---
name: "rpc.tlsclntd"
section: "8"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/rpc.tlsclntd"
---

# rpc.tlsclntd(8)

Sun RPC over TLS Client Daemon

## NAME

**rpc.tlsclntd** – Sun RPC over TLS Client Daemon

## SYNOPSIS

**rpc.tlsclntd** \[**-2**\] \[**-C** *available\_ciphers*\] \[**-D** *certdir*\] \[**-d**\] \[**-l** *CAfile*\] \[**-m**\] \[**-p** *CApath*\] \[**-r** *CRLfile*\] \[**-v**\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **rpc.tlsclntd** program provides support for the client side of the kernel Sun RPC over TLS implementation. This daemon must be running for the kernel RPC to be able to do a TLS connection to a server for an NFS over TLS mount. This daemon requires that the kernel be built with “options KERNEL\_TLS” and be running on an architecture such as “amd64” that supports a direct map (not i386) with [ktls(4)](/ktls/4.md) enabled.

If either of the **-l** or **-p** options have been specified, the daemon will require the server's certificate to verify and have a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) in it. This FQDN must match the reverse DNS name for the IP address that the server is using for the TCP connection. The FQDN may be in either the DNS field of the subjectAltName or the CN field of the subjectName in the certificate and cannot have a wildcard “\*” in it.

If a SIGHUP signal is sent to the daemon it will reload the “CRLfile” and will shut down any extant connections that presented certificates during TLS handshake that have been revoked. If the **-r** option was not specified, the SIGHUP signal will be ignored.

The daemon will log failed certificate verifications via [syslogd(8)](/syslogd/8.md) using LOG\_INFO \| LOG\_DAEMON when the **-l** or **-p** option has been specified.

The options are as follows:

- **-2**, **-****-usetls1\_2**

  Specify the use of TLS version 1.2. By default, the client will use TLS version 1.3, as required by the RFC. However, early FreeBSD (13.0 and 13.1) servers require this option, since they only support TLS version 1.2.

- **-C** *available\_ciphers*, **-****-ciphers=***available\_ciphers*

  Specify which ciphers are available during TLS handshake. If this option is specified, “SSL\_CTX\_set\_ciphersuites()” will be called with “available\_ciphers” as the argument. If this option is not specified, the cipher will be chosen by [ssl(7)](/ssl/7.md), which should be adequate for most cases. The format for the available ciphers is a simple‘ :’ separated list, in order of preference. The command “openssl ciphers -s -tls1\_3” lists available ciphers.

- **-D** *certdir*, **-****-certdir=***certdir*

  Use “certdir” instead of /etc/rpc.tlsclntd for the **-m** option.

- **-d**, **-****-debuglevel**

  Run in debug mode. In this mode, **rpc.tlsclntd** will not fork when it starts.

- **-l** *CAfile*, **-****-verifylocs=***CAfile*

  This specifies the path name of a CAfile which holds the information for server certificate verification. This path name is used in “SSL\_CTX\_load\_verify\_locations(ctx,CAfile,NULL)” and “SSL\_CTX\_set0\_CA\_list(ctx,SSL\_load\_client\_CA\_file(CAfile))” openssl library calls. Note that this is a path name for the file and is not assumed to be in “certdir”.

- **-m**, **-****-mutualverf**

  Enable support for mutual authentication. A certificate and associated key must be found in /etc/rpc.tlsclntd (or the directory specified by the **-D** option) in case a server requests a peer certificate. The first certificate needs to be in a file named “cert.pem” and the associated key in a file named “certkey.pem”. The [mount\_nfs(8)](/mount_nfs/8.md) option **-tlscertname** can be used to override the default certificate for a given NFS mount, where the files use the alternate naming specified by the option. If there is a passphrase on the “certkey.pem” file, this daemon will prompt for the passphrase during startup. The keys for alternate certificates cannot have passphrases.

- **-p** *CApath*, **-****-verifydir=***CApath*

  This option is similar to the **-l** option, but specifies the path of a directory with CA certificates in it. When this option is used, “SSL\_CTX\_set0\_CA\_list(ctx,SSL\_load\_client\_CA\_file())” is not called, so a list of CA names is not be passed to the server during the TLS handshake. The openssl documentation indicates this call is rarely needed.

- **-r** *CRLfile*, **-****-crl=***CRLfile*

  This option specifies a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) file that is to be loaded into the verify certificate store and checked during verification of the server's certificate. This option is meaningless unless either the **-l** or **-p** have been specified.

- **-v**, **-****-verbose**

  Run in verbose mode. In this mode, **rpc.tlsclntd** will log activity messages to syslog using LOG\_INFO \| LOG\_DAEMON or to stderr, if the **-d** option has also been specified.

## EXIT STATUS

The **rpc.tlsclntd** utility exits 0 on success, and \>0 if an error occurs.

## SEE ALSO

[openssl(1)](/openssl/1.md), [ktls(4)](/ktls/4.md), [ssl(7)](/ssl/7.md), [mount\_nfs(8)](/mount_nfs/8.md), [rpc.tlsservd(8)](/rpc.tlsservd/8.md), [syslogd(8)](/syslogd/8.md)

## STANDARDS

The implementation is based on the specification in “Towards Remote Procedure Call Encryption By Default”, *RFC 9289*.

## HISTORY

The **rpc.tlsclntd** manual page first appeared in FreeBSD 13.0.

## BUGS

This daemon cannot be safely shut down and restarted if there are any active RPC-over-TLS connections. Doing so will orphan the KERNEL\_TLS connections, so that they can no longer do upcalls successfully, since the “SSL \*” structures in userspace have been lost.