What is a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)?

A Certificate Signing Request (CSR) is the request file to be sent to a Certification Authority (CA) when requesting an SSL certificate. The CSR is created along with the public/private key pair and contains the public key. Examples are provided below on how to generate a CSR, and take note that the private key generated along with the CSR should be kept secret. This should be generated on the server where the SSL certificate will be installed. Different web servers require the private key to be stored in different ways, but regardless, always remember to protect the private key. The CA will only need the CSR to generate and issue the SSL certificate and WILL NOT need the private key.

A Certificate Signing Request header looks like the following:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

and the footer looks like:

-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

Some CSRs may be generated with a header and footer like the following, but this is less common.

-----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

and the footer:

-----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

Certificate Signing Request data and contents

Note that the Certificate Signing Request Common Name will be an FQDN for an SSL server certificate, a human name for a personal client certificate, or an application name for an application client certificate.

How to generate or create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

Using openssl:

openssl req -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem -nodes

Note that -nodes means your private key will be plain text. Also, note that the key size specified in rsa:4096 must be at least 2048 to be secure. While 2048 is deemed secure, we recommend going ahead with 4096 key size.

If you prefer to use the Java keytool over openssl, see our article on generating a CSR with the Java keytool.

Adding a Subject Alternative Name (SAN) to the CSR

Depending on the Certification Authority (CA), SANs may or may not be supported in the CSR. Many CAs will expose an API allowing SANs to be included with the CSR or as a separate parameter. In the case of the former, you can add the to the CSR with an additional option to your OpenSSL command or by use of a configuration file. We’ll cover both.

To include SANs in your CSR with a configuration file, do the following:

1. Create a file named config.

[req]
distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name
req_extensions = v3_req
prompt = no
[req_distinguished_name]
C = US
ST = VA
L = Richmond
O = Some Org
OU = Some OU
CN = example.com
[v3_req]
keyUsage = keyEncipherment, dataEncipherment
extendedKeyUsage = serverAuth
subjectAltName = @alt_names
[alt_names]
DNS.1 = example.com
DNS.2 = www.example.com

2. Run the following openssl command:

openssl req -new -out example.csr -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -sha256 -keyout example.key -config config

3. Inspect your generated CSR for the SANs.

4. Submit your CSR to a Certification Authority listed below.

To include SANs in your CSR with a command line option, run the following openssl command:

openssl req -new -subj "/C=US/CN=example.com" -addext "subjectAltName = DNS:www.example.com" -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem

This will add the www.example.com subject alternative name to your CSR, and then pick up with step number 3 above to inspect and then submit your CSR.

Setting basicConstraints on the CSR

To set basic constraints on the CSR, use the -addext option when using OpenSSL. For example, to set the CA=false basic constraint on your CSR:

openssl req -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out req.pem -addext "basicConstraints=critical,CA:false"

Alternatively if the CSR is requesting an intermediate CA certificate, you would simple change false to true.

A few Certification Authorities to send your CSR to (in no particular order):

• The SSL Store
• Comodo
• Sectigo
• RapidSSL
• DigiCert
• Alternatively, make use of the Automated Certificate Management Environment (ACME) and use Let’s Encrypt to automate your certificate request process.

Decoding a Certificate Signing Request

You can decode a CSR with the following openssl command:

openssl req -in req.pem -noout -text

Alternatively, you can decode your CSR with our online CSR decoder tool.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has served you well and covered what a Certificate Signing Request is and how to generate a new CSR with openssl or keytool. Let us know in the comments if you need additional examples on CSR generation or if you have any questions that have not been covered in this post.