FIDO2-CRED(1) | General Commands Manual | FIDO2-CRED(1)

# NAME

`fido2-cred` — make/verify a FIDO2 credential

# SYNOPSIS

`fido2-cred` | `-M` [`-bdhqruvw`] [`-t` option] [`-a` mode] [`-c` cred_protect] [`-i` input_file] [`-o` output_file] device [type]

`fido2-cred` | `-V` [`-dhv`] [`-c` cred_protect] [`-i` input_file] [`-o` output_file] [type]

# DESCRIPTION

`fido2-cred` makes or verifies a FIDO2 credential.

A credential type may be es256 (denoting ECDSA over NIST P-256 with SHA-256), es384 (denoting ECDSA over NIST P-384 with SHA-384), rs256 (denoting 2048-bit RSA with PKCS#1.5 padding and SHA-256), or eddsa (denoting EDDSA over Curve25519 with SHA-512). If type is not specified, es256 is assumed.

When making a credential, the authenticator may require the user to authenticate with a PIN. If the `-q` option is not specified, `fido2-cred` will prompt the user for the PIN. If a tty is available, `fido2-cred` will use it to obtain the PIN. Otherwise, stdin is used.

The input of `fido2-cred` is defined by the parameters of the credential to be made/verified. See the INPUT FORMAT section for details.

The output of `fido2-cred` is defined by the result of the selected operation. See the OUTPUT FORMAT section for details.

If a credential is successfully created or verified, `fido2-cred` exits 0. Otherwise, `fido2-cred` exits 1.

The options are as follows:

`-M`
  Tells `fido2-cred` to make a new credential on device.
`-V`
  Tells `fido2-cred` to verify a credential.
`-b`
  Request the credential's “largeBlobKey”, a 32-byte symmetric key associated with the generated credential.
`-a` mode
  When making a credential, request enterprise attestation. Please refer to `<fido/param.h>` for the set of possible values.
`-c` cred_protect
  If making a credential, set the credential's protection level to cred_protect, where cred_protect is the credential's protection level in decimal notation. Please refer to `<fido/param.h>` for the set of possible values. If verifying a credential, check whether the credential's protection level was signed by the authenticator as cred_protect.
`-d`
  Causes `fido2-cred` to emit debugging output on stderr.
`-h`
  If making a credential, enable the FIDO2 hmac-secret extension. If verifying a credential, check whether the extension data bit was signed by the authenticator.
`-i` input_file
  Tells `fido2-cred` to read the parameters of the credential from input_file instead of stdin.
`-o` output_file
  Tells `fido2-cred` to write output on output_file instead of stdout.
`-q`
  Tells `fido2-cred` to be quiet. If a PIN is required and `-q` is specified, `fido2-cred` will fail.
`-r`
  Create a resident credential. Resident credentials are called “discoverable credentials” in CTAP 2.1.
`-t` option
  Toggles a key/value option, where option is a string of the form “key=value”. The options supported at present are:
  `uv`=true|false
    Asks the authenticator for user verification to be enabled or disabled.
  `pin`=true|false
    Tells `fido2-cred` whether to prompt for a PIN and request user verification.

  The `-t` option may be specified multiple times.

`-u`
  Create a U2F credential. By default, `fido2-cred` will use FIDO2 if supported by the authenticator, and fallback to U2F otherwise.
`-v`
  If making a credential, request user verification. If verifying a credential, check whether the user verification bit was signed by the authenticator.
`-w`
  Tells `fido2-cred` that the first line of input when making a credential shall be interpreted as unhashed client data. This is required by Windows Hello, which calculates the client data hash internally.

# INPUT FORMAT

The input of `fido2-cred` consists of base64 blobs and UTF-8 strings separated by newline characters ('\n').

When making a credential, `fido2-cred` expects its input to consist of:

1. client data hash (base64 blob);
2. relying party id (UTF-8 string);
3. user name (UTF-8 string);
4. user id (base64 blob).

When verifying a credential, `fido2-cred` expects its input to consist of:

1. client data hash (base64 blob);
2. relying party id (UTF-8 string);
3. credential format (UTF-8 string);
4. CBOR encoded authenticator data (base64 blob);
5. credential id (base64 blob);
6. attestation signature (base64 blob);
7. attestation certificate (optional, base64 blob).

UTF-8 strings passed to `fido2-cred` must not contain embedded newline or NUL characters.

# OUTPUT FORMAT

The output of `fido2-cred` consists of base64 blobs, UTF-8 strings, and PEM-encoded public keys separated by newline characters ('\n').

Upon the successful generation of a credential, `fido2-cred` outputs:

1. client data hash (base64 blob);
2. relying party id (UTF-8 string);
3. credential format (UTF-8 string);
4. CBOR encoded authenticator data (base64 blob);
5. credential id (base64 blob);
6. attestation signature (base64 blob);
7. attestation certificate, if present (base64 blob).
8. the credential's associated 32-byte symmetric key (“largeBlobKey”), if present (base64 blob).

Upon the successful verification of a credential, `fido2-cred` outputs:

1. credential id (base64 blob);
2. PEM-encoded credential key.

# EXAMPLES

Create a new es256 credential on /dev/hidraw5, verify it, and save the id and the public key of the credential in cred:

`$ echo credential challenge | openssl sha256 -binary | base64 > cred_param`
`$ echo relying party >> cred_param`
`$ echo user name >> cred_param`
`$ dd if=/dev/urandom bs=1 count=32 | base64 >> cred_param`
`$ fido2-cred -M -i cred_param /dev/hidraw5 | fido2-cred -V -o cred`

# SEE ALSO

fido2-assert(1), fido2-token(1)

# CAVEATS

Please note that `fido2-cred` handles Basic Attestation and Self Attestation transparently. In the case of Basic Attestation, the validity of the authenticator's attestation certificate is not verified.

December 8, 2025 | Yubico AB