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    Where are the certificates depending from an external CA?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • C
      Cris70
      last edited by

      Hi all,
      in System => Certificates => Authorities I have two external CAs which report respectively 1 and 2 in the "Certificates" column.
      However, I do not see any dependent certificate in the System => Certificates => Certificates tab.
      Where are those certificates? How can I find them?

      Thank you in advance
      Cris

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Hmm, odd. Do you have certs shown for other CAs?

        What pfSense version?

        Steve

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        • C
          Cris70
          last edited by

          Hi @stephenw10 , thank you for your reply.

          Yes, the certificates for the other CAs are there.
          pfSense CE 2.7.2:

          2503c434-1f89-42ae-b97e-e5c352fd4348-image.png

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by stephenw10

            Anything pfSense knows about should show there.

            You could check the config file directly. In the <ca> section of each of those CAs you will see a reference id:

            	<ca>
            		<refid>61a91f84b426a</refid>
            		<descr><![CDATA[OpenVPN_CA]]></descr>
            		....
            		<serial>3</serial>
            	</ca>
            

            You can then search the config for anywhere that is used. It should show in any certs using it:

            	<cert>
            		<refid>6274496db468d</refid>
            		<descr><![CDATA[plusdev]]></descr>
            		<type>user</type>
            		<caref>61a91f84b426a</caref>
            		....
            	</cert>
            
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            • C
              Cris70 @stephenw10
              last edited by Cris70

              @stephenw10 thank you very much!
              Where do I find the config file?
              I tried to grep for "<refid>" in the /etc directory, but found nothing.

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              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                You can download it from Diag > Backup/Restore.

                C 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • C
                  Cris70 @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10 I think I got it.

                  The first external CA shows "1" in the certificates column.
                  Looking in the config file I see that his refid is only mentioned in another CA under the <caref> tag. The other CA shows "0" in the certificates column.
                  So I suppose this is actually a certificate chain where the other CA is the root CA and the original CA is the intermediate.

                  Same happens for the second case: this time the CA has a "2" in the certificates column, and in the config I can only find his refid in the <caref> tag of two other CAs. So I suppose this is a chain of three CAs.
                  Indeed, the other two CAs have a "0" and a "1" in the certificates column.

                  Thank you for your hint, I would never have understood this without looking in the config file.

                  Cris

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                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    Ah, intermediate certs would do it. Nice! 👍

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