SSL_GET_CERTIFICATE(3SSL) OpenSSL SSL_GET_CERTIFICATE(3SSL)
NAME
SSL_get_certificate, SSL_get_privatekey - retrieve TLS/SSL certificate
and private key
SYNOPSIS
#include <openssl/ssl.h>
X509 *SSL_get_certificate(const SSL *s);
EVP_PKEY *SSL_get_privatekey(const SSL *s);
DESCRIPTION
SSL_get_certificate() returns a pointer to an X509 object representing a
certificate used as the local peer's identity.
Multiple certificates can be configured; for example, a server might
have both RSA and ECDSA certificates. The certificate which is returned
by SSL_get_certificate() is determined as follows:
• If it is called before certificate selection has occurred, it
returns the most recently added certificate, or NULL if no
certificate has been added.
• After certificate selection has occurred, it returns the certificate
which was selected during the handshake, or NULL if no certificate
was selected (for example, on a client where no client certificate
is in use).
Certificate selection occurs during the handshake; therefore, the value
returned by SSL_get_certificate() during any callback made during the
handshake process will depend on whether that callback is made before or
after certificate selection occurs.
A specific use for SSL_get_certificate() is inside a callback set via a
call to SSL_CTX_set_tlsext_status_cb(3). This callback occurs after
certificate selection, where it can be used to examine a server's chosen
certificate, for example for the purpose of identifying a certificate's
OCSP responder URL so that an OCSP response can be obtained.
SSL_get_privatekey() returns a pointer to the EVP_PKEY object
corresponding to the certificate returned by SSL_get_certificate(), if
any.
RETURN VALUES
These functions return pointers to their respective objects, or NULL if
no such object is available. Returned objects are owned by the SSL
object and should not be freed by users of these functions.
SEE ALSO
ssl(7), SSL_CTX_set_tlsext_status_cb(3)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2001-2022 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use
this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy
in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
3.5.7 2026-06-09 SSL_GET_CERTIFICATE(3SSL)
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