CURLOPT_PINNEDPUBLICKEY(3) Library Functions Manual CURLOPT_PINNEDPUBLICKEY(3)
NAME
CURLOPT_PINNEDPUBLICKEY - pinned public key
SYNOPSIS
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_PINNEDPUBLICKEY,
char *pinnedpubkey);
DESCRIPTION
Pass a pointer to a null-terminated string as parameter. The string can
be the filename of your pinned public key. The file format expected is
"PEM" or "DER". The string can also be any number of base64 encoded
sha256 hashes preceded by "sha256//" and separated by ";"
When negotiating a TLS or SSL connection, the server sends a certificate
indicating its identity. A public key is extracted from this certificate
and if it does not exactly match the public key provided to this option,
curl aborts the connection before sending or receiving any data.
This option is independent of option CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER(3). If you
turn off that option then the peer is still verified by public key.
On mismatch, CURLE_SSL_PINNEDPUBKEYNOTMATCH is returned.
The application does not have to keep the string around after setting
this option.
DEFAULT
NULL
PROTOCOLS
This functionality affects all TLS based protocols: HTTPS, FTPS, IMAPS,
POP3S, SMTPS etc.
This option works only with the following TLS backends: GnuTLS, OpenSSL,
Schannel, Secure Transport, mbedTLS and wolfSSL
EXAMPLE
int main(void)
{
CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
if(curl) {
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_PINNEDPUBLICKEY, "/etc/publickey.der");
/* OR
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_PINNEDPUBLICKEY,
"sha256//YhKJKSzoTt2b5FP18fvpHo7fJYqQCjAa3HWY3"
"tvRMwE=;sha256//t62CeU2tQiqkexU74Gxa2eg7fRbEg"
"oChTociMee9wno=");
*/
/* Perform the request */
curl_easy_perform(curl);
}
}
PUBLIC KEY EXTRACTION
If you do not have the server's public key file you can extract it from
the server's certificate.
# retrieve the server's certificate if you do not already have it
#
# be sure to examine the certificate to see if it is what you expected
#
# Windows-specific:
# - Use NUL instead of /dev/null.
# - OpenSSL may wait for input instead of disconnecting. Hit enter.
# - If you do not have sed, then just copy the certificate into a file:
# Lines from -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- to -----END CERTIFICATE-----.
#
openssl s_client -servername www.example.com -connect www.example.com:443 \
< /dev/null | sed -n "/-----BEGIN/,/-----END/p" > www.example.com.pem
# extract public key in pem format from certificate
openssl x509 -in www.example.com.pem -pubkey -noout > www.example.com.pubkey.pem
# convert public key from pem to der
openssl asn1parse -noout -inform pem -in www.example.com.pubkey.pem \
-out www.example.com.pubkey.der
# sha256 hash and base64 encode der to string for use
openssl dgst -sha256 -binary www.example.com.pubkey.der | openssl base64
The public key in PEM format contains a header, base64 data and a
footer:
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
[BASE 64 DATA]
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
HISTORY
PEM/DER support
7.39.0: OpenSSL, GnuTLS
7.43.0: wolfSSL
7.47.0: mbedTLS
7.54.1: Secure Transport on macOS 10.7+/iOS 10+
7.58.1: Schannel
sha256 support
7.44.0: OpenSSL, GnuTLS and wolfSSL
7.47.0: mbedTLS
7.54.1: Secure Transport on macOS 10.7+/iOS 10+
7.58.1: Schannel
Other SSL backends not supported.
AVAILABILITY
Added in curl 7.39.0
RETURN VALUE
curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.
CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK, non-zero means an error occurred,
see libcurl-errors(3).
SEE ALSO
CURLOPT_CAINFO(3), CURLOPT_CAPATH(3), CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST(3), CUR-
LOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER(3)
libcurl 2026-07-12 CURLOPT_PINNEDPUBLICKEY(3)
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