dhparam - DH parameter manipulation and generation
openssl dhparam [-inform DER|PEM] [-outform DER|PEM] [-in filename] [-out filename] [-dsaparam] [-check] [-noout] [-text] [-C] [-2] [-5] [-rand file(s)] [-engine id] [numbits]
DHPARAM(1openssl) OpenSSL DHPARAM(1openssl)
NAME
openssl-dhparam, dhparam - DH parameter manipulation and generation
SYNOPSIS
openssl dhparam [-inform DER|PEM] [-outform DER|PEM] [-in filename]
[-out filename] [-dsaparam] [-check] [-noout] [-text] [-C] [-2] [-5]
[-rand file(s)] [-engine id] [numbits]
DESCRIPTION
This command is used to manipulate DH parameter files.
OPTIONS
-inform DER|PEM
This specifies the input format. The DER option uses an ASN1 DER
encoded form compatible with the PKCS#3 DHparameter structure. The
PEM form is the default format: it consists of the DER format
base64 encoded with additional header and footer lines.
-outform DER|PEM
This specifies the output format, the options have the same meaning
as the -inform option.
-in filename
This specifies the input filename to read parameters from or
standard input if this option is not specified.
-out filename
This specifies the output filename parameters to. Standard output
is used if this option is not present. The output filename should
not be the same as the input filename.
-dsaparam
If this option is used, DSA rather than DH parameters are read or
created; they are converted to DH format. Otherwise, "strong"
primes (such that (p-1)/2 is also prime) will be used for DH
parameter generation.
DH parameter generation with the -dsaparam option is much faster,
and the recommended exponent length is shorter, which makes DH key
exchange more efficient. Beware that with such DSA-style DH
parameters, a fresh DH key should be created for each use to avoid
small-subgroup attacks that may be possible otherwise.
-check
check if the parameters are valid primes and generator.
-2, -5
The generator to use, either 2 or 5. If present then the input file
is ignored and parameters are generated instead. If not present but
numbits is present, parameters are generated with the default
generator 2.
-rand file(s)
a file or files containing random data used to seed the random
number generator, or an EGD socket (see RAND_egd(3)). Multiple
files can be specified separated by a OS-dependent character. The
separator is ; for MS-Windows, , for OpenVMS, and : for all others.
numbits
this option specifies that a parameter set should be generated of
size numbits. It must be the last option. If this option is present
then the input file is ignored and parameters are generated
instead. If this option is not present but a generator (-2 or -5)
is present, parameters are generated with a default length of 2048
bits.
-noout
this option inhibits the output of the encoded version of the
parameters.
-text
this option prints out the DH parameters in human readable form.
-C this option converts the parameters into C code. The parameters can
then be loaded by calling the get_dhnumbits() function.
-engine id
specifying an engine (by its unique id string) will cause dhparam
to attempt to obtain a functional reference to the specified
engine, thus initialising it if needed. The engine will then be set
as the default for all available algorithms.
WARNINGS
The program dhparam combines the functionality of the programs dh and
gendh in previous versions of OpenSSL and SSLeay. The dh and gendh
programs are retained for now but may have different purposes in future
versions of OpenSSL.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+---------------+--------------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Availability | library/security/openssl |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Stability | Pass-through uncommitted |
+---------------+--------------------------+
NOTES
PEM format DH parameters use the header and footer lines:
-----BEGIN DH PARAMETERS-----
-----END DH PARAMETERS-----
OpenSSL currently only supports the older PKCS#3 DH, not the newer
X9.42 DH.
This program manipulates DH parameters not keys.
Source code for open source software components in Oracle Solaris can
be found at https://www.oracle.com/downloads/opensource/solaris-source-
code-downloads.html.
This software was built from source available at
https://github.com/oracle/solaris-userland. The original community
source was downloaded from
https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-1.0.2ze.tar.gz.
Further information about this software can be found on the open source
community website at https://www.openssl.org/.
BUGS
There should be a way to generate and manipulate DH keys.
SEE ALSO
dsaparam(1)
HISTORY
The dhparam command was added in OpenSSL 0.9.5. The -dsaparam option
was added in OpenSSL 0.9.6.
1.0.2ze 2022-05-03 DHPARAM(1openssl)