PKCS7_verify() docs.

doc/crypto/PKCS7_verify.pod

+=pod
+
+=head1 NAME
+
+PKCS7_verify - verify a PKCS#7 signedData structure
+
+=head1 SYNOPSIS
+
+int PKCS7_verify(PKCS7 *p7, STACK_OF(X509) *certs, X509_STORE *store, BIO *indata, BIO *out, int flags);
+
+int PKCS7_get0_signers(PKCS7 *p7, STACK_OF(X509) *certs, int flags);
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+PKCS7_verify() verifies a PKCS#7 signedData structure. B<p7> is the PKCS7
+structure to verify. B<certs> is a set of certificates in which to search for
+the signer's certificate. B<store> is a trusted certficate store (used for
+chain verification). B<indata> is the signed data if the content is not
+present in B<p7> (that is it is detached). The content is written to B<out>
+if it is not NULL.
+
+B<flags> is an optional set of flags, which can be used to modify the verify
+operation.
+
+PKCS7_get0_signers() retrieves the signer's certificates from B<p7>, it does
+B<not> check their validity or whether any signatures are valid. The B<certs>
+and B<flags> parameters have the same meanings as in PKCS7_verify().
+
+=head1 VERIFY PROCESS
+
+Normally the verify process proceeds as follows.
+
+Initially some sanity checks are performed on B<p7>. The type of B<p7> must
+be signedData. There must be at least one signature on the data and if
+the content is detached B<indata> cannot be B<NULL>.
+
+An attempt is made to locate all the signer's certificates, first looking in
+the B<certs> parameter (if it is not B<NULL>) and then looking in any certificates
+contained in the B<p7> structure itself. If any signer's certificates cannot be
+located the operation fails.
+
+Each signer's certificate is chain verified using the B<smimesign> purpose and
+the supplied trusted certificate store. Any internal certificates in the message
+are used as untrusted CAs. If any chain verify fails an error code is returned.
+
+Finally the signed content is read (and written to B<out> is it is not NULL) and
+the signature's checked.
+
+If all signature's verify correctly then the function is successful.
+
+Any of the following flags (ored together) can be passed in the B<flags> parameter
+to change the default verify behaviour. Only the flag B<PKCS7_NOINTERN> is
+meaningful to PKCS7_get0_signers().
+
+If B<PKCS7_NOINTERN> is set the certificates in the message itself are not 
+searched when locating the signer's certificate. This means that all the signers
+certificates must be in the B<certs> parameter.
+
+If the B<PKCS7_TEXT> flag is set MIME headers for type B<text/plain> are deleted
+from the content. If the content is not of type B<text/plain> then an error is
+returned.
+
+If B<PKCS7_NOVERIFY> is set the signer's certificates are not chain verified.
+
+If B<PKCS7_NOCHAIN> is set then the certificates contained in the message are
+not used as untrusted CAs. This means that the whole verify chain (apart from
+the signer's certificate) must be contained in the trusted store.
+
+If B<PKCS7_NOSIGS> is set then the signatures on the data are not checked.
+
+=head1 NOTES
+
+One application of B<PKCS7_NOINTERN> is to only accept messages signed by
+a small number of certificates. The acceptable certificates would be passed
+in the B<certs> parameter. In this case if the signer is not one of the
+certificates supplied in B<certs> then the verify will fail because the
+signer cannot be found.
+
+Care should be taken when modifying the default verify behaviour, for example
+setting B<PKCS7_NOVERIFY|PKCS7_NOSIGS> will totally disable all verification 
+and any signed message will be considered valid. This combination is however
+useful if one merely wishes to write the content to B<out> and its validity
+is not considered important.
+
+Chain verification should arguably be performed  using the signing time rather
+than the current time. However since the signing time is supplied by the
+signer it cannot be trusted without additional evidence (such as a trusted
+timestamp).
+
+=head1 RETURN VALUES
+
+PKCS7_verify() returns 1 for a successful verification and zero or a negative
+value if an error occurs.
+
+PKCS7_get0_signers() returns all signers or B<NULL> if an error occurred.
+
+The error can be obtained from L<ERR_get_error(3)|ERR_get_error(3)>
+
+=head1 BUGS
+
+The trusted certificate store is not searched for the signers certificate,
+this is primarily due to the inadequacies of the current B<X509_STORE>
+functionality.
+
+=head1 SEE ALSO
+
+L<ERR_get_error(3)|ERR_get_error(3)>, L<PKCS7_sign(3)|PKCS7_sign(3)>
+
+=head1 HISTORY
+
+TBA
+
+=cut