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Setting-up a Simple CA Using the strongSwan PKI Tool » History » Version 36

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Tobias Brunner, 15.02.2019 09:11
Links to supported RDN types added

Setting-up a Simple CA Using the strongSwan PKI Tool

This how-to sets up a Certificate Authority using strongSwan's PKI tool (available since 4.3.5), keeping it as simple as possible.

CA Certificate

First, generate a private key, the default generates a 2048 bit RSA key (if this command blocks, refer to this note about hosts with low entropy):

ipsec pki --gen > caKey.der

For a real-world setup, make sure to keep this key absolutely private.

Now self-sign a CA certificate using the generated key:

ipsec pki --self --in caKey.der --dn "C=CH, O=strongSwan, CN=strongSwan CA" --ca > caCert.der

Adjust the distinguished name (DN) to your needs (refer to the list of supported RDN types), it will be included in all issued certificates.

That's it, your CA is ready to issue end-entity certificates.

End Entity Certificates

For each peer, i.e. for all VPN clients and VPN gateways in your network, generate an individual private key and issue a matching certificate using your new CA:

ipsec pki --gen > peerKey.der

ipsec pki --issue --in peerKey.der --type priv --cacert caCert.der --cakey caKey.der \
          --dn "C=CH, O=strongSwan, CN=peer" > peerCert.der

or when using older versions

ipsec pki --pub --in peerKey.der | ipsec pki --issue --cacert caCert.der --cakey caKey.der \
                                             --dn "C=CH, O=strongSwan, CN=peer" > peerCert.der

The second command extracts the public key and issues a certificate using your CA.

Again, adjust the DN to your needs (supported RDN types).

If you want to add subjectAltName extensions to your certificates use the --san option (can be provided multiple times), for instance, --san vpn.strongswan.org or --san peer@strongswan.org. It is recommended to include the hostname of a gateway as subjectAltName in its certificate.

Depending on your clients there may be additional requirements imposed on gateway certificates, for instance, the Windows 7 certificate requirements or those for iOS and Mac OS X clients.

Distribute each private key and matching certificate to the corresponding peer.

Certificate Revocation Lists (CRL)

In case end entity certificates have to be revoked, Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs) may be generated with the ipsec pki --signcrl command:

ipsec pki --signcrl --cacert caCert.der --cakey caKey.der --reason superseded --cert peerCert.der > crl.der

The certificate given with --cacert must be either a CA certificate or a certificate with the crlSign extended key usage (--flag crlSign).

When issuing certificates an URL to a CRL may be added with the --crl argument.

Install certificates

On each peer store its own credentials as follows.

Never store the private key caKey.der of the Certification Authority (CA) on a host with constant direct access to the Internet (e.g. a VPN gateway), since a theft of this master signing key will completely compromise your PKI.

Configuration with swanctl.conf

Store the certificates and keys in the /etc/swanctl/ tree:

  • /etc/swanctl/(rsa|ecdsa|pkcs8)/peerKey.der holds the private key of the given peer (directory depends on the type of key), gets loaded automatically. Passwords may be configured in swanctl.conf.
  • /etc/swanctl/x509/peerCert.der holds the end-entity certificate of the given peer, gets loaded automatically. Reference it in swanctl.conf to explicitly use it.
  • /etc/swanctl/x509ca/caCert.der holds the CA certificate which issued and signed all peer certificates, gets loaded automatically.

Optionally, the CRL may be stored in the following directory (if the certificate contains an URL to a CRL, it will be fetched on demand):

  • /etc/swanctl/x509crl/crl.der holds the CRL signed by the CA (or by a certificate containing the crlSign EKU).

Configuration with ipsec.conf/ipsec.secrets

Store the certificates and keys in the /etc/ipsec.d/ tree:

Optionally, the CRL may be stored in the following directory (if the certificate contains an URL to a CRL, it will be fetched on demand):

  • /etc/ipsec.d/crls/crl.der holds the CRL signed by the CA (or by a certificate containing the crlSign EKU).

Install certificates in other platforms

To import certificates on most other systems, they must be bundled together with the required CA certificate and private key into a PKCS#12 file.
The certificates and the private key have to be in PEM format for openssl pkcs12 to find them acceptable. DER format is not accepted by it.
Either use --outform pem with the pki commands above to generate the files in PEM format (pki accepts both formats) or convert with
the commands below. The files can be bundled into a PKCS#12 file by replacing the file names in the following examples:

To convert an X.509 certificate from DER to PEM

openssl x509 -inform der -outform pem -in caCert.der -out caCert.pem

To convert an RSA key from DER to PEM

openssl rsa -inform der -outform pem -in peerKey.der -out peerKey.pem

To package all of the files into a PKCS#12 container

openssl pkcs12 -in peerCert.pem -inkey peerKey.pem -certfile caCert.pem -export -out peer.p12

The peer.p12 file contains everything needed and is ready for the import on other systems.

On Android 4.4 and later, you may get a warning ("Network may be monitored by an unknown third party") if the peer.p12 file contains
the CA certificate. To avoid that create the PKCS#12 file without the CA certificate by omitting the -certfile caCert.pem argument.
Then import the peer.p12 file into the Android trust store as usual and the caCert.pem file directly into the strongSwan app.