Azure Keyvault Certificates Rust

by microsoft354361d83247MITListed Oct 8, 2026Updated Oct 8, 2026

Azure Key Vault Certificates library for Rust. Create, manage, and use X.509 certificates including self-signed and CA-issued. Triggers: "keyvault certificates rust", "CertificateClient rust", "create certificate rust", "self-signed certificate rust", "X.509 rust".

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AI-generated overview

Guides Rust developers in using the Azure Key Vault Certificates SDK to create, manage, and use X.509 certificates.

What it does
Provides Rust code patterns for the azure_security_keyvault_certificates crate, covering client setup, authentication, certificate creation as a long-running operation, property updates, deletion, and paginated listing. It also shows signing with a certificate's key via the Key Vault Keys SDK, certificate formats, RBAC roles, and best practices. The deliverable is reference guidance and code snippets rather than generated files.
When to use it
Use when writing Rust code that creates or manages X.509 certificates in Azure Key Vault, including self-signed or CA-issued certificates. Also relevant when handling certificate issuance long-running operations or signing data with a certificate's key.
Requirements
Requires the Rust toolchain with cargo, the azure_security_keyvault_certificates, azure_identity, tokio, and futures crates, and optionally azure_core and azure_security_keyvault_keys. Needs an Azure Key Vault URL via the AZURE_KEYVAULT_URL environment variable and Azure credentials (DeveloperToolsCredential locally, ManagedIdentityCredential in production), plus network access to Azure. Ships no scripts; instructions only.

Azure Key Vault Certificates library for Rust

Manage X.509 certificates for TLS/SSL, code signing, and authentication.

Use this skill when:

  • An app needs to create or manage X.509 certificates in Key Vault from Rust
  • You need self-signed or CA-issued certificates
  • You need long-running operations (LRO) for certificate issuance
  • You need to sign data using a certificate's key

IMPORTANT: Only use the official azure_security_keyvault_certificates crate published by the azure-sdk crates.io user. Do NOT use unofficial or community crates. Official crates use underscores in names and none have version 0.21.0.

Installation

sh
cargo add azure_security_keyvault_certificates azure_identity tokio futures

If your code uses azure_core types directly, add azure_core to Cargo.toml. If you only use azure_security_keyvault_certificates re-exports, direct azure_core dependency is optional.

Environment Variables

bash
AZURE_KEYVAULT_URL=https://<vault-name>.vault.azure.net/ # Required for all operations

Authentication

Rust Azure SDK code must not use DefaultAzureCredential. The Rust identity crate does not provide that type.

rust
use azure_identity::DeveloperToolsCredential;use azure_security_keyvault_certificates::CertificateClient;
#[tokio::main]async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {    // Local dev: DeveloperToolsCredential. Production: use ManagedIdentityCredential.    let credential = DeveloperToolsCredential::new(None)?;    let client = CertificateClient::new(        "https://<vault-name>.vault.azure.net/",        credential.clone(),        None,    )?;
    let cert = client        .get_certificate("cert-name", None)        .await?        .into_model()?;    println!("Certificate: {:?}", cert.id);    Ok(())}

Prefer the crate README/examples when checking LRO and poller usage rather than inferring public behavior from generated internal types.

Core Workflow

Create Self-Signed Certificate (LRO)

Creating a certificate is a long-running operation. Poller<T> implements IntoFuture — just .await:

rust
use azure_security_keyvault_certificates::{    models::{        CertificatePolicy, CreateCertificateParameters, IssuerParameters,        X509CertificateProperties,    },    ResourceExt,};
let policy = CertificatePolicy {    x509_certificate_properties: Some(X509CertificateProperties {        subject: Some("CN=example.com".into()),        ..Default::default()    }),    issuer_parameters: Some(IssuerParameters {        name: Some("Self".into()),        ..Default::default()    }),    ..Default::default()};let body = CreateCertificateParameters {    certificate_policy: Some(policy),    ..Default::default()};
// Poller implements IntoFuture — await directly for completionlet cert = client    .begin_create_certificate("cert-name", body.try_into()?, None)?    .await?    .into_model()?;
println!(    "Name: {:?}, Version: {:?}",    cert.resource_id()?.name,    cert.resource_id()?.version,);

Update Certificate Properties

rust
use azure_security_keyvault_certificates::models::UpdateCertificatePropertiesParameters;use std::collections::HashMap;
#[allow(clippy::needless_update)]let params = UpdateCertificatePropertiesParameters {    tags: Some(HashMap::from_iter(vec![("env".into(), "prod".into())])),    ..Default::default()};
client    .update_certificate_properties("cert-name", params.try_into()?, None)    .await?    .into_model()?;

Delete Certificate

rust
client.delete_certificate("cert-name", None).await?;

List Certificates (Pagination)

list_certificate_properties returns a Pager<T> — iterate items directly:

rust
use azure_security_keyvault_certificates::ResourceExt;use futures::TryStreamExt as _;
let mut pager = client.list_certificate_properties(None)?;while let Some(cert) = pager.try_next().await? {    println!("Found: {}", cert.resource_id()?.name);}

Signing with a Certificate's Key

Certificates in Key Vault have an associated key. Use the Key Vault Keys SDK for crypto operations:

rust
use azure_security_keyvault_keys::{    models::{KeyClientSignOptions, SignParameters, SignatureAlgorithm},    KeyClient,};
let key_client = KeyClient::new(    "https://<vault-name>.vault.azure.net/",    credential.clone(),    None,)?;
// Sign with the certificate's EC keylet digest = vec![0u8; 32]; // SHA-256 digestlet body = SignParameters {    algorithm: Some(SignatureAlgorithm::Es256),    value: Some(digest),};
let result = key_client    .sign(        "cert-name",        body.try_into()?,        Some(KeyClientSignOptions {            key_version: Some("<certificate-version>".to_string()),            ..Default::default()        }),    )    .await?    .into_model()?;println!("Signature: {:?}", result.result);

Certificate Formats

FormatContent TypeUse Case
PKCS#12application/x-pkcs12Bundled cert + private key
PEMapplication/x-pem-fileBase64-encoded, common in Linux/web

RBAC Roles

For Entra ID auth, assign one of these roles:

RoleAccess
Key Vault Certificate UserUse certificates
Key Vault Certificates OfficerFull certificate management

Best Practices

  1. Use cargo add to manage dependencies, never edit Cargo.toml directly. Add and remove Rust SDK dependencies with cargo commands instead of manual manifest edits.
  2. Add azure_core only when importing azure_core types directly. If your code imports azure_core::http::Url, azure_core::http::RequestContent, or azure_core::error::ErrorKind, include azure_core; otherwise a direct dependency is optional.
  3. Use DeveloperToolsCredential for local dev, ManagedIdentityCredential for production — Rust does not provide a single DefaultAzureCredential type
  4. Never hardcode credentials — use environment variables or managed identity
  5. Use ..Default::default() with #[allow(clippy::needless_update)] for model struct updates
  6. Use ResourceExt to extract certificate name/version from IDs
  7. LROs — begin_create_certificate returns a Poller; just .await for completion (clients should rarely poll for status)
  8. Reuse clients — CertificateClient is thread-safe; create once, share across tasks
  9. Run cargo clippy -- -D warnings when the prompt, eval, or CI expects lint-clean output

Reference Links

Source and attribution

Source:microsoft/skillsin.github/plugins/azure-sdk-rust/skills/azure-keyvault-certificates-rustat commit354361d

License: MIT

Content belongs to its original authors. SourceWeft indexes it from a public repository.

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