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openssl_privatekey – Generate OpenSSL private keys

Synopsis

  • This module allows one to (re)generate OpenSSL private keys.
  • One can generate RSA, DSA, ECC or EdDSA private keys.
  • Keys are generated in PEM format.
  • Please note that the module regenerates private keys if they don’t match the module’s options. In particular, if you provide another passphrase (or specify none), change the keysize, etc., the private key will be regenerated. If you are concerned that this could overwrite your private key, consider using the backup option.
  • The module can use the cryptography Python library, or the pyOpenSSL Python library. By default, it tries to detect which one is available. This can be overridden with the select_crypto_backend option. Please note that the PyOpenSSL backend was deprecated in Ansible 2.9 and will be removed in Ansible 2.13.”

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • Either cryptography >= 1.2.3 (older versions might work as well)
  • Or pyOpenSSL

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
attributes
string
The attributes the resulting file or directory should have.
To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system.
This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr.
The = operator is assumed as default, otherwise + or - operators need to be included in the string.

aliases: attr
backup
boolean
added in 2.8
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Create a backup file including a timestamp so you can get the original private key back if you overwrote it with a new one by accident.
cipher
string
added in 2.4
The cipher to encrypt the private key. (Valid values can be found by running `openssl list -cipher-algorithms` or `openssl list-cipher-algorithms`, depending on your OpenSSL version.)
When using the cryptography backend, use auto.
curve
string
added in 2.8
    Choices:
  • secp384r1
  • secp521r1
  • secp224r1
  • secp192r1
  • secp256r1
  • secp256k1
  • brainpoolP256r1
  • brainpoolP384r1
  • brainpoolP512r1
  • sect571k1
  • sect409k1
  • sect283k1
  • sect233k1
  • sect163k1
  • sect571r1
  • sect409r1
  • sect283r1
  • sect233r1
  • sect163r2
Note that not all curves are supported by all versions of cryptography.
For maximal interoperability, secp384r1 or secp256r1 should be used.
We use the curve names as defined in the IANA registry for TLS.
force
boolean
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Should the key be regenerated even if it already exists.
group
string
Name of the group that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.
mode
string
The permissions the resulting file or directory should have.
For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must either add a leading zero so that Ansible's YAML parser knows it is an octal number (like 0644 or 01777) or quote it (like '644' or '1777') so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number.
Giving Ansible a number without following one of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results.
As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, u+rwx or u=rw,g=r,o=r).
owner
string
Name of the user that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.
passphrase
string
added in 2.4
The passphrase for the private key.
path
path / required
Name of the file in which the generated TLS/SSL private key will be written. It will have 0600 mode.
select_crypto_backend
string
added in 2.8
    Choices:
  • auto ←
  • cryptography
  • pyopenssl
Determines which crypto backend to use.
The default choice is auto, which tries to use cryptography if available, and falls back to pyopenssl.
If set to pyopenssl, will try to use the pyOpenSSL library.
If set to cryptography, will try to use the cryptography library.
Please note that the pyopenssl backend has been deprecated in Ansible 2.9, and will be removed in Ansible 2.13. From that point on, only the cryptography backend will be available.
selevel
string
Default:
"s0"
The level part of the SELinux file context.
This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the range.
When set to _default, it will use the level portion of the policy if available.
serole
string
The role part of the SELinux file context.
When set to _default, it will use the role portion of the policy if available.
setype
string
The type part of the SELinux file context.
When set to _default, it will use the type portion of the policy if available.
seuser
string
The user part of the SELinux file context.
By default it uses the system policy, where applicable.
When set to _default, it will use the user portion of the policy if available.
size
integer
Default:
4096
Size (in bits) of the TLS/SSL key to generate.
state
string
    Choices:
  • absent
  • present ←
Whether the private key should exist or not, taking action if the state is different from what is stated.
type
string
    Choices:
  • DSA
  • ECC
  • Ed25519
  • Ed448
  • RSA ←
  • X25519
  • X448
The algorithm used to generate the TLS/SSL private key.
Note that ECC, X25519, X448, Ed25519 and Ed448 require the cryptography backend. X25519 needs cryptography 2.5 or newer, while X448, Ed25519 and Ed448 require cryptography 2.6 or newer. For ECC, the minimal cryptography version required depends on the curve option.
unsafe_writes
boolean
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target file.
By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target files, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted files, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner.
This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating files when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn't force Ansible to perform unsafe writes).
IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption.

See Also

See also

openssl_certificate – Generate and/or check OpenSSL certificates
The official documentation on the openssl_certificate module.
openssl_csr – Generate OpenSSL Certificate Signing Request (CSR)
The official documentation on the openssl_csr module.
openssl_dhparam – Generate OpenSSL Diffie-Hellman Parameters
The official documentation on the openssl_dhparam module.
openssl_pkcs12 – Generate OpenSSL PKCS#12 archive
The official documentation on the openssl_pkcs12 module.
openssl_publickey – Generate an OpenSSL public key from its private key
The official documentation on the openssl_publickey module.

Examples

- name: Generate an OpenSSL private key with the default values (4096 bits, RSA)
  openssl_privatekey:
    path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem

- name: Generate an OpenSSL private key with the default values (4096 bits, RSA) and a passphrase
  openssl_privatekey:
    path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    passphrase: ansible
    cipher: aes256

- name: Generate an OpenSSL private key with a different size (2048 bits)
  openssl_privatekey:
    path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    size: 2048

- name: Force regenerate an OpenSSL private key if it already exists
  openssl_privatekey:
    path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    force: yes

- name: Generate an OpenSSL private key with a different algorithm (DSA)
  openssl_privatekey:
    path: /etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
    type: DSA

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key Returned Description
backup_file
string
changed and if backup is yes
Name of backup file created.

Sample:
/path/to/privatekey.pem.2019-03-09@11:22~
curve
string
changed or success, and type is ECC
Elliptic curve used to generate the TLS/SSL private key.

Sample:
secp256r1
filename
string
changed or success
Path to the generated TLS/SSL private key file.

Sample:
/etc/ssl/private/ansible.com.pem
fingerprint
dictionary
changed or success
The fingerprint of the public key. Fingerprint will be generated for each hashlib.algorithms available.
The PyOpenSSL backend requires PyOpenSSL >= 16.0 for meaningful output.

Sample:
{'md5': '84:75:71:72:8d:04:b5:6c:4d:37:6d:66:83:f5:4c:29', 'sha1': '51:cc:7c:68:5d:eb:41:43:88:7e:1a:ae:c7:f8:24:72:ee:71:f6:10', 'sha224': 'b1:19:a6:6c:14:ac:33:1d:ed:18:50:d3:06:5c:b2:32:91:f1:f1:52:8c:cb:d5:75:e9:f5:9b:46', 'sha256': '41:ab:c7:cb:d5:5f:30:60:46:99:ac:d4:00:70:cf:a1:76:4f:24:5d:10:24:57:5d:51:6e:09:97:df:2f:de:c7', 'sha384': '85:39:50:4e:de:d9:19:33:40:70:ae:10:ab:59:24:19:51:c3:a2:e4:0b:1c:b1:6e:dd:b3:0c:d9:9e:6a:46:af:da:18:f8:ef:ae:2e:c0:9a:75:2c:9b:b3:0f:3a:5f:3d', 'sha512': 'fd:ed:5e:39:48:5f:9f:fe:7f:25:06:3f:79:08:cd:ee:a5:e7:b3:3d:13:82:87:1f:84:e1:f5:c7:28:77:53:94:86:56:38:69:f0:d9:35:22:01:1e:a6:60:...:0f:9b'}
size
integer
changed or success
Size (in bits) of the TLS/SSL private key.

Sample:
4096
type
string
changed or success
Algorithm used to generate the TLS/SSL private key.

Sample:
RSA


Status

Authors

  • Yanis Guenane (@Spredzy)
  • Felix Fontein (@felixfontein)

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation, you can edit this document to improve it.

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.9/modules/openssl_privatekey_module.html