Network Security Services
Network Security Services (NSS) is a set of libraries designed to support cross-platform development of security-enabled client and server applications.
Applications built with NSS can support SSL v2 and v3, TLS, PKCS #5, PKCS #7, PKCS #11, PKCS #12, S/MIME, X.509 v3 certificates, and other security standards.
NSS is required by many packages, including, for example, Chromium and Firefox.
Usage
Use certutil utility provided with NSS to manage your certificates.
List certificate DB
To get list of all certificates:
$ certutil -d sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb -L
To get details about certificate:
$ certutil -d sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb -L -n certificate_nickname
Generate an RSA private key
$ certutil -G -d database_directory -g keysize -n nickname
Generate a certificate signing request
$ certutil -S -s subject -n nickname -x -t C,C,C -o file
Generate a self-signed certificate
$ certutil -S -s subject -n nickname -x -t C,C,C -o file
Import certificate
To add a certificate specify the -A option:
$ certutil -d sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb -A -t "TRUSTARGS" -n certificate_nickname -i /path/to/cert/filename
The TRUSTARGS are three strings of zero or more alphabetic characters, separated by commas, for example: "TCu,Cu,Tuw". They define how the certificate should be trusted for SSL, email, and object signing, and are explained in the certutil documentation or Meena's blog post on trust flags.
To add a personal certificate and private key for SSL client authentication use the command:
$ pk12util -d sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb -i /path/to/PKCS12/cert/filename.p12
This will import a personal certificate and private key stored in a PKCS #12 file. The TRUSTARGS of the personal certificate will be set to "u,u,u".
Edit certificate
Call certutil with -M option to edit the certificate. For example, to edit the TRUSTARGS:
$ certutil -d sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb -M -t "TRUSTARGS" -n certificate_nickname
Delete certificate
Use -D option to remove the certificate:
$ certutil -d sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb -D -n certificate_nickname
Adding a trusted CA certificate
chromium, firefox, thunderbird, evolution, and use NSS to retrieve trusted CA certificates.
The nss has integrated , which will automatically install all certificates using system-wide. However, if you prefer to distribute "pure" NSS, you can install the certificates into your own browser profile.
certutil -d database -A -i myCA.cert -n "Honest Achmed's CA" -t C,,
chromium and evolution use a "shared" database located in -d "sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb".
For firefox, thunderbird, and , make a browser-specific configuration file directory (e.g. ).