# openssl_csr – Generate OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

New in version 2.4.

- Synopsis
- Requirements
- Parameters
- Notes
- See Also
- Examples
- Return Values
- Status

## Synopsis

- This module allows one to (re)generate OpenSSL certificate signing requests.
- It uses the pyOpenSSL python library to interact with openssl. This module supports the subjectAltName, keyUsage, extendedKeyUsage, basicConstraints and OCSP Must Staple extensions.
- Please note that the module regenerates existing CSR if it doesn’t match the module’s options, or if it seems to be corrupt. If you are concerned that this could overwrite your existing CSR, consider using the backup option.
- The module can use the cryptography Python library, or the pyOpenSSL Python library. By default, it tries to detect which one is available. This can be overridden with the select_crypto_backend option. Please note that the PyOpenSSL backend was deprecated in Ansible 2.9 and will be removed in Ansible 2.13.”

## Requirements

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

- Either cryptography >= 1.3
- Or pyOpenSSL >= 0.15

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments
--- | --- | ---
attributes string |  | The attributes the resulting 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. The `=` operator is assumed as default, otherwise `+` or `-` operators need to be included in the string. aliases: attr

authority_cert_issuer
list / elements=string
added in 2.9

Names that will be present in the authority cert issuer field of the certificate signing request.
Values must be prefixed by their options. (i.e., `email`, `URI`, `DNS`, `RID`, `IP`, `dirName`, `otherName` and the ones specific to your CA)
Example: `DNS:ca.example.org`
If specified, authority_key_identifier 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` 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
added in 2.9

The authority cert serial number.
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` will only be added if at least one of authority_key_identifier, authority_cert_issuer and authority_cert_serial_number is specified.

authority_key_identifier
string
added in 2.9

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`
If specified, authority_cert_issuer 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` will only be added if at least one of authority_key_identifier, authority_cert_issuer and authority_cert_serial_number is specified.

backup
boolean
added in 2.8

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

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

basic_constraints list / elements=string added in 2.5 |  | Indicates basic constraints, such as if the certificate is a CA. aliases: basicConstraints

basic_constraints_critical
boolean
added in 2.5

Choices:
- no
- yes

Should the basicConstraints extension be considered as critical.
aliases: basicConstraints_critical

common_name string |  | The commonName field of the certificate signing request subject. aliases: CN, commonName
country_name string |  | The countryName field of the certificate signing request subject. aliases: C, countryName

create_subject_key_identifier
boolean
added in 2.9

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

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!

digest string | Default: "sha256" | The digest used when signing the certificate signing request with the private key.
email_address string |  | The emailAddress field of the certificate signing request subject. aliases: E, emailAddress
extended_key_usage list / elements=string |  | Additional restrictions (e.g. client authentication, server authentication) on the allowed purposes for which the public key may be used. aliases: extKeyUsage, extendedKeyUsage

extended_key_usage_critical
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes

Should the extkeyUsage extension be considered as critical.
aliases: extKeyUsage_critical, extendedKeyUsage_critical

force
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Should the certificate signing request be forced regenerated by this ansible module.

group string |  | Name of the group that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.
key_usage list / elements=string |  | This defines the purpose (e.g. encipherment, signature, certificate signing) of the key contained in the certificate. aliases: keyUsage

key_usage_critical
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes

Should the keyUsage extension be considered as critical.
aliases: keyUsage_critical

locality_name string |  | The localityName field of the certificate signing request subject. aliases: L, localityName

mode
string

The permissions the resulting file or directory should have.
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 Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, `u+rwx` or `u=rw,g=r,o=r`).
As of Ansible 2.6, the mode may also be the special string `preserve`.
When set to `preserve` the file will be given the same permissions as the source file.

ocsp_must_staple
boolean
added in 2.5

Choices:
- no
- yes

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

ocsp_must_staple_critical
boolean
added in 2.5

Choices:
- no
- yes

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).
aliases: ocspMustStaple_critical

organization_name string |  | The organizationName field of the certificate signing request subject. aliases: O, organizationName
organizational_unit_name string |  | The organizationalUnitName field of the certificate signing request subject. aliases: OU, organizationalUnitName
owner string |  | Name of the user that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.
path path / required |  | The name of the file into which the generated OpenSSL certificate signing request will be written.
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. Required if state is `present`.

select_crypto_backend
string
added in 2.8

Choices:
- auto ←
- cryptography
- pyopenssl

Determines which crypto backend to use.
The default choice is `auto`, which tries to use `cryptography` if available, and falls back to `pyopenssl`.
If set to `pyopenssl`, will try to use the pyOpenSSL library.
If set to `cryptography`, will try to use the cryptography library.
Please note that the `pyopenssl` backend has been deprecated in Ansible 2.9, and will be removed in Ansible 2.13. From that point on, only the `cryptography` backend will be available.

selevel string | Default: "s0" | The level part of the SELinux file 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 file context. When set to `_default`, it will use the `role` portion of the policy if available.
setype string |  | The type part of the SELinux file context. When set to `_default`, it will use the `type` portion of the policy if available.
seuser string |  | The user part of the SELinux file 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.

state
string

Choices:
- absent
- present ←

Whether the certificate signing request should exist or not, taking action if the state is different from what is stated.

state_or_province_name string |  | The stateOrProvinceName field of the certificate signing request subject. aliases: ST, stateOrProvinceName
subject dictionary added in 2.5 |  | 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.

subject_alt_name
list / elements=string

SAN extension to attach to the certificate signing request.
This can either be a 'comma separated string' or a YAML list.
Values must be prefixed by their options. (i.e., `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 `useCommonNameForSAN` is set to false.
More at https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5280#section-4.2.1.6.
aliases: subjectAltName

subject_alt_name_critical
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes

Should the subjectAltName extension be considered as critical.
aliases: subjectAltName_critical

subject_key_identifier
string
added in 2.9

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 `no`.
Note that this is only supported if the `cryptography` backend is used!

unsafe_writes
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

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

use_common_name_for_san
boolean
added in 2.8

Choices:
- no
- yes ←

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

version integer | Default: 1 | The version of the certificate signing request. The only allowed value according to RFC 2986 is 1.

## 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

openssl_certificate – Generate and/or check OpenSSL certificates
  The official documentation on the openssl_certificate module.
openssl_dhparam – Generate OpenSSL Diffie-Hellman Parameters
  The official documentation on the openssl_dhparam module.
openssl_pkcs12 – Generate OpenSSL PKCS#12 archive
  The official documentation on the openssl_pkcs12 module.
openssl_privatekey – Generate OpenSSL private keys
  The official documentation on the openssl_privatekey module.
openssl_publickey – Generate an OpenSSL public key from its private key
  The official documentation on the openssl_publickey module.

## Examples

    - name: Generate an OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request
      openssl_csr:
        path: /etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr
        privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
        common_name: www.ansible.com

    - name: Generate an OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request with a passphrase protected private key
      openssl_csr:
        path: /etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr
        privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
        privatekey_passphrase: ansible
        common_name: www.ansible.com

    - name: Generate an OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request with Subject information
      openssl_csr:
        path: /etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr
        privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
        country_name: FR
        organization_name: Ansible
        email_address: jdoe@ansible.com
        common_name: www.ansible.com

    - name: Generate an OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request with subjectAltName extension
      openssl_csr:
        path: /etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr
        privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
        subject_alt_name: 'DNS:www.ansible.com,DNS:m.ansible.com'

    - name: Generate an OpenSSL CSR with subjectAltName extension with dynamic list
      openssl_csr:
        path: /etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr
        privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
        subject_alt_name: "{{ item.value | map('regex_replace', '^', 'DNS:') | list }}"
      with_dict:
        dns_server:
        - www.ansible.com
        - m.ansible.com

    - name: Force regenerate an OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request
      openssl_csr:
        path: /etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr
        privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
        force: yes
        common_name: www.ansible.com

    - name: Generate an OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request with special key usages
      openssl_csr:
        path: /etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr
        privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
        common_name: www.ansible.com
        key_usage:
          - digitalSignature
          - keyAgreement
        extended_key_usage:
          - clientAuth

    - name: Generate an OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request with OCSP Must Staple
      openssl_csr:
        path: /etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr
        privatekey_path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
        common_name: www.ansible.com
        ocsp_must_staple: yes

## Return Values

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

Key | Returned | Description
--- | --- | ---
backup_file string | changed and if backup is `yes` | Name of backup file created. Sample: /path/to/www.ansible.com.csr.2019-03-09@11:22~
basicConstraints list / elements=string | changed or success | Indicates if the certificate belongs to a CA Sample: ['CA:TRUE', 'pathLenConstraint:0']
extendedKeyUsage list / elements=string | changed or success | Additional restriction on the public key purposes Sample: ['clientAuth']
filename string | changed or success | Path to the generated Certificate Signing Request Sample: /etc/ssl/csr/www.ansible.com.csr
keyUsage list / elements=string | changed or success | Purpose for which the public key may be used Sample: ['digitalSignature', 'keyAgreement']
ocsp_must_staple boolean | changed or success | Indicates whether the certificate has the OCSP Must Staple feature enabled
privatekey string | changed or success | Path to the TLS/SSL private key the CSR was generated for Sample: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
subject list / elements=list | changed or success | A list of the subject tuples attached to the CSR Sample: [('CN', 'www.ansible.com'), ('O', 'Ansible')]
subjectAltName list / elements=string | changed or success | The alternative names this CSR is valid for Sample: ['DNS:www.ansible.com', 'DNS:m.ansible.com']

## Status

- This module is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]
- This module is maintained by the Ansible Community. [community]

### Authors

- Yanis Guenane (@Spredzy)

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