be reordered.
DESCRIPTION
Program that allows operations on PKCS #11 smart cards and security mod-
ules.
To use PKCS #11 tokens with GnuTLS the p11-kit configuration files need
to be setup. That is create a .module file in /etc/pkcs11/modules with
the contents 'module: /path/to/pkcs11.so'. Alternatively the configura-
tion file /etc/gnutls/pkcs11.conf has to exist and contain a number of
lines of the form 'load=/usr/lib/opensc-pkcs11.so'.
You can provide the PIN to be used for the PKCS #11 operations with the
environment variables GNUTLS_PIN and GNUTLS_SO_PIN.
OPTIONS
Tokens
--list-tokens List all available tokens.
--list-token-urls List the URLs available tokens.
This is a more compact version of --list-tokens.
--list-mechanisms List all available mechanisms in a token.
--initialize Initializes a PKCS #11 token.
--initialize-pin Initializes/Resets a PKCS #11 token user PIN.
--initialize-so-pin Initializes/Resets a PKCS #11 token security officer
PIN.
This initializes the security officer's PIN. When used non-interactively
use the GNUTLS_NEW_SO_PIN environment variables to initialize SO's PIN.
--set-pin=str Specify the PIN to use on token operations.
Alternatively the GNUTLS_PIN environment variable may be used.
--set-so-pin=str Specify the Security Officer's PIN to use on token ini-
tialization.
Alternatively the GNUTLS_SO_PIN environment variable may be used.
Object listing
--list-all List all available objects in a token.
All objects available in the token will be listed. That includes objects
which are potentially unaccessible using this tool.
--list-all-certs List all available certificates in a token.
That option will also provide more information on the certificates, for
example, expand the attached extensions in a trust token (like
p11-kit-trust).
--list-certs List all certificates that have an associated private key.
That option will only display certificates which have a private key as-
sociated with them (share the same ID).
--list-all-privkeys List all available private keys in a token.
Lists all the private keys in a token that match the specified URL.
--list-privkeys This is an alias for the --list-all-privkeys option.
--list-keys This is an alias for the --list-all-privkeys option.
--list-all-trusted List all available certificates marked as trusted.
--export Export the object specified by the URL. This option must not
appear in combination with any of the following options: export-stapled,
export-chain, export-pubkey.
--export-stapled Export the certificate object specified by the URL.
This option must not appear in combination with any of the following op-
tions: export, export-chain, export-pubkey.
Exports the certificate specified by the URL while including any at-
tached extensions to it. Since attached extensions are a p11-kit exten-
sion, this option is only available on p11-kit registered trust modules.
--export-chain Export the certificate specified by the URL and its chain
of trust. This option must not appear in combination with any of the
following options: export-stapled, export, export-pubkey.
Exports the certificate specified by the URL and generates its chain of
trust based on the stored certificates in the module.
--export-pubkey Export the public key for a private key. This option
must not appear in combination with any of the following options: ex-
port-stapled, export, export-chain.
Exports the public key for the specified private key
--info List information on an available object in a token.
--trusted This is an alias for the --mark-trusted option.
--distrusted This is an alias for the --mark-distrusted option.
Key generation
--generate-privkey=str Generate private-public key pair of given type.
Generates a private-public key pair in the specified token. Acceptable
types are RSA, ECDSA, Ed25519, and DSA. Should be combined with
--sec-param or --bits.
--generate-rsa Generate an RSA private-public key pair.
Generates an RSA private-public key pair on the specified token. Should
be combined with --sec-param or --bits.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
--generate-dsa Generate a DSA private-public key pair.
Generates a DSA private-public key pair on the specified token. Should
be combined with --sec-param or --bits.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
--generate-ecc Generate an ECDSA private-public key pair.
Generates an ECDSA private-public key pair on the specified token.
Should be combined with --curve, --sec-param or --bits.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
--bits=num Specify the number of bits for the key generate. This option
takes an integer number as its argument.
For applications which have no key-size restrictions the --sec-param op-
tion is recommended, as the sec-param levels will adapt to the accept-
able security levels with the new versions of gnutls.
--curve=str Specify the curve used for EC key generation.
Supported values are secp192r1, secp224r1, secp256r1, secp384r1 and
secp521r1.
--sec-param=security parameter Specify the security level.
This is alternative to the bits option. Available options are [low,
legacy, medium, high, ultra].
Writing objects
--set-id=str Set the CKA_ID (in hex) for the specified by the URL ob-
ject. This option must not appear in combination with any of the fol-
lowing options: write.
Modifies or sets the CKA_ID in the specified by the URL object. The ID
should be specified in hexadecimal format without a '0x' prefix.
--set-label=str Set the CKA_LABEL for the specified by the URL object.
This option must not appear in combination with any of the following op-
tions: write, set-id.
Modifies or sets the CKA_LABEL in the specified by the URL object
--write Writes the loaded objects to a PKCS #11 token.
It can be used to write private, public keys, certificates or secret
keys to a token. Must be combined with one of --load-privkey,
--load-pubkey, --load-certificate option.
When writing a certificate object, its CKA_ID is set to the same CKA_ID
of the corresponding public key, if it exists on the token; otherwise it
will be derived from the X.509 Subject Key Identifier of the certifi-
cate. If this behavior is undesired, write the public key to the token
beforehand.
--delete Deletes the objects matching the given PKCS #11 URL.
--label=str Sets a label for the write operation.
--id=str Sets an ID for the write operation.
Sets the CKA_ID to be set by the write operation. The ID should be spec-
ified in hexadecimal format without a '0x' prefix.
--mark-wrap, --no-mark-wrap Marks the generated key to be a wrapping
key. The no-mark-wrap form will disable the option.
Marks the generated key with the CKA_WRAP flag.
--mark-trusted, --no-mark-trusted Marks the object to be written as
trusted. This option must not appear in combination with any of the
following options: mark-distrusted. The no-mark-trusted form will dis-
able the option.
Marks the object to be generated/written with the CKA_TRUST flag.
--mark-distrusted When retrieving objects, it requires the objects to be
distrusted. This option must not appear in combination with any of the
following options: mark-trusted.
Ensures that the objects retrieved have the CKA_X_TRUST flag. This is
p11-kit trust module extension, thus this flag is only valid with
p11-kit registered trust modules.
--mark-decrypt, --no-mark-decrypt Marks the object to be written for de-
cryption. The no-mark-decrypt form will disable the option.
Marks the object to be generated/written with the CKA_DECRYPT flag set
to true.
--mark-sign, --no-mark-sign Marks the object to be written for signature
generation. The no-mark-sign form will disable the option.
Marks the object to be generated/written with the CKA_SIGN flag set to
true.
--mark-ca, --no-mark-ca Marks the object to be written as a CA. The
no-mark-ca form will disable the option.
Marks the object to be generated/written with the CKA_CERTIFICATE_CATE-
GORY as CA.
--mark-private, --no-mark-private Marks the object to be written as pri-
vate. The no-mark-private form will disable the option.
Marks the object to be generated/written with the CKA_PRIVATE flag. The
written object will require a PIN to be used.
--ca This is an alias for the --mark-ca option.
--private This is an alias for the --mark-private option.
--mark-always-authenticate, --no-mark-always-authenticate Marks the ob-
ject to be written as always authenticate. The no-mark-always-authenti-
cate form will disable the option.
Marks the object to be generated/written with the CKA_ALWAYS_AUTHENTI-
CATE flag. The written object will Mark the object as requiring authen-
tication (pin entry) before every operation.
--secret-key=str Provide a hex encoded secret key.
This secret key will be written to the module if --write is specified.
--load-privkey=file Private key file to use.
--load-pubkey=file Public key file to use.
--load-certificate=file Certificate file to use.
Other options
-d num, --debug=num Enable debugging. This option takes an integer num-
ber as its argument. The value of num is constrained to being:
in the range 0 through 9999
Specifies the debug level.
--outfile=str Output file.
--login, --no-login Force (user) login to token. The no-login form will
disable the option.
--so-login, --no-so-login Force security officer login to token. The
no-so-login form will disable the option.
Forces login to the token as security officer (admin).
--admin-login This is an alias for the --so-login option.
--test-sign Tests the signature operation of the provided object.
It can be used to test the correct operation of the signature operation.
If both a private and a public key are available this operation will
sign and verify the signed data.
--sign-params=str Sign with a specific signature algorithm.
This option can be combined with --test-sign, to sign with a specific
signature algorithm variant. The only option supported is 'RSA-PSS', and
should be specified in order to use RSA-PSS signature on RSA keys.
--hash=str Hash algorithm to use for signing.
This option can be combined with test-sign. Available hash functions are
SHA1, RMD160, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512, SHA3-224, SHA3-256, SHA3-384,
SHA3-512.
--generate-random=num Generate random data. This option takes an inte-
ger number as its argument.
Asks the token to generate a number of bytes of random bytes.
-8, --pkcs8 Use PKCS #8 format for private keys.
--inder, --no-inder Use DER/RAW format for input. The no-inder form
will disable the option.
Use DER/RAW format for input certificates and private keys.
--inraw This is an alias for the --inder option.
--outder, --no-outder Use DER format for output certificates, private
keys, and DH parameters. The no-outder form will disable the option.
The output will be in DER or RAW format.
--outraw This is an alias for the --outder option.
--provider=file Specify the PKCS #11 provider library.
This will override the default options in /etc/gnutls/pkcs11.conf
--provider-opts=str Specify parameters for the PKCS #11 provider li-
brary.
This is a PKCS#11 internal option used by few modules.
Mainly for testing PKCS#11 modules.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
--detailed-url, --no-detailed-url Print detailed URLs. The no-de-
tailed-url form will disable the option.
--only-urls Print a compact listing using only the URLs.
--batch Disable all interaction with the tool.
In batch mode there will be no prompts, all parameters need to be speci-
fied on command line.
-v arg, --version=arg Output version of program and exit. The default
mode is `v', a simple version. The `c' mode will print copyright infor-
mation and `n' will print the full copyright notice.
-h, --help Display usage information and exit.
-!, --more-help Pass the extended usage information through a pager.
EXAMPLES
To view all tokens in your system use:
$ p11tool --list-tokens
To view all objects in a token use:
$ p11tool --login --list-all "pkcs11:TOKEN-URL"
To store a private key and a certificate in a token run:
$ p11tool --login --write "pkcs11:URL" --load-privkey key.pem --label "Mykey"
$ p11tool --login --write "pkcs11:URL" --load-certificate cert.pem --label "Mykey"
Note that some tokens require the same label to be used for the
certificate and its corresponding private key.
To generate an RSA private key inside the token use:
$ p11tool --login --generate-privkey rsa --bits 1024 --label "MyNewKey" --outfile MyNewKey.pub "pkcs11:TOKEN-URL"
The bits parameter in the above example is explicitly set because
some tokens only support limited choices in the bit length. The
output file is the corresponding public key. This key can be used
to general a certificate request with certtool.
certtool --generate-request --load-privkey "pkcs11:KEY-URL" --load-pubkey MyNewKey.pub --outfile request.pem
EXIT STATUS
One of the following exit values will be returned:
0 (EXIT_SUCCESS) Successful program execution.
1 (EXIT_FAILURE) The operation failed or the command syntax was not
valid.
SEE ALSO
certtool (1)
AUTHORS
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2020-2023 Free Software Foundation, and others all rights
reserved. This program is released under the terms of the GNU General
Public License, version 3 or later
BUGS
Please send bug reports to: bugs@gnutls.org
3.8.9 08 Feb 2025 p11tool(1)
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