- lastproofread
2024-01-05
VyOS 1.4 changed the way in how encrytion keys or certificates are stored on the system. In the pre VyOS 1.4 era, certificates got stored under /config and every service referenced a file. That made copying a running configuration from system A to system B a bit harder, as you had to copy the files and their permissions by hand.
T3642
describes a new CLI subsystem that serves as a "certstore" to all services requiring any kind of encryption key(s). In short, public and private certificates are now stored in PKCS#8 format in the regular VyOS CLI. Keys can now be added, edited, and deleted using the regular set/edit/delete CLI commands.
VyOS not only can now manage certificates issued by 3rd party Certificate Authorities, it can also act as a CA on its own. You can create your own root CA and sign keys with it by making use of some simple op-mode commands.
Don't be afraid that you need to re-do your configuration. Key transformation is handled, as always, by our migration scripts, so this will be a smooth transition for you!
VyOS now also has the ability to create CAs, keys, Diffie-Hellman and other keypairs from an easy to access operational level command.
generate pki ca
Create a new CA (Certificate Authority)
and output the CAs public and private key on the console.
generate pki ca install <name>
Create a new CA (Certificate Authority)
and output the CAs public and private key on the console.
generate pki ca sign <ca-name>
Create a new subordinate CA (Certificate Authority)
and sign it using the private key referenced by ca-name.
generate pki ca sign <ca-name> install <name>
Create a new subordinate CA (Certificate Authority)
and sign it using the private key referenced by name.
generate pki certificate
Create a new public/private keypair and output the certificate on the console.
generate pki certificate install <name>
Create a new public/private keypair and output the certificate on the console.
generate pki certificate self-signed
Create a new self-signed certificate. The public/private is then shown on the console.
generate pki certificate self-signed install <name>
Create a new self-signed certificate. The public/private is then shown on the console.
generate pki certificate sign <ca-name>
Create a new public/private keypair which is signed by the CA referenced by ca-name. The signed certificate is then output to the console.
generate pki certificate sign <ca-name> install <name>
Create a new public/private keypair which is signed by the CA referenced by ca-name. The signed certificate is then output to the console.
generate pki dh
Generate a new set of DH (Diffie-Hellman)
parameters. The key size is requested by the CLI and defaults to 2048 bit.
The generated parameters are then output to the console.
generate pki dh install <name>
Generate a new set of DH (Diffie-Hellman)
parameters. The key size is requested by the CLI and defaults to 2048 bit.
generate pki openvpn shared-secret
Genearate a new OpenVPN shared secret. The generated secred is the output to the console.
generate pki openvpn shared-secret install <name>
Genearate a new OpenVPN shared secret. The generated secred is the output to the console.
generate pki wireguard key-pair
Generate a new WireGuard public/private key portion and output the result to the console.
generate pki wireguard key-pair install <interface>
Generate a new WireGuard public/private key portion and output the result to the console.
Note
In addition to the command above, the output is in a format which can be used to directly import the key into the VyOS CLI by simply copy-pasting the output from op-mode into configuration mode.
interface
is used for the VyOS CLI command to identify the WireGuard interface where this private key is to be used.
generate pki wireguard pre-shared-key
Generate a WireGuard pre-shared secret used for peers to communicate.
generate pki wireguard pre-shared-key install <peer>
Generate a WireGuard pre-shared secret used for peers to communicate.
Note
In addition to the command above, the output is in a format which can be used to directly import the key into the VyOS CLI by simply copy-pasting the output from op-mode into configuration mode.
peer
is used for the VyOS CLI command to identify the WireGuard peer where this secred is to be used.
set pki ca <name> certificate
Add the public CA certificate for the CA named name to the VyOS CLI.
Note
When loading the certificate you need to manually strip the -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
and -----END CERTIFICATE-----
tags. Also, the certificate/key needs to be presented in a single line without line breaks (\n
), this can be done using the following shell command:
$ tail -n +2 ca.pem | head -n -1 | tr -d '\n'
set pki ca <name> crl
Certificate revocation list in PEM format.
set pki ca <name> description
A human readable description what this CA is about.
set pki ca <name> private key
Add the CAs private key to the VyOS CLI. This should never leave the system, and is only required if you use VyOS as your certificate generator as mentioned above.
Note
When loading the certificate you need to manually strip the -----BEGIN KEY-----
and -----END KEY-----
tags. Also, the certificate/key needs to be presented in a single line without line breaks (\n
), this can be done using the following shell command:
$ tail -n +2 ca.key | head -n -1 | tr -d '\n'
set pki ca <name> private password-protected
Mark the CAs private key as password protected. User is asked for the password when the key is referenced.
After we have imported the CA certificate(s) we can now import and add certificates used by services on this router.
set pki certificate <name> certificate
Add public key portion for the certificate named name to the VyOS CLI.
Note
When loading the certificate you need to manually strip the -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
and -----END CERTIFICATE-----
tags. Also, the certificate/key needs to be presented in a single line without line breaks (\n
), this can be done using the following shell command:
$ tail -n +2 cert.pem | head -n -1 | tr -d '\n'
set pki certificate <name> description
A human readable description what this certificate is about.
set pki certificate <name> private key
Add the private key portion of this certificate to the CLI. This should never leave the system as it is used to decrypt the data.
Note
When loading the certificate you need to manually strip the -----BEGIN KEY-----
and -----END KEY-----
tags. Also, the certificate/key needs to be presented in a single line without line breaks (\n
), this can be done using the following shell command:
$ tail -n +2 cert.key | head -n -1 | tr -d '\n'
set pki certificate <name> private password-protected
Mark the private key as password protected. User is asked for the password when the key is referenced.
set pki certificate <name> revoke
If CA is present, this certificate will be included in generated CRLs
The VyOS PKI subsystem can also be used to automatically retrieve Certificates using the ACME (Automatic Certificate Management Environment)
protocol.
set pki certificate <name> acme domain-name <name>
Domain names to apply, multiple domain-names can be specified.
This is a mandatory option
set pki certificate <name> acme email <address>
Email used for registration and recovery contact.
This is a mandatory option
set pki certificate <name> acme listen-address <address>
The address the server listens to during http-01 challenge
set pki certificate <name> acme rsa-key-size <2048 | 3072 | 4096>
Size of the RSA key.
This options defaults to 2048
set pki certificate <name> acme url <url>
ACME Directory Resource URI.
This defaults to https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
Note
During initial deployment we recommend using the staging API of LetsEncrypt to prevent and blacklisting of your system. The API endpoint is https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
VyOS operational mode commands are not only available for generating keys but also to display them.
show pki ca
Show a list of installed CA (Certificate Authority)
certificates.
vyos@vyos:~$ show pki ca
Certificate Authorities:
Name Subject Issuer CN Issued Expiry Private Key Parent
-------------- ------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- ------------------- ------------------- ------------- --------------
DST_Root_CA_X3 CN=ISRG Root X1,O=Internet Security Research Group,C=US CN=DST Root CA X3 2021-01-20 19:14:03 2024-09-30 18:14:03 No N/A
R3 CN=R3,O=Let's Encrypt,C=US CN=ISRG Root X1 2020-09-04 00:00:00 2025-09-15 16:00:00 No DST_Root_CA_X3
vyos_rw CN=VyOS RW CA,O=VyOS,L=Some-City,ST=Some-State,C=GB CN=VyOS RW CA 2021-07-05 13:46:03 2026-07-04 13:46:03 Yes N/A
show pki ca <name>
Show only information for specified Certificate Authority.
show pki certificate
Show a list of installed certificates
vyos@vyos:~$ show pki certificate
Certificates:
Name Type Subject CN Issuer CN Issued Expiry Revoked Private Key CA Present
--------- ------ --------------------- ------------- ------------------- ------------------- --------- ------------- -------------
ac2 Server CN=ac2.vyos.net CN=R3 2021-07-05 07:29:59 2021-10-03 07:29:58 No Yes Yes (R3)
rw_server Server CN=VyOS RW CN=VyOS RW CA 2021-07-05 13:48:02 2022-07-05 13:48:02 No Yes Yes (vyos_rw)
show pki certificate <name>
Show only information for specified certificate.
show pki crl
Show a list of installed CRLs (Certificate Revocation List)
.
renew certbot
Manually trigger certificate renewal. This will be done twice a day.